GolfNow and Your Breadcrumbs

GolfNow serves breadcrumbs to their partners while they feast on golf course schema

In the digital world, structured data and rich text are the hot currency of search engine optimization (SEO) and answer engine optimization (AEO) or generative engine optimization (GEO). They are the little snippets of information—like ratings, prices, or event details—that make search and answer results stand out and drive clicks. For golf courses, a specialized form of this is called Golf Course schema, a powerful code that helps search engines understand everything from the very existance of a golf course to tee times to course layouts. When used correctly, it's a critical tool for helping golfers find a course's website or mobile app.

GolfNow, the dominant player in the golf booking and technology space, has a clear and obvious conflict of interest. They are in the business of selling two things to two different customers: tee times to golfers and technology services (like websites) to golf courses.  The conflict lies in a simple truth: if a golfer finds and books a tee time directly on a course's website, GolfNow loses on a coveted goal - creating a direct booking relationship with the golfer. As we detail later in this article, at least one GolfNow business partner seems to have learned from GolfNow's approach and is doing the same, in a similar way.

Our research has uncovered a pattern that likely reveals how GolfNow navigates this conflict. It’s a classic case of prioritizing their own feast over their partners’ crumbs. On the pages for golf courses that appear on GolfNow.com, structured data is being served to search engines and AI bots, including Golf Course schema. This ensures that GolfNow’s pages are read as local business locations, (golf courses) and are considered click-worthy and likely favored or at least clearly understood as a golf course webpage.

However, on the websites that GolfNow sells to golf courses, this same crucial optimization is absent. The only sign of structured data on these partner websites is typically a basic form of breadcrumbs, a navigational tool that helps a user know where they are on a website. We can't be certain if this disparity is an oversight or a calculated decision that serves GolfNow's primary interest: to ensure that the golfer's search journey ultimately ends on their platform, not their partner's website.

Our research, that included over 15,000 golf course and country club websites showed over 90% without the proper structured data. That's worse than the average local business adoption rate of 20%. The one that stood out among all others was Arcis Golf Management. Across the board their use of structured data, namely schema, was by far the best.

Is GolfNow in violation of their partner agreements?

When it comes to website builds and management, including the GolfNow Plus service, we find no instances of wrong doing. The FAQ page, dedicated to their website service clearly lists plugins that will be installed. The list includes: "YOAST SEO – provides powerful tools and features to optimize websites for search engines and improve their online visibility." Nowhere do we see GolfNow promising to use the Yoast features, on your behalf but in the world of common sense and treating your "partner" they way you would want to be treated, it seems deploying the same optimization strategies you use for your direct benefit could be expected when servicing your paying "partners".

Their FAQ page also includes: Can I purchase and install my own plugins?

No, your site is added to a multi-site network, which requires compatibility with all sites. We have an approved list of plugins, but if you need something else, reach out to our support team, and we’ll suggest an alternative solution.

Why do more than 1,800 golf courses use a GolfNow website? There's a host of reasons, "it's bundled into a larger agreement", "it's free", "it's just easier working with one vendor" and single golf course operators are not the only ones using GolfNow websites. We analyzed the websites GolfNow builds for KemperSports, with a fine-toothed comb and they consistently showed breadcrumbs and breadcrumbs only. For months we've been hearing Troon is leaving the Brightspot website platform and will begin using GolfNow websites later this year.

As we learned more about the gaps with GolfNow websites, especially in the rapidly developing world of Ai-powered Answers and Overviews we decided to compare Brightspot websites to GolfNow websites. The team at Indigo Sports (Troon owned) has a quote on the Brightspot website, endorsing Brightspot for doing a great job on local search results

A big value we see from Brightspot is with search engine optimization. On average we are seeing site health improve by over 40% when launching new courses. The resulting growth in organic search rankings is testament to the site structure on the back end — it’s just a really good mousetrap when it comes to people seeking information on golf courses near them.

Director of Digital Marketing, Indigo Sports

Our analysis of the Troon/Brightspot sites shows no use of the type of structured data 99% of Local SEO experts recommend; which is the same type of data Troon uses on webpages they host for individual golf courses on their website, Troon.com - if this sounds familiar to the tactics GolfNow deploys on their pages at GolfNow.com, it is. Let's use a golf course in Ohio, Briardale Greens with September 7th 2025 date stamps, as our example.

GolfNow neither built nor manages the Briardale Greens website. To provide a nearby GolfNow-built example from the same research project, the links below detail Fox Den Golf Course. Briardale Greens and Fox Den are less than an hour’s drive apart.

