How Much for a Bucket?

[rietfors]

Buckets of balls at our public courses are $15 for a large bucket. $10 for a medium at $7 for a small. I always get a range pass which is $350 for both of our public courses. I usually end up hitting balls 3 days a week and it easily pays for itself over a season.

[mantan]

The range situation in my part of the Dallas-Fort Worth area has gotten way worse since the covid boom.  Demand is through the roof as so many players 'came back to the game' or took it up. At the same time supply is down as several green grass ranges within 15 miles of me closed and sold the land for another business.

6 years ago, you could find many grass ranges with the typical 7/10/15 prices.  Or you could get the same price at a course.  Many courses have converted their tee lines to add mats for weekdays. 

One large green grass practice facility converted to one of those Top Tracer facilities and is trying to be an outdoor Top Golf type facility.  The prices are higher. And it's a zoo on busy days trying to find an empty bay (no reservation system).

I got a monthly membership at a course solely to use the practice facility which isn't too crowded...even though they use the grass range on the weekend.

I'm old school. I don't like hitting off mats unless the weather offers no other option. If I want to do that, I'd just use pay for practice session the PGA Tour SS.  I'm not going to pay to hit mats outside at a driving range. Absolutely not.

 

 

[Ken C]

There are two courses I play 90% of the time, one of which I am a member.  The one I'm a member at charges $1 for a small bucket (30 or so balls) and $2 for a large (60-70 balls) great deal as part of the membership and for practice. 

The other course charges $3 (small - 30 balls), $5 (medium ~ 50 balls) and $7 (large ~ 70 balls).

[Brian F.]

I can't help but be jealous of some of the prices I'm seeing here. My nearest, and honestly best public range's grass is always torn to shreds if I'm lucky enough to miss any rain which will make it mats only. Small buckets are $10 (30 balls), medium $11 (50), and large is $12 (75) *I'm estimating the ball counts. The balls are aging Spaulding practice balls. Decent compared to some other ranges where you'll find balls that are either cracked, or knuckle in the air. 

Edited June 10 by bfountain

[Nameste]

My husband and I went to our local public course yesterday to hit some balls. $7 for a small bucket and $12 for a large. While I’m willing to spend a little money on practice, I do expect the balls to be in relatively decent shape. However, this was not the case. All the balls were NOT range balls. They were OPBs that were found on the course at some time…could have been yesterday or 2 years ago. Many had massive cut marks and actual holes in them. While I don’t mind paying for a bucket of balls, I do expect a little better effort from the course for that price. Needless to say, we won’t be going back there anytime soon. 

[ShimmyCocoBop]

Just got back from a trip to Lebanon/Lancaster, PA.  

Royal Oaks Golf Course was the only place with a somewhat nice practice area.

A Jumbo Bucket (100+ balls) cost $14.00 and the balls were new-ish yellow Wilsons.

Plus, there was an old white pickup truck parked as a target near the 100 yard post.  Many people had a good time trying to hit it, and since it made a good sound when a ball did hit it, everyone looked to see who was the lucky one!

My favorite thing at golf course driving ranges is watching people playing their first round in a while with high expectations - they usually buy the jumbo bucket or two so they can really work out the kinks, and end up getting bushed after hitting 50 balls or their buddies say "Let's go, we're on the tee".  If their leftover range balls are still sitting there after a while, I'll chip them or pile them up for someone else who might be having trouble.

[RanMan]

A small bucket is $7.00. A little high?

[release]

Buckets at one of the public driving range, This place is always packed with golfers at this price.  Used to have senior rate ( 2 fer 1 before 11 AM), no longer since the management deemed the demand is higher than supply.

All mats, no grass tee.

They used to have decent range balls, now they use the cheap low grade balls.

Jumbo Bucket (160 Balls)  $19

Large Bucket (120 Balls)  $16

Medium Bucket (80 Balls)  $12

Small Bucket (40 Balls)  $8

[alphakooze]

$8 for 60 balls (canada)

[Fireshriner]

I live in a Community where we have Golf courses plus other activities, I'm a Sports Complex member which allows me unlimited Pickleball, Tennis, Swim, Gym and Driving Range.

