Splurging for nicer courses. How often do you?

[sirhacksalot]

I have been pretty cheap when it comes to golf.  My local course membership is pretty low monthly and only pay for the cart fee if I am playing with others and if not I walk for free.  

That being said there are several really nice courses in and around my area that I haven't played mainly for them being cost prohibitive or so I say.  Sometimes Savannah Harbour is $60 on golf now which is about the cheapest I have seen it.

So on average I pay $20 and I would say that to $25-30 is my comfort zone.  How often do you splurge on nicer courses?  I am starting to think that if I don't set a precedent of once every couple of months or something, its just not going to happen.

[Patch]

I pay the high dollar to golf 8-10 times a year. ($100-$300+ range not including tips) Usually with my golf buddy friends. Those are just fun times golfing where some the pga players have played. Pebble, and Spy Glass are good examples. Having a good,  fun loving caddy is worth the extra coins too. 

Most of my golf (80%) is in the $20-$40 dollar range. I like to walk, so I don't pay extra for carts too many times. 

It matters little what I pay, as I normally shoot the same scores. Only thing that varies is my cost per stroke.

[WUTiger]

For our courses, the decent ones charge up to $70 for top price. But, they can be played for $30-40 (with cart) if you get them in non-peak time.

The lesser, beat-up courses charge about $20-25 in non-peak.

My wife and I pay $2,800 for a couple's selective annual membership at a semi-private. This includes cart and range balls. Only restriction: can't play before noon on Sat and Sun.

A management company operates our course, and I can play other courses in their system - space available - for $17. Given the quality of some of those courses, that's a super bargain.

We go to Myrtle Beach once a year, and even there you can get nice courses at $40-50 (with cart) at non-peak time. (Several MB courses start out well above $100, but drop to $80 with good deals.)

[mcanadiens]

Mostly, big spending of courses only occurs on the rare occasions that I travel. Our annual Outer Banks trip is usually good for three rounds on pretty decent courses. Usually we blow $40-$60 per man thru Golfnow (it would be way worse if we pay the rack rate). I also popped big money (for my standards) the last two years to play the TST Norwalk outing.

Other than that, there are a few local courses that I'll play in the $20-$35 range when I need a break from the City of Dayton's courses where my membership gets me $5 greens fees.

 

[No Mulligans]

Around here and for me, I'd say anything greater than $70 is splurging.  I probably do that 5 to 10 times a year.  I do want to play every open to the public course (that is half way decent) in the San Diego area which is probably in the neighborhood of 50 courses. That does include a few courses, that I'm aware of, in the $200 neighborhood (Maderas, Aviara, La Costa).

[Golfingdad]

A couple of times a year, I suppose.  I played Pelican Hill in December, La Costa earlier this year and both Kapalua courses last month - those are what I'd consider splurging.

[Yukari]

Some of you guys have some great deals!

Around here, walking is about $50 weekdays.  But they are very nice courses.  I splurge a few times a year ranging anywhere from $100 to $300.

[jkelley9]

I'm really lucky to live where I live. Specifically within my location in North Carolina. There are several courses within easy driving distance that are not only pretty nice, but super cheap. I pay $535 up front for free greens fees all year. I call this my home course. Since I walk almost exclusively, that's all I pay. That's like $45/month. And I have to say, I've been VERY happy with the course condition. And there are other "nicer" courses that I can play twilight for like $13. Sometimes they even let me play for free because I'm over there pretty often (#humblebrag lol).

I played at a so-so course while in Florida on vacation, my Dad and brother were there, so we played together. The course cost probably $50 per person but compared to my home courses it was in pitiful shape. I was considering playing at a ~$300 course alone (my dad is terrible at golf and had to borrow my old set of clubs) but I had a feeling I wasn't going to be satisfied.

One day, probably with my father-in-law and grandfather-in-law at some point (both golfers), we will play a really nice course. 

I'm thinking Pinehurst #2 since it's local and obviously a famous course. 

So to answer your question: almost never.

Edited September 1, 2016 by jkelley9

[Osnola]

I won't pay over $50 to play...generally look to play for $40 or less. I can play some decent courses for $40 down here...

