range pass or membership

If you are 13+ handicapper get the range pass (and a couple lessons if you can swing it).

 

If you are under 13 spend all your time playing.

.............the best way to improve is to play golf a lot.  Hitting from a mat isn't.........well, you know.

Range pass doesn't necessarily mean mats. Look into both... the course near my house has a 1400 year membership, but adding a range pass is only 200 more. If you have to pick tho, pick course if your short game is what's holding you back.

I would pick course. If you can find time when it's empty you can treat it as a practice round. Drop multiple balls and play different shots. Plus you will be playing for free (well not really but you get the point) and pay a couple bucks for balls here and there. As opposed to hitting range balls and paying to play.

the best way to get better is to PLAY GOLF!

 

just saying.....there is no easy fix.

Get a membership at a course, it's the best of both worlds, my home course is pretty nice, but I might be moving to a much nicer course that formerly had PGA Tour annual events at (The old Air Canada Championship).  It has a grass range and two full 18 hole courses and a short game area (putting greens,sand traps, pitching greens) and even a golf gym that hence the name is all geared to golf.  My current course has 18 holes, decent grass range but very limited short game area. 

I would just have to go through and price it out. How many rounds do you plan to golf over the period of said membership? Before investing a decent amount of money in a membership you have to realistically evaluate how often you can golf to make sure a membership would be worth it. What is the cost per round? Take the membership cost, divide by cost per round=number of rounds you would have to golf to get your money's worth versus just paying per round, this is your break even point (for example if a membership costs $1500 and 18 holes costs $50, 1500/50=30 so you would have to golf 30 rounds over the year to break even). If you don't think you will be able to meet this break even point, you'll probably find more value in purchasing a range pass and paying per round.

When you have unlimited golf privileges at your disposal........you'll play more golf than you ever thought possible.   LOL......I couldn't imagine doing it any other way.

You may find a course that has full time range as part of its membership.  A few have that in my area.
 

yes..many public courses include the range in the annual membership.  Funny sidenote:  I've had unlimited range use for many years, and still never use it.   I just like to play.......

 

I agree that range use is a great benefit, but it's just not what I like to do. 

I face that tough decision every year. Being able to play whenever you want sounds great but a few things make it suck.

1. Playing by yourself isn't a lot of fun.
2. Walking even just 9 holes gets tedious and is quite the time investment
3. The course fills up when the weather gets nice and then I don't even want to be out there wasting time waiting for people

 

I do agree though that playing will make you better than practicing but man can the same course get monotonous.

I would get the course membership. My golf course has a $175 unlimited range membership but the close it at six. I would often go out and plan to hit the range.....and then just play instead.... If the range was open late I would love to bang out balls after dark. I used to use a range in Kansas pretty often after nine at night.

1. I'm not sure where you are coming from.  If you have a membership....it's pretty easy to find other members for a regular group even at a public course.  IE....I like to play early, and I have regs I play with every week at first light.   If you're new....just show up at your preferred time, and you'll find them.   For me...I show up early and it was really easy to get hooked-up with a regular group.

 

2. Cart is included.....I guess you can walk if that's your thing. I choose not to because I don't have to pay for it.  I can show up late in the evenings and skip around the course and play a ton of holes......I just go to the empty spaces.   Nothing beats that.............

 

3.....see number 1!!  I go to the course alone in the evenings at times, but I skip around traffic or pair up depending on the situation. .  It just depends......  If I see empty holes.....I go there....I can tee off at 530pm and log 24-27 holes.....it just depends.   having a regular weekend group is easy.............you can play alone too, but it's your choice.

The courses in my area basically charge double membership (to include cart) I only knew of a few others members and we weren't generally out at the same time. (I would try to beat the afterworkers and go at 4 ) And by the time the weather warmed up even that didn't work, just crowded.

Playing multiple balls on a hole is fine (as long as you are not holding anybody up). You get to hit a lot more shots from different locations on the course. But dropping multiple balls in the same spot is a no-no. That chews up the course. That is what the range is for.
To the original poster, I would always go course membership. There's nothing like playing.