So I pay nothing extra for the Range and practice area at both courses 

[JWE]

In Canada where I live a small bucket is between $5 to $7 with a large running you as much as $14. The balls vary from decent shape to pretty scuffed and beat up. But on a positive note the range closest to me has a short game area with a bunker and lots of different lies to practice from and the balls in that area are free to practice with. 

[knotthead17]

I would love to see how much that bucket of balls costs the course. I’m sure the math is a little tricky to factor in the grass, range balls, damaged balls, lost balls, ball machine, machine maintenance, picker maintenance, broken baskets, labor…

[MILGolfing]

The driving range I visit has decent pricing from what i've seen at other driving ranges in the area. They have a putting and chipping area, mats and the grass isn't the greatest, but its something. 

• Small Basket (35 balls) $7.08 (plus HST)
• Medium Basket (70 balls) $12.39 (plus HST)
• Large Basket (105 balls) $15.04 (plus HST)

I purchased a practice membership where I can get a 1 large bucket for $7 daily and $14 for each bucket after. I paid $230 upfront for the membership. So for me to get the best use of it, i need to practice at least 15 times this season which shouldn't be an issue as long as the weather permits. ie: Today is June 10th but its only 13 degrees Celsius outside today with strong winds. 

 

[Tom the Golf Nut]

Sore subject!!!!

My club charges $8.00 for a small bag. This contains about 40 balls and 80% of them are trash. I refuse to hit them for the most part. The range is soft and after the ball picker comes through they have to go back and hand pick the range to get the plugged balls. Then they take all the balls and dump them in a barrel of water and let them soak for who knows how long.
When I play there I walk the fairway edges on my way to my ball and collect the lost balls. I’m the first one out so there is not a ball in play. My son is on the grounds crew and collects the lost balls as well when mowing or spraying.

We clean them and then use these balls at the range. The course is ok with this. I asked. Free balls for them. 

Recent found and needs cleaning on the left. Ready for the range on the right. Containers containing premium balls are far right.

Edited June 10 by Tom the Golf Nut

[JeremyD]

The grass range here is 6 for small (35ish balls), and I believe 11 for large (70ish). Maybe 15 for jumbo (105ish). I don't pay attention to jumbo since I never buy it. The best deal is buying 100 tickets for $260. Each ticket is worth a small bucket. Great savings. They have other deals, but not as good.

[EMacK1961]

At Bajamar Oceanfront and Golf Resort it is $7.95USD for a bucket of approx. 25-30. That's a lot for what I would consider a warm-up bucket. The balls are pretty beaten up to the point where you have a hard time making out the brand stamp on the ball. I wouldn't consider this to be a particularly great value.

[JBNewton]

Agree with everyone that says this is one of the top perks of most memberships.  I was previously a member of a small town goat ranch (only course in town) that charged $5/small crown royal bag of crap balls + $20/ride 18.  Granted we only paid $150/month for membership that included a decent pool, restaurant, etc.   

Current club in a new town that has 3 courses has unlimited balls that are the callaway range mostly kept in good shape.  For guests, the range is included in the guest green fee.  THe local public and range are all $9-$10 for a small (40ish) and go up exponentially from there.

[mholzer]

The semi private courses in Sask usually include the range with the round which is nice. If you are on a public course, a large bucket is $13-$15...to be honest it seems expensive at the end of the day. Its hard to promote golf to new people when things as easy as the range is so expensive...

 

[jared52]

At our club, they are $5 for a small bucket (holds 30-35 balls). You can pay $40 for unlimited for the month (or $60 for the whole family). At the public course in town which is in pretty rough shape, they charge $9 for the same size and $15 for a large bucket which holds about 80 balls if you stack them right. My club uses Taylormade Range balls (nothing special) and they are in OK shape. The public course uses Srixon balls (and have far too few, they sometimes charge people for the bucket and say they can walk down and pick up balls) and they are fairly new for the most part. I think they deal with a lot of people stealing them to play with as I find them all over the course.

