Where do you play (public vs private)?

[mscall 8]

I usually play public courses as their are a good amount of them around me. That being said any chance I get to play a private course with a member, I always jump at the chance as they are some of the nicest courses in our area.

[bgsurick 1]

Local semi-private, when I stay close to home, with a regular group.  Most of my tournament golf is played at private venues.  That probably accounts for half of my rounds.

[tzan 3]

Me and my golf pal hit a rotation of about 4 courses in our immediate area (30 minute drive). One is a muni, the others are privately owned, opened to the public. The courses are in great shape and can typically get around in 4 hours, sometimes longer on a holiday weekend. Played in 3:40 hours (walking) on Wednesday afternoon. SE Connecticut/SW Rhode Island. 

[Striker 8]

I play public course in and around the area. Overall the pace of play is in the 3.5 to 4.5 for 18 holes. Before the pandemic, I could sometimes get out early and play 18 in 3 hours or less. Once everyone took up golf during COVID the Public courses are packed and hard to get tee times. I would like to join a private club but cannot justify the expense with my daughter in college. 

[funkyjudge 244]

On 9/9/2021 at 10:06 AM, Gavwlee said:

I recently signed up then cancelled my private club membership after 6 months when I realized members didn't care to repair divots, rake bunkers, destroy practice areas, and monopolize tee times (just in case they decided to play)...all to say, not a good experience. And the pace of play was not any better than any public course (5 - 6.5 hours when stuck behind the wrong group, thinking they're playing on tour).

With that rant aside, where do you all play? Public vs Private? Same home course all the time? Rotation of courses in and around your neighborhood? With a club/consistent group of folks?

The vast majority of public-access and municipal golf courses in my area (Eastern PA and Central/Southern NJ) are well-maintained and provide a good challenge and test of golf, so I primarily play these courses. I occasionally get the opportunity to play private courses, and if they are good courses and the folks I will be playing with are cool, I play these courses maybe 6 to 8x per year.  I will also travel up to 1.5-2 hours to play a great course, but I am fortunate to have plenty of quality public courses within a 20 to 30 minute drive from which I can choose, so I only travel those greater distances to play golf with buddies of mine who live nearer to courses that are further from me.

I also play on a winter golf tour, and the mix of courses that we play on that tour are about 65% private (some very exclusive private courses) and 35% public.  The opportunity to play some of these exclusive private courses is a major motivating factor that prompted me to join this winter tour a few years ago (and the prize money and skins potential doesn’t hurt, as well).

Semper Fi, Brother Marine!

Edited September 10, 2021 by funkyjudge

[Speaknoevil 5]

90% at my home course, a semi-private and top-10 ranked course in my state. And yes, the older, long-term members sometimes take the course for granted, but newer members like myself fix an extra ball mark or two, and do some extra raking in the traps (if ever find myself in one).

[CarlH 8,669]

1 hour ago, MmmmmmBuddy said:

If I lived where you do Carl, I would have a difficult time playing anywhere else... 

 

side note..  One of my guys won the SOGC last week.  

Congrats to him!  Winning that is an accomplishment!  I didn't play this year, but I did caddy for one of the players in the Seniors division.

[Murv 35]

Our Park District has two nice courses in pretty good condition. I can buy a senior season pass that covers both. I can play about 50 rounds a year for an average cost of less than $18 by walking. Then in January thru March I go to the Scottsdale-Mesa AZ. area and play 25 rounds at a Mesa muni for $40 a round...again by walking. 

I feel very fortunate!

[550025 4]

I'm fortunate to have been a member of various private clubs since 1980. This year our club decided to increase our already hefty dues by another 30%.  I moved over to a nearby semi private club (with 10 other members) and couldn't be happier. We kept most of our Saturday group together and saved a ton of $$$. The savings gave me a chance to take 2 bucket list golf trips and more are planned.  I'll stay semi-private. 

[Ken Hughes 1]

I play public courses.

[Dokex 9]

On 9/9/2021 at 10:06 AM, Gavwlee said:

I recently signed up then cancelled my private club membership after 6 months when I realized members didn't care to repair divots, rake bunkers, destroy practice areas, and monopolize tee times (just in case they decided to play)...all to say, not a good experience. And the pace of play was not any better than any public course (5 - 6.5 hours when stuck behind the wrong group, thinking they're playing on tour).

