Where do you normally play?

[woodzie264]

Where do you play & why? Cost, crowds, proximity?

Edited July 7, 2016 by woodzie264
Addtl info

[DaveP043]

Stoneleigh GC, Round Hill, VA

Why:  Quality of course design and maintenance, friendly membership, cost, availability of tee times, regular tournaments, interclub competitions available.  

[boogielicious]

There are a number of nice public courses north of Boston that I play routinely with my friends and wife. In general, the are $40-45, well kept, walkable and have nice staff.

[Pete F]

Neshobe Golf Club, Brandon, Vermont

http://neshobe.com/

Why: Great course, great people, where else would you want to be?

[Patch]

My home course is one of the best kept secrets in Southern Nevada. That being the Boulder City Public GC.  6 miles from my digs. Very well maintained. Very affordable. Not crowded during weekday play. Lots of shade trees for the summer heat. Good staff running the place. Last but not least, a very usable practice area. I probably play 60% of my rounds there. The rest of my local rounds are spread out all over the rest of the area. Maybe 9-10 different courses. And then there are those road trip courses where ever I find them. 

[mcanadiens]

The City of Dayton, OH municipal courses: Kittyhawk (home), Community and Madden.

My big X-mas/birthday gift from my family is a Dayton privilege rate card. It lets me play for $5 green fees all year and is the only way on my golf budget I can play the 60-plus rounds a year that I average. 

The courses are about what you'd expect out of a city-run golf program. Course conditions are usually playable, but never exceptional. Nice days necessarily mean crowded courses. At the same time, it's getting to be home for me. If I won the lotto tomorrow, I'm not sure I'd change.

[paininthenuts]

I am a member of a municipal course. 7 day membership costs me £360 a year. A pound a day isn't bad really

[Groucho Valentine]

I used to mostly play at private clubs. Since I'm no longer young enough for associate memberships, i cant justify the expense anymore.  I stick to public golf mostly, and play some private clubs through friends or contacts. I play at my old club quite often, though. 

Edited July 7, 2016 by Groucho Valentine

[WUTiger]

My wife and I have a year-to-year membership at a semi-private.

It's a Selective membership: unlimited M-F play, Sat-Sun-holiday can play after Noon; cart and unlimited range balls included.

A couple of reasons for this. Stonewolf is operated by Walters Golf Management, so  you can play reciprocal at about a dozen area courses - space available - for $17 (w/cart).

Also, it just happens that half of area courses are semi-private, due to 1990s copycat building boom; our county only has one true private-equity club.

There's a couple of groups I play with. Despite what some posters say, some semi-privates have a lot of community spirit.

Basically, it's just golf: no tennis, no pool, no struggling wannabe four-star restaurant that loses $150K a year and triggers a supplementary assessment. (Snack bar is good, just not fancy unless you have them cater).

[djfajt71]

For the most part, I play at my home club, Bayou Country Club in Seminole, Florida.  I usually walk 9 on Monday and Tuesday after work.  On Weds, I'm in a 9 hole league at the local muni near my house.  I voted private since most of my time is spent there.

[DaveP043]

16 minutes ago, WUTiger said:

Basically, it's just golf: no tennis, no pool, no struggling wannabe four-star restaurant that loses $150K a year and triggers a supplementary assessment. (Snack bar is good, just not fancy unless you have them cater).

This is an interesting, and very fair, comment.  I've read that food service at almost all private clubs loses money, and most times it gets absorbed into the overall club budget.   The members usually want the high-quality food, but would rather not see the appropriate costs on the menu, so its better to simply hide the true costs and pay for them with dues and other revenue sources.

We're lucky, in that our F&B actually makes money most years, but the ability to do that comes through hosting of events and other events.

[xcott]

25 minutes ago, WUTiger said:

My wife and I have a year-to-year membership at a semi-private.

It's a Selective membership: unlimited M-F play, Sat-Sun-holiday can play after Noon; cart and unlimited range balls included.

A couple of reasons for this. Stonewolf is operated by Walters Golf Management, so  you can play reciprocal at about a dozen area courses - space available - for $17 (w/cart).

Also, it just happens that half of area courses are semi-private, due to 1990s copycat building boom; our county only has one true private-equity club.

There's a couple of groups I play with. Despite what some posters say, some semi-privates have a lot of community spirit.

Basically, it's just golf: no tennis, no pool, no struggling wannabe four-star restaurant that loses $150K a year and triggers a supplementary assessment. (Snack bar is good, just not fancy unless you have them cater).

Sounds like my joint, except I can play any days all inclusive and can book out as far in advance as I want. 

[paininthenuts]

3 hours ago, Pete F said:

Neshobe Golf Club, Brandon, Vermont

http://neshobe.com/

Why: Great course, great people, where else would you want to be?

God, I could lose some balls on that fairway 

[nevets88]

There are some amazing courses around me but very private and it's not like I can afford (or pass the interview) to join anyway, it's like buying and maintaining a 10 bedroom house so whatever's closest, I'm on working on my game mode right now, not really concerned with how great the course is, but how amenable it is for practicing.

[WUTiger]

2 hours ago, DaveP043 said:

This is an interesting, and very fair, comment.  I've read that food service at almost all private clubs loses money, and most times it gets absorbed into the overall club budget.   The members usually want the high-quality food, but would rather not see the appropriate costs on the menu, so its better to simply hide the true costs and pay for them with dues and other revenue sources. ...

Sounds like your crew does well! For a look at club accounting, see ... Golf vs. Lunch

2 hours ago, xcott said:

Sounds like my joint, except I can play any days all inclusive and can book out as far in advance as I want. 

My wife and I could have paid an extra $900 for play any days, but we rarely can make mornings on Saturday and Sunday.

2 hours ago, nevets88 said:

There are some amazing courses around me but very private and it's not like I can afford (or pass the interview) to join anyway, ...

You might be surprised... Check out this WSJ piece... Fore Sale: Golf housing slump

[No Mulligans]

Public/muni's for me.

I would join club if we had something like Neshobe. I looked at the prices, I'm not aware of anything around here that has that quality at that price.

6 hours ago, Pete F said:

Neshobe Golf Club, Brandon, Vermont

http://neshobe.com/

Why: Great course, great people, where else would you want to be?

 

[101101]

Semi Private

Fortunate to have a few within 20 miles that have peak times and are pretty much wide open otherwise.      Nice to know I can get around in 2.5-3.5hours max and can pretty much walk on when my work schedule has some open blocks.

The pro shops are extremely happy to have the play ($) and typically are spot on for me if they've got groups on the tee sheet that are slow or there's usual club group times I should stay clear of.

The two public muni's can play 4.5+ hours even off peak....

[MrDC]

Public, I bounce around, I don't think I'd be happy playing the same course all the time.

I'll probably play about a dozen different courses this season, all within an hour's drive.