Edited June 10 by jared52

[JerBooth]

I had to kill 3 hours in Toronto while my wife was at our nieces baby shower.

 

seeing as I haven’t been out so far this season, I decided to go to a

top tracer range.

 

Didnt matter whether you used top tracer or not……I hope you’re all sitting down for this one.

 

27 dollars for 105 balls.

[Ed the FD]

There are 2 of the local courses that have driving ranges and they both are  $4.00 small, $7.00 med, $12.00 large. Both places offer a season pass for the range. They both offer a family pass. The one that is more convenient, where you don't have to walk 2 city blocks from the parking lot  is $375.00 for a family pass and the other one is $260.00 for the family pass. I'm all for walking in golf, but when you hide your driving range because you don't think you should have one, don't pick up balls in a timely manner, and then charge $260.00 for a family pass; well, do they really care about it? 

[Collar]

$10/50-$15/80

[Eltrain41]

On 7/16/2023 at 10:41 PM, GolfSpy_APH said:

Also wondering. We have these auto ball machines that are quite nice. Don't have to go to the pro shop or anything. Just walk up, tap a card and go hit. 

Anyone else have these?

Yes there is a course I play with the auto ball machine but you still need to go into the proshop to pay and get a receipt with a code on it, then head to the ball machine. That machine you're talking about sounds great and makes a lot of sense. 

[Eltrain41]

At our local muni it's about $10/$15/$20 for small/med/large. Awful balls and hit off mats into a poor landing area. 

[Ahart4444]

At my club they are free but when I go to a good range where I take lessons they are $17 bucks for 90 balls.  Not cheap.

[KINGWinston]

It's blowing my mind to see all these low prices! Northern California needs that! Haggin Oaks (a rather large and well know range around the Sac area) charges $20/bucket for 100 balls.. to me I'd rather spend the extra $5 and go play 9. We also don't get many grass ranges here, only a few courses during very specific times of year so to me it just makes sense to play twilight 9 and get my practice in there.

 

When i was down in San Diego it wasn't too different but at Stadium golf they had a huge bin of balls that you could use to top your bucket off as much as you can carry, which was amazing. They also had a short game practice area that was awesome. they charged $8 which some didn't like but i loved it, kept anyone who wasn't serious about getting practice in out and when they opened, no one was ever there so the practice you get in was amazing. 

55 minutes ago, Eltrain41 said:

At our local muni it's about $10/$15/$20 for small/med/large. Awful balls and hit off mats into a poor landing area. 

NorCal or SoCal? same here in NorCal and was when i lived down south.

[Eltrain41]

4 minutes ago, KINGWinston said:

It's blowing my mind to see all these low prices! Northern California needs that! Haggin Oaks (a rather large and well know range around the Sac area) charges $20/bucket for 100 balls.. to me I'd rather spend the extra $5 and go play 9. We also don't get many grass ranges here, only a few courses during very specific times of year so to me it just makes sense to play twilight 9 and get my practice in there.

 

When i was down in San Diego it wasn't too different but at Stadium golf they had a huge bin of balls that you could use to top your bucket off as much as you can carry, which was amazing. They also had a short game practice area that was awesome. they charged $8 which some didn't like but i loved it, kept anyone who wasn't serious about getting practice in out and when they opened, no one was ever there so the practice you get in was amazing. 

NorCal or SoCal? same here in NorCal and was when i lived down south.

SoCal, range balls are pricey and not in good shape. 

[KINGWinston]

Just now, Eltrain41 said:

SoCal, range balls are pricey and not in good shape. 

Sounds about right. I used to live 5 minutes from Stadium golf (San Diego) and it was always price. I miss their short game area though! NorCal is no different either and we don't have nearly the quality of course as the south. 

[mardukes]

~70 balls for $11 senior rate

[I like to hit bombs]

$99/month for unlimited in the suburbs of Austin, TX or:

 

$18 large bucket

$13 medium

$10 small

 

Same proportions as everyone else here.