How Far Is Too Far to Travel to Play a Normal Round?

[Bonvivant]

Farthest that I have been is 50 miles (and minutes), but I would travel that on any weekend day if someone wanted to play at a particular place. 

This year I bought the pass that @mcanadiens brought up. I live about 2 minutes from 2 of the courses, about 7 from another, and the last 3 courses are appropriate 10-15 minutes away depending on traffic. Since I have paid for unlimited golf at these 6 courses, I probably wont be going too many other places this year. 

[Patch]

I regularly travel 90-100 miles (one way) to golf. That said there are well over 30+ courses I could play that are with in 25 miles of me. 

I travel the extra miles to golf on courses I like to play. (Mesquite/Laughlin Nv) These are normal rounds for me. A side from the gas money, their green fees are just as affordable as the near by local courses. I also think their courses are better maintained. 

[Benit0]

2 hours ago, geo63 said:

185 courses between 2 minutes and an hour away. I never gave any thought to this until I saw this thread. I would only go to the farther ones if someone else wanted to go and they were driving. 

You have so much more courses in the US then in Canada!! It's crazy. I would love to have that many choices nearby.

How Many Golf Courses Are There In The World? - Almost 40,000

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How Many Golf Courses Are There In The World? - The world is home to almost 40,000 golf courses, check out how many each country has...

Number of golf courses in the world – 38,864

USA – 16,752

Japan – 3,169

Canada – 2,633

England – 2,270

Australia – 1,616

[mcanadiens]

10 minutes ago, Benit0 said:

You have so much more courses in the US then in Canada!! It's crazy. I would love to have that many choices nearby.

But realize that the U.S. is only No. 8 if you think about it per capita.

 

[Bonvivant]

20 minutes ago, Benit0 said:

You have so much more courses in the US then in Canada!! It's crazy. I would love to have that many choices nearby.

How Many Golf Courses Are There In The World? - Almost 40,000

---

How Many Golf Courses Are There In The World? - The world is home to almost 40,000 golf courses, check out how many each country has...

Number of golf courses in the world – 38,864

USA – 16,752

Japan – 3,169

Canada – 2,633

England – 2,270

Australia – 1,616

This is deceiving considering that most of Canada's population is within 100 miles of the border. If the US was populated similarly, we would have far fewer courses. If you took out a 100 mile cross-section of the US and had a similar course density, we would have less than Canada by a lot. We would have closer to 1,000 courses, not 16k. Unless you live above the 100 mile north of the US mark in Canada, your course density should be similar, if not better than the states. 

https://aussiegolfer.com.au/countries-with-most-golf-courses-per-capita/

Edited January 16, 2020 by Bonvivant

[boogielicious]

4 hours ago, David in FL said:

Really?

I can’t think of any place in the greater Orlando area that doesn’t have at least a half dozen courses within a 30 minute drive.

[Wally Fairway]

I have 3 areas that I call my home areas (where I live, where I grew up & where some friends have a summer place that I frequent) and there are there are 20-25 courses within 15 minutes of those areas. That is what I would call my normal drives, for an outing or if someone has a great deal at a destination course...besides that I don't play each course in my home areas every year, so I'd drive that 15 minutes for a normal round.

[nevets88]

6 hours ago, billchao said:

For my normal courses I drive 30-45 minutes. 

Wow, really? I thought you were closer.

I normally drive 30 minutes, but given the capriciousness of traffic, that could easily turn into 1 hour. 

30 is my limit though. Thank the gods for podcasts.

[bkuehn1952]

7 hours ago, RussUK said:

 How far would you travel to play golf (just a normal everyday course for everyday players)?.

My rota of every day courses varies from 5 minutes to roughly 30 minutes by car.  I will drive up to one hour (one way) depending on the situation (tournament, group of guys I really enjoy, course I haven't played).  Beyond that, as someone else said, the course or situation would need to be special for me to take a longer road trip.

