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Golf Course question - Short game area

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echico

echico

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Albatross 2024 Club
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How many of you actually get to practice at a public course with a good short game area? I call it good if I can practice bunker shots, chips, up to 30-50 yd pitches, and multiple targets.

How much would pay for a day pass for this if it is not your normal range?
 
The closest one to me is descent but not great. There is another one at Whirlwind that is fantastic but $40 to use it seems high.
 
If I’m shagging my own that’s one thing. If they’re providing range balls another. And if the range balls are something you’d actually play with, that’d be the top notch.
 


Also I don't pay a thing.
 
There is one that just south of my house that is very good. When I want to practice, I go there.

I have a range key on my key ring to get balls.
 
Our local muni has the best short game practice area around. One large dedicated putting green, another huge chipping green with maybe 20 holes and a bunker big enough for at least two to use at a time, and an area where you can maybe get 50 yards away but only if it's not crowded. That seems to be a very popular spot. It has a flat side and a raised side too, so if you want to practice chipping to an elevated green you can do it. Total cost to practice all day is $0 but I'll usually get a large bucket to hit on the range or maybe a dog and a coke for lunch just because it feels weird using their facility for hours and not buying anything.
 
There is one by me that’s free with a greens fee or bucket of balls. I wouldn’t pay because I’d rather hack around in a bunker during a round and if that makes me a savage then so be it!
 
My club is semi private but has a pretty good practice area. They've got sand traps, chipping green and a putting green you can practice on for free. You also hit off grass for the range so that's good.
 
The range at my club is nothing special, but has a putting green, chipping and pitching area, as well as a bunker for practice. It's included with membership. I often stop by after work and spend an hour working on my short game, if I can't actually play a round.
 
echico said:
How many of you actually get to practice at a public course with a good short game area? I call it good if I can practice bunker shots, chips, up to 30-50 yd pitches, and multiple targets.

How much would pay for a day pass for this if it is not your normal range?
Click to expand...
Few public-access courses near me have more than a practice green, usually with a "No Chipping" sign. If there is a range, it is rare to have more than hitting stations. Good ones have grass, poor ones carpet only. There are a couple of exceptions that have a practice bunker. The best practice area associated with a course has grass tees, a putting green, a chipping pitching green and a practice bunker (hit to the range, not a green). No cost if you use your own balls. Otherwise, it is the cost of a bucket.

I don't think any place has a "day pass" and I wouldn't really spend much more than the cost of a large bucket to access a short game practice area.
 
None that I know of locally, I’d pay 30-40$ if it was a day pass to go hog wild for short game place with my shag bag balls and a nice facility.
 
echico said:
How many of you actually get to practice at a public course with a good short game area? I call it good if I can practice bunker shots, chips, up to 30-50 yd pitches, and multiple targets.

How much would pay for a day pass for this if it is not your normal range?
Click to expand...

I have two couses i can go to with good short came areas. They are free.
 
There’s only one short game area around me with a practice area like what you described. It’s included in the price of a basket of balls which is about $12
 
The local muni has all that save for the practice bunker. There may be one after renovations that might be starting in 2023/2024. But I get access to everything else with a $7 range bucket.
 
Where I am at right now the only availabilty to decent practice areas are at private clubs. I'll visit one of these occasionally and make sure I show up very early to partake in this type practice. I use to use a place like this once a week while in VA and previously FL. FL at PGA Village it was $25 for the day. Hit 100 balls/hit 1000. In VA it was get a bucket for $10 and hit em wherever you wanted.
 
I'm in golf heaven when it comes to short game practice

My home course offers everything from putting to 150 yard shots, using my own, used golf balls. It has 3 pins with 10 foot diameter greens....when manicured. It's also free, on real turf.

This includes a bunker, uneven lies, rough, fairway cuts, full swings, pitching, chipping, and putts.

As an added bonus, when people leave range balls in the sg area, we can pick them up and use them on the d-range for free. Range balls are not allowed in the sg area, but people skirt the rules. Mostly the non locals. The stumbling block is how to enforce a fee for non locals.

All that said, club members are starting to entertain thoughts about charging non locals to use the sg area. This due to area damage being left over. The damage mostly being unrepaired divots, even though fill sand is provided.:banghead:
 
I’d pay $20 to use something like that. One near me comes close, but only up to about 20 yds
 
echico said:
The closest one to me is descent but not great. There is another one at Whirlwind that is fantastic but $40 to use it seems high.
Click to expand...
Whirlwind is amazing :love:


Miss that place. Playing at Whirlwind really made me realize what I was missing out on. And as soon as I got back to GA I went and joined my local country club with a great short game area and practice facility.
 
My course has a good area. Actually there are a couple now that they’ve done some remodel. On the left side of the range it’s several 30-100yd to shoot at. On the main range there are stakes at 30, 40, 50, 60 and a green at 75. In the far corner by the lesson area there’s an area with a 3 tier narrow green that you can pitch onto from 15-40yds
 
My course has a practice green with a bunker and a pitching area that covers 25-45 yards or so. Then the other practice green is very large and is for chipping and putting work. Decent setup.
 
None of the places I go have a nice short game area. One has an area, but it's not what I would call nice in any way. That's one thing I miss from being up in Bellingham. North Bellingham Golf Course has a really nice practice facility.

Honestly, I'd pay for a bucket then using the short game area once I was done. That shouldn't be an extra cost imho.
 
Oh and the other thing that makes our range and practice area in general so good is the TP5 range balls. Awesome.
 
The public course next to me has one of the best I've seen. Practice putting green that allows chipping, separate warmup chipping green with bunker and free with greens fee, then the dedicated short game area.

This area is two separate 100 yard holes essentially. Fairway, rough, bunkers, varying lies, etc. You rent them by the hour and bring your own shag bag. The entire hole is just yours! Completely awesome for ball testing, wedge comparisons or plain old practice.
 
There are a couple of muni's around here that are decent for chipping and putting. There is a 9 hole "course" that is really like 9 pitching greens that is $3 to use or free w/ a year long membership (3 free buckets, $1 off every bucket of balls after, a lesson, and unlimited use of the pitching course for $120). I've considered but I'd mostly be using it in the winter and it gets too wet to maintain properly.
 
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