Do You Remember the First Time You Paid $100 (US or More) to Play Golf?

[Guest-0]

2 minutes ago, Rob Person said:

What would make a course WORTH the costs (over 100 bucks)?

It depends on the purpose behind the visit there. As was mentioned,  is it iconic? Is it historical? Is it a family or friends trip?

I will pay over that amount if it is for familial reasons. I've never endeavored on a golf specific trip, and not sure I would want to absorb those costs without having alternate options for the trip as well.

So I think I brought up my area up north and the amount of real championship golf courses, you mentioned the cost of a golf specific trip but prior to Memorial Day and after Labor Day there is great weather and here is a for instance. Shanty Creek Resort and Spa has 3 absolute gems and 1 nice track they are full all you want 18 hole high end tracks that each command 125 to 160 a round in season. Myself and a buddy went there and got a beautiful condo on the mountain and played 18 at Cedar River after breakfast took a lunch break and played 18 at the Legend. The next day we opted to just play one round in the morning at The Chief and went fishing in the afternoon  on our last day we played the Legend in the morning and then 9 at Cedar River in the afternoon. The condo and all the golf you wanted to play for 4 days 3 nights was 760 bucks. 380 each for lodging and all the golf. So we golfed 5 times and stayed for 380 bucks a piece. That is not too shabby. I have done the same at A-Ga-Ming resort and at Boyne Mountain Resort it's really not bad either side of primetime.Topshelf restaurants. Casinos, Great sights

[Hamhandsbill]

I can remember back in the 90’s going to Myrtle Beach and finally splurging at Caledonia and Glen Dornoch both of which were I believe $120 in April which is high season. Funny thing is these aren’t that much more than that considering it’s been 20+ years. 

[Albatrass]

The first time I paid $100.00 to play golf was at Pebble Beach (many years ago).  Ended playing by myself as the group I was paired with did not show.  My wife had gone over to Carmel for few hours.  She could have ridden in the cart with me.  Still quite an experience even if she was not with me.

[NoRebound]

Several years ago at Disney Magnolia in Orlando.  On-season golf in Florida these days is not for those with limited funds.  The course was in good shape and not really crowded for late spring but it still felt overpriced.  

I flushed the later thought out of my mind by shooting a more than respectable 78.

[VTK]

Early 90s at Spanish Bay, $109. Pebble Beach was something like $175 and out of my price range.  In retrospect, should have gone the extra $76 and played Pebble. 

[pineneedlespro]

NEVER

[Donn lost in San Diego]

On 2/10/2024 at 9:14 PM, Rob Person said:

Depending on your definition of magical. Some are absolutely spectacular,  others are frustrating and cumbersome to get around.  Highlands I'd rate in the middle ground somewhere to me. 3, 9 hole championship courses. Beautifully kept fairways and greens!

 

 

Hi, I live in Calif and have a brother in Birmingham, so, I plan to visit and play the 2 RTJ courses there.  Did you comment to me about them a few months ago?  If not, or anyway, your opinion?  Oxmoor Valley, the Ridge course and the Valley course.

[Stevenhp]

I actually don’t remember when I first paid 100.00 dollars or more. The first round that probably played was when my father treated me to a surprise round at pebble beach back in the late 90’s (I’m not counting benefit outings). Fast forward to the last couple of years when we’ve been in Naples Fla almost all of the courses that allow the public to play as well as the public courses are charging well over a 100.00 dollars for play in Jan.,Feb.,and March. Hitting the tourist market while they can and they get a lot of play.

[Rob Person]

55 minutes ago, Donn lost in San Diego said:

Hi, I live in Calif and have a brother in Birmingham, so, I plan to visit and play the 2 RTJ courses there.  Did you comment to me about them a few months ago?  If not, or anyway, your opinion?  Oxmoor Valley, the Ridge course and the Valley course.

I may have mentioned RTJ in Alabama on one of them, but believe @Samuel09152 probably was the one, as he lived closer to those courses.  You definitely won't regret it! They are beautiful courses throughout the state. Does your brother play? Either way, one of you should get a trail card for the calendar year you will be visiting. Normal 18 hole rates (resident or not) are above the $100 card price. With the card, it's 50% off that.