[CarlSpackler]

Most of the nicer courses I have played have been compliments of a vendor.

[billchao]

About once a year or so, usually when I travel if I'm planning to golf. This year I'm not planning to golf when I travel but the championship course for the county I'm registered at is one of the top public courses in NJ so I'll probably play there sometime this year.

It's $65 cart included which isn't really that much but I walk at the other courses every weekend for half that price.

[sirhacksalot]

9 minutes ago, CarlSpackler said:

Most of the nicer courses I have played have been compliments of a vendor.

I've started to drop not so subtle hints to vendors.  They bring donuts, I look at them then say, " thanks but I dont eat carbs...I do golf though"

Edited September 2, 2016 by sirhacksalot
Cont speel

[Shindig]

I tend to play nicer courses in the summer, but often times they end up with a cost closer to what I pay for a normal course the rest of the year.

Normal for me is $40, give or take.  

Plus TST outings, of course, which are often at nicer courses than I usually play. 

[ol 3 putts]

I guess geography has a lot to do with price. In San Diego we have year round golf, but we also pay the sunshine tax. My home course Bonita CC is 45 on weekends and 30 weekdays with cart. I play ever other Monday with three older gents but we walk so closer to 22 bucks. Also twilight rates cut t way down and it starts at 1:00 pm at Bonita.

I splurge a few times a year, mostly in Dec when I'm in the Palm Springs area I'll pay $100-$200 a couple of times at places like Silver Rock and TPC Stadium course in La Quinta.

[14ledo81]

Never. With my funds, just golfing is splurging...

[Hardspoon]

13 minutes ago, ol 3 putts said:

I guess geography has a lot to do with price.

Very much so! When I lived in Philadelphia, an average weekend round was $65 or so. Now, in Pittsburgh, it is probably closer to $50. My "splurge" course is one near my house that is $70 on a weekend.

Overall, I'd say I'm very price-insensitive when it comes to golf.  I play so rarely (two or three times a month) that the cost of a round just isn't a factor.

I rarely even look at the price if I am playing a new course...and, if anything, I shy away from unknown courses that are too cheap since I assume they are lower quality.

[JonMA1]

I'm not sure where any really nice courses exist up here. Arcadia Bluffs was on a top 100 courses in the country list.  

https://arcadiabluffs.com/the-course/

Even though the course is close to my home and looks to have picturesque scenery, at $190 it's just too rich for my taste. I can't imagine it would be that great of an experience.

I'm off next week and at many courses, rates drop after labor day. So I'll play a couple of courses I normally wouldn't during peak season.

[Buckeyebowman]

1 hour ago, Yukari said:

Some of you guys have some great deals!

Around here, walking is about $50 weekdays.  But they are very nice courses.  I splurge a few times a year ranging anywhere from $100 to $300.

I guess some of us are lucky. Around here we have something called the My Loop Discount Golf Card. There are 2 versions, each featuring a dozen local courses at significant discounts over their regular rates. Most of the courses are very nice, but there are a couple of pedestrian throw ins.

There are also golf cards through Cumulus Radio (sports talk) featuring 3 of the best courses in the area, on 3 different cards. This year I was able to score cards that enable us to play Squaw Creek CC (fabulous layout), Tam O Shanter of PA (very nice, but suffering from the heat this year), and Bedford Trails, a decent public course, all for $77! Considering that Squaw Creek is now semi private, and if you show up with 100 bucks you can play it, this was a deal.

And, since the advent of GolfNow, Golf 18 Network, and the new PGA tour deal, these have enabled us to play courses that were either out of our reach, or that we just couldn't get on! Using them we've managed to play a number of wonderful courses east of Cleveland like Hawthorne Valley (Donald Ross), Tanglewood National, Little Mountain CC (Hurdzan/Fry), Quail Hollow (Weiskopf/Morrish), Fowler's Mill (Pete Dye), and Manakiki (Donald Ross).

I, and my friend, get bored playing the same old tracks all the time, so we look to branch out. Also, we're both retired, so we're always on the lookout for a bargain. If you guys aren't making use of these services, you're missing some great golf at excellent prices!