TEXT RESULTS:

Briardale Greens WEBSITE:  RICH RESULTS TEST -  SCHEMA RESULTS
Briardale Greens GOLFNOW:  RICH RESULTS TEST  -  SCHEMA RESULTS (below)
Briardale Greens TROON:  RICH RESULTS TEST  -  SCHEMA RESULTS

Fox Den  WEBSITE:  RICH RESULTS TEST -  SCHEMA RESULTS

The schema results for the GolfNow Briardale Greens page required some extra digging. The schema validator is not able to read the GolfNow page but using Code Snippet, we found these results:

‍@type: GolfCourse | image: https://exddilid.cdn./4962.jpg

telephone: 1-800-767-3574 | name: Briardale Greens Golf Course

address | @type PostalAddress

streetAddress: 24131 Briardale Ave | addressLocality: Euclid

addressRegion: Ohio | postalCode: 44123

aggregateRating | @type: AggregateRating

‍

We found the phone number to be interesting. That phone number belongs to GolfNow and its inclusion creates NAP inconsistency and risks confusing entity resolution.

If you take the time to work through the 8 different links we included for Briardale Greens, you'll see that the schema being used on the GolfNow site and the Troon site is far superior to the website owned by Briardale Greens. That site, clearly managed by Indigo Sports (Troon), would get an F rating when it comes to structured data, rich text and schema. The Troon page for Briardale Greens gets a B+. Troon.com uses Sports Activity Location rather than the more specific Golf Course schema type. Notably, unlike their business partner GolfNow, Troon did use the correct phone number for Briardale Greens.

If you want to check your website, smbGOLF created two easy to remember URLs: checkmywebsite.golf and checkmyschema.golf

PGA of America uses golf course schema

We reviewed how leading golf brands use schema across their sites. The idea is simple: show what “good” looks like so more operators adopt it. Full disclosure: our parent company, smbGOLF, offers a Golf Course Search Optimization service that implements these changes without a site rebuild. Whether you hire us or DIY, this guide stands on its own.

The PGA of America hosts a webpage for nearly every golf course in the United States. Click here for Briardale Greens. They do a great job of using the proper schema for a golf course and they also deploy mobile application schema. They likely do this to help increase exposure for their PGA Coach App and MyPGA Connect App. Outside of sites optimized by smbGOLF we've not seen another company use mobile app schema.

Is there a difference between GolfNow and Troon and what PGA of America does? Yes, there is a difference - PGA of America, last we checked, does not sell websites or SEO services to golf courses. If a website is going to have separate pages for golf courses, they should include accurate golf course schema. This includes the phone number. Another option for listing golf courses can be found on the Ohio Golf Course Owners Association site, here.

What should GolfNow and Troon do now?

What GolfNow should do (now)

The cleanest outcome for operators is GolfNow stepping away from websites—handing those agreements to CourseLogix or Rob West Marketing—so the default remains direct booking. If GolfNow chooses to keep the line, here’s how to fix it:

1. Ship full course-centric schema on client sites by default
   Make LocalBusiness → GolfCourse (with NAP, geo, hours, amenities) a standard block on every GolfNow-built course site. Add a ReserveAction that targets the course’s own booking URL, not the marketplace. Kill breadcrumb-only builds. (GolfNow already uses rich course schema on its own marketplace pages—bring the same rigor to client sites.) GolfNow
2. Adopt a “Direct-First” policy across surfaces you control

• Google surfaces: Expose operator controls for Reserve-with-Google (RwG) and default the link path to the course’s domain when supported. Provide clear docs and toggles in the admin. NBC Sports Next for Golf
• White-label pages: If a marketplace page exists, add a visible “Official site” link and canonical signals so the course site is recognized as the source of truth.

3. Separate the marketplace and SaaS value props
   Clarify product lines and KPIs (marketplace vs. course software) to reduce the “two masters” tension. Publicly publish a schema/GBP best-practice guide for operators under “GolfNow for Business.” The team at smbGOLF is willing to help with input to ensure a golf course owner (partner) first mentality. NBC Sports Next for Golf
4. Transparency & reliability
   Publish a quarterly schema/GBP audit report for client sites (coverage, errors, RwG configuration). (This builds trust and reduces support load.)

What Troon should do (now)

First, fix their course pages at Troon.com by dropping 'Sports Activity Location' schema and use type= 'Golf Course'. If you're going to use schema, you might as well do it the right way.

