How is the overall golf experience where you live?

[wmiller]

It was.

During the winter, we get so many people down here (Snow Birds) that it chokes our city down to a crawl. During that time, I play the local muni outside of town in order to get a decent time for a round. At the more popular tourist traps, rounds take 5+ hours and cost twice as much or more than during the summer when I play them. Stupid people...

I just wish people would stay where ever their from, enjoy their winter, and let me enjoy mine.  ;)

[MSchott]

In the Detroit Metropolitan area we have dozens of high quality courses. It's a daily fee golfer's paradise as long as the weather holds out. The season is mid-April to the end of October or later. Most daily fee courses are $25-$40.00 to walk. The nicer higher end courses can run $70.00 on the weekends but prices have fallen lately due to the economy. Within a 20 mile radius of my house I'd guess there are 60 courses and at least 50 are worth playing. Extend that to 35 miles and there are well over 100.

[saevel25]

Right now i am live in south west Ohio, and i would say the golf is decent. Not many courses i would put on deals, there pretty much priced accordenly. Alot of variety, 30 to 60 dollars a round.

But really, North East Ohio is a better area for golf, alot better golf course, and better deals, the terrain is better for creating more interesting golf courses. Its to flat in the western part of ohio.

[mathews42]

I currently live in Albuquerque New Mexico.  We have a decent amount of courses in the area. I'd say at least 20.  Prices range from 25-130 ish.  I tend to frequent the city courses UNM Championship course, and the occasional Casino course from time to time.  I lean toward twilight rates and the happy hour which range between 15-45 dollars.  The weather here is great from spring to fall.  During the winter it gets pretty darn cold. I'm not sure how much golfing I'll be doing this winter.  This is my first season playing golf and usually fly fish during the winter months.  (less crowded)

[RPMPIRE]

I live in San Francisco and the Bay Area in general has lots of good courses. In San Francisco alone, you have TPC Harding Park and the Olympic Club (which I can't get into). We were fortunate to have these two courses host several tournaments like the '09 President's Cup, 2010 Charles Schaub Cup and next year's US Open at Olympic. Plenty of other courses if you're willing to drive to places like Monterey and Napa. Only time where the weather is probably bad is during the winter when we get a lot of rain and storms.

[tristanhilton85]

Well, I live in the Coachella Valley (Palm Springs area) so the golf experience out here is pretty awesome... we have some amazing courses out here and for 9 months out of the year the weather is pretty damn good; although the other 3 months are really hot (110 degrees).  It can get a bit pricey during the season but during those hot months, if you can deal with it, you can play those amazing courses pretty cheap.

[dhanson]

Originally Posted by lumpuckeroo

Kansas CIty is pretty decent, we have a surprising large amount of courses to chose from at pretty decent rates.  Public course green fees will run around $35, with some of the upscale semi-private courses going for $50-$80.  Summers can be a bit brutal with the heat and humidity, this year was one of them, we had over 3 weeks 100+ temps, and it plays havoc on the courses.

Spring and Fall have great weather, it is the rainy time of the year, but the temperature is really nice.  Weather is always the deciding factor in the Sping and Fall, but I have played as early as St. Patrick's day in pants and shirt sleeves and played all the way to the second weekend in November in pants and shirt sleeves.  December, January, February are usually to cold to play but you can get a 50 degree day, problem is it's usually in the middle of the week and days are pretty short,

to add:

there are a few "high profile" public courses outside of Kansas City that are priced ridiculously low: Colbert Hills , Sand Creek Station , and Firekeeper Golf Course . Colbert Hills (designed by Jim Colbert) is constantly ranked the best public course in the state, and is home to the Earl Woods National Youth Golf Academy (Manhattan, KS being the hometown of Earl Woods). Firekeeper was designed by Notah Begay. Sand Creek Station was ranked as one of the top 10 best new courses in the nation in 2007. you can play them all for under $50.

[stevejason]

The two municipal courses I play on charge $12 for 18 holes (senior walking). The other three courses vary from $15-18 for weekday senior walking. I just resumed playing again this year, most people seem reasonable. The weather warmed up enough to play in march. I don't know how far into the fall I'll be able to play. If it's sunny and above 40, I can play.

[sacm3bill]

I have about 30 courses within a 30-minute drive of either work or home (Sacramento/Roseville), and another dozen or so within 45 minutes. (See http://www.sacbee.com/2008/10/21/1427939/2011-interactive-golf-map.html for an idea of the density.) Almost all of them can be played for $30-40 (either normal rate or through online deals), less for twilight rates or at a couple of the munis. Cold and rainy a couple months out of the year, but still playable then. I have it pretty good.

[Gresh24]

I really like the golf around here - I am in central IL.  I think it just fits me well.  We can't play year round, but I don't have the need to.  There are many very nice public courses around here that can be played for $30.  I live in a small town in the center of several larger metropolitan areas, so I can get to a lot of different cities/areas courses.  There are some nicer higher end courses but, again, I don't really need that.  My area quality, quantity, and value of courses fits me very well, but I may not have the expectations of others

[ejimsmith]

in los angeles, the weather is near perfect year round, and we have dozens of golf from cheap to expensive.  if you throw in the palm desert area, which is only 2 hours from downtown LA, then you have a golf mecca out here!

