Special deliveries

One of my favorite courses near where I live (__River Islands GC in Kodak, Tenn.__) just sent out an email offering $35 weekend green fees after 10:30 a.m., including cart. That's more than a third off the regular $55 rate -- which is already quite a bargain, imo. Two days later, a course I like near Golf Digest's headquarters (__Centennial Golf Club in Carmel, N.Y.__) sent an email offering $50 midweek rounds, down from the usual $100. I must've given these courses my email address at some point, but I'll admit to having ignored what they've been sending me till now. I'm going to make a habit of searching for the words "deal," "discount" and "rate" in email subject lines at least once a week. [#image: /photos/55ad7453b01eefe207f6aaea]|||Homestead.jpg|||A lot of the stuff pouring into my mailbox comes from PR firms, like the one I just got offering rooms at the __Homestead__ (*pictured*) for $24.50 a night (part of a promotion for its 245th anniversary). I don't suppose non-golfwriters can get on those email lists . . . BUT you can go directly to websites of courses or resorts you're thinking about visiting and find the same deals. [__The Homestead website__](http://www.thehomestead.com/245th-birthday-sale) makes a big splash about the $24.50 promotion. The__ Poipu Resort in Hawaii__ just sent me an email about its new replay rate, which allows you to play a second round for $115 as long as it's within 10 days of your first round. That's on [__the resort website__](http://www.poipubaygolf.com/kauaigolfspecials.html) too. Don't forget social media. Austin's __Barton Creek Resort__, long a pioneer in online discounts, is going to start making special deals available on [__its Facebook page__](http://discover.bartoncreek.com/hostedemail/email.htm?h=ed58623a7ad7054ce729723af7e21221&CID=2038754037&ch=65E48DB322885CB8B83EE8A64FB4D1B6) as soon as it gets 3,500 followers. I think Twitter may become a great resource for this sort of stuff too. [__Golfnow.com__](http://www.golfnow.com/), the tee-time reservation service, has a few Twitter accounts for different regions. Check out [__@golfnowportland__](http://twitter.com/#!/golfnowportland) and [__@golfnowIL__](http://twitter.com/#!/GolfNowIL), for example, for some pretty impressive deals on green fees in those markets.