[Rob Person]

2 hours ago, Marlin Dave said:

So I think I brought up my area up north and the amount of real championship golf courses, you mentioned the cost of a golf specific trip but prior to Memorial Day and after Labor Day there is great weather and here is a for instance. Shanty Creek Resort and Spa has 3 absolute gems and 1 nice track they are full all you want 18 hole high end tracks that each command 125 to 160 a round in season. Myself and a buddy went there and got a beautiful condo on the mountain and played 18 at Cedar River after breakfast took a lunch break and played 18 at the Legend. The next day we opted to just play one round in the morning at The Chief and went fishing in the afternoon  on our last day we played the Legend in the morning and then 9 at Cedar River in the afternoon. The condo and all the golf you wanted to play for 4 days 3 nights was 760 bucks. 380 each for lodging and all the golf. So we golfed 5 times and stayed for 380 bucks a piece. That is not too shabby. I have done the same at A-Ga-Ming resort and at Boyne Mountain Resort it's really not bad either side of primetime.Topshelf restaurants. Casinos, Great sights

So as a golf trip, 4 rounds of golf, +lodging for under 500 pp is quite excellent! And that puts you under the mark for cost per round.  The courses look amazing too!

[Donn lost in San Diego]

37 minutes ago, Rob Person said:

I may have mentioned RTJ in Alabama on one of them, but believe @Samuel09152 probably was the one, as he lived closer to those courses.  You definitely won't regret it! They are beautiful courses throughout the state. Does your brother play? Either way, one of you should get a trail card for the calendar year you will be visiting. Normal 18 hole rates (resident or not) are above the $100 card price. With the card, it's 50% off that.

My bro does not play.  I did buy a RJT gift card at $250 for $300, good on food too.  If I meet a southern belle while I am there, I'd buy a Trail Card. 

[Slypanther]

February 1997, Stadium Course Phoenix. 10th Anniversary vacation, was really looking forward to a tour hosting course; $165 included cart and range, not at all happy with the cost, even less so with the course conditions. Some fairways near water hazards soggy, bunkers had no sand unless you count just enough to provide correct color. Square grooved Cleveland 56* with Balata ball from 99 yards middle of fairway, excellent strike hit 3 feet short of flag, but ball ended up 20 feet past, sprouting what I call frog hairs, balata still in grooves before wipe down. Testament to the lack of maintenance. I played decently, but no course record. Played a new course later in the week, their price was only $35 including cart. I believe it has hosted a LPGA tourney since then. Their prices have now increased as all the others, but it is a better course than the Stadium course. Plenty of courses in the Monterrey Bay area with steep discounts for mid week, and after 3pm. Will never play Pebble Beach, rich show off prices, it was $40  - $50 in the 80's, but I was only earning $7.50 hour so not in my budget. Played at TPC Harding Park for 2 decades before the remodel, was just referred to as Harding. Played there in 1993 for Mid Amateur qualifying, led after the first round, but developed severe fore foot blister during second round, the USGA officials would not allow me to withdraw, I had no hope for qualifying, should have just walked off the course. Bleeding blister on right foot. After the TPC remodel, I played it once to see the revisions, don't remember the fees, but sure it was > $100, the 3rd tee was 100 yards further back on what was a challenging 550 yard double left dogleg, it was so difficult that I only birdied once in a all my 100's of rounds. Worked at the range, and then in the Pro Shop, lousy wages, but all the golf I wanted.

[Rob Person]

6 minutes ago, Donn lost in San Diego said:

My bro does not play.  I did buy a RJT gift card at $250 for $300, good on food too.  If I meet a southern belle while I am there, I'd buy a Trail Card. 

It's $44 for the card, so playing twice pays for itself, plus you earn reward points towards purchases, get 10-20% off food, merch, accessories,  etc.

[Donn lost in San Diego]

1 minute ago, Rob Person said:

It's $44 for the card, so playing twice pays for itself, plus you earn reward points towards purchases, get 10-20% off food, merch, accessories,  etc.

thanks, I will check it out when I finally make my trip.

[jbern]

I still have not paid over $100 for a round of golf. This year I'm looking to play Arcadia Bluffs Bluff Course in Northwest Michigan which is at a minimum $120 in the offseason. It's been on my golf course bucket list for 20 years and I have a group a friends that will be joining! We have it tentatively planned for the 2nd weekend in May.