[Kieran123]

I have around 3 weeks of golf left If I'm lucky. Then season doesn't start till April.....:pound: Maybe play this weekend....I really wanna get as much in as possible...gonna be a long, frustrating, cold, stupid, stressful, white, annoying, infuriating winter

[CJ Haws]

Yeah, I would love to play in 4.5 hours. I turned around and went back in and got a rain check after the first hole took us 30 minutes.

[Clambake]

I'm in San Diego, and would have to modestly describe golf here as damn near perfect.     And with due respect to the poster who described Los Angeles as golf mecca, I lived in LA for 20 years and there is no comparison - San Diego kicks LA's butt in golf! I actually gave up golf in LA for a few years because it was pretty frustrating with the tough-to-get tee times, painfully slow rounds, and brutal traffic to/from the course, but I rediscovered golf in SD when I found out how much better it is here.

Our weather is probably the most agreeable of anywhere in the US.   Golf is easily year round, with summer highs being moderate enough to play in the middle of the day without being sweltering, and winter lows being comfortable enough to play in a light sweater or wind shirt.   We do get a bit of a rainy season, usually in February, but it rarely affects golf.

There is plenty of course variety.   There are about 60 courses within a 30-40 minute drive from almost anyplace in the city, and if you want to extend the drive to an hour you'll find another 20-30 courses.   And Palm Springs isn't too far away, about 90 minutes.    Courses include a fair number of cheap and very family friendly courses, a lot of good mid priced nice courses, and some really nice semi-private upscale courses which aren't too unreasonably priced.    And if you're interested in private clubs, they range from kind-of-reasonable places up to very exclusive and expensive clubs.     We have courses that have hosted PGA, LPGA, and Nationwide tournaments, and of course there's our US Open venue at Torrey Pines which is available to anyone (and if you're a resident the cost is almost cheap, even with the price hikes the last few years).

Ease of access is great.    At most places you can call a day or two ahead and still get a decent time on the weekend, and if you're a midweek golfer you can pretty much play whenever and wherever.    And pace of play is usually pretty good, ranging from speedy at some of the more upscale courses to only slightly annoyingly slow (like Torrey on a Saturday mid-day).    And unlike our friends in LA, getting to and from the course is usually a breeze - for the most part our freeways here move pretty well.

The main downside here is the cost of living which by most comparisons is very high, especially housing.   But again compared to our LA friends, San Diego is a bargain.    When we moved here from LA our realtor was advising us how expensive housing was in San Diego, and I think we kind of insulted her because we were used to LA prices and would sort of laugh and ask "Is that all?" when she'd tell us the prices of the SD properties.     Other downsides are a dysfunctional city government, occasional brush fire season, a MLB team that typically sucks, and an underachieving NFL team.     But all are a small inconvenience to put up with compared to the real golf mecca of California!

[greatishten]

Absolutely amazing. (San Francisco Bay Area)

"Want to hit up Pebble Beach (usually one of the other, cheaper, courses nearby) ?" Um, yes?!

And the US Open is coming to the Olympic club next year? Not to mention plenty of courses around the area that are pretty much open all year round. I definately would get bored if I had to play the same course week after week.

Heck, even the area where I live (South Santa Clara County) has a few extremely good courses. A Jack Nicklaus (Coyote Creek GC) and Cordevalle (Frys.com Open). I can also see a full 18 hole course right outside my bedroom window (The Institute, it's a completely private golf course, also extremely nice).

It can get expensive, but there are plenty of private golf clubs open to the public for a decent price and extremely well groomed municipal courses as well.

[Chilli Dipper]

I live in the Atlanta area. I would say my home city provides a good, but not great, golf experience. The biggest gripe I would have about golf where I live is a lack of value. Simply put, most of the courses built in the last 20 years either cater to the upscale or aspire to it, so it's nearly impossible to find a round of golf for under $50 without going to Golfnow or some other booking website. Also, Atlanta lacks a municipal facility that compares to the likes of Bethpage, Cog Hill, or Torrey Pines, where championship-quality golf is made available to residents at a reasonable price. The best public course in the metro area (possibly Bears Best, a Nicklaus design that exemplifies the "country club for a day" trope) wouldn't match up with any of the top 20 private clubs: Golf Digest's best-in-state shortlist for Georgia includes 13 Atlanta-area courses, all private.

As for the positives, the golf season theoretically lasts all year (disregarding the intermittent cold snaps during the winter months, or the mid-summer heat), an abundance of good, if not spectacular, courses that offer great deals if you know where to look, and a very competitive golf retail market that means reasonable prices for equipment. All in all, it's not a bad place to play golf, but other places offer a lot more for the money.

[nevets88]

New York City. Decent enough course selection, a major time suck getting to them and decent tee times. Very few to no decent practice facilities and slow play - 6 hours. I'd imagine any large metropolis would be the same.

Good thing there are other things here to keep one occupied.

[visiondr]

I'm in Portland, Oregon.

We have an abundance of quality municipal and private courses, with low-reasonable green fees, available tee times and decent weather. Highs in the summer months are a dry 90, with lows in the 40s in the winter. Most avid golfers here play all year. In the winter we just wear sweaters and rain gear (not much different than Scotland, or so I hear). Naturally, the courses get pretty soggy in the winter rains. But, hey, I bet I can stop a ball on a green way better here in winter than in Arizona!

Ron