What is most important in choosing golf course/club

[higherplane]

Ended my "membership" at public course and now looking at others.  Personally have picked courses based on quality of course and then relative cost.  Given lack of overall success looking for some guidance as initiation fees have gone up in my area.  Any comments appreciated and thanks.               

[DiscipleofPenick]

I'm in a similar boat so gonna follow this. I've been looking at changing the season pass from my home course. Problem I have is that there's a considerable jump in cost. I pay $650 and the next cheapest is about $1000 more. Most of the other courses also require carts, whereas I almost always walk. The least expensive CC is pushing $4k so there's just no way to afford that now. Plus I'm not looking forward to paying dues from Nov-Feb when the course is closed.

[DaveP043]

There are lots of factors, you have to look at them all when deciding.  A few that I can think of:

Cost.  Yearly dues, plus cart fees (if required, or if you'll use them).  I look at my monthly dues as a single item for the year, I get more than my money's worth in the good months, lose out in the winter, it just has to balance right for the year as a whole.

Availability.  Can you get tee times when you want to play?  Can you play in a reasonable time?  Can you bring guests?  Are there too many outside events that limit availability for members?

Fitting in.  Is the membership welcoming, will you fit into groups, will you find playing partners?

Course Quality.  Both layout and conditioning are important.

Practice Facilities.  Range, putting greens, chipping areas, whatever you want, and at what (additional?) cost?

Drive time.  Is it close enough that you'll make the time to use the facilities.

Peripherals.  Pool, tennis, dining, whatever else might be attractive for you and/or your family.

Did that list help, or just make it more complicated?

 

[CarlH]

What @DaveP043 said, and more.  It's so personal that there's no way to address it as a blanket guide.  I can tell you that, for me, club membership pays off in the long run. Intrinsic values such as speed of play, availability of tee times, practice areas, other members, location in proximity to home, etc are all things that helped make my decision to play at a private club over one or several of the public courses in the area.

  

[higherplane]

Thanks DaveP043.     I am at point of looking into total annual cost dived by rounds I can reasonably do in same year - Winter is tough.   Unfortunately don't have equal levels of golf courses public and private, and practice facilities within reasonable driving distance.     

[Larryd3]

agree with @DaveP043  also to me a really big item, that he mentioned, is the friendliness of the members.  When we moved here we really didn't know many people except ones in my office so joining the country club opened up for new friends so much.  For that it was worth the cost of admission.  And luckily we have 2 great courses that are well maintained and the cost is reasonable and we found a house in the community where the club is located.  Now if the course hadn't been well maintained, etc we would have passed on it and found a different one.  We were fortunate.  As a note, we actually joined the club and then started the search for house in the area.  Luckily for us it worked out.  Right now with the house price appreciation around here, it might not have been such a wise order to do it in.  

[Headhammer]

On 7/30/2021 at 12:11 PM, DaveP043 said:

There are lots of factors, you have to look at them all when deciding.  A few that I can think of:

Availability.  Can you get tee times when you want to play?  Can you play in a reasonable time?  Can you bring guests?  Are there too many outside events that limit availability for members?

 

 

Availability would be the number one thing for me. We have a lot of semi-private clubs around us that host a ton of tournaments which impacts availability. On the positive side, outside events help pay for club maintenance, upgrades and keep your fees & assessments lower. The downs side is you are member of a club many times fighting for tee times with non-members.

[DiscipleofPenick]

After reviewing @DaveP043 list of points, I got hypothetical answers. I would like to join a club eventually, but I've been doing research this summer and even the least expensive clubs are a bit out of my range. I'm going to keep looking for options. I'd like to move on from the public course I play.

Cost - obviously the biggest issue for me. It would be great to find a course that didn't require cart or caddy fees. As far as dues, etc. It would be even better if a club offered an in season membership. I'm not going to use the club from mid-Nov through March in Ohio.

Availability - very important, need to play 2 or 3 rounds a week

Fitting In - this isn't a big deal for me, but it would be nice to find a small group for regular play

Quality - layout is important as if I'm paying that much the course better for my eye. After all the years in public links, anything private will look immaculate to me. I would also be concerned with set up. How fast are the greens? Does the greens keeper set dumb pins often? I would also be concerned about drainage. Northern Ohio is all clay underneath so drainage is a problem all our courses face.

Practice - Range and expensive short game area would be great.

Drive - anything within 30 minutes

Peripherals - a nice patio to relax for lunch or beers after the round. Don't care about the other social stuff. If I had a family membership a pool would be good.

[DaveP043]

8 minutes ago, DiscipleofPenick said:

As far as dues, etc. It would be even better if a club offered an in season membership. I'm not going to use the club from mid-Nov through March in Ohio.

Even here in Virginia, I rarely play much between Thanksgiving and the first of March.  I look at my monthly dues as a commitment for the year, rather than thinking of it as wasting a couple of months of dues.  From a club standpoint, having a guaranteed revenue stream throughout the year has to make managing finances a lot more straightforward.

[DiscipleofPenick]

11 minutes ago, DaveP043 said:

Even here in Virginia, I rarely play much between Thanksgiving and the first of March.  I look at my monthly dues as a commitment for the year, rather than thinking of it as wasting a couple of months of dues.  From a club standpoint, having a guaranteed revenue stream throughout the year has to make managing finances a lot more straightforward.

That's a good way to look at it. I just need to find a place to get my foot in the door.