How AI Upselling Is Helping Golf Courses Add $50K+ in Revenue Per Year

Here's something that bugs every golf course GM I talk to: the tee sheet is full, the weather's perfect, there are 120 people on your course right now — and barely anyone's buying food, drinks, or gear.

You worked hard to fill those tee times. Marketing, online booking, word of mouth. But once players are on the course? Most of them walk right past the turn without ordering anything. They finish 18, skip the pro shop, and head home.

All those players, all that foot traffic, and you're only making money on green fees. That's the part that stings.

You're Great at Filling Tee Times. The Rest? Not So Much.

This isn't a knock on anyone. It's just how golf courses have always worked. You get really good at the booking side — tee sheet management, pace of play, course conditions. That stuff is dialed in.

But F&B sits there breaking even (or losing money). The pro shop sells to the same 15 regulars. Lesson bookings trickle in through the front desk when someone remembers to mention them.

Green fees cover your operating costs. The add-on stuff — food, drinks, merchandise, lessons — that's where actual profit lives. And right now, most courses are leaving a scary amount of that on the table.

"Green fees keep the lights on. F&B and merch are where we actually make money — we just don't sell enough of either." — GM, public course in Ontario

Why the Old Playbook Doesn't Work Anymore

It's not for lack of trying. You've got the beverage cart making rounds, maybe a printed menu at the turn, and front desk staff who are supposed to upsell lessons and pro shop gear between check-ins.

Here's why that falls flat:

The cart attendant can't read minds. She's driving past 40 groups with the same cooler of beer and a laminated menu. She doesn't know that Dave on hole 7 ordered a brisket sandwich last week and would absolutely do it again if someone asked.

Pro shop staff are buried. They're checking people in, answering the phone, restocking shelves. Nobody's tracking that the guy at the register just played his fifth round this month and might be ready for new grips.

Missed calls go to voicemail. Someone calls at 7am to ask about tee times. Nobody's there yet. They leave a message — maybe. More likely, they call the course down the road. It's exactly why golf courses are replacing voicemail with AI — every missed call is a lost booking.

The common thread? There's no system. Everything depends on the right person being in the right place at the right time with the right information. That almost never happens.

What Changes When AI Gets Involved

Let's get one thing out of the way first: SimpleUP Golf AI doesn't replace your staff. Nobody's losing their job. What it does is add a personal concierge to every player's round — one that remembers their name, knows their favorite sandwich, and chats with them like a real person.

Think about the best clubhouse bartender you've ever had. The one who remembers that Dave always wants the brisket, that Sarah prefers Michelob Ultra, and that the Thursday morning group likes to settle up on one tab. That's what SimpleUP Golf does — except it does it for every single player, every round, across text, phone, and web.

It works three ways:

Mid-round AI text conversations. Not blasts. Not coupons. Actual conversations. The AI texts a player mid-round the same way a friend would — casual, personal, and always relevant to what's actually happening at the course right now.

Chat on your website and booking pages. Visitors get a real conversation about tee times, pricing, and events — not a menu of buttons to click through. They type a question in plain English, they get a real answer.

Voice AI on the phone. A voice AI agent named Amy picks up every call, has an actual conversation — books tee times, answers questions, and mentions today's specials naturally. No hold music. No voicemail. No "press 1 for tee times." Just a friendly voice that knows the course.

This is different from what other golf AI companies are doing. Most of them give you a chatbot with a few pre-set buttons — "Book a Tee Time," "View Menu," "Contact Us." The player clicks a button, gets a canned response, and that's it. SimpleUP Golf has a real conversation. The AI asks follow-up questions, makes suggestions based on what it knows about each player, and talks to them the way a good employee would.

And here's the part that matters most if you're a golf course operator: you don't configure any of this. There's no dashboard to set up, no rules to write, no decision trees to build. We learn how your course runs — your menu, your tee sheet, your specials, your regulars — and the AI handles everything from there. You run your course the way you always have. The AI just makes every interaction smarter.

The Numbers Don't Lie

These are real numbers from real courses — public tracks, semi-private clubs, and resort courses across Canada and the US.

Do the quick math: if you run 10,000 rounds a year and each player spends $32 more, that's $320,000 in new revenue. Even a modest course doing 5,000 rounds is looking at $160K. The F&B piece alone can add $50K+ without changing your menu or hiring anyone.

What This Actually Looks Like on a Saturday Morning

Numbers are nice, but here's what this feels like in practice:

None of these interactions felt like talking to a machine. No menus. No "press 1." No "click here to order." Just a natural back-and-forth — like texting with the one staff member who actually remembers your name.

