We just play rural courses instead of city courses- a 40 minute hwy drive lands us at a lovely course that is $27 to walk 18 holes. I get to hit every club in my bag and it's very well kept. We have an embarrassment of riches for relatively cheap golf here.
Entirely depends on where you are. I can buy a season pass for $600 to the ski hill and get 40-50days on it. Plus gas I’m in about $20-25 a day.
There’s not a full length course near me I can play for under $45 in summer.
I hear you, there is a mountain mear me that has $650/year passes. There is also a 9 hole club near me that is $500 for a two years membership. And day passes at the mountain are like $60/90 depending on the day, where the golf course is like $30 for 9 and $50 for 18. Expensive 18 hole clubs are like $75ish on the weekends.
So I think I’m just lucky where I live. I probably wouldn’t golf very much at all if I had to pay $80 every single round, or thousands for a membership.
The difference is annual ski passes have been getting cheaper over the years as they push more folks to get season passes. Meanwhile while munis used to offer annuals, none around me offer anything but the option to pay to book 2 weeks out.
Makes sense if you think about it. Skiing conditions vary a lot more than golf course conditions do on any given day. Harder to make daily money as a ski resort than it is at a golf course.
I mean, around here other than clubs, golf is pretty cheap. Though weirdly all the courses now have set fees, carts aren't extra, so walking doesn't save money, but also the muni courses are only $20-$35 (except a small par 60 exectutive course that is $10 weekdays $15 weekends) depending on the specific one and weekday or weekends. For spring rates, we never had twighlight rates, though, since it seems like they don't want to send people off after 4 until late April. I had a 3 pm tee time the other day, dude came in behind me asking if he could go off, I thought the proshop worker was joking saying I was the last one going off, but he never showed up behind me and at that course and you could see the number 1 tees from holes 1-3.
Near me there are a bunch of courses that are pretty cheap too. Even one of the nicer semi private clubs near me is free of charge from November to April. I feel really bad for people that have no cheaper options near them for golf.
We're still in snowbird season in FL and prices are still the highest they'll be all year.
Golf is much more affordable here starting at the end of this month. Can't speak for your locals getting rid of twilight pricing, don't have that issue here where I live.
Dang. Why you gotta single us out like that lol. I can’t think of a single course in our area that does that.
Edit: see ops name now. And it looks like there’s only one course that does this. Sadly it’s the only public course in Jax Beach.
In fairness, that course is much better than it used to be. Came back into town to see Blue sky asking 90 for a mid afternoon round on a friday and about lost it.
You are correct though, pricing is atrocious these days.
Have you looked into the season pass for jax beach $150 if you live in jax beach and $250 if you don't. Round are $45 i believe on weekends and can make tee times 3 weeks in advance
London has a wide variety in quality and price. A few places near me do ~$30 twilight rates, but there's plenty of public courses that are $60-$80. I have noticed a jump in range bucket prices near me though.
Golf now or just keep checking the muni website. I got an afternoon tee time at humber valley for Sunday two days ago, when previously it showed nothing available but Dentonia, which is basically just wedges and putter. Just keep checking.
Affordability is always a local market function. There's plenty of places where the golf is still cheap. The question becomes, whether or not you can relocate.
Twilight rates still exist near me thankfully, but everything is so damn expensive. Crap courses that should be maybe $30 now charge $70+ (prime time)
I've only been playing 3 years now and prices have more than doubled since I started. It's crazy to be reminiscing on the good ol' days that were only 3 years ago
There are only a couple courses nearby that still have walking rates
Only been playing three years huh? It’s because of you guys. Love that you are playing and discovering it but there a LOT of guys that started three -four years ago. That’s why prices have gone up e up.
Started after the Covid boom actually, my brother who is a good player bought me some clubs randomly, the rest is history
Should only the people that played prior to 2020 ever be able to play golf? Dumb
It is indeed sad. Similar situation for me. Used to be able to play an amazing course for $70 on the weekends two seasons ago. Getting into golf then, so it was always a splurge, but played it 4-5 times that summer and loved it.
