Best places to live with great muni golf

[mcanadiens]

I'm hardly well-traveled enough to have a good sense of it, but Ohio is pretty darn good in terms of sheer number of courses and cost. Most cities of any significant size have at least one muni course. Larger cities like Cincinnati, Dayton, Columbus and Cleveland have multiple courses that they run. Quality varies quite a bit, but most of them are entirely playable. Wealthy suburbs built a lot of higher end places in the late 80s and 90s. 

We still have more courses than demand really calls for, so prices are pretty low. I can pretty much show up a lot of places on a weekend afternoon and walk on. It's sort of an enjoy it while you can sort of thing, since you figure more of them will be shutting down in the near future.

[Dan Vesma]

13 hours ago, No Mulligans said:

The above are the weekend rates, weekdays it's actually better than that.  I play the North mostly... For residents, $41 regular weekday rate, $25 twilight currently starting a 2 PM and that gives you time to play 18.  If you are a senior, 62 or over, $25 to play the north on any weekday.  That is a great deal.

was going to suggest San Diego – I used the practice facilities as a junior, but never had the chance to play. If anyone fancies flying me out there, I'll cover our greenfees!

[mp33man]

I agree with David that central Florida has more courses than anywhere but that you do have to work to find a good one. That being said there are tons of semi-private courses that you can get onto for reasonable rates.

I also like NC/SC. Wilmington and Charlotte areas in particular are littered with cool little courses that are in good shape. 

[RussUK]

As a Brit I have to say im spoilt here in West Yorkshire. We have the likes of Bradley Park, Willow Valley G&CC (not a muni but pay & play) as well as a host of loveley 9 holers like Crow Nest Brighouse, Roundhay Leeds.

Most, if not all, the courses local to me offer pay and play at resonalbe prices (Bradley is £19 on a weekend)

[dave s]

Agree with others that municipal golf is not a good or real representation of area golf.  Cleveland has a collection of muni courses, some really nice and not so.  Also many local area communities own and operate golf courses.  Some operate them right into the ground because a golf course falls into the hands and management of the parks program and being able to mow weeds in a park and proper golf course maintenance is two largely different sets of responsibility.

My favorite local munis fall into three categories:  1) my 'home course' is the one many other cities visit to see how things are done correctly.  It's condition is on the level of Firestone CC, it's always full with leagues, high-school golf, outings and tournaments.  It's a cash cow for the city; 2) another local muni owned by another city has been for sale for 5 years because the city LOSES money keeping its doors open each season.  Plus, they are one of the more  expensive tracks in the area muni or open to public; 3) Another wonderful muni we play claims it isn't making money and the city is trying to sell it off to developers who would build a planned community of housing and retail in a great area currently occupied by the course.

When looking at what areas have the best munis it's kind of unfair.  Buying, building and maintaining golf courses is not a core competency for smaller cities.  They have bigger fish to fry than hiring competent PGA professionals to manage the overall quality of a golf course and run it profitably.

dave

[Club Rat]

I was pleasantly surprised at the quantity and quality of really good courses in the Denver area when I used to live in the ski country. Denver was and is still a Boom City with miles of open land up and down the front range where development of communities are built around golf courses.

Other areas I've visited which had an abundant of very good local muni's courses are Texas, Alabama, Mississippi, Georgia, Illinois to name a few.

I'm sure there are many hidden gems around. Hope someday my travels will venture to them, especially in the Northern States where I've heard many great things...