[nevets88]

Here during peak playing times though, when rounds can be 6+ hours, it actually pays to drive 30 minutes more to a more remote less busy course, play a 4.5 hour round plus the 1 hour extra travel time, instead of having to tolerate a 6.5 hour round. So if you're normally driving 30 minutes, 1 hour becomes "reasonable" because you actually save 1 hour.

[Mr22putt]

My typical drive is 30-45 minutes....traffic now s*cks in Vancouver.

I'll go up to 90 min once in a while...but mostly car pooling to those courses.

[billchao]

8 hours ago, lastings said:

yeah, i guess I'm not too familiar.   My brother-in-law lives in the Lake Nona area and when we go golf when I'm down there is always seems like we have to driver forever.  

I rove forever to play golf with @David in FL, but that’s just traffic on I4 😃

2 hours ago, nevets88 said:

Wow, really? I thought you were closer.

Nope. I usually play Green Knoll which is 23 miles away. Neshanic is a little under 30.

[nevets88]

Off-topic, but my dream is for it not to be a headache and logistically complex to play or practice golf. Everyone out there driving 10 minutes to play, ya'll are very lucky.

[Benit0]

19 hours ago, Bonvivant said:

This is deceiving considering that most of Canada's population is within 100 miles of the border. If the US was populated similarly, we would have far fewer courses. If you took out a 100 mile cross-section of the US and had a similar course density, we would have less than Canada by a lot. We would have closer to 1,000 courses, not 16k. Unless you live above the 100 mile north of the US mark in Canada, your course density should be similar, if not better than the states. 

https://aussiegolfer.com.au/countries-with-most-golf-courses-per-capita/

I agree that the majority of canadian population lives inside 100 miles of the U.S border. As for the Quebec province (can't talk about other places in Canada), I have few option for a public golf club that is affordable and decent inside a 1h drive. A couple of golf courses near me are private, very expensive or have just closed in recent years. Of course, if i'm willing to spend between 60-80$ CAD to play a round, there is more options available but I won't be playing a lot of rounds if I pay that much for a round of golf. I manage to found deals and promotion but you have to search for it. Maybe it's a misconception but I had the feeling when I went to vacation trip in the U.S that you had more affordable option for golf.

Edited January 17, 2020 by Benit0

[mcanadiens]

39 minutes ago, Benit0 said:

I agree that the majority of canadian population lives inside 100 miles of the U.S border. As for the Quebec province (can't talk about other places in Canada), I have few option for a public golf club that is affordable and decent inside a 1h drive. A couple of golf courses near me are private, very expensive or have just closed in recent years. Of course, if i'm willing to spend between 60-80$ CAD to play a round, there is more options available but I won't be playing a lot of rounds if I pay that much for a round of golf. I manage to found deals and promotion but you have to search for it. Maybe it's a misconception but I had the feeling when I went to vacation trip in the U.S that you had more affordable option for golf.

Oh. I don't really doubt that Quebec may not really be the hotbed of golf. Maybe Ontario is hogging all the courses. 

Some areas of the U.S. have a lot more courses than others. Obviously you got your resort type places, but the mid-western states, like my home state of Ohio, have a bunch of courses as well.   Of course, the mountainous and less populated areas will have a lot fewer options.  

This is a bit dated, but it gives you an idea. 

America’s Most Golf-Rich States

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AMERICA’S MOST GOLF-RICH STATES >> You might think that America's Sun Belt states boast the largest numbers of golf courses. But that's not exactly the case.In fact, you may be surprised by the volume of courses in...

 

 

Edited January 17, 2020 by mcanadiens

[NJpatbee]

My home course is about 20 minutes away.  I would drive up to an hour to play a good different course on occasion.

[HJJ003]

Depends on how good your normal course is! My home course is like 11 minutes door to door, but I will travel anywhere in Houston to play a course I haven't played before. 30-45 minutes is the longest drive I make for any courses in my normal rotation. And that's really just traffic related. 

[Double Mocha Man]

2.5 miles to the course I use for practice, a no-brainer. 13.5 miles to the course I usually play with my golf friends.  I have no issue with traveling up to an hour to play a nearby good course.  I'll travel 3000+ miles to play a destination course.