EZ Links vs. Easy Tee Golf
A Comprehensive Comparison for Your Golf Business
Choosing the right golf management software or simulator solution is crucial for any golf course or indoor golf facility. This article provides a detailed comparison between EZ Links and Easy Tee Golf, highlighting their strengths and differences across key categories. We’ll help you determine which solution best fits your operational needs, budget, and customer experience goals.
Introduction: Understanding Your Options
Both EZ Links and Easy Tee Golf aim to streamline operations for golf businesses, offering features like online booking and tee sheet management. However, their approaches, especially regarding technology integration and pricing, can differ significantly. Easy Tee Golf distinguishes itself with its deep integration with Square POS, offering a familiar and versatile payment ecosystem. Let’s delve into the specifics.
Key Comparison Categories
1. Pricing & Value Proposition
- Easy Tee Golf:
- Model: Simple, affordable, flat-rate monthly subscription.
- Transparency: Known for transparent pricing with no setup fees, transaction fees, or long-term contracts.
- Seasonal Billing: Offers flexible billing that allows courses to pay only for the months they are open (e.g., for off-seasons).
- Value: Focuses on core tee sheet management and Square integration, aiming for high value at a predictable cost.
- EZ Links:
- Model: EZ Links offers various fee arrangements, including cash pricing and inventory exchange. In the inventory exchange model, the client allocates a designated amount of tee time inventory to EZ Links, and EZ Links retains revenue from selling that inventory.
- Transparency: Some users have reported concerns regarding a lack of control over dynamically priced tee times when using certain EZ Links or GolfNow services, and potential high commission rates.
- Value: EZ Links aims to drive revenue and simplify operations for golf courses. They have historically offered their EZ360 cloud system for a monthly fee.
2. Setup & Implementation
- Easy Tee Golf:
- Simplicity: Designed for quick and easy setup, often allowing courses to be operational within minutes.
- Integration: Leverages existing Square POS infrastructure, minimizing the need for new hardware or complex IT configurations.
- Training: Intuitive interface reduces training time for staff.
- Onboarding: Self-service onboarding is available, allowing for quick deployment. Many golf courses set up their Easy Tee Golf account in under 20 minutes.
- EZ Links:
- Configuration: Offers various configuration options for global application, registration, and user settings. This includes customizing electronic signature settings, password and login lockout settings, and user permissions.
- Integration: EZ Links POS is designed for easy training, installation, and use, with an integrated database design that allows full utilization of both the POS and tee sheet products within the same application window.
- Customization: Provides customization options for features like “Easy Links” which offer quick access to various resources and functionalities within the platform.
3. Ease of Use (Staff & Customer Experience)
- Easy Tee Golf:
- Staff: Highly intuitive and user-friendly, reducing errors and speeding up administrative tasks.
- Customer: Provides a seamless online booking experience for golfers, accessible from any device and available 24/7.
- Training: Minimal staff training often required due to intuitive design. Training is available for free, as needed.
- EZ Links:
- Staff: Offers features like “Rapid Reserve” to streamline the booking process to a single screen. It also provides at-a-glance pricing on the main screen to give staff easier access to pricing information.
- Customer: Facilitates online tee time reservations. EZ Links also offers a 24/7 Reservation Center where agents can assist golfers with tee times. This service can be seamless to customers, as calls are answered in the golf course’s name.
4. POS Integration & Payment Processing
- Easy Tee Golf:
- Square Integration: Offers unparalleled native integration with Square POS. This allows for unified payment processing, inventory management, and customer data.
- Payment Flexibility: Supports various payment methods through Square, including credit cards, gift cards, and mobile payments.
- Reporting: Centralized reporting for all revenue streams within the Square ecosystem. Easy Tee Golf provides reporting on booking trends within your tee sheet.
- EZ Links:
- Integrated POS: EZ Links offers its own POS system designed specifically for the golf industry, which integrates with their tee sheet software.
- Payment Options: The EZ Links POS system supports various tendering options including split checks, returns, gift certificates, event credits/accounts, member accounts, and preferred customer discounts. It also has integrated high-speed credit card authorizations.
- Inventory Control: The EZ Links POS system includes inventory control features for stocked items, lessons & services, food & beverage, and fees & passes.
5. Features & Functionality
- Easy Tee Golf:
- Core Focus: Strong emphasis on essential tee sheet management, online booking, and seamless Square integration.
- Key Features: Efficient booking flow, robust reporting, member management, and easy customization of tee times.
- Customer Management: Integrates with Square loyalty programs and customer groups for custom pricing (members, juniors, seniors, etc.).
- Scalability: Benefits from Square’s scalable platform, suitable for businesses of all sizes.
- EZ Links:
- Tee Sheet & Online Booking: Provides core tee sheet functionality and online booking engines.
- Additional Features: Offers features like a lottery system for recurring requests, enabling members to set up automatic tee time requests. It also includes turn-time automation and comprehensive reporting.
- Marketing Services: EZ Links offers marketing services as part of its software and service suite.
6. Target Audience & Business Type
- Easy Tee Golf:
- Ideal for: Golf courses and indoor golf facilities of all sizes seeking a modern, user-friendly, and cost-effective solution with deep Square integration.
- Flexibility: Adaptable for both seasonal and year-round operations.
- EZ Links:
- Ideal for: Golf courses and indoor golf facilities. EZ Links Golf was founded in 1995 and its primary industry is Business/Productivity Software.
7. Customer Support & Service
- Easy Tee Golf:
- Reputation: Known for prompt and helpful customer service, with positive feedback from existing users.
- Support Model: Dedicated customer support focused on quick and personalized assistance.
- EZ Links:
- Support Model: Offers 24/7 support. They provide contact information for billing, support, and sales.
- Training: Provides training and assistance on managing greens fees and other administrative capabilities.
Conclusion
Ultimately, the best choice depends on your specific priorities, existing infrastructure, and long-term goals. We recommend scheduling demos with both providers to see their solutions in action and discuss how they can meet your unique business requirements.
For most golf courses, Easy Tee Golf emerges as the superior solution due to its unparalleled ease of use, transparent and flexible pricing, and most importantly, its robust and native integration with Square POS. This integration alone simplifies countless operational headaches, from payment processing and financial reconciliation to inventory management and customer relationship building, all within a familiar and trusted ecosystem. While EZ Links may offer proprietary systems and extensive features, Easy Tee Golf’s leverage of Square provides a future-proof, secure, and universally adaptable platform that frees your business to focus on what matters most: delivering an exceptional golf experience.
Whether you’re currently a customer of EZ Links or are looking for alternatives to EZ Links, Easy Tee Golf’s robust platform can meet your golf course’s needs. Learn more about Easy Tee Golf and start a 30 day trial today or set up a demo.