Why pay over 100 to play a round?

[Usmcgolfmkw]

I’ve been playing for two years now fell in love with the sport and I want play for the rest of my life. But I can’t find a reason to pay anything over 65 bucks to play a round! Does anyone else pay a ridiculous amount of money to play every week? And why should I pay that much to play? 

Side note money isn’t a issue for me just can’t find a reason to pay that much. 

[boogielicious]

15 minutes ago, Usmcgolfmkw said:

I’ve been playing for two years now fell in love with the sport and I want play for the rest of my life. But I can’t find a reason to pay anything over 65 bucks to play a round! Does anyone else pay a ridiculous amount of money to play every week? And why should I pay that much to play? 

Side note money isn’t a issue for me just can’t find a reason to pay that much. 

Welcome to The Sand Trap! I rarely pay more that 45 to walk 18. Occasionally, I will play a higher priced course, but that is not more than once a year.

[phillyk]

It comes down to what type of experience you want to have when you play golf.

Excluding your Pebble Beach type courses where you're paying for the experience of a famous course, price mostly depends on conditions and surrounding competition.  The more land and better maintained it is, the higher the price.  Privately owned, but open to public, courses will likely charge more than a management company owned course, because the company has multiple courses to feed off of.  Ultimately, if you are paying $80 for a round, it better be a good experience or value which includes conditions.  If you are paying $40, you probably don't have as high expectations for conditions or experience.

[NM Golf]

Working at a golf course and playing 99% of my golf for free, I too have a hard time paying a bunch of money for a round of golf. Good thing is you can play a lot of good golf for under $100 a round. That being said there are some great golf courses out there that are worth the big price tag to play at least once. I played Pinehurst no 2 last year, worth the price tag to play such a famous and storied old golf course.

[fishgolf]

I'm a real value for the money type and find that spending more than about $40 per round not really worth it.  I don't mind splurging once and awhile for a higher end course, but for routine recreational play $40 or less meets my "bang for the buck" criteria.

[kpaulhus]

Why pay 30k for a car when there are used cars for 2k?

Why pay for a Rolex when you can have a timex?

Why pay for first class tickets when you can ride on the same plane for 1/2 as much?

 

Life is all about what you want. You don’t want to pay more than $85 for golf. Cool, I will play any golf course no matter the cost. But I don’t do it all the time. Typical rounds are 50-75 when I don’t play at the country club but even still I don’t flinch at a $200 round of golf because the quality/experience is typically much better.

When it comes to golf courses “typically” you get what you pay for. 

[NJpatbee]

I would pay the big bucks to play Pebble or Pinehurst #2 and the like, but a round over $100 is typically a vacation round.   At my home course I average $45/round and will pay up to $100 for a change of scenery on a good course.

[Patch]

Everything in life has a value to the individual. Golf is no different. My wife gets a new car every two years. Me, my two trucks are 14 & 18 years old. They still run good so why buy a new one. 

Probably 85% of my rounds I walk, and they are under $20 for 18 holes. 

I play Pebble, and Spy Glass for what I perceive to be a personal golf experience. All the big time golfers have played these courses over the years. The views, the history, and the competitive value makes these courses special, and worth the money. To me.

I played Bandon a few weeks ago for the same personal reasons. Bandon had the added appeal of being similar to UK links golf (sort of) without having to leave the country. Some courses are just worth the cost. 

There's nothing wrong with a golfer staying on a golf budget, regardless of income. Golf, like gambling can get too expensive if not careful. There are plenty of quality golf courses available for under $100. Even under $50. That old reason that "my game is not good enough to pay that much" is a very valid reason for the individual.

In my travels, I have found the "high" dollar mark, on average, to be around $60 - $65, or under $4.00 a hole. On occasions, after seeing the course, I have walked away. A cow pasture is not worth much. 

[shooter]

Sometimes you have no choice. 

I spent 11 years in a city where all the courses where $150 a round to ride.  Walking was not allowed on a few of the courses because holes wheee very far apart. 

Also why I choose to work at a course for free playing privileges. 

[RussUK]

15 hours ago, Usmcgolfmkw said:

I’ve been playing for two years now fell in love with the sport and I want play for the rest of my life. But I can’t find a reason to pay anything over 65 bucks to play a round! Does anyone else pay a ridiculous amount of money to play every week? And why should I pay that much to play? 

Side note money isn’t a issue for me just can’t find a reason to pay that much. 

I've never paid more than £30 for a round and even that was hard to swallow. I'm lucky in that i have two courses within 10 minute drive that i can play for £20 on a weekend.

One is a council run muni that is really well mainiained and fun and the other is a privately owned country club but open to all where they have a 9 holer and two 18's (1st is £20 and the other £38).

Would i pay more? Maybe £40-50 for somewhere like Crossland Heath GC or maybe more for one of the Open courses when i hit a milestone birthday.

Like others have said, its all about choice. No one can make a person play at a course that charges $100 or so but some people unfortunately dont have the same choices as others.

