Upper Arlington, OH — A recent episode of the Tech Caddie podcast features Kevin Kalner, Co-Founder and Co-CEO of Golf District, joining host Mike Hendrix to discuss how a StubHub-style secondary marketplace is helping golf courses recover lost revenue, extend their booking windows, and bring true price discovery to tee times for the first time.
In the episode, “Golf District’s StubHub-Style Tee Time Marketplace, with Co-CEO Kevin Kalner,” Hendrix and Kalner explore how Golf District looked outside the golf industry — straight at the billion-dollar ticketing world — to solve golf’s long-standing perishability problem, and how a prepaid, white-labeled booking model is turning no-shows and cancellations into new revenue instead of lost revenue.
Solving Golf’s Perishability Problem: A central theme of the conversation is the revenue that quietly bleeds out of every course through no-shows, short shows, cancellations, and rain checks. Kalner and Hendrix discuss how Golf District applies a StubHub/SeatGeek-style resale model to tee times, but keeps the entire transaction B2B and fully white-labeled on the golf course’s own website.
This approach reflects a broader shift in how courses can think about inventory:
Courses set the rules, keep the data, and split resale transaction fees with golfers who can no longer make their round What used to be lost revenue becomes accretive income, with no added cost to the course on the prepaid model Lessons from the billion-dollar ticketing industry are being applied to golf for the first time
Extending Access and Building New Revenue Tools: Kalner shares how Golf District is positioned not as a replacement for a course’s tee sheet, but as an additional layer that extends what operators can already offer. Rather than asking courses to rip out existing systems, the conversation highlights how the platform integrates with seven different tee sheet providers without competing against them.
This approach allows operators to:
Extend the typical seven-to-fourteen-day public booking window out to 60 days or even a full year Let golfers reserve groups of up to 16 players across back-to-back tee times in a single prepaid checkout Offer weather guarantees through a Sensible Weather integration, with strong early adoption in tourist markets like San Diego
True Price Discovery and the Road Ahead: The episode also previews Golf District’s patent-pending “unsolicited offer” technology, a first-of-its-kind transaction that lets a golfer make a real-money offer on a tee time that isn’t even listed for sale — with the course getting right of first refusal before any golfer is notified. The conversation outlines how the platform:
Gives courses first right of refusal on any unsolicited offer before it reaches golfers Applies modern checkout UX, including Google, Apple, Facebook, and LinkedIn sign-in plus Apple Pay and Google Pay Sets the stage for expansion beyond golf through sister platform Ticket District
This conversation offers a practical look at how golf course owners and operators can turn lost rounds into new revenue without overhauling the systems they already run. As secondary marketplaces and prepaid models continue to mature, the episode highlights a clear message: the biggest revenue opportunity in golf may not be a new booking system — it’s the perishable inventory courses are already losing every day.
Listen to the Full Episode 🔗 https://www.golfcoursetechnologyreviews.org/podcast-episodes/golf-district-tee-time-booking-engine-kevin-kalner
About Tech Caddie Tech Caddie, hosted by Mike Hendrix, explores the technology, trends, and strategies shaping the future of golf course operations. The podcast features conversations with industry leaders, operators, and innovators focused on improving the business of golf.