[Hook DeLoft]

The first time I payed more than $100 to play was at Royal Dornoch 15 years ago.  I also played the Old Course at St. Andrews on that trip and paid over $100.  Other than entry fees in charity tournaments, those are the only times I've paid over $100.  I would be hard pressed to pay that much for a round of golf these days, although there are a few bucket list courses I would make exceptions for.

[bassman]

I've never paid over $100 for a greens fee.  There are only a couple of courses where I'd have made an exception in the past, but, alas, inflation has greens fees increasing all over.

[HBaum]

Arrowhead GC in Colorado and it was worth every penny. Beautiful mountain course and watch a ciuple of black bears walking around.

[funkyjudge]

On 2/9/2024 at 10:05 PM, Golf2Much said:

With all this talk about inflation and the price people pay to equip themselves and play golf, I thought I'd throw out the question:  Do you remember the first time you paid $100 or more to play golf?  It might be interesting to hear when it was and the story behind it.

I remember my first time paying over a $100 for a round of golf.  I was an at-large volunteer member of an international professional society.  It was my second year on the Executive Committee and still trying to fit in.  Our summer meetings were always at a nice location, and we were encouraged to bring our spouses (sort of payback for us traveling every six weeks or so for meetings).  It was the summer of 1993.  Our meeting was at the Grand Traverse Resort in Traverse City, Michigan.  Fortunately, we had several committee members that like to play golf.  The first day we got there, we were set to play The Bear at the resort.  It was a Nicklaus signature course, once rated the 18th most difficult course in America, and it was over $100.  Back then on a young engineer's salary, that was a lot of money.  But I signed up to play, got exposed to a great golf course and had a wonderful experience. 

After the round we all met up for an outdoor cookout.  The first thing my wife said was "how it was?"  My response was "if we lived here, it would be cheaper to be addicted to cocaine than golf!"   

The strange part is that I just checked on the Grand Traverse website, and the same round of golf 31 years later is only $140.  

How about you all!  Any similar experiences or stories?  I'd love to hear them!

I'm pretty sure that my first $100+ round of golf (and it was more than DOUBLE that $100 figure, at about $220) was in June of 2007 at Pinehurst #2.  I was entertaining a very big-spending client, and I had to get special permission from my bosses to put a round that would cost $440 + tips for our forecaddy on the expense report.  I had a great time, shot a REALLY great score, and also got to play with a friend who was the retired Battalion Chief of FDNY, who was then living along the 6th hole of Pinehurst #2.  Even if I hadn't been reimbursed by my employer for that round of golf, it was well worth the cost!

By the way, my retired FDNY Battalion Chief friend named Ken Eichle treated us to lunch and drinks after that round .... what a great day that was!!!

Oh, and Ken was about 64 years old at the time, suffered from partial disability thanks to the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center on 9/11/2001, and he still shot 73 that day.

Edited February 12 by funkyjudge

[Woodrow72]

2006 played Pebble Beach in a tournament and it was 6400K for 4 days 

[ghanson]

I played Longaberger a number of years ago (now called Virtues) near Newark, OH.  I paid $125 and I remember thinking I could have played Red Hawk Run in Findlay, OH (Arthur Hills course) 3x for what I paid to play Longaberger.  I'd rather do that.  Unfortunately, RHR is no longer a golf course.  What a shame - it was a fabulous track.

[Dweed]

To be honest, I've never paid $100 or more for a round of golf. There have always been many other things in life more important to spend $100 on than golf. Being retired and sacrificing all those years I guess I could afford to spend that much. But why? I stay close to home and enjoy my golf on courses that I feel I can better afford. Maybe some day, just not yesterday or today.

[J7Hawkins]

My first will be Paynes Valley and Ozark National in March! I’m pumped about it, but not likely to pay that too often, especially once our kid arrives haha!

[Samuel09152]

17 hours ago, Donn lost in San Diego said:

My bro does not play.  I did buy a RJT gift card at $250 for $300, good on food too.  If I meet a southern belle while I am there, I'd buy a Trail Card. 

