Do You Have a Set Budget for Golf Expenses?

[lastings]

I try not to spend more than 75% of my paychecks on golf..  

[allenc]

I play a couple times a week for fees of under $50.  I only upgrade clubs every few years.  I take a couple nice golf trips per year.  To me that doesn't add up to enough to have to worry about budgeting.

[chilepepper]

I don't budget per se but rather do whatever I can to keep it reasonable. 

Im in Minnesota for 5 months so I join a club here. I make out much better than the daily rate as I play 3+ times a week, range balls and cart included. 1600

in San Diego I join 2 " players club" deals. One gives me 200 rangeballs a day and discounted greens fees 39.95 month. The other is 250 year, gets me a pittance of free range balls and 7 or 8 free rounds at their courses and discounted greens fees. It's a bit better than a wash just using the free rounds. I pretty much stick with the courses these two offer but will hit others occasionally. 

[Mr. Desmond]

I am an idiot when it comes to golf. But I have no wife and the child's college is paid. Just need to set more aside for later. This is my year to revamp my swing and settle down. Over a year ago, bought the PXG irons and expect them to last 4 more years. I am happy with the remainder of the bag. Fits me.

Finish out the year with 12 more lessons and then in 2018, I should be playing more and tweaking instead of revamping. That means traveling and playing. Living in N TX means I can play 10 months out of the year, sometimes 12, but the weather last year was weird.

Edited September 6, 2017 by Mr. Desmond

[No Mulligans]

I don't have a budget but I'm not a big spender.

Being a member of The Players Club has been great for my golf spending.  $30 a month, free range ball, discounted greens fees.  I play 18 on an executive for $5 before 8am on weekdays.  I love that as I'm able to completely not consider the expense of playing there.  It's close enough to free that it just doesn't register as an expense.

[dennyjones]

Being retired, my only vise is golf.    My wife is still working and I golf at least four times per week.   I have a membership at a local public course and play with three different groups almost weekly.   I don't waste money but I do spend freely on golf.  

[Hardspoon]

I don't really need to limit myself to a budget for golf; time is my limiting factor.  I could play every single round at the most expensive daily-fee course I could find, and I wouldn't come close to exceeding what I could afford to spend.

I also have no real urge or tendency to buy golf equipment (other than my putter and wedges, all of my clubs are over 7 years old), so that certainly helps.

[MarvChamp]

You all are sooooo responsible! I am 72 and have no intentions of retiring. But I make sure I spend about 1 1/2 hours at our great range on Tues and Thurs PM (and sometimes on Sunday). Then my little group plays every Sat possible at as many different courses as we can. (I do not belong to a club any longer.) My "budget" is for my heart and my health as well as for golf. I DO know how much I am spending, though; I just call it a "reasonable spending plan." Like everything else in life, all our circumstances are different, and so our approaches are ddifferent. This is a very good topic! -Marv

[Vinsk]

Shamefully I have no budget with golf. I would not want to know what I spend yearly on it either. 

[Denny Bang Bang]

I'm lucky enough at this point in my life to not have to think much about a budget, however, I'm not a big spender either (I'm not into having the latest "things" or expensive vacations).  Between a demanding job, and a family, it also helps that I don't have much time to spend much money haha.  The only activities I enjoy that really cost any money are golf and skiing.  Everything else is a little money up front, but very minimal cost in doing the activity itself (fishing, mountain biking, camping, hiking, guitar & piano).  

I did have a golf budget for many years though (I used to budget for every penny coming in and going out).

[RussUK]

One thing that i di that helps is to play more winter golf. The courses round me are built on quick draining soil so are in play all year round including the greens. Sometimes there isnt much saved in green fees (maybe a few £ per round) but it "costs" less time to play a round as less people are out on the course (just the crazies like me)