Are you a member?

[Peter_in_Atl]

How many of you are members of a golf club? Is it worth it? What are the advantages/disadvantages of joining somewhere?

[NCGolfer]

  Peter_in_Atl said:

How many of you are members of a golf club? Is it worth it? What are the advantages/disadvantages of joining somewhere?

I am not. That does not mean that it doesn't make sense for others though. In my area (NC), there are a plethora of

good golf courses that are relatively cheap to play. I thought about joining a course close to where I live, but decided against it since I knew I would want to play other courses on a regular basis. Money was another factor, but I wanted the flexibility and not to be tied down to one course. One advantage I of joining that I wish I had was the ability to go out there on a whim. There are many times when I want go out and play 9 or even just a few holes. Later in retirement, I would like to live in a golf course community and be able to walk out the back door onto the course. That will be bliss. Heck, I may have to retire early!

[Rafcin]

semi-private member. priced at $3000, with amount of golf I'm playing - gets me to an avg. green fee about $35 a round. Our public courses in NJ are either damn expensive (if you work for living and can play primarly on the weekends) or overcrowded. I drive 45 min to get to the course and it's worth every second. My course The members are the best bunch of guys one could put together on a course. We've fun every weekend, with tons of tournaments,matches etc.

[wyldkard]

I looked into a membership at the local CC here. $800 per year, still have to pay for green fees(at a discounted rate), and spend at least $200 per month on food/drinks at the Country Club bar and grill. But you get access to the tennis courts and swimming pool...not that I care for that stuff. It's about $33 for 18 during the week and $56 on weekends, but they have discounted days like Thursdays for $10 for 18($20 with a cart) and Saturdays after 5:00 p.m. it's the same price.

On my salary I can't afford to pay $200 per month on food and drinks AND play golf as much as I would like. So I travel around the local semi-private and public courses during the week to play whatever course has the cheapest green fees.

[Rafcin]

  wyldkard said:

..On my salary I can't afford to pay $200 per month on food and drinks AND play golf as much as I would like...

The right approach is to use Excel

Find out how many rounds in average you play, what's the avg. cost if you play semi's or public courses. You'd be surprised how fast does it add up. After that - put the "membership" model next to it and do the same. From what you described the $800+$56 a round sounds like a rip-off.. unless it's a sweet course and non-member paying $90 or so to play. In my case, counting 100 rounds for me and 40 for my wife I had it easy figured out, that's worth it. It hurts to spend so much at once, but playing "all over" we'd pay much, much more in the end effect...

[Peter_in_Atl]

The one I'm looking at is semi-private. They are under new ownership and might take it completely private. It's $750 to join and $120/month for me. They've been doing some renovations like expanding the tee boxes. It looks like they're headed in the right direction. The course isn't overly challenging but I do get to use every club in the bag during the round.

[NCGolfer]

  Rafcin said:

semi-private member. priced at $3000, with amount of golf I'm playing - gets me to an avg. green fee about $35 a round. Our public courses in NJ are either damn expensive (if you work for living and can play primarly on the weekends) or overcrowded. I drive 45 min to get to the course and it's worth every second.

Sound a lot like the course I almost joined. There are a bunch of great guys there that I enjoy playing with and it isn't crowded at all. If you can get into a course like that with some people you are comfortable with, it makes it worth while...especially at the right price. At least I can still play with them once or twice a month because it is semi-private.

[wyldkard]

  Rafcin said:

The right approach is to use Excel

Oh, I wasn't clear on that. $56 for 18 on weekends for non-members. With a Membership I think it's $20 for 18 on weekends and $12 during the week, but the $2400 a year I gotta spend on food at their overated restaurant is what kills me.

[Jeepthrills]

  wyldkard said:

Oh, I wasn't clear on that. $56 for 18 on weekends for non-members. With a Membership I think it's $20 for 18 on weekends and $12 during the week, but the $2400 a year I gotta spend on food at their overated restaurant is what kills me.

