[POLL] Play Pebble Beach? Or other?

[mr.hicksta]

When you lived there did you ever get to PG golf Links? I was never able to get to pebble when we lived in Pacific Grove but played PG once a month and for $50, as far as I was concerned was the next best thing.

And to answer the actual proposed question: I'm on board with a poor man's golf trip and stretching the absolute hell out of that $3k on as many courses that I can.



the more I practice, the luckier I seem to get..

I only played Pacific Grove once. The back 9 is cool, but I was unimpressed with the front. But you’re right, for the price you’d be hard pressed to find a better deal. I spent most of my time playing Bayonet & Black Horse since it only cost me $19 a round.

[release]

On 2/8/2020 at 8:13 PM, HardcoreLooper said:

Hmmm...  Not sure about that.  A local public course trying to decide between $50 and $65 is often a matter of survival.  A proportional drop in greens fees at PB would probably still keep them in the black, just a little less black.  I don't know how much PB makes, but seeing as how the shares in the partnership have tripled since 1999, I imagine it's doing OK.

https://www.wsj.com/articles/how-clint-eastwood-arnold-palmer-and-820-million-took-pebble-beach-off-the-auction-block-11560175200

I have no idea whether the Pebble Beach golf courses are doing these days.

If they were doing well all along, then there wouldn't be the sale to the Japanese in the 80's and then eventually resold.  I mean, who will sell the goose that lays the golden egg.   I do know that it was under financial stress at one time or the other.   I can't confirm this, but I remembered the, then Mayor of Carmel , Clint Eastwood suggested and hiked the green fees at the Pebbles in order to sustain the operation.

No matter how great a golf course is, if the existence does not make economic sense, then it'll be a past tense.  It is after all, a passtime for the elite in most part of the world.  If the industry is depending of the few to support the game, then, either there be a whole lot less golf courses, or the middle class will get a boost in pay;  which is not very likely in view of the recent decades of the sliding of the middle class.

Sorry to say, I hold a dim view for the golf industry in general for the next few decades.   Golf courses are especially in jeopardy, because the changing climate pattern will be an extra variable elements to deal with, by the golf course management.

 

[Firebird]

Played Peeble in the early 80's and was lucky as we did not have to pay. In fact I even scored a set of Copper Beryllium Ping Eye 2 Irons as the Chairman of a large Japanese Corp he were playing with left his at home and they did not rent them so he bought a set. 

Was a beautiful on a absolutely amazing golf course.

We have also played St Andrews.

Their are several on our bucket list however Cape Kidnappers in NZ is currently on the top.

https://www.robertsonlodges.com/the-lodges/cape-kidnappers/golf

[xOldBenKenobiX]

On 2/4/2020 at 11:15 AM, gobama84 said:

Ok, I'll show my ignorance.  What is LM+In-Home Studio?

I believe it is Launch Monitor + In home simulator. 

 

[HardcoreLooper]

On 4/18/2020 at 2:15 PM, release said:

I have no idea whether the Pebble Beach golf courses are doing these days.

If they were doing well all along, then there wouldn't be the sale to the Japanese in the 80's and then eventually resold.  I mean, who will sell the goose that lays the golden egg.   I do know that it was under financial stress at one time or the other.   I can't confirm this, but I remembered the, then Mayor of Carmel , Clint Eastwood suggested and hiked the green fees at the Pebbles in order to sustain the operation.

No matter how great a golf course is, if the existence does not make economic sense, then it'll be a past tense.  It is after all, a passtime for the elite in most part of the world.  If the industry is depending of the few to support the game, then, either there be a whole lot less golf courses, or the middle class will get a boost in pay;  which is not very likely in view of the recent decades of the sliding of the middle class.

Sorry to say, I hold a dim view for the golf industry in general for the next few decades.   Golf courses are especially in jeopardy, because the changing climate pattern will be an extra variable elements to deal with, by the golf course management.

 

No doubt that PB was in trouble in the '80s.  You're absolutely correct; it wouldn't have changed hands so many times if it had been turning a profit then.  It did appear to be in better shape as of my post on 2/8.  I can't imagine how it's doing now.  

But there's golf at every price point.  I had the incredible fortune last year to play a couple wonderful courses with ocean views and greens fees north of $200.  I also played several rounds at a scruffy little nine-holer near my house where you can go around as many times as you'd like for $12 on a weekday afternoon.  Completely different experiences, but both are fun, and both are golf to me.

Golf faces several challenges (climate, economics, free time), and some facilities are going to need to adapt and change to survive.  Whether it's cutting the number of holes and selling some real estate, reducing the amount of acreage that's maintained and irrigated, rethinking their approach to juniors (cheap junior memberships) or any number of other ideas, golf will need to change.  Andy Johnson of The Fried Egg has a great idea about five hole loops that can be played in an hour after work as a replacement for going to a gym.  The Some Guy's Backyard guys have built their own course on a couple of acres.  Whippoorwill in Alabama was created by a guy who knows nothing about golf.  The list goes on.

As long as hitting a ball with a stick across a field at a target is fun, we'll find a way to have golf.  Maybe it'll be more laid back; maybe it'll be less fussy.  But it'll still be golf.  And I'll be playing.

[release]

2 hours ago, HardcoreLooper said:

No doubt that PB was in trouble in the '80s.  You're absolutely correct; it wouldn't have changed hands so many times if it had been turning a profit then.  It did appear to be in better shape as of my post on 2/8.  I can't imagine how it's doing now.  

But there's golf at every price point.  I had the incredible fortune last year to play a couple wonderful courses with ocean views and greens fees north of $200.  I also played several rounds at a scruffy little nine-holer near my house where you can go around as many times as you'd like for $12 on a weekday afternoon.  Completely different experiences, but both are fun, and both are golf to me.

Golf faces several challenges (climate, economics, free time), and some facilities are going to need to adapt and change to survive.  Whether it's cutting the number of holes and selling some real estate, reducing the amount of acreage that's maintained and irrigated, rethinking their approach to juniors (cheap junior memberships) or any number of other ideas, golf will need to change.  Andy Johnson of The Fried Egg has a great idea about five hole loops that can be played in an hour after work as a replacement for going to a gym.  The Some Guy's Backyard guys have built their own course on a couple of acres.  Whippoorwill in Alabama was created by a guy who knows nothing about golf.  The list goes on.

As long as hitting a ball with a stick across a field at a target is fun, we'll find a way to have golf.  Maybe it'll be more laid back; maybe it'll be less fussy.  But it'll still be golf.  And I'll be playing.

All valid points.   It also depending on where is golf in one's economic scale.

When I was young, a round of Muni 18 was about $15.  With the present value of the cost of living, that amounts to approx. $50.

We did not think twice of paying for the green fees back then, never thought  twice of paying $700 for a new set of irons neither.  That's over $2,000 today's money.

But as a single guy back then, the worst could happen after the splurge was to live on bologna sandwich with lots of mayonnaise for a couple of weeks, while enjoying the shining new irons in the bag.  Work was steady, as long as one wish to work.  Pension funds and healthcare were not watered down like today's choices.  Golf , was not as a far fetched pastime as these days.

Anyway, I see the golf industry surviving the difficult time, but not as the glory days in the last couple of decades.

Today, there are lots of other distractions for the younger generation besides spending time on the golf course.

[Chizzle]

I would definitely choose pebble if I had $3k.  I've played pebble and it's amazing if you can get over the price tag.  Played like crap too.  Along with pebble, I would play spyglass and Spanish bay and any other course on that peninsula until the money ran out