Cost of golf in your area

[Richie3Jack]

Golf is pretty pricey in Atlanta and used to be really bad. You can play an absolute train wreck of a course for $35 in the city and have a 5.5 hour round to boot. Sounds like fun.

 

I first moved to Atlanta in 2000 and thought I would probably take a couple years off from the game, then get some money together to join a club in the city and live happily ever after.

 

Talk about a pipe dream. From about 2000-2004, if you wanted to join a half decent club ANYWHERE in Atlanta you are probably looking at a $5-$50K initiation and then outrageous rates afterwards.

 

Problem was that they outpriced the golfing population and wound up going bankrupt. Now I've been able to capitalize on that because these courses have been bought out by a company.

 

Basically the way it's set up is that I pay $150 a monty, and then pay $25 for a cart and green fee every time I play. But, I have 23 courses to choose from.

 

Not bad.

 

I may be moving to Florida soon. I can get cheaper memberships there in the end, but I can only get one course to play.

 

 

 

 

3JACK

[JohnBarry]

It's pretty nice.

Wachesaw Plantation Club

 

 

A Myrtle Beacher in our forum, welcome, and yes, I have played your course, it's fantastic and certainly well maintained and staffed!

 

Our group is coming down in June and July this year, but it's the Big Cats for us this time!

[bp4455]

Yep, beautiful. The real estate seems quite reasonable too. Granted my reference is wacky California.

Thanks for sharing.

From what I see on HGTV you don't get much for $400-500K in California and some other parts of the country.

 

Having said that, our prices appear to be 2/3 of what they were four years ago and high end homes even worse. One home on 17 green was for sale for $1.4 mil in 2006, sold for almost 900K in 2008 and was recently sold again for around 700K. It's a beautiful house with a large home theater, gym and about everything else one could want. I wouldn't want to ave to pay the electric bill though.

[bp4455]

A Myrtle Beacher in our forum, welcome, and yes, I have played your course, it's fantastic and certainly well maintained and staffed!

 

Our group is coming down in June and July this year, but it's the Big Cats for us this time!

When did you play WPC?

[pargolf]

I usually buy a season weekday pass. $300 for green fees/yr. $10-18 holes for the cart. Without a pass- Daily $18 bucks walking, $22 weekend walking. In the boonies in Utah.............

[Addicted2Golf]

I live in the Chicago suburbs and golf is (to me) fairly expensive. Many of the courses are $40+ for 18, with plenty being MUCH more. That said, there are so many courses that it's also possible to find plenty of good deals.

 

Isn't that weird? Please try to explain it to me because I haven't been able to rationalize paying more for golf here than I was in Arizona (which pretty much is the golf resort capital of the US).

[Matt Saternus]

Isn't that weird? Please try to explain it to me because I haven't been able to rationalize paying more for golf here than I was in Arizona (which pretty much is the golf resort capital of the US).

 

I guess the explanation is simple supply and demand: there are enough people who are willing to pay those fees to keep the courses full. In terms of golf (and ONLY in terms of golf), I liked central Illinois better. I bought a pass that allowed me to play a decent course for a calendar year for $600.

[GolfSpy Dave]

I usually buy a season weekday pass. $300 for green fees/yr. $10-18 holes for the cart. Without a pass- Daily $18 bucks walking, $22 weekend walking. In the boonies in Utah.............

This sounds like a good deal. Not sure about the having to drive to Utah part , but I would play T/Th/F most weeks.

[MmmmmmBuddy]

It seems like with the state of the economy, more courses would be doing all they could to increase play. I know that around here, one of the local private clubs has lost over 35% of its members, and still has not reduced rates. I don't get it.

[GolfSpy Dave]

It seems like with the state of the economy, more courses would be doing all they could to increase play. I know that around here, one of the local private clubs has lost over 35% of its members, and still has not reduced rates. I don't get it.

We are seeing a bit of deals coming at the courses run by the same management company, but some have gone up too.

Entertainment book is good if you are at a riding course. Most of the 2 for 1 coupons have mandatory cart fees, for both players. Sort of kills the savings.

 

Some courses have free food deals packaged with drop in rates after 1. Come for lunch then play.

[Matt Saternus]

It seems like with the state of the economy, more courses would be doing all they could to increase play. I know that around here, one of the local private clubs has lost over 35% of its members, and still has not reduced rates. I don't get it.

 

I've talked about this quite a bit with my dad and other golfers. I think the concern is that if they drop the rates and fill every tee time, will they lose all those customers when they raise the rates? There's also the concern about de-valuing your product. I think the best solution (and I wish I saw more of them) is coupons/specials. If you offer two for one golf on weekdays, you can keep your rates, but still get more play.

[MmmmmmBuddy]

I've talked about this quite a bit with my dad and other golfers. I think the concern is that if they drop the rates and fill every tee time, will they lose all those customers when they raise the rates? There's also the concern about de-valuing your product. I think the best solution (and I wish I saw more of them) is coupons/specials. If you offer two for one golf on weekdays, you can keep your rates, but still get more play.

More play is a good thing, kind of. For the courses, 2 for 1 is the same as 1/2 price green fees. So why not reduce the rate 25% for everyone and fill up the golf course?? There are several times when I will want to play, and no one will be available to join me. So with a 2 for 1, I get hosed. It is a difficult situation, and I do not claim to have all the answers, but I am always in favor of cheaper green fees

[Matt Saternus]

More play is a good thing, kind of. For the courses, 2 for 1 is the same as 1/2 price green fees. So why not reduce the rate 25% for everyone and fill up the golf course?? There are several times when I will want to play, and no one will be available to join me. So with a 2 for 1, I get hosed. It is a difficult situation, and I do not claim to have all the answers, but I am always in favor of cheaper green fees

 

No argument from me, I like cheap golf and I would definitely play more if it was cheaper (I also lack golfing friends, so 2 for 1's aren't great for me either). I was just trying to see it from the course owner's perspective to explain why they're not dropping rates. It's like a lot of things, people are always more concerned about what's going to happen when things get good again.

[GolfSpy Dave]

One local course has funny discounts like Hawaiian shirt Fridays. Saves you $7 or so if you wear a Hawaiian shirt. This could be a way to have special discounts, but then be able to go back to normal prices when the "promotion" ends...