You guys are killing me. I live in Michigan and the private clubs within a reasonable distance for me are all $25,000-$60,000 for an initiation and monthly dues and minumums in the neighborhood of $500-$1000. There are other options, but for now I play on a league at a public course and I play Sundays at a county course. The county course is in great shape and they only charge $14 for nine and $22 for 18 to walk on the weekends.

My plan is to have a country club membership by the time I am 40. I will be 35 in October, so I've got a few years. By then, hopefully the finances and my schedule will allow for it. Right now, I'm putting in the time at work to put the financial part in place. Next will be making the time to play.

[Rafcin]

  wyldkard said:

... $2400 a year I gotta spend on food ...

is it food only? How about

? That would've been easier to handle I guess . I've a friend who has membership with the minimum in the restaurant. He's in a lucky position, that he's running a consulting firm. Takes his customers out to golf and nice dinner. After 3 - 4 evenings his minimum for a year is met and he can write it off as business expense.

[Rafcin]

  Jeepthrills said:

You guys are killing me. I live in Michigan and the private clubs within a reasonable distance for me are all $25,000-$60,000 for an initiation and monthly dues and minumums in the neighborhood of $500-$1000.

What's "reasonable distance"? All clubs within of 20 miles from my house are even higher than 25K to start / 10K/year (i.e. Ridgewood CC, which is a solid 3W from my house

). I drive 50 miles one way. 45min, since it's all highways. If it's the only thing I can afford - it is a REASONABLE distance County courses are overcrawded and impossible to get a tee-time before 3pm. We've (in Bergen County NJ) 5400 registered golfers... 3 1/2 courses. You do the math.

[iacas]

I'm a member (see my sig for the link). $500 special initiation pricing, $2500/year in dues, and $600/year in required food purchases. For that price, my wife and I get some good food and a lot of golf, even with a shortened season as we have here in the northeast.

It was a bargain. As much as I play, and with the business contacts I've made, it's a good deal.

[AtlantaGolfer]

  Peter_in_Atl said:

The one I'm looking at is semi-private. They are under new ownership and might take it completely private. It's $750 to join and $120/month for me. They've been doing some renovations like expanding the tee boxes. It looks like they're headed in the right direction. The course isn't overly challenging but I do get to use every club in the bag during the round.

Which course is that?

[sevenfourate]

Well over here in the UK im a member of a really super local club and it costs just 497 UK pounds sterling (800 US dollars ?) a year and thats it.As much golf as you want - 365 days a year if you must.There is a one-off "joining fee" of 300 UK pounds sterling (550 US dollars) in your first year only - this is to try to stop people jumping to different clubs every year.

Those costs are very,very typical of a course in my area.Around London and the home counties memberships can typically be way over £1000 (1800 US dollars) but its gotta to be something extremely special before you start getting into big money down,big memberships AND monthly fee's scenario.

We may not have the weather typically , but it looks like we aint got your prices either

[hig4s]

Yes and No,, I have a limited membership at a local club. Full memberships around here you still pay cart fee, it is about $2000 to $5000 initiation fee, and $1200 to $1800 a year. And some have food minimums. Plus finding discount rounds here is not that hard and I like to play different courses.

So full membership just didn't seem worthwhile.. But one of the courses here has a limited membership for $39 a month with no init fee. I get unlimited driving range, cart fee only on twilight golf, and free group lessons when there is an opening. It is only a mile from my house and I use the driving range about three times a week. I find that alone worth the $39.

[Peter_in_Atl]

  AtlantaGolfer said:

Which course is that?

Dogwood in Austell.

[RainmanP]

At this point in my golfing life I prefer playing a variety of courses. Like NCGolfer my retirement dream would be to live in a golf community, belong to the club, and have my own little golf cart charging in the garage for my daily round, hopefully most of the time with my wife, if I could ever get her out to the range to continue her lessons.

[flap]

The complex that I have land at in Myrtle is 5,200 year unlimited on any of the 4 courses,unlimited range,carts included 9 hours of lessons apiece usga handicap.As much as the Mrs.and I play it is a steal.