Are cart fees normal if you have a membership??

[meenman]

One thing to consider when joining a public or muni course. Most of us pay our membership fees so we can get tee times on weekend mornings.

Any type of public course with a halfway decent sales staff is going to book tournaments on weekend mornings here and there to boost course profits.

Membership at these places isnt really membership - it is pre-paying greens fees.

The main reason I joined a private club was a guarantee that there would not be any weekend morning tournaments (they book alot during the week and weekend afternoons - but it is at times when the course is always empty).

There is actually one outside Saturday tournament a year - but they make you well aware of it when you join.

And everyone has cart fees in Florida - as described previously walking is not condusive to most courses - not with hundreds of yards between greens and tee boxes.

[kleraudio]

Thats something to definitely consider, thanks man. I'll have to ask how far ahead I can book tee times and if I can book weekend mornings in advance.

Oh, and what club do you belong to? In Brandon? Mind if I ask what you are paying monthly? Ive emailed some private clubs but no one has gotten back to me yet.

Thanks

Jim

[meenman]

I am a member at River Hills in Valrico. I have full membership (golf,tennis,gym,etc) which is a little over $300/month with an $18 per person cart fee). Everything is family plan - they dont do singles.

I believe golf only is just over $200/month with unlimited driving range.

Northdale or Bloomingdale you can probably get as a single for about $125/month and you get reciprocal privleges at their other 13 clubs( of which 6-7 are central-west coast FL). Bloomingdale lets their members walk the back 9 before 8 or the front 9 after 3:30. (it's free for members)

[aca247]

where the hell is that in Monty? f*ck mass and its 20$$$ cart fees and 1000$$$ muni memberships im movin to Alabama!!!!!!

well Montgomery is in southern Alabama and my membership is a student membership adult membership is 750

[myke]

I am new to this forum and to golf, but I have the same plan as everyone else, to get better. My first Country Club membership cost me $89 per year for unlimited play during the week only. They make you pay for 2 years. I can walk, and there is a members discount for cart fee's $14 cart rental for members.

I started golfing in June and picked up a membership at this coarse http://www.tlccgolf.com/course.htm

myke

[kleraudio]

Thanks Meenman, I wonder if Northdale really is that cheap, I'll have to call them. You think they allow walking??

I'd rather walk northdale for 125 than the muni for 107.... That is assuming they will let me walk.

On the other hand, northdale is a bit farther from me than Rocky Point, so I dunno, and Northdale's back nine basically drowns if it rains for more than a couple hours.

I'll give em a buzz tomorrow.

200 bucks for unlimited golf and range at a CC is sweet! I wish they had something like that around here!

Jim

[kleraudio]

so its 125/month plus 18 cart fee to be a member there. I think thats pretty good, but you pretty much have to ride at northdale, walking would be hard there.... which sucks cuz I can only swing about 150/month for golf right now....

I dont know, damn cart fees are killing me!

[Chief Broom]

I dont know, damn cart fees are killing me!

For a golfer on a budget the first thing you need to do is lower your expectations and accept the fact that you won't be playing top quality courses on a regular basis. Instead most of your golf will be at a substandard place, but that's okay. How you strike the ball is in no way dependent upon the quality of the course you're playing. Yes your ball will find the occassional bare patch in the middle of the fairway, but what you'll find if you stick with it is that as you gain competancy playing courses with less than perfect conditions transfering that game to nicer courses is a snap.

The best way to improve your game is to play and if you refuse to make concessions you won't be able to play as much. The choice I've made is to stick with the local low cost muni so that I can play 2 or more rounds per week. The greens are hard and tiny, the fairways aren't always fair, but by playing and practicing more I'm seeing slow but steady improvement in every aspect of my game.

[DavidFehertysBike]

Carts should be banned from golf.

*steps down from soapbox*

[FHopper]

Carts should be banned from golf.

Since you can get up and down from that soap box you obviously can walk 18 holes. I am a fairly typical old guy and cannot walk more than two or three holes before one of my knees begins to swell. I played 72 holes in four days last week and have been on Celebrex ever since... and that is ridding in a cart. So assuming you are a nice person, I am sure you can see that carts pay for golf. With out people like me you would be playing disc golf.

[DavidFehertysBike]

Since you can get up and down from that soap box you obviously can walk 18 holes. I am a fairly typical old guy and cannot walk more than two or three holes before one of my knees begins to swell. I played 72 holes in four days last week and have been on Celebrex ever since... and that is ridding in a cart. So assuming you are a nice person, I am sure you can see that carts pay for golf. With out people like me you would be playing disc golf.

Sorry to hear that. I can understand making exemptions for medical issues or age to in order play golf. But i strongly disagree in that cart fees are what keep the sport of golf alive. Bethpage doesnt allow carts and they do pretty well. As do the other walking only courses ive played on over the years. If youre a normally healthy person you shouldnt be allowed to cart, IMO.

[Chief Broom]

If youre a normally healthy person you shouldnt be allowed to cart, IMO.

I agree, but the fact is carts make golf more appealing to a majority of the people who currently play. At the muni I frequent it's got to be 80-90% of rounds played where people chose to pay for the cart. I wonder about the profitability aspect of it, but I have to assume that courses make money off of cart usage otherwise they wouldn't do it or would charge even more than they do for a cart.

I've always likened riding in a cart to make golf about as strenuous an activity as watching TV.

[murpbrad]

Out of the 3 country clubs here plus the 2 city-owned facilities (2 courses each), only one offers free carts/range balls with annual memberships. I would much rather get a membership at our city courses because one annual fee allows you to play at any of the 4 courses at any time. But, you do have to pay for a cart if you want to ride. That's why I walk.

[goblue107501]

We have several private courses in my area. The 3 or 4 nicer ones the cart is included in the membership fee. The lesser ones you either pay a yearly fee for it, or pay a smaller yearly fee and pay $8-$10 per nine holes or something along those lines.

[Lefty22]

This is if you belong to a somewhere ridiculous.

Yeah - that's a "Country Club" in my opinion. I belong to a "golf club" and I think that is a bit different.

I pay $150/month unlimited golf with a cart included 7 days a week. Beer is $2.50 so on Saturday they usually get me for an extra $5.00+tip. No charge for my wife to drive the cart while I play either. My course is still open to the public so play gets slow at times and I'm sure it's not maintained as well from a course standpoint as private clubs, but my entire year is less than two months of what the other poster claimed he paid so I feel like I'm stealing golf from them when I go play. I may go right now...

[kleraudio]

Carts should be banned from golf.

I agree! Though I like riding, I would not mind if everyone (healthy of course) had to walk. Plus I could become a member at much nicer courses!

Jim

[Leftygolfer]

Yeah - that's a "Country Club" in my opinion. I belong to a "golf club" and I think that is a bit different.

It is a country club. It is alot easier to sell to the wife when there is a pool and restaurant. It is 4 miles from my house. I can't wait. The greens are perfect and the conditons are very nice. I am sick of waiting and not being able to play 9 in 2 hours including driving.

[Rob]

Most clubs charge for carts,or let you buy a yearly cart fee{$500-$600},and some have trail fees,if you live on a development and own a cart,etc.Some clubs charge a monthly fee{golf,carts,range},so check everything out beforehand.