With that rant aside, where do you all play? Public vs Private? Same home course all the time? Rotation of courses in and around your neighborhood? With a club/consistent group of folks?

I think that members at private clubs blame the less than ideal conditions on non-member outing play, instead of taking pride in the upkeep of the course.

[Godawgs 6]

I play golf at Edmunson Golf Coarse and Harvest Point Golf Coarse, Oskaloosa, Iowa. Both are public golf coarses. We also have Oskaloosa Golf that is also public but I’m not a member there. Great coarses 

[Papa Tango 2]

Public. Where I play most, great rates for seniors, especially walkers, but great even for 18 with a cart. 

[Gavwlee 34]

2 minutes ago, Dokex said:

I think that members at private clubs blame the less than ideal conditions on non-member outing play, instead of taking pride in the upkeep of the course.

So true..but in this case, I’ve no doubt that the issue were the members. Lots of the members (definitely not all) were the bad apples that just didn’t care to repair divots, rake bunkers, etc. Maybe they thought their membership dues would take care of all that for them?

[redhillaz 2]

I mostly play at a private country club.  I can get a round in less than 2 hours if playing by myself, if playing in a foursome normal play is just over 3 hours.  If you play on weekends it can extend to 4 hours which seems like an eternity.  I do play public courses as well just for the variety or when traveling.  Whenever I go public, it is a real wakeup on the pace of play and the course conditions.  I find public courses also have worse green conditions, especially in unrepaired or poorly repaired ball marks.

[Gavwlee 34]

40 minutes ago, 550025 said:

I'm fortunate to have been a member of various private clubs since 1980. This year our club decided to increase our already hefty dues by another 30%.  I moved over to a nearby semi private club (with 10 other members) and couldn't be happier. We kept most of our Saturday group together and saved a ton of $$$. The savings gave me a chance to take 2 bucket list golf trips and more are planned.  I'll stay semi-private. 

I’ve actually been considering this recently as there is a highly rated semi-private within 20 minutes of where I live, but looks like they have a waitlist, so I might have to visit as a non-member for a while and scope it out more  Glad your situation resulted in an optimal position for you and your group! Where were your bucket list trips?

[Gavwlee 34]

1 hour ago, funkyjudge said:

The vast majority of public-access and municipal golf courses in my area (Eastern PA and Central/Southern NJ) are well-maintained and provide a good challenge and test of golf, so I primarily play these courses. I occasionally get the opportunity to play private courses, and if they are good courses and the folks I will be playing with are cool, I play these courses maybe 6 to 8x per year.  I will also travel up to 1.5-2 hours to play a great course, but I am fortunate to have plenty of quality public courses within a 20 to 30 minute drive from which I can choose, so I only travel those greater distances to play golf with buddies of mine who live nearer to courses that are further from me.

I also play on a winter golf tour, and the mix of courses that we play on that tour are about 65% private (some very exclusive private courses) and 35% public.  The opportunity to play some of these exclusive private courses is a major motivating factor that prompted me to join this winter tour a few years ago (and the prize money and skins potential doesn’t hurt, as well).

Semper Fi, Brother Marine!

I might have to come up to PA! Lol sounds like you have a ton of quality options up there!

[Albatrass 61]

I play all three.  Living in The Villages FL.  we have 13 Regulation (18 or 27 hole) courses and 42 executive (9 hole) courses.  We still like to go to courses outside of the Villages too.  Some are semi-private or public.

[MDGolfHacker 8,779]

I tend to play whatever courses EA golf and tiger woods golf allows me to play . But seriously I tend to only play public courses, although with a busy family and work schedule the only course I play is the one where I do my nine-hole golf League lately.

 

MDGolfHacker

[Bubbly Pop 59]

I'm lucky in that the course I belong to in Pittman NJ (Running Deer) owns/operates 7 other (semi-private) courses within a 50 mile radius, and you can play any of them under the same membership.   I still occasionally play 3-4 other area courses that either have interesting layouts, unique green complex's, or both.  However, it's a good deal joining a course that is affiliated with other courses in order to regularly enjoy more variety for the same $'s.