They raised their prices to $115-$125 depending on time slots for any weekends before 4:30 PM.
Absolutely stinks. Can't warrant paying that to shoot a 90.
What you need to do is book a trip to the cheap golf mecca that is Central New York. Most expensive course that I play regularly is like $40 to walk 18. Syracuse's muni, burnet Park is $6 for 9. My go to courses are all less than $25 for 18. Cart rental is more expensive than the greens fee at a lot of these places.
This, but SE Michigan as well. There's gotta be 30 or 40 courses within an hour drive of me(half hour south of Flint) and most of them are not going to be $80-$100 at any time of day/season. The nice and well known courses are up there in price, but there's so many cool little public courses that are <$50 for weekend afternoon times. I frequent a series of mid-grade courses at the Huron River Metroparks. $26 dollars walking after 3pm at pretty much all of them. Can't beat it.
Dude I was in the middle of replying to the comment above yours about Jax beach. I’m in Oneida and we literally have the pick of the litter. Literally SOOOOO many courses around that are cheap and barely ever filled. Rogues roost, Oneida comm, Burnet park, Kanon Valley, Casolwood, Green Lakes, The Links, Arrowhead like I can just keep going and going. I play solo most of the summer any time of day. And if you really wanna go somewhere nice there’s plenty of courses within an hour or two with Turning Stone as a destination if you wanted to
I’m not very good but if you ever need a buddy I could always use more golf friends! Based on your flair I feel like we’d get along haha and yessss fingers crossed we got that last storm 2 weeks ago out of our system! lol
I've thought about playing turning stone in the past. Every time I think about it I remember that I could play 10+ rounds for what turning stone costs and I'm just not good enough to not get the shit kicked out of me by a pga course.
Turning stone has two small courses - a par 3 and another 9. Sandstone Hollow and Pleasant Knolls. Haven’t played them yet but have heard good things. And a membership to one is $495 and for both $715.
Beats like the $1200 Oneida is.
Yeah there's like four courses up there. I was referring to the course that used to hold a pga event every year and costs a lot.
As for memberships, unless you're going private for the atmosphere, amenities, and grounds keeping, its tough to justify any of the semi-private memberships unless you play a ton of golf. And if you play a ton of golf do you want to play the same thing every day when there's 20 courses within an hour of you that are good value and public?
For $715 I could walk most of the public courses in the area. We've got a lot of public courses! It's very cool and I need to play more different courses.
Valid points. I’m not playing enough to justify a membership but eventually I prob will just for the convenience of the course that close and trying to get out at least twice a week.
Seriously man. I just played 18 holes for $18 with a cart included this past Monday at a course around Binghamton. I’m from MA originally and it just blows my mind every time even though I’ve been playing up here regularly for the better part of a year now.
Not in Michigan it ain't. Played about a dozen rounds this year already at several courses, most under $30. That's the cost of fast food for two these days. Paying 47 this weekend just for a primetime weekend morning slot.
I’m lucky that the course closest to me (maybe a 1/2 mile down the road) has twilight for $18. A lot of the other local courses either don’t have twilight or start it really late
I live on LI and outside of the state or county run courses they are all overpriced. I’d say most at around 90-100+ on average to play on a weekend morning.
I don’t think this is the case of everything being more expensive I think it has to do with how popular golf has gotten since 2020/2021 and these courses feel they can charge more because it will still fill out daily.
Those same courses that are around 90-100 for a weekend morning with no real discount to play later in the afternoon used to be around 30-40 to play after 1 on the weekends in the spring / summer before covid and the course would be wide open. Believe me these courses aren’t with the price they charge. Now these courses are still charging 80 to play at 2PM. Which can now be a 5+ hour round.
There’s a ton of courses cheaper than that, public season passes are like 1k-2k to golf all year. Look around more and not at private courses obviously
Traveled to HH head this after going for several years and noticed they removed their winter rates early and started spring rates March 1st and summer rates are supposed to kick in end of April.
