Golf courses spend thousands on credit card processing fees every year. A course processing $4 million in annual card transactions pays roughly $120,000 in fees at the standard 2.9% + $0.30 rate.

Bitcoin Lightning and USDC payments cost a fraction of a penny per transaction. Here’s how to add them to your course.

The fee problem for golf courses

Every tee time booking, pro shop purchase, and food & beverage transaction loses 2.5-3.5% to payment processors. On a $60 tee time, that’s $1.80 gone. Across 50,000 rounds a year, that’s $90,000 in processing fees — just for tee times.

Transaction	Amount	Card Fee (2.9% + $0.30)	Lightning Fee
Tee time	$60	$2.04	~$0.001
Pro shop	$120	$3.78	~$0.001
F&B	$25	$1.03	~$0.001
Annual membership	$3,000	$87.30	~$0.001

The savings are dramatic, especially on high-value transactions like annual memberships.

How it works for golfers

The golfer experience is simple:

1. Book a tee time on your website or app
2. Choose “Pay with Bitcoin” or “Pay with USDC” at checkout
3. Scan a QR code with their phone wallet (or click to open their wallet app)
4. Done — payment confirms in 1-2 seconds

No app to download (they use their existing Bitcoin or Solana wallet). No account to create. No card number to type.

Two options: BTC for Bitcoiners, USDC for stability

Bitcoin Lightning is great for the growing number of golfers who hold BTC. The amount auto-converts from your USD price at the current exchange rate.

USDC (stablecoin) is pegged 1:1 to the US dollar. It’s ideal when you’re collecting a tee time fee and then paying the course with your credit card — no Bitcoin price risk. $60 collected is $60 received.

You can offer both options and let the golfer choose.

The auth & capture advantage for tee times

Here’s where Lightning payments really shine for golf. When a golfer books a tee time in advance, you want to:

1. Authorize the payment (lock the funds) at booking time
2. Capture the payment when they show up and play
3. Cancel the hold if they cancel within your refund window

This is exactly how credit card pre-authorization works — and Lightning supports it natively through “hold invoices.” The funds are locked in the golfer’s wallet. If they cancel, the funds are released automatically. No chargebacks, no disputes.

Setting it up

With LN Merchant, adding crypto payments to your tee time system takes about 5 minutes:

// When golfer clicks "Book Tee Time"
const payment = await fetch('https://api.lnmerchant.com/payments', {
  method: 'POST',
  headers: { 'Authorization': 'Bearer YOUR_API_KEY' },
  body: JSON.stringify({
    currency: 'USDC',         // or 'BTC'
    amountCents: 6000,        // $60.00 tee time
    type: 'hold',             // authorize, don't capture yet
    description: 'Tee time — Saturday 8:00 AM'
  })
});

// Redirect golfer to checkout page
window.location = `https://pay.lnmerchant.com/checkout/${payment.id}`;

When they show up to play, capture the payment:

await fetch(`https://api.lnmerchant.com/payments/${paymentId}/capture`, {
  method: 'POST',
  headers: { 'Authorization': 'Bearer YOUR_API_KEY' },
});

Memberships and subscriptions

Annual or monthly memberships work with built-in subscription billing. The member connects their wallet once, and payments are automatically pulled each billing cycle via Nostr Wallet Connect.

// Create a monthly membership
await fetch('https://api.lnmerchant.com/subscriptions', {
  method: 'POST',
  headers: { 'Authorization': 'Bearer YOUR_API_KEY' },
  body: JSON.stringify({
    customerId: 'member-123',
    amountSats: 50000,        // ~$50/month in BTC
    intervalDays: 30,
    description: 'Golf Club Monthly Membership'
  })
});

Who’s already doing this?

The Bitcoin golf community is larger than you might think:

• The Bitcoin Golf Championship draws players to events worldwide
• LinksDAO, a golf-focused crypto community, has over 6,000 members across 400+ courses
• Multiple courses in El Salvador accept Bitcoin as legal tender
• Golf-focused crypto apps are emerging as the crossover audience grows

Early-adopter courses that accept Bitcoin tap into a passionate, affluent demographic that actively seeks out businesses where they can spend their crypto.

Getting started

1. Sign up for LN Merchant (free, takes 2 minutes)
2. Connect your Lightning wallet (NWC) and/or Solana address (USDC)
3. Add the payment option to your booking system
4. Start saving on every transaction

The golfers who pay with crypto today are typically enthusiasts who tip well, book premium times, and tell their friends. It’s a small but growing — and very loyal — customer segment.

Join the waitlist to start accepting Bitcoin and USDC at your course.