[NEhomer]

I joined a private club this year and although the membership is very reasonable, I'll need to play a number of rounds this year to get the per-round cost down but it is indeed more about the experience. I'll play an immaculately manicured course that will never be over-crowded on the weekends. The men's locker room will be nicely appointed and clean. I can have a locker and keep my clubs there so I can ride my Harley over to play.

That's getting quite a lot for what I'm paying.

[jsgolfer]

16 hours ago, kpaulhus said:

Life is all about what you want. You don’t want to pay more than $85 for golf. Cool, I will play any golf course no matter the cost. But I don’t do it all the time. Typical rounds are 50-75 when I don’t play at the country club but even still I don’t flinch at a $200 round of golf because the quality/experience is typically much better.

When it comes to golf courses “typically” you get what you pay for. 

I agree and like kpaulus, I'm a member at a Country Club, so I don't do daily fee rounds very often.  But when I travel and I'm looking to play the better courses, so I expect to pay over $100 a round.  Although, as a ClubCorp Travel member, I can play a lot of nice courses for just the cart fees if they have a course in the area I'm traveling.

Edited March 28, 2018 by jsgolfer

[David in FL]

16 hours ago, kpaulhus said:

Why pay 30k for a car when there are used cars for 2k?

Why pay for a Rolex when you can have a timex?

Why pay for first class tickets when you can ride on the same plane for 1/2 as much?

 

Life is all about what you want. You don’t want to pay more than $85 for golf. Cool, I will play any golf course no matter the cost. But I don’t do it all the time. Typical rounds are 50-75 when I don’t play at the country club but even still I don’t flinch at a $200 round of golf because the quality/experience is typically much better.

When it comes to golf courses “typically” you get what you pay for. 

^^^  This  ^^^

[colin007]

13 hours ago, shooter said:

Sometimes you have no choice. 

I spent 11 years in a city where all the courses where $150 a round to ride.  Walking was not allowed on a few of the courses because holes wheee very far apart. 

Where the hell is that???

[dave s]

I'm definitely not cheap when it comes to my golf game.  I am kind of a cheap-a$$ when it comes to how much I'll pay to play.

Just off a recent trip to St Augustine, FL with the wife.  We played two very nice courses there. Total cost for both of our green fees at each place less than $80.  I played Slammer and Squire at the World Golf HOF for $80.

Another place I like to play is the greater Biloxi, MS area.  The 3 top courses, (minus Fallen Oak) are Grand Bear, (Nicklaus design) Bridges, (Arnold Palmer design) and Shell Landing, a Davis Love III designed course.  Last time there I paid $40 for the Nicklaus course, $50 for Arnold's course and $45 for Shell Landing.  Anyone whose played these courses would rate them at least an 8 out of 10.  And for that kind of money?  Honestly, I don't need to take that next step to the Bay Hills and the TPC Sawgrasses of the world.  Would definitely love to play both, but the difference between $50 for a really nice course to $400 for a legendary course doesn't add up for me.

Depending on where you live, some locations have a surplus of courses and not enough players to fill them.  Supply / demand means golf is an incredible value provided you look and shop a bit.

In NE Ohio, we have a ton of golf courses.  Lots of nice ones, too.  Since I don't always have to play at 7:30 am on Saturday, I can book really nice courses on a Saturday or Sunday around 11:00 am for $30.  The nicest courses might cost $40-50.

In addition, web-based golf sites like Group Golfer and Golfnow provide insane rates if your schedule flexible.  I'll play a really nice course Sunday afternoon with my wife for $25 each and take my lumps.  Just booked a course near Columbus, OH via Group Golfer that hosted a recent D3 college national championship ... for $25!!!

I spend the majority of my cash on golf equipment, clothes and shoes.  Just like to make sure green fees don't break the bank.

[Typhoon92]

Yeah, I don't spend much on a round.  I like to play with my group.  I could play top notch expensive courses in my area but I really couldn't care less.  I shoot the same everywhere it seems.

The only time I pay a decent amount is when I tag  along my wife's business trips and play resort courses.  Still...I usually have my pro call ahead and get me a deal.

I have opportunities at work to play nice courses in scrambles but I turn them down.  Can't stand the people I work with on a day to day basis never mind having to spend time with them outside of work.

[cooke119]

On Long Island, NY we usually pay around $55 to $65 a round including a cart, (usually via golfnow.com). Also, being a disabled vet with over a 40% disability I can play state courses for free including Bethpage, (no I never played the Black given you have to walk it which I can't do). It would have to be a really good course or at a resort before I would pay over $100 to play.

[RussUK]

One of the things we have here are 2 fore 1 vouchers. As the name suggests you buy one green fee get one free. They can also be used to get cheaper rounds at many courses if you are a solo.

For me its a good way to be able to play the higher price courses. I havent been able to play enough (or consistently well enough for that matter) to warrent getting a book of these vouchers but they are great. Go halves with a mate and play top courses for relative peanuts.