1. Mandate a standard schema & GBP spec across the portfolio
   In Troon MSAs and SOWs:

• Require LocalBusiness → GolfCourse JSON-LD on every course site, plus ReserveAction to the course domain.
• Forbid Yext from categorizing traffic from the Google Business Profile as anything other than organic.
• Require GBP “Website” and “Book online” to land on the course domain.
• Audit and remediate in a 60-day sweep, then monitor quarterly.

2. Enforce a Direct-First booking path in all funnels
   On Troon.com/Troon Access and course sites, set the default booking path to the course domain, with marketplaces used only as incremental channels (clearly labeled). Troon’s scale and long partnership give it leverage to make this the norm. Troon
3. Vendor governance
   Update contracts with GolfNow (and any marketplace) to include:

• Schema/GBP compliance, with SLAs and penalties for regression.
• Prohibition of marketplace URLs in sameAs on course sites.
• Operator-controlled RwG settings and clear opt-out. NBC Sports Next for Golf

4. Measurement & proof
   Track: % of bookings that stay on-domain end-to-end, GBP→Website conversions, schema validation pass rates, and time-to-fix for issues. Annotate changes in GA4 and compare 28-day windows.

Joint 30/60/90

• Day 0–30: Publish Direct-First policy; add schema to all new client sites; push GBP link playbook; enable RwG toggles.
• Day 31–60: Portfolio-wide audit & fixes (schema, GBP, CTAs, redirects); publish status page; add “Official site” cues on marketplace pages.
• Day 61–90: Roll out contract amendments; ship an operator dashboard showing schema health, GBP link targets, and RwG settings.

Why this matters—now

GolfNow and Troon just publicly celebrated a 25-year partnership and continue to co-market tee-time access. That scale cuts both ways: it creates massive reach—but also responsibility to keep the course as the canonical entity and the course domain as the default path to book. Troon

How we got here

When the largest provider of golf-course websites isn’t all-in on making those sites easy to find and use, a waterfall follows. The provider knows the sites aren’t great, so they steer partners toward other parts of the relationship—tee sheet ops, member services, purchasing programs. With attention elsewhere, there’s no urgency to fix the core website product. And if the category leader isn’t incentivized to improve it, the product languishes until a disruptor rewrites the value proposition.

Why golf operators undervalue their websites

Many operators still treat the site like a static brochure instead of infrastructure. That mindset creates predictable failures:

• Discovery gap – Search and Maps rely on consistent facts and schema. Name inconsistencies, missing NAP/hours/geo, and no booking signals make you harder to surface.
• AI gap – Gemini, ChatGPT, and Copilot crawl for concrete facts (architect, year opened, yardage, grass types, booking URLs, waitlists). If you don’t publish them, your course gets generic answers.
• Experience gap – Few “shop” their own site. Too many clicks to book, buried CTAs, slow mobile pages—each adds drop-off.
• Freshness gap – Stale pages miss chances to publish Event schema for tournaments and MobileApplication schema so golfers can find your app.
• Ownership leaks – Header CTAs, GBP links, or Reserve-with-Google paths point off-domain, diluting brand, data, and margin.
• Measurement gap – No GA4 goals, UTMs, or annotations means the site’s contribution is invisible—so it stays underfunded.

Bottom line: Breadcrumb-only builds are a symptom. The fix is treating the website as the system of record—complete schema, direct-first booking, and measurable outcomes—then holding vendors to it.

The Bottom Line for Golf Courses

The story of GolfNow, and Troon isn't just a technical tale about code and search engines; it's a cautionary lesson in business relationships. As the old proverb goes, "A promise is a cloud; fulfillment is the rain." While GolfNow provides a basic framework, they appear to withhold the very tools—the "rain"—needed for a course to thrive independently in the modern digital landscape.

For golf course owners and operators, the path forward is clear. You can no longer afford to outsource your entire digital presence to a company that's also competing with you for the same customer. It's time to demand more from your partners, understand the fundamentals of your own digital presence, and ensure you're using every tool available to make your website the primary source of truth for every question, every time. To assist with this mission, smbGOLF has created a "Source of Truth" badge for operators to display on their websites once they've met the criteria.

The good news is, you don't have to start from scratch. Our parent company, smbGOLF, offers a dedicated Golf Course Search Optimization service designed to fix the structural issues of your existing website, including those built by GolfNow. We add the detailed structured data and schema that is missing, helping your course regain its digital independence and stand out in search results.

The future of attracting golfers is about providing answers, and compelling content. Think of it this way: if your website isn't working for you, it's working for your competitors and if you're not speaking the language of AI, you're leaving money on the table.