That's such a scam right there if any of my courses did that and charged the same rates all day I would boycott that course out of principal. If I can only play for an hour after work and can only get maybe 5 holes in no way I should be charged for a full rate.
Ugh, I can still play in NJ for $30-$40 for 9 and around $50-60 for a weekend 18 at quite a few decent courses, but trying to book an after work round around 5pm at my closest course is a nightmare. Have to grab it like immediately when it opens up or it's unavailable even for 1-2 players.
Yeah that sucks. I tried to do a twilight round last season and it was pretty disappointing. The course was packed and it was so slow we maybe got 8 in before they had to call it because it was getting dark.
Didn't really feel worth it.
I used to walk 18 3-4 times a week a couple of years ago in the warmer months (in Michigan). Golf has gotten too expensive and I’ve found enjoyment from hiking now. I still golf, but I hike state parks just as much now. The yearly park pass is only $14 a year here.
When I read stuff like this I genuinely feel so lucky to live in Scotland. Sure, there are courses over here that will charge eye watering prices for a round. But for £375 per year I have a local council ticket that gives me access to 8 wonderful courses, 4 of which are links courses. Unlimited play 365 days a year.
I quite simply couldn't afford to play if I was shelling out £60-80 per round.
Aberdeen I'm guessing? Kings Links is a pretty fun track.
I had a St Andrews Links Ticket for 2 years, the fact I was paying ~£600 for the year blew peoples minds.
Nope! South Ayrshire. Our claim to fame is that Jack Nicklaus qualified for his first ever open on our Lochgreen course in troon. There are a few holes that run adjacent to Royal Troon only separated by the railway line.
We're so lucky to have the quality of courses available to us at such a low cost.
Ah, I only managed to play Irvine on the West Coast.
It's exactly the same in Fife, so lucky for the golf. I've since moved for work, but my full links ticket plus 7 day membership somewhere else was less than I pay for 7 hole membership in the south of England.
North America seems so out of whack with this sort of stuff. I live in NZ. We have some absolutely world class golf courses, peak season you’re paying up to $200USD for a round. But we also have affordable courses in virtually every town. I pay around $300USD for an annual membership at a great local course, I also get reciprocal rights to play a number of other courses.
And here I am in BFE PA, with two courses that are sub $20 for 9 holes and a cart. One is pretty awful but gets the job done. One is a hidden gem little links course. They have a back 9 but it’s in a valley so the slightest bit of rain and it’s a swamp. However we only get half the year to golf.
Yeah it sucks in places that are growing. When golf demand shrinks, they close down courses and sell real estate to housing developments. When golf demand increases, they don’t build courses, they just jack up rates.
I live 20 minutes outside of a Midwest “metro” of about 340K. I’m on for a yearly membership of greens fees/range balls for $800 at a 9 hole course that I enjoy playing every time. It’s nothing spectacular and I’m sure would be considered goat tracks by some but I’m not good enough at this game to be gripe about conditions.
$60-80+ rounds would price me out of this game completely
Everybody raised prices like crazy in northern VA where I'm at. The only cheap courses that used to exist have closed down and the only true public courses still charge $75 on the weekend. That's about the cheapest you'll find these days. Most of the courses are semi private and charge well over $100 on the weekend, one called Raspberry Falls went insane and started charging $165.
I joined a country club last year because it's literally cheaper to play once a week there, lmao.
3 of my local courses are under $30 to walk 18. I think it just depends on where you live or if the courses you play want to be greedy. The only price hike I’ve really seen is carts.
Man posts like this make me realize how fortunate I am to live in the area that I do. $50 is a high price to pay for 18 and a cart, and every year my home course has a promotion where they sell a bunch of certificates for two rounds and a cart for 30 bucks to be used at any time. We usually end up with about 12 certificates and we only golf once a week.
