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Price conversation: equipment or course price worst?

KEV

KEV

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The conversation about the price of equipment got me thinking about how much it costs to play the game in general. Do you think the price of equipment creeping up is tougher to deal with, or is the price for an actual round of golf tougher to swallow?

Finding a reasonable membership can be tough in some areas and it always amazes me how how much it costs to play some of the nicer courses in the country. Heck sometimes even average courses can be pretty expensive. What do you have a tougher time spending money on or what do you think is the part of the game that seems to be too expensive?
 
I think the price of a round of golf has gotten a little insane. Especially at destination/resort courses. Not that long ago $500 for a round was completely crazy to think about, but that seems to be closer and closer to common with lots of resort courses pushing $400, or even over that.

You can buy cheap equipment, and have a lot of fun playing, and you don’t have to upgrade, but if there aren’t any decently priced courses close, you’re kinda hosed. Around here a weekend/holiday round is around $50-$70 including a cart usually. Which seems high to me, but isn’t as bad as some places. I’m lucky in that most of the courses close offer some kind of membership option that lets me break even, even if I only get out two or three times a month for a round.

And two answer your question.....I have a hard time spending more on a round of golf, equipment I can buy used, trade back in for credit, or sell to someone else.
 
dazeedmonds said:
I think the price of a round of golf has gotten a little insane. Especially at destination/resort courses. Not that long ago $500 for a round was completely crazy to think about, but that seems to be closer and closer to common with lots of resort courses pushing $400, or even over that.

You can buy cheap equipment, and have a lot of fun playing, and you don’t have to upgrade, but if there aren’t any decently priced courses close, you’re kinda hosed. Around here a weekend/holiday round is around $50-$70 including a cart usually. Which seems high to me, but isn’t as bad as some places. I’m lucky in that most of the courses close offer some kind of membership option that lets me break even, even if I only get out two or three times a month for a round.

And two answer your question.....I have a hard time spending more on a round of golf, equipment I can buy used, trade back in for credit, or sell to someone else.
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You live about an hour from me and I do not have any of those reasonable priced options.

I’m willing to pay a fair amount (<$100) for a good course by me during a time I actually want to play but the top end of resort courses have lost their minds.
 
I guess I am just lucky to have fine cheap golf in my area. Most of my rounds cost less than $50 at my local courses. I joined the rewards program for a couple of courses and get discounts and occasional free rounds. Add the nearby Navy course, and as a vet I get a discount there too. So to me gear price escalation is worse.


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Put me in the camp that says the cost of a round is too much. I rarely play resort courses and I feel like the $29 + tax (walking + $14 on the off chance I decide to ride) is too much for a round of golf. As was mentioned above, there's no requirement to buy new stuff when upgrading clubs... or even to upgrade your clubs regularly at all. Fun can be had with old clubs, but if you're wanting to play any decent amount of rounds each year, then you're stuck with the greens fees. I purchased some frequent player passes that discounted 28 of my rounds 20-25% this year, but after those 28, I'm paying full price. I'm at 55ish 18 hole rounds now so I'm contemplating how to get more discounted rounds next year, but I don't like being tied to 2 courses (72 holes total) all year.
 
I haven't paid more than $14/9 holes walking all season. I think it depends upon whether you have and your standard for the golf. Nice courses cost. If I lived somewhere where it was impossible to play golf for less than $50 I would probably quit the game.

Dave
 
I feel like the course costs are relative depending on what you have access too, but the equipment costs are pretty standard and retain some value after use. So I guess put me in the course camp, even though I think most of the places I play are reasonable and offer decent memberships. When we found out what it cost to join the club nearest us we wondered why we hadn't done it already. It's close, we ate there all the time anyway (public), my wife likes the pool (members/guests only), and it's about the cost of 25 individual rounds for both of us to be members. I feel like a lot of vacation destinations have fairly reasonable places nearby, too. I mean, you can pay $500 a round, but you can also usually play $100 rounds somewhere too. Which, if you're in a vacation destination, seems pretty reasonable to me. It usually costs a lot more than that just to get your clubs there and back.
 
Finding clubs with reasonable membership is very costly in my area. Only the very wealthy have memberships to the top private courses. You could buy a yearly membership at some other courses, but those again hold you to playing just that one course all year.