And it scales with your course — whether you've got 80 rounds on a Tuesday or 200 on a holiday weekend. No extra staff needed.

F&B Is Where the Real Money Hides

Let's spend a minute on food and beverage — this is the big one. Most courses I talk to treat F&B as a necessary evil. Something you have to offer, but it barely breaks even and the kitchen is always a headache.

Here's the thing: your golfers are stuck at your course for four hours. They're going to get hungry. They're going to get thirsty. The question is whether YOU sell them something or they hit the drive-through on the way home.

SimpleUP Golf AI makes F&B work by getting personal. Hot afternoon? The system sends cold drink offers to players on the back nine. Rainy day? Soup and coffee deals go out automatically. It checks what's actually ready in the kitchen so nobody orders something you've already run out of. That's how AI turns your kitchen from a cost center into a profit machine.

The timing matters more than anything. Research shows that players are most receptive to food offers between holes 7 and 9 — right when hunger starts hitting and the turn is approaching. AI sends those mid-round messages at exactly the right moment, every single round.

One public course in southern Ontario went from a 22% F&B buy rate to 41% in the first season. That's nearly double the number of players buying food. At an average ticket of $15, on 15,000 rounds, that's an extra $42,000 in F&B revenue with the same kitchen, same menu, same staff.

Why F&B Responds So Well to AI

Three reasons. First, it's an impulse buy — players don't plan lunch, they decide in the moment. AI creates that moment. Second, there's zero competition — they can't go to the restaurant next door mid-round. And third, the margins are great — a $15 food order is mostly profit if the kitchen is already running. It's also why AI-driven loyalty programs pair so well with F&B — rewarding repeat buyers drives the attachment rate even higher.

Pro Shop and Lessons: The Quiet Revenue Streams

F&B gets the spotlight, but the pro shop and lesson desk have their own story.

The AI tracks what players buy, what they don't, and how often they play. A regular who's been hitting the course three times a month but never buys gear? They probably need new equipment — they just haven't thought about it.

Post-round text: "Noticed you've been playing a lot with those irons. Want to try the new Callaway Paradyms? Quick fitting takes 15 minutes."

For lessons, the AI can spot high-handicap regulars and send a low-pressure offer: "Quick 30-minute tune-up with our pro — $50. Players who book usually drop 3-4 strokes within a month."

Pro shop attachment rate went from 16% to 31% at courses running SimpleUP Golf AI. That's not a small bump — it's nearly doubling the percentage of players who walk out with something extra.

"But I Already Use foreUP / GolfNow / Lightspeed..."

Good — keep using them. SimpleUP Golf isn't trying to replace your tee sheet software or your POS system. Those tools handle operations, and they do it well. Whether you're running foreUP, GolfNow, Lightspeed Golf, or CourseRev — SimpleUP enhances what you already have.

What they don't do is sell. Your booking system fills tee times. Your POS rings up purchases. But nothing in that stack is actively suggesting a brisket sandwich to a hungry golfer on hole 8, or texting a lesson offer to a regular who keeps slicing.

SimpleUP Golf plugs into what you already have. It pulls player data, purchase history, and booking info — then uses it to create sales moments throughout the round. If you're evaluating options, our breakdown of the best golf course software in Canada covers how it all fits together. Your staff doesn't need to learn a new system. Your existing software stays exactly where it is.

Think of it less as "new software" and more as "a really smart sales assistant who works 24/7 and knows every player by name."

What Does It Cost?

SimpleUP Golf runs on a straightforward monthly plan:

• Webchat AI — $299/mo. Website chat, booking assistance, and online upselling.
• Voice AI — $699/mo. Amy answers every call, books tee times, handles FAQs, and suggests add-ons.
• Full Combo — $1,299/mo. Everything. Chat, voice, SMS mid-round upselling, pro shop triggers, the works.

At $32 extra per player, the Combo plan pays for itself around round 40 each month. Most courses hit that by the second week. Everything after that is pure upside. And with AI-optimized dynamic pricing on tee times, the revenue math gets even better.

Curious How It'd Work at Your Course?

Every course is different — different layout, different food operation, different player mix. The best way to see if this fits is to watch a quick demo and see the texts and calls in action.

If you want to dig into specific features, here's what's under the hood. And if you're the type who wants to see the numbers first, pricing is right here — no "contact us for a quote" runaround.

The courses that are using this aren't magic. They just stopped relying on their cart staff to read minds and started letting the data do the selling. Turns out, that's worth about $50K a year.