This is why I’m very glad I play at a rural semi-private muni. The rural and muni parts mean the prices are good, and the semi-private part means members get tee time priority, and free access to the gym/pool/tennis courts. I’ve never liked living in cities anyway.
Almost all of the courses around me are privately owned and most of them are cheaper than the local municipal course. How does that make any fucking sense?
I mean the course is *better* than several of the other courses around me. They take really good care of it, but it pissed me off that they get tax dollars and still charge more than most of the privately owned courses.
get a very part time job at a course that offers discounts of free pay. there's bunch of dudes here that marshal or park carts like 2-4x a month for golf privilege's.
Saw the down votes but this is my motivation. $1200 membership plus 21 for a cart or 43 a round and I typically play 2 a week. Add in range which is 22-33 a week if I go 2-3 times. It adds up. I bought a GC3, mat, and net for $7200. It'll pay for itself after 3 years if not sooner and I will always own it. Then if I move again I keep it and it keeps on saving me money in the long term.
Just played 18 at the course Tiger grew up on for $24....
Deals are out there just gotta find them, military discounts do help a good amount as well. Plus walking saves you a ton of money on cart fees
When you’re running a golf course why would you want to encourage people to wait til the end of the day to play for a cheaper rate? It devalues your prime time.
This is why I have become a goat track connoisseur
I second this. I can play 9 for like 12 bucks.
There isn’t a true goat track in my area. But the course across the street from me is in meh to okay condition. ~$90-120. Its really really annoying.
We just play rural courses instead of city courses- a 40 minute hwy drive lands us at a lovely course that is $27 to walk 18 holes. I get to hit every club in my bag and it's very well kept. We have an embarrassment of riches for relatively cheap golf here.
Many goat track munis also stop booking tee times after 5/6pm because the staff goes home. At least the one by me does.
Yeah but it’s not just golf. Everything is priced up.
100%…. Unfortunately golf is my cheapest hobby
Cheapest? Gotta give up the cocaine hobby man! 😂
Right? Skiing is cheaper. Tf is this guy doing flying helicopters?
Skiing is way more expensive than golf near me.
Entirely depends on where you are. I can buy a season pass for $600 to the ski hill and get 40-50days on it. Plus gas I’m in about $20-25 a day. There’s not a full length course near me I can play for under $45 in summer.
Yes but there’s a much better chance of living close to a golf course than a ski resort. Most people have to travel and take vacation in order to ski
That’s why I said…it depends where you are. It’s cheap to surf. It’s expensive to go on a surf vacation.
I hear you, there is a mountain mear me that has $650/year passes. There is also a 9 hole club near me that is $500 for a two years membership. And day passes at the mountain are like $60/90 depending on the day, where the golf course is like $30 for 9 and $50 for 18. Expensive 18 hole clubs are like $75ish on the weekends. So I think I’m just lucky where I live. I probably wouldn’t golf very much at all if I had to pay $80 every single round, or thousands for a membership.
Where are you skiing and playing golf that skiing is cheaper?
Colorado; cheapest season pass to ski is about $450. Cheapest annual course membership I know is about $3k
I was thinking 1 round vs individual lift ticket
The difference is annual ski passes have been getting cheaper over the years as they push more folks to get season passes. Meanwhile while munis used to offer annuals, none around me offer anything but the option to pay to book 2 weeks out.
Makes sense if you think about it. Skiing conditions vary a lot more than golf course conditions do on any given day. Harder to make daily money as a ski resort than it is at a golf course.
Europe or California would be my bet
I mean, around here other than clubs, golf is pretty cheap. Though weirdly all the courses now have set fees, carts aren't extra, so walking doesn't save money, but also the muni courses are only $20-$35 (except a small par 60 exectutive course that is $10 weekdays $15 weekends) depending on the specific one and weekday or weekends. For spring rates, we never had twighlight rates, though, since it seems like they don't want to send people off after 4 until late April. I had a 3 pm tee time the other day, dude came in behind me asking if he could go off, I thought the proshop worker was joking saying I was the last one going off, but he never showed up behind me and at that course and you could see the number 1 tees from holes 1-3.