I know many would argue paying 50-70 per round is cost-prohibitive, but I would argue that this price pales in comparison to attending a sporting event. A football ticket cost a min of 100+, add in parking, food, and anything else and you run around 150 - 200. Try taking a family of four to a baseball game and you probably also pay over 200 once its all over.

I have no problem paying 60 to 75 to play a round, but I do expect the course well kept and in good condition.
 
I believe the cost of a round, in both dollars and time, is far and away the #1 barrier to entry for golfers and potential golfers.
 
fuffle master said:
Finding clubs with reasonable membership is very costly in my area. Only the very wealthy have memberships to the top private courses. You could buy a yearly membership at some other courses, but those again hold you to playing just that one course all year.

I know many would argue paying 50-70 per round is cost-prohibitive, but I would argue that this price pales in comparison to attending a sporting event. A football ticket cost a min of 100+, add in parking, food, and anything else and you run around 150 - 200. Try taking a family of four to a baseball game and you probably also pay over 200 once its all over.

I have no problem paying 60 to 75 to play a round, but I do expect the course well kept and in good condition.
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But we are playing golf 40/60/80 whatever amount of times per year. As i mentioned in the other thread, golf is an ongoing continued expense if one is to participate avidly.
and i still dont get how the cost of attending a sporting event nor what doing anything else has to do with the expense of golf. Why is that relevant? Its got nothing to do with the price of apples.

if rounds were (at your example above) 60 per and one played 50 rounds, then that is $3,000 just for greens fees not even to yet consider anything else pertaining to it at all. Now hit the range once per week at 10 to 12 (I pay 13) per bucket. thats another 500 to 600 just doing that. But why would we compare this to taking the fam to a football game?
 
For me the price of equipment is a larger struggle than actually playing golf. I am a member of a semi-private course and only 15 minutes from home and even closer to my office so I play a lot. At the end of the day, my rounds end up costing me over a season about $15 per 18 so it is a steal being one of the top courses within 50 miles. For short golf trips to other courses we typically find deals, vouchers, etc. that get us on for 25% of rack rate.

Now equipment is a different matter so have to hunt for deals and typically only by second hand. Have only bought one set of new irons in my life as alway bought used. I would really like to be fully fitted for brand new irons and wedges sometime in future, at least I can daydream ?
 
Equipment is cheaper than it was the first 20 years I played relative to the value of the dollar and also we now have great used options because of places like eBay. A place like Dick’s or Costco also allows a beginner to get into golf relatively cheaply. A set of name brand irons when I bought my first set in 1981 were $375 to $400 and at the time I was making $2.70 per hour. I’m bidding on a set of slightly used Srixon Z765 irons right now and will likely get them for under $300.

Greens fees are still a barrier that makes golf mostly a rich man’s game.
 
rollin said:
But we are playing golf 40/60/80 whatever amount of times per year. As i mentioned in the other thread, golf is an ongoing continued expense if one is to participate avidly.
and i still dont get how the cost of attending a sporting event nor what doing anything else has to do with the expense of golf. Why is that relevant? Its got nothing to do with the price of apples.

if rounds were (at your example above) 60 per and one played 50 rounds, then that is $3,000 just for greens fees not even to yet consider anything else pertaining to it at all. Now hit the range once per week at 10 to 12 (I pay 13) per bucket. thats another 500 to 600 just doing that. But why would we compare this to taking the fam to a football game?
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Because it’s about 4 hours of entertainment?
 
fuffle master said:
Finding clubs with reasonable membership is very costly in my area. Only the very wealthy have memberships to the top private courses. You could buy a yearly membership at some other courses, but those again hold you to playing just that one course all year.

I know many would argue paying 50-70 per round is cost-prohibitive, but I would argue that this price pales in comparison to attending a sporting event. A football ticket cost a min of 100+, add in parking, food, and anything else and you run around 150 - 200. Try taking a family of four to a baseball game and you probably also pay over 200 once its all over.

I have no problem paying 60 to 75 to play a round, but I do expect the course well kept and in good condition.
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Sporting events have seen huge inflation compared to golf. I went to a Timberwolves game last year with a buddy who is long time season ticket holder with amazing seats. He pays $24k for his two seats each year which works out to $300 per seat for 41 home games. I wonder how much more expensive the tickets would be if the TWolves were a good team? I went to a game at Lambeau last year with a season ticket holder and those 2 tickets he could have easily sold for $700 each - he does it sometimes when he can’t make a game. I can play unlimited golf with cart at the Robert Trent Jones designed 36 hole resort course near our lake home for $2,200 per year. A steal considering the quality and condition of the course is better than all but maybe a dozen private courses in Minnesota.

