SAN DIEGO (FOX 5/KUSI) — The battle for a great tee time at one of San Diego’s legendary golf courses has shifted into a new area of difficulty.
The matchless experience golfing at San Diego’s most iconic course has been a perk relished by locals and envied by tourists for decades.
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“Looking right over into the water, that’s why it is one of the best public courses,” said Tanner Hillman, a San Diego resident golfer.
“Well kept, well maintained, great staff. It’s amazing,” said Reily Robertson, a San Diego resident golfer.
Torrey Pines stands at the top with any city course in the U.S., but the excitement and demand for 18 holes has become fierce.
Golfers say the experience of jumping on the Balboa Park and Torrey Pines golf sites at exactly 7 p.m. and mashing the buy button to lock up a tee time feels like scrambling for sold-out concert tickets.
Some golfers recently have fears that bots are snatching up the coveted tee times for a potential markup and resale.
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“I’ve heard about the tee time black market, I can’t really speak from personal experience, but I know it’s out there,” Robertson said.
The City of San Diego released this statement on the matter of scalping tee times saying: “With the surge in golf’s popularity, securing tee times has become more challenging. While the division is aware of the possibility of the use of bots or other technologies to give golfers a perceived advantage in securing tee times, the division is unaware of City golf facility tee times being made available at a premium by third party organizations.”
Local golfers say for now they are still just mashing the tee time buttons at 7 p.m. and are thankful, as San Diego residents, a world-class round of golf can still cost less than a tank of gas.
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