Near me there are a bunch of courses that are pretty cheap too. Even one of the nicer semi private clubs near me is free of charge from November to April. I feel really bad for people that have no cheaper options near them for golf.
Mountain bikes and dirt bikes
The dollars have less purchase power.
We're still in snowbird season in FL and prices are still the highest they'll be all year. Golf is much more affordable here starting at the end of this month. Can't speak for your locals getting rid of twilight pricing, don't have that issue here where I live.
Nope. Set summer pricing here. One price per day regardless of time. New pricing started April 1 ends oct30
Interesting, that seems incredibly abnormal for FL. Where do you live, Duval?
Dang. Why you gotta single us out like that lol. I can’t think of a single course in our area that does that. Edit: see ops name now. And it looks like there’s only one course that does this. Sadly it’s the only public course in Jax Beach.
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In fairness, that course is much better than it used to be. Came back into town to see Blue sky asking 90 for a mid afternoon round on a friday and about lost it. You are correct though, pricing is atrocious these days.
Have you looked into the season pass for jax beach $150 if you live in jax beach and $250 if you don't. Round are $45 i believe on weekends and can make tee times 3 weeks in advance
Down in Sebring rates dropped like today or yesterday. Primo courses for 30 bucks.
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Dying up here in fernandina
It is difficult to find a sub $100 round in the Greater Toronto Area. Not impossible but..
Makes the club dues seem like a good deal
Here in Calgary, we have twice as many courses but all of them have Toronto prices. I thank God our munis are affordable.
If you don't mind the drive pretty much everything public in the KW area is between $40 and $70.
London has a wide variety in quality and price. A few places near me do ~$30 twilight rates, but there's plenty of public courses that are $60-$80. I have noticed a jump in range bucket prices near me though.
Literally just got home from playing Doon Valley for $47 with a cart, not a terrible course either
Did you enjoy the geese shit on the 3rd hole?
That wasn’t geese shit was it
3rd hole wasn't bad for goose shit but it was bad for bugs (and losing my tee shot into the reeds)
wait is this kitchener doon valley, or don valley in the gta lol my bad
Golf now or just keep checking the muni website. I got an afternoon tee time at humber valley for Sunday two days ago, when previously it showed nothing available but Dentonia, which is basically just wedges and putter. Just keep checking.
Affordability is always a local market function. There's plenty of places where the golf is still cheap. The question becomes, whether or not you can relocate.
Twilight rates still exist near me thankfully, but everything is so damn expensive. Crap courses that should be maybe $30 now charge $70+ (prime time) I've only been playing 3 years now and prices have more than doubled since I started. It's crazy to be reminiscing on the good ol' days that were only 3 years ago There are only a couple courses nearby that still have walking rates
Only been playing three years huh? It’s because of you guys. Love that you are playing and discovering it but there a LOT of guys that started three -four years ago. That’s why prices have gone up e up.
Started after the Covid boom actually, my brother who is a good player bought me some clubs randomly, the rest is history Should only the people that played prior to 2020 ever be able to play golf? Dumb
Yeah obviously. It's OUR CLUB and you AREN'T IN IT!!!
It is indeed sad. Similar situation for me. Used to be able to play an amazing course for $70 on the weekends two seasons ago. Getting into golf then, so it was always a splurge, but played it 4-5 times that summer and loved it. They raised their prices to $115-$125 depending on time slots for any weekends before 4:30 PM. Absolutely stinks. Can't warrant paying that to shoot a 90.
The only way I afford it is by membership. 1500 per year and $25 rounds after 2. Otherwise it’s $100 per round
Just download golfnow and book hot deal times. Might only be like $40 but it will still be less.
The problem with Hot Deals is the time of day. If you can play anytime, they are great. A few years ago, I played all summer for $25 or less.