Private courses are doing well right now especially with the strong economy. It’s obviously a status thing to belong to a top private club and will always be a rich mans game. The top 15 or so courses in the Minneapolis still get $40-$100k+ for an initiation fee and about $10k/year for dues plus food minimums. That’s a lot for a golf season that will only be about 190 days this year.

The good news is a season pass for unlimited golf at the 5 Minneapolis city courses(and 4 other executive courses) is only $1,195/year.
 
How much would you consider to be a fair price for 18 holes of golf? I struggle with this a bit because on one hand you are getting 3-5 hours worth of entertainment but in the other hand if you want to play multiple times a month it adds up quickly.
 
KEV said:
How much would you consider to be a fair price for 18 holes of golf? I struggle with this a bit because on one hand you are getting 3-5 hours worth of entertainment but in the other hand if you want to play multiple times a month it adds up quickly.
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That’s a tough question. I don’t like to spend more than about $50-$60 a round (I don’t like spending that much honestly) but I know that’s not always a real option In different parts of the world.
 
For around here it's definitely price of the round. You just become numb to the fact that you're going to be pay $60 or more to walk a course. Heck, anything under $75 I consider a good deal.
 
i find prices in my area pretty reasonable. i did the accounting and tax work for a golf course many years ago. it was a public course that didn’t charge much, and they lost their butts every year. maintaining a golf course is shockingly expensive. that doesn’t mean it makes me happy to spend money on a round, but it means i don’t get to play as much as i’d like.
 
Id say course price. This year, I made it a goal to play more golf and play at a variety of courses in my area. After a while, I started to realzie that the cost of it was getting a little crazy.
A lot of the courses I was playing were in the $50 for 18 holes range. If I were to play those courses 2-3 times a week, the cost would get a little crazy before long. Normally I play cheaper courses (theres a couple in my city that are $12 for 9 holes) and it allows me to play more golf. I love playing beautiful courses that are manicured to perfection, especially when they are a Donald Ross design but I just cant see paying more than $40 for a round of golf.
 
The price for a round is starting to get out of hand. Most of my local course are reasonable for the most part and the course are in good to great shape. Some of the nicer courses are norht of $50-100 range and not really anymore special than lower tier courses.
 
I tend to agree with most people in here that the biggest issue is the cost of the round. Equipment might be a bit expensive but most golfers aren't upgrading all the time nor are they forced into a single price point (plenty of options at high, medium, and low). There really aren't any courses near me that could qualify as low or medium priced unless you are willing to drive more than an hour each way. To make it cost effective here, the time costs are much higher.
 
I cruised by the Harbor Town clubhouse to pick up a few mementos and asked about a round cost. $369 for a weekday. I just can’t do that. I get that it is a great course, but I can play a ton of golf for that back home. I played 3 times here and didn’t touch that.
 
If you are playing a lot of golf and don't have a membership then it has the potential to get very expensive very quickly, so I think that the cost of rounds is a big factor for some people - I pay £750 per year for my club membership and with the number of times I have played this year up to now I would say I have definitely made it worthwhile
Without my membership there is no way I could play as much golf as I do each month - to put it into perspective, it is roughly £60 per month for my membership, which would equate to probably no more than 2 rounds a month at most of the courses in my area, and for some courses it would actually be more than that for a single round

Yes, I upgraded every club except putter a few months ago so that was a large cost, but those clubs will last me for a few years, so my personal cost per year is still relatively cheap compared to people who are constantly upgrading clubs
 
I'm another who finds the price of an expensive round less palatable.

I can keep equipment for as long as I want and even mitigate at least some of the loss at resale. But money spent on an expensive round is money gone very quickly.

I mean, I'd spend thousands for the opportunity to play Augusta if it were even possible. So I'm as unreasonable as I am at times offended.
 
rollin said:
Now hit the range once per week at 10 to 12 (I pay 13) per bucket.
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Maybe we should add range balls to the list. That's crazy, I mean, unless you're getting a huge number of balls for that. I pay $3.50/30 balls. How many do you get for $13?
 
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