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Choosing your course--Does cost determine where you play?

Cost is a huge factor for me. Being a college student money is tight! I splurge once or twice a month, but other then that its just local mini's.
 
I play between several muni courses ranging between $15-25. Once or twice a month I will play an upper tier course. Golfnow has really made it easy to play a more expensive course if you can play during the scheduled times.
 
Cost is a major factor for me now that I have a 2 year old little boy. I usually look for $35 or less green fees. Happy to pay much more for special occasions or if on vacation somewhere though.
 
No. Proximity is my number one concern. My closest course is 2 blocks from my house. That's where I play.

The next closest course is 18 miles away, and has sand greens. Every course after that is 25+ miles away.

~Rock
 
Cost is a factor for me, but mostly as it relates to perceived value. I have no problem with a $50-$100 rate as long as the course is in a condition and of a quality that reflects that.

For rates that exceed $50, my expectations are that the greens and teeboxes will be in good condition and that the rough will not be burnt out weeds. For rates under $30, I'm much more tolerant of some maintenance conditions as long they aren't conditions that make the course unplayable.
 
Cost is important to me, because I find it hard to warrant paying over $100 for a golf course. I don't think any course I've played is worth that amount of money. I've played Pinehurst #2, Blackwolf Run and Wistling Straits (neither were the championship) and those are $200-$500. Yes they're amazing courses, but I've also played some amazing $60-$80 courses.
 
I live in Europe where we don't have muni's. There's courses and some are really good.
Prices start at about €40 ($55-60) for semi-decent courses. The better ones are €60-75 and there's a few extremely expensive ones at €125 or more.

So you choose a home course, you get unlimited greenfees but have to pay for balls and carts. Almost all courses give huge discounts for the people you invite to play with you at your homecourse.
This means you play with people you know, you play at your course, at their course and sometimes you splurt out a bunch of cash to play another course, but only if it's a good course. :)
 
I have a 2 year old and another on the way, so I have to keep it in reason. Luckily Indianapolis has a good selection of courses that I feel are good value for the fees.
 
I was able to join a club this summer. It was a good value so price did factor in. Now I feel locked into only playing there since I pay for it already. But I do get to play a lot more. I'm going to Vegas soon and I am going to splurge and play a couple of courses out there. Oklahoma does have some nice munis but man are they slow on the weekends. For me, pace of play is as much a factor as cost.
 
I live in one of the larger retirement areas on the west coast, or the country for that matter. I have 8 courses within a 10 mile radius. And probably another 10 if you go an extra 30 miles. Usually there are good deals going somewhere. One of the better courses has a great after 12:00 special of $30 cart or $20 walking. Its a great course too, almost 7,000 yards a lot of elevation change and very well kept.

Keeping it less expensive is key for me being a working class union scab. On the flipside I want to play a nice course. Its about knowing where the deals are.
 
During the week I go with the hot deals on golf now because for a few more dollars I can play rather then going to the range. On the weekend I am DFW. I did purchase a pass for our area that encompasses the summer which had several member for a days and discounts at most of the public courses in my area.
 
In Aus it seems the courses charge a bit more. An average round on a semi decent course will be about $35, $20-$25 for 9 holes. Then your looking at another $20-$35 for a cart.
Last round I played cost me $52 with a cart. There is another course near me which charges $55 a round and that's walking.
 
We have quite a few courses in the area (most per capita in the state or something ridiculous like that), so I tend to have a lot of options. I definitely consider the cost and will usually look for who's got a deal, or a cheap golfnow rate, but sometimes I just want to play a certain course and will pay more regardless. Thankfully though, the prices aren't terribly outrageous, even though I do think some are more expensive than they really should be for the course and where we are.
 
I would say cost and time (usually book on golfnow) determines where I play.
 
Absolutely, in that courses over a certain price tag are ruled out for everyday type play. The exception is special occasions and special courses (i.e. Chambers Bay earlier this year). As Checkered said, we've got a ton of courses around here - I've actually not even played nearly all of them yet. That being said, I refuse to pay more than around $50 or so with a cart, around $40 walking - GolfNow allows me to keep it relatively low.
 
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I am lucky enough to have several courses in the local area that are $25 to play and are pretty darn nice tracks.
I will splurge a few times a year and play a couple of courses that are $100 to play, but not too many times.
 
I usually play twilight and target $35ish per course or less. I guess most of them are $60ish or more prime time. I rarely pay over $60 a course unless that's like a 50%+ discount on what would likely be a one-time-only opportunity.

There is a course about 11 minutes away that just raised their rates about $15 for every tee time. I just stopped going there completely. I'd rather drive $5 in gas to play a course $20 cheaper.
 
I don't really mind greens fees. I usually play where I can afford, and I only get to splurge, if I treat my wife to a spa day. That cost is more than a average green fees.
Kelly
 
I don't have much of chose around here, which kind of sucks. Most of the courses with in a 15 - 20 minute drive of my house are short and not all that well kept up. The 18 with cart fee on a weekend are about $30-$50, which when you see the course makes you roll your eyes a little. BUT if is what it is. That's one of the big things I miss about living in KC when I did. The courses were always fighting for your dollar, so they would usually have decent special rates and could play a pretty good course for about $50-$70 even during "Peak Weekend Hours". I'd rather send a little extra money and play a decent course, than a little less and play a short course that's not maintained much. You get what you pay for in most cases.
 
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