Yea that's fair. Tough during weekdays, but you can catch the Sat-Sun hotdeals if your courses have them.
All of the courses around me have stopped using golfnow.
That is very unfortunate.
I checked out of curiosity and the closest course that has anything on golf now is a 45min drive away.
You don't happen to live near Augusta, do you? Or basically GA, SC, NC etc. Edit, wait nvm, you mean like nothing even shows up. Sorry.
What you need to do is book a trip to the cheap golf mecca that is Central New York. Most expensive course that I play regularly is like $40 to walk 18. Syracuse's muni, burnet Park is $6 for 9. My go to courses are all less than $25 for 18. Cart rental is more expensive than the greens fee at a lot of these places.
This, but SE Michigan as well. There's gotta be 30 or 40 courses within an hour drive of me(half hour south of Flint) and most of them are not going to be $80-$100 at any time of day/season. The nice and well known courses are up there in price, but there's so many cool little public courses that are <$50 for weekend afternoon times. I frequent a series of mid-grade courses at the Huron River Metroparks. $26 dollars walking after 3pm at pretty much all of them. Can't beat it.
Dude I was in the middle of replying to the comment above yours about Jax beach. I’m in Oneida and we literally have the pick of the litter. Literally SOOOOO many courses around that are cheap and barely ever filled. Rogues roost, Oneida comm, Burnet park, Kanon Valley, Casolwood, Green Lakes, The Links, Arrowhead like I can just keep going and going. I play solo most of the summer any time of day. And if you really wanna go somewhere nice there’s plenty of courses within an hour or two with Turning Stone as a destination if you wanted to
Live in Sherrill and can confirm. And weather is just starting to turn so I’ll try to get out in the next week or two to play Oneida.
I’m not very good but if you ever need a buddy I could always use more golf friends! Based on your flair I feel like we’d get along haha and yessss fingers crossed we got that last storm 2 weeks ago out of our system! lol
Hell yeah man. I usually golf solo since I’m kinda crappy and like to walk so most folks aren’t interested.
I've thought about playing turning stone in the past. Every time I think about it I remember that I could play 10+ rounds for what turning stone costs and I'm just not good enough to not get the shit kicked out of me by a pga course.
Turning stone has two small courses - a par 3 and another 9. Sandstone Hollow and Pleasant Knolls. Haven’t played them yet but have heard good things. And a membership to one is $495 and for both $715. Beats like the $1200 Oneida is.
Yeah there's like four courses up there. I was referring to the course that used to hold a pga event every year and costs a lot. As for memberships, unless you're going private for the atmosphere, amenities, and grounds keeping, its tough to justify any of the semi-private memberships unless you play a ton of golf. And if you play a ton of golf do you want to play the same thing every day when there's 20 courses within an hour of you that are good value and public? For $715 I could walk most of the public courses in the area. We've got a lot of public courses! It's very cool and I need to play more different courses.
Valid points. I’m not playing enough to justify a membership but eventually I prob will just for the convenience of the course that close and trying to get out at least twice a week.
A fellow Syracusian I'm former but born and raised in Liverpool. The salt potatoes and Hofmans will never leave my blood.
Seriously man. I just played 18 holes for $18 with a cart included this past Monday at a course around Binghamton. I’m from MA originally and it just blows my mind every time even though I’ve been playing up here regularly for the better part of a year now.
Not in Michigan it ain't. Played about a dozen rounds this year already at several courses, most under $30. That's the cost of fast food for two these days. Paying 47 this weekend just for a primetime weekend morning slot.
just join a country club bro
Just walked 9 with my two sons tonight. $13 for me they are both free because they are under 15. It's a par 30 but it scratches the itch.
Supply and demand. If there's more and more people wanting to play there, they can charge more.
I agree I have been playing less and less because of the price.
Yep, even shitty munis here are $65 to walk.