It was me, Valley was a lot of fun. RTJ has some good courses, the ones in bham are definitely are worth it.  If you get the chance, play the backyard if it's cheap at Oxmoor valley, it's their new par 3 course. It's pretty fun, longest hole is like 125 yards I think, but it is only 13 holes maybe or something like that. Its fun though. That was a good move for the gift card!  

[Woodrow72]

12 hours ago, ghanson said:

I played Longaberger a number of years ago (now called Virtues) near Newark, OH.  I paid $125 and I remember thinking I could have played Red Hawk Run in Findlay, OH (Arthur Hills course) 3x for what I paid to play Longaberger.  I'd rather do that.  Unfortunately, RHR is no longer a golf course.  What a shame - it was a fabulous track.

I played Longaberger the first year it opened twice for $65 as my significant other was a basket consultant, it was a beauty and tough 

[USMCSnyper]

On 2/12/2024 at 4:24 AM, Usmcgyrene said:

I played a Japanese course in Okinawa that was really expensive. This was about 1996. We had a really nice Marine GC called Awase. As a SSgt, it cost me around 8 dollars. The Japanese nationals could only play it with an invite from active duty personnel. It's Japanese custom that if you invite someone,  you pay for them. I had invited a couple of Japanese nationals to play with myself and a buddy. They cost me somewhere around 50 bucks apiece because they were civilians. In turn, they invited us to a Japanese course and paid for us. I don't remember exactly,  but it was around 40,000 yen or 400 bucks a head.

I played there in 97!

[ChiefMikeOfficer]

20 hours ago, jbern said:

I still have not paid over $100 for a round of golf. This year I'm looking to play Arcadia Bluffs Bluff Course in Northwest Michigan which is at a minimum $120 in the offseason. It's been on my golf course bucket list for 20 years and I have a group a friends that will be joining! We have it tentatively planned for the 2nd weekend in May.

That's a must play - easily one of my favorite courses, definitely worth the price (peak season gets a bit steep, but the price is solid relative to comparable courses). 

[jbern]

3 minutes ago, ChiefMikeOfficer said:

That's a must play - easily one of my favorite courses, definitely worth the price (peak season gets a bit steep, but the price is solid relative to comparable courses). 

I'm excited and nervous just thinking about it! Someone told me to try to book a tee time so we'd end close to sunset. Do you have thoughts on that or is anytime a good time?

I wish it was a course on my local simulator so I could prep for it this offseason, since we're going in May.

[ChiefMikeOfficer]

54 minutes ago, jbern said:

I'm excited and nervous just thinking about it! Someone told me to try to book a tee time so we'd end close to sunset. Do you have thoughts on that or is anytime a good time?

I wish it was a course on my local simulator so I could prep for it this offseason, since we're going in May.

Only played it once, and we had some later afternoon rounds (I was in group 2 of 3) -- great experience, but the course layout makes it a little annoying at the end (from what I remember, coming down 16 was blinding, but back up 18 was super cool). While my group was finishing up, some of the end of day stuff was starting, including bagpipes coming out next to to the green (not sure if that's an everyday thing or if it was a special event that day). If you're finishing late, better have your A-game, because the sunset attracts a crowd -- this is our final group finishing on 18 green, with the crowd just starting to form: 

 

If I ever make it back there, I'd probably try to walk it -- we had carts with forecaddies, which was great for some of the elevation changes, but there's something about walking a course like that...

[Guest-0]

21 hours ago, jbern said:

I still have not paid over $100 for a round of golf. This year I'm looking to play Arcadia Bluffs Bluff Course in Northwest Michigan which is at a minimum $120 in the offseason. It's been on my golf course bucket list for 20 years and I have a group a friends that will be joining! We have it tentatively planned for the 2nd weekend in May.

So send me a DM about two weeks before you come. I live about 10 miles away and have friends on the staff and I often get passes and vouchers. Don't have any right now but I should be able to help you out by then. Also  after 2pm that time of year I think it's 85 bucks for all you can play and I have played as few as 15 holes on the deal and as many as 24 so it all depends the speed of the groups ahead and your speed. Some of the most daunting tee shots you will ever see and the sod tiered bunkers (bomb craters) require a player have a sand game!! Often if standing on the green with partner green side bunker he will not be visible that's how deep and steep they are.