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Ignorance is Bliss - Help Avoiding Bitterness

If you're letting the inability to play regularly at high-end courses ruin the fun, then YOU are letting that happen.

Key word in caps.

At least you realize that it's a first world problem. First world problems always have easy solutions.





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I don't want to beat you up too much, but to feel bitter about playing golf at all is pretentious at best and ungrateful at worst. This is an amazing game and we are blessed to be able to play it anywhere. Be thankful when you play a goat track and be more thankful when you play a high end country club. Golf is always a blessing. You need to change your perspective.

Also if I ever won a huge lottery I would build a very high end golf course and call it The Goat Track. That's my dream LOL!!
 
dduarte85 said:
Getting personal here... but something that has been pulling at me and just curious if I am crazy or has anyone else gone through this stage.

I play my every day golf at a decent public course in Massachusetts, it has a fun design but conditions vary from hole to hole. Culturally it struggles with the same stuff that every public track: people don't replace / fix divots or ball marks, rake bunkers, etc.

5 years ago I would have been pumped to play a course like this.

However, as I passed 30 and my career changed I found myself exposed to new social circles where invitations to Top 100 World Courses came. Ever since the last couple of years of golf I have found myself super bitter at the game , the privilege of golf, and bouncing between average and high end golf.

First world problems, I know.
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It's a really good question, and a tough spot to be in.

I belong to a private course, what I believe to be one of the best layouts in the area. I do it for about a hundred reasons, and I pay good money to be a part of it. Avoiding long weekend rounds, mediocre course conditions, etc etc. That said, I play enough mid range courses with friends to have a basic perspective on what it is like, and for me, it's all about friendship and company when I do.

Tough to take the game seriously (most would argue at this point that I could take it more seriously as is) when things like pace and conditions are playing a bigger role than your swing on scoring.
 
I've played at $9.00 per round goat tracks wedged in between junk yards and some fairly exclusive private clubs. It's more about the company for me. That being said I certainly prefer hitting off a lush fairway rather than a bare spot of hardpan in the middle of the fairway.
 
I can understand the feelings d85 is displaying in his opening post. Everything in life is relevant to what we normally do and how we normally live. And our golf is no exception. I find even being able to just participate avidly is in some ways a privilege in itself. There is imo a sense of self treat or self reward when i play. A feeling that takes me away from or perhaps better said places me above the daily grind of life via having the disposable time and money to play it where i do and how often I do. And mind you im not even talking any CC but simply just my county munis of which i try to play at least once per week (during the season) and often get in more than that.

That being said my county courses are far from goat tracks. They are not CC condition (although a coupe of mine may to some degre actually compare ok enough to some private courses) but they are certainly nice enough for public courses and much better than plenty of others I been at in my life. And yet do fall below enough munis when vs other places.

But this whole topic (the way the Op began it) is all relative. I am not a fan of courses that are poorly conditioned "relative to my own" nor am I a fan of courses that have little to no integrity as for layout or are too gimmicky and any courses that are not pleasing to the eye and all that is only relative to my own. I find golf is a bit less enjoyable on them. I find that self treat or self reward or that feeling of being above life's daily grind is then kind of dwindled down some.

Its all mostly only relative. Thats just human nature and is the way we are built. Most anything that takes us out of or above our norm and elevates us feels good. You simply feel more special. Imo many CC's (in fact most) are not at all any financial advantage golf wise (in fact financially make poor sense) but are more about a lifestyle and an elevated sense of self reward or treat. And the golf course itself is part of that treat.

But again its all only relative. We get that new car and after a while its no big deal anymore. But we still dont want to go back to the lessor one now that we've had the better one.
 
I can still enjoy this game on courses many might consider goat tracks and likewise have a terrible day on the nicest of courses.

Arcadia Bluffs is a top 100 public course located about 30 minutes from my house here in Northern Michigan. As the recipient of a generous gift pass, I was able to play it last year. And what a beautiful course! It was well-maintained, scenic, and challenging. But the round was painfully long. The course was over-booked, with slow players and caddies holding everyone up... it was a cluster*. It was also a world I was unaccustomed to - if not a bit uncomfortable being in. To be honest, the beauty of the course lost it's appeal after the first several holes.

There is an abundance of public and private golf courses in this neck of the woods and they cover the spectrum of low to high-end. I was asked if I'd be interested in playing Crystal Downs a year or two back and declined. Most folks at that courses probably wouldn't set foot on my home course and they sure as hell don't want me on theirs. They pay a lot of money so they can play their version of golf. With all the negatives associated public courses, it's completely understandable.

Fortunately, this game has options for everyone.

For me, as long as there are tee boxes, fairways, greens and hazards, it's golf. Since I'm able to choose less crowded times to play, I prefer my cheap, 9 hole public course. Located in the middle of Manistee National Forest, one can get out early in the morning and during certain times of the year, literally have this course to themselves. No starter, no waiting on slow play, no caddies, no carts, no cart girls, no marshals, no foursomes of drunken bros hootin' and hollerin'... just peace and quiet on a decent course.

If it were necessary and if I had the means, yeah, I'd be tempted to pay a little more for that.
 
$8-10k for a 5 month season, damn! We have some really nice courses in my area, and they are in the $99-200 a month plus a $16 cart fee and maybe $6-8 green fees. Y’all are getting bent over...But then again, y’all are moving out direction every chance y’all get so it will be that expensive in GA soon enough. Never understood why a person would move to get away from something, and then when they got somewhere new they make it just like what they moved from. That’s a whole other thread though. So for the de-rail.


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shmelton;n8878246 said:
$8-10k for a 5 month season, damn! We have some really nice courses in my area, and they are in the $99-200 a month plus a $16 cart fee and maybe $6-8 green fees. Y’all are getting bent over...But then again, y’all are moving out direction every chance y’all get so it will be that expensive in GA soon enough. Never understood why a person would move to get away from something, and then when they got somewhere new they make it just like what they moved from. That’s a whole other thread though. So for the de-rail.


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That price is for a top-tier private course in the area. There are absolutely great tracks to play for a good deal less than that.
 
I can completely relate to you. Fortunately my home public course is very well maintained, but I get extremely annoyed by the general public that play there - long rounds, sunflower seeds on the tee box and greens, ball marks not being repaired, etc. When I travel, I seek out the best course in the area because I’ve become spoiled being able to play so many top 100 courses along with the majority of private courses around me.
 
shmelton;n8878246 said:
$8-10k for a 5 month season, damn! We have some really nice courses in my area, and they are in the $99-200 a month plus a $16 cart fee and maybe $6-8 green fees. Y’all are getting bent over...But then again, y’all are moving out direction every chance y’all get so it will be that expensive in GA soon enough. Never understood why a person would move to get away from something, and then when they got somewhere new they make it just like what they moved from. That’s a whole other thread though. So for the de-rail.


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At least it doesn’t come with a $100k initiation fee like the course by me.
 
mpeterson;n8878264 said:
That price is for a top-tier private course in the area. There are absolutely great tracks to play for a good deal less than that.
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No, not really ... Boston Golf is 65k in, 15k a year... OS is 100k in, 20 a year, Belmont 100K ... I could go on and on.


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dduarte85;n8878845 said:
No, not really ... Boston Golf is 65k in, 15k a year... OS is 100k in, 20 a year, Belmont 100K ... I could go on and on.


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All I’m saying is that you can get on a course that’s rated in the top courses in MA per Golf Digest And there are others that come in at the tier below if you want that still have active memberships, games, and good conditioning for less than that. They don’t come with the prestige, but the golf is good. If you want to quibble about what “top tier” is, fine - I wasn’t necessarily clear.
 
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