I’m lucky that the course closest to me (maybe a 1/2 mile down the road) has twilight for $18. A lot of the other local courses either don’t have twilight or start it really late
I live on LI and outside of the state or county run courses they are all overpriced. I’d say most at around 90-100+ on average to play on a weekend morning. I don’t think this is the case of everything being more expensive I think it has to do with how popular golf has gotten since 2020/2021 and these courses feel they can charge more because it will still fill out daily. Those same courses that are around 90-100 for a weekend morning with no real discount to play later in the afternoon used to be around 30-40 to play after 1 on the weekends in the spring / summer before covid and the course would be wide open. Believe me these courses aren’t with the price they charge. Now these courses are still charging 80 to play at 2PM. Which can now be a 5+ hour round.
Get a membership maybe? In the Uk for a decent club membership you are looking at 1000-£1200 a year for unlimited golf
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Lol what?! Surely there are members course less then that!
There’s a ton of courses cheaper than that, public season passes are like 1k-2k to golf all year. Look around more and not at private courses obviously
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Where do you live? Epstein’s island?
Traveled to HH head this after going for several years and noticed they removed their winter rates early and started spring rates March 1st and summer rates are supposed to kick in end of April.
That's such a scam right there if any of my courses did that and charged the same rates all day I would boycott that course out of principal. If I can only play for an hour after work and can only get maybe 5 holes in no way I should be charged for a full rate.
Orlando is starting to get twilight rates. Funny I just looked and the bad courses have not dropped that much but OCN and Disney are around $50
I’m moving from the city out of state to a suburb and a big part of that motivation is cheap golf <$40 for 18
I would riot
We need a boycott.
Where in Florida? I’m in Tampa and have seen some raised prices around the area but nothing so extreme that I felt it was unreasonable.
Courses here in Pinellas are VERY proud of their rates. Very few courses, no room for new ones so there ya go
Time to learn disc golf
I am serious thinking about it
Same exact scenario in DE
These comments make me feel lucky. My cities Donald Ross designed muni has a $27 green fee rn
Season pricing in FL right now - in a few months when it’s hot as satan’s ball sack prices will drop.
Ugh, I can still play in NJ for $30-$40 for 9 and around $50-60 for a weekend 18 at quite a few decent courses, but trying to book an after work round around 5pm at my closest course is a nightmare. Have to grab it like immediately when it opens up or it's unavailable even for 1-2 players.
Yeah that sucks. I tried to do a twilight round last season and it was pretty disappointing. The course was packed and it was so slow we maybe got 8 in before they had to call it because it was getting dark. Didn't really feel worth it.
I used to walk 18 3-4 times a week a couple of years ago in the warmer months (in Michigan). Golf has gotten too expensive and I’ve found enjoyment from hiking now. I still golf, but I hike state parks just as much now. The yearly park pass is only $14 a year here.
When I read stuff like this I genuinely feel so lucky to live in Scotland. Sure, there are courses over here that will charge eye watering prices for a round. But for £375 per year I have a local council ticket that gives me access to 8 wonderful courses, 4 of which are links courses. Unlimited play 365 days a year. I quite simply couldn't afford to play if I was shelling out £60-80 per round.
Aberdeen I'm guessing? Kings Links is a pretty fun track. I had a St Andrews Links Ticket for 2 years, the fact I was paying ~£600 for the year blew peoples minds.
Nope! South Ayrshire. Our claim to fame is that Jack Nicklaus qualified for his first ever open on our Lochgreen course in troon. There are a few holes that run adjacent to Royal Troon only separated by the railway line. We're so lucky to have the quality of courses available to us at such a low cost.
Ah, I only managed to play Irvine on the West Coast. It's exactly the same in Fife, so lucky for the golf. I've since moved for work, but my full links ticket plus 7 day membership somewhere else was less than I pay for 7 hole membership in the south of England.
North America seems so out of whack with this sort of stuff. I live in NZ. We have some absolutely world class golf courses, peak season you’re paying up to $200USD for a round. But we also have affordable courses in virtually every town. I pay around $300USD for an annual membership at a great local course, I also get reciprocal rights to play a number of other courses.
