I canceled my membership today

[jamo]

  clearwaterms said:

i wish some places around here would consider doing that. THey just opened a new course in my town. It is a full service country club (pool, ice rink, workout facility, 18 holes of golf, etc) The sign up fee is $125k and the dues are expected to be somewhere in the neighborhood of $850 a month. In this economy, believe it or not they are not having trouble selling them (although i think it is only about 60% sold at the moment)

$125K initiation fee?!?!?! That's crazy! The course in my town is $40K initiation and $10K a year, and one a few towns over is $70K initiation fee and $20K a year.

[Greg]

  jamo said:

$125K initiation fee?!?!?! That's crazy! The course in my town is $40K initiation and $10K a year, and one a few towns over is $70K initiation fee and $20K a year.

You guys are talking monopoly money, geez around here its $1000 a year for membership to a local country club and i think thats way too much. I go to play golf, could care less about the pool or lounge or anything else. I dont have a membership anywhere, give me the freedom to play whereever i want without feeling like i have to get my moneys worth. Of all the courses around here, the most expensive is $50 for 18 with a cart on the weekends, most are $30 or less. A course i had a membership a couple years ago cost $300 for a full year.

[max power]

Golf that I can't afford=no golf at all. I play the occasional nice course, especially in Arizona during the summer (Starr Pass this weekend), but I'd rather play every week than have to save up for a round here and there.

[clam fist]

Hopefully you can find another cheaper way to get your golf fix.

[clearwaterms]

  jamo said:

$125K initiation fee?!?!?! That's crazy! The course in my town is $40K initiation and $10K a year, and one a few towns over is $70K initiation fee and $20K a year.

it isn't cheap thats for sure, but I have to be honest with you, i think if I could afford it, I would probably do it.

http://www.chicagohighlands.com/membership

[laconic517]

  clearwaterms said:

it isn't cheap thats for sure, but I have to be honest with you, i think if I could afford it, I would probably do it.

125k for that course seems like a huge ripoff. You better be oakmont or something. How is that place 125k? I doubt Medinah is that much.

[Weezy]

I pay 250 a month for like 6 months and get all the range balls i want plus as many rounds as i want and its a super nice course. However i live in golf hell for an equipment junky like myself as there isn't a golf store around for about 2 hours drive and the pro shop is minimally stocked. I gladly take the cheap golf however :)

[Mizzoujohn]

  clearwaterms said:

i wish some places around here would consider doing that. THey just opened a new course in my town. It is a full service country club (pool, ice rink, workout facility, 18 holes of golf, etc) The sign up fee is $125k and the dues are expected to be somewhere in the neighborhood of $850 a month. In this economy, believe it or not they are not having trouble selling them (although i think it is only about 60% sold at the moment)

I think the people who have $125k sitting around for an initiation fee aren't feeling the economic struggles very much...

[clearwaterms]

  laconic517 said:

125k for that course seems like a huge ripoff. You better be oakmont or something. How is that place 125k? I doubt Medinah is that much.

I am pretty sure this place is trying to be Medinah. It is right next to Oak Brook which has Butler, and just north of Hinsdale and south of Elmhurst. it has some good towns to pull in people from and the facilities that you can see from the street look nice. Pool with water slides, ice rink, bowling alley, HUGE clubhoue (but that isn't built yet)

[clearwaterms]

  Mizzoujohn said:

I think the people who have $125k sitting around for an initiation fee aren't feeling the economic struggles very much...

i don't know about that. everybody is feeling it. Sure they are not living pay check to pay check, but this economy has hit everybody. Even people in "recession proof" industries are feeling the pain in it. (not that it applies to this) but I heard a figure at a party over the weekend that 20k illinois teachers were being laid off for the 2011 school year.

[hero419]

It cost 7 bucks for me to walk 9.

125K just to join?

How do you sleep at night?

[alf174]

Is the $125K for an equitable stack (ownership)? Then it may be an reasonable investment.

[Tomboys]

  Boeing777 said:

I canceled my membership today, after only 1 1/2yr of playing there. It was costing about 350$ a month, and i had to pay a babysitter 50$ to watch my girls cause my wife is a flightattendent. So it was a min of 400$ a month to play. And i haven't been playing that much, so i bit the bullet and canceled it today. It was a sad day today.

That's unfortunate to hear, but given the current economy, at least your family still has a job to go to. As far as the cost of kids, well, it doesn't get a whole heckuva lot better as they get older. I have two boys in college and the costs (without even factoring in tuition) can be pretty hefty. While they have jobs (part-time), they don't have health insurance available to them through their jobs, so I have to foot the bill for that. And, unless you're willing to shell out $300 per month (each) in premiums, you're going to have some sort of deductible.

Recently, one of my sons woke up with abdominal pain. He went to the doctor and got some blood work and a few x rays. Since his policy has a $1,500.00 deductible, I get the privilege of paying the entire $700.00 bill. On top of that, I still have to pay the $150.00 monthly premium. Unfortunately, from what I'm being told, the premiums will be going up (not just for me, rather, the entire nation as a whole). The good news is that there's nothing seriously wrong with him--just a muscle strain, so I'm thankful for that. At this point, I'm just happy--and somewhat surprised, that I still own a set of golf clubs.

[Cornbread]

  Tomboys said:

As far as the cost of kids, well, it doesn't get a whole heckuva lot better as they get older. I have two boys in college and the costs (without even factoring in tuition) can be pretty hefty. While they have jobs, they don't have health insurance available to them through their jobs, so I have to foot the bill for that. And, unless you're willing to shell out $300 per month in premiums, you're going to have some sort of deductible.

You know... you could stop playing those $45 ProV's and get some TF Gamers for $14.

[Art_Vandelay]

I used to have a membership as well, but when the weather only cooperates for half of the year it seems smarter to just pay greens fees during the season.

[Varsity_Golf]

  Boeing777 said:

I canceled my membership today, after only 1 1/2yr of playing there. It was costing about 350$ a month, and i had to pay a babysitter 50$ to watch my girls cause my wife is a flightattendent. So it was a min of 400$ a month to play. And i haven't been playing that much, so i bit the bullet and canceled it today. It was a sad day today.

Are you, sir, playing at Augusta National? JK. Regardless, this is definatly a sad day :'[

Varsity_Golf