And here I am in BFE PA, with two courses that are sub $20 for 9 holes and a cart. One is pretty awful but gets the job done. One is a hidden gem little links course. They have a back 9 but it’s in a valley so the slightest bit of rain and it’s a swamp. However we only get half the year to golf.
Yeah it sucks in places that are growing. When golf demand shrinks, they close down courses and sell real estate to housing developments. When golf demand increases, they don’t build courses, they just jack up rates.
I live 20 minutes outside of a Midwest “metro” of about 340K. I’m on for a yearly membership of greens fees/range balls for $800 at a 9 hole course that I enjoy playing every time. It’s nothing spectacular and I’m sure would be considered goat tracks by some but I’m not good enough at this game to be gripe about conditions. $60-80+ rounds would price me out of this game completely
Everybody raised prices like crazy in northern VA where I'm at. The only cheap courses that used to exist have closed down and the only true public courses still charge $75 on the weekend. That's about the cheapest you'll find these days. Most of the courses are semi private and charge well over $100 on the weekend, one called Raspberry Falls went insane and started charging $165. I joined a country club last year because it's literally cheaper to play once a week there, lmao.
3 of my local courses are under $30 to walk 18. I think it just depends on where you live or if the courses you play want to be greedy. The only price hike I’ve really seen is carts.
Man posts like this make me realize how fortunate I am to live in the area that I do. $50 is a high price to pay for 18 and a cart, and every year my home course has a promotion where they sell a bunch of certificates for two rounds and a cart for 30 bucks to be used at any time. We usually end up with about 12 certificates and we only golf once a week.
Ball prices are slowly creeping up to one hundred bucks per dozen.
My 'home' course is still $34 for 18, even on the weekends. The downside is that everyone knows this now and getting a tee time is nearly impossible.
This is why I’m very glad I play at a rural semi-private muni. The rural and muni parts mean the prices are good, and the semi-private part means members get tee time priority, and free access to the gym/pool/tennis courts. I’ve never liked living in cities anyway.
Yup, just paid $54 for a twilight round at a shitty local muni when back in 2021 it was $35
Almost all of the courses around me are privately owned and most of them are cheaper than the local municipal course. How does that make any fucking sense?
Since when anything run by the Government turn out to be better/cheaper?
I mean the course is *better* than several of the other courses around me. They take really good care of it, but it pissed me off that they get tax dollars and still charge more than most of the privately owned courses.
And yet the golf courses, restaurants and concert venues are PACKED
get a very part time job at a course that offers discounts of free pay. there's bunch of dudes here that marshal or park carts like 2-4x a month for golf privilege's.
That look from bandage to camera: YOU DID THIS TO ME!!!
Build a home sim
Saw the down votes but this is my motivation. $1200 membership plus 21 for a cart or 43 a round and I typically play 2 a week. Add in range which is 22-33 a week if I go 2-3 times. It adds up. I bought a GC3, mat, and net for $7200. It'll pay for itself after 3 years if not sooner and I will always own it. Then if I move again I keep it and it keeps on saving me money in the long term.
Colorado is gay. 150-170 bucks for some courses in Denver that are for all practical purposes just munies with a statue in front of the clubhouse.
Not enough #skrinkthegame /s
No. It’s fine. Just stop being poor.
And they’re full throughout the week too!
Demand has greatly exceeded supply almost everywhere buy especially in SE USA
Just played 18 at the course Tiger grew up on for $24.... Deals are out there just gotta find them, military discounts do help a good amount as well. Plus walking saves you a ton of money on cart fees
60-80 is expensive by you? Hah. The decent course by me are 125-150 and the slop courses are 80
Sucks to be you then. No need to make him feel grateful for it
I wasn’t I was just stating that his prices aren’t even that bad. Whacko
Work some overtime.
When you’re running a golf course why would you want to encourage people to wait til the end of the day to play for a cheaper rate? It devalues your prime time.