Price of a golf round

[JCole]

Do you think the price of a round of golf has gotten to pricey?

[Northern Monkey]

I think a lot depends on which course you choose. Some courses do seem over priced but then there are others that are really good value. Like everything else prices have gone up but there plenty of courses that are of a decent quality at reasonable prices

[GolfSpy_APH]

8 hours ago, JCole said:

Do you think the price of a round of golf has gotten to pricey?

Where I live - Yes. Without question. 

However my situation is unique and the country I live in everything is expensive. I don't have much reference anymore to how much things are in the US and such, but I think there are various values for different courses. There are bound to be cheaper options, maybe conditions are as nice however it is all relative. Naturally prices of everything surrounding the maintenance and running of a course has gone up and they still need to make money in order to survive so if prices go up as well that makes sense. 

[Peaksy68]

I’m fortunate that golf in Australia is relatively affordable, especially in the area I live. There are clubs that range in price USD255-USD1800 annual fees within 30 minutes from my home. We can play all year round so even better value compared to those with limited seasons. Perhaps the best value golf anywhere is at Barnbougle in Tasmania. World rated golf for USD160 or 95 for locals. 

[hartleracing]

personally, golf is dirt cheap around me and i have access to some phenomenal courses. Amarillo has 3 public (2 are 36 hole and 1 is 18) and 2 private (1 36 hole, 1 is 18). drive 15 minutes and have 3 more 18 hole courses in canyon. drive an hour radius and have 7 more 18 or 36 hole courses.

not a single course is over $100 a round and most are well under the $40 mark for 18 holes. most times i can walk 18 for around $25-$30. golf life here is good. 

[bama no 1]

Prices have definitely gone  up.  Some courses are reasonable for what you pay others are not. 

My issue, do I get what I pay for?  I played at a course and the fees where $90 USD for a round.  Unfortunately, the course conditions were terrible where half of the greens were dead. Needless to say I was not happy.

[Cfhandyman]

Where I live in Canada, it can be pricey.  Moreover, the season is short, but I have a lot of courses to choose from. One of the metrics I use other than is it a good course, does it provide good value.  Good value to me as it applies to golf courses would include the following:

1.  It’s a course you would recommend to a friend coming to visit 

2.  It’s good value for the money.  This can include expensive courses

3.  It’s accessible to the public and it’s within 30-60 minutes of where you Iive.

4.  Pace of play is good (4.25 hours or less on average), it’s a reasonably scenic or walkable course with a good variety of challenge for all golfers

5.  It’s a course you’ve played and have/would go back and definitely play again 

6.  It’s a gem of a course, if it ticks all the above boxes and is very reasonable price wise offering exceptional value for the money.

[ZMendle10]

12 hours ago, JCole said:

Do you think the price of a round of golf has gotten to pricey?

Here in NJ it can vastly change from $30 to in county walking rate to upwards of over $200 if you go all the way up north to Ballyowen. I'm fortunate enough to be in somerset county so a $75 season long county card gets you $32 walking rounds on the weekends for all but Neshanic and Neshanic is $72 to ride on the weekends. I would say this is pretty cheap compared to other county courses. You can also find reasonable private memberships as well as expensive ones too. 

I would say that the course that are over $175 are not worth the price though as they are nice courses but they are not so much nicer where the price is justified. 

[EMacK1961]

Where I am in Mexico, Baja Country Club offers yearly packages of $3500 USD. Bajamar Oceanfront & Golf Resort only has per round pricing ranging from $65-$125 USD.

Bajamar does offer us a golfer's club membership which gets us $56/round on Tuesday/Thursday mornings when we have our bi-weekly skins game and when we have our monthly tournaments. We also get that $56 price after 2:00pm.

[Dan1993]

The rising costs definitely make me glad to be military that's for sure! My local Base course (Sewell's Point GC in Norfolk, VA) is extremely well kept for being a military course, and you cant beat the price. I'm able to walk 9 for 13$. But even so, the nicer courses in the area aren't bad either. Virginial Beach National GC is 70$ for VA residents, and 89$ otherwise on the weekends. Cant complain much about that!! Definitely gonna soak up as many rounds as I can before I get out next year.

[Byrnzee]

Prices have absolutely gotten too high for a round of golf. It's one thing if you're paying for a luxury stay-and-play experience, but if you're just going out for a weekend round, I don't think any standard public course should be more than $100. 

A perfect example is a course outside Chicago called Ravisloe CC. This course used to be one of my favorites to play. Donald Ross designed, beautiful clubhouse, easily walkable, and only about $70-80 to play. Now due to higher demand, they've raised the price over $100/round. I like the course a lot, but it's not a $100+ level course. 

It's unfortunate because my friends and I have essentially removed certain courses we like from our rotation simply based on unreasonable green fees. Seems like everything these days (flights, hotels, concerts, golf) is just charging the absolute maximum price they can gauge from consumers. Hoping there's a correction soon, but I'm not sure how that would even happen unless people stop golfing altogether.

[snoopy79]

I would say greens fees have gone up depending on the amenities and the area where they are located. Interesting to see the various rates from different parts of the US. Here in the south Dayton OH area, I have some amazing private club courses nearby that are "member only" but would easily be north of $100 to play if lucky enough to know someone. The nicer public courses are anywhere from $60-$75 riding 18. If I drive about 30-40 minutes away there are some great rates at some decent public courses where you can play 18 on the weekend for $45 or less. Those are the courses I started up playing golf again on last year. I like them. Will probably try the nicer public tracks close to me this year. They have decent annual membership packages ($2000 unlimited w/cart) that, if I like the course & service, would be tempting to look into down the road.

[RoyN]

Yes and some have gotten out of hand. The courses that the PGA tour uses around here can be $315 a round for a Saturday morning in season. I can play it for $40 in the heat of summer. I spend $30-90 for a round. But in season those prices are $120-280 for the extact same courses I play. 

[Josh Parker]

I know alot of the courses around me have gone thru the roof. The issue I hear from everyone is that it's the 6hr round that makes the price even worse. 

[Northern Monkey]

Having read through this thread it does seem to me that the prices in the US are quite high compared to here in the UK. You can get some really good deals over here, especially if there is a group of you playing.

As an example the year before last a group of us from work booked a 3 day stay at Celtic Manor which was the host for 2010 Ryder Cup. We had 2 nights dinner bed and breakfast plus a round on each of the 3 courses. This cost £420 and you also got a metal 2010 bag tag engraved with your name to show you’d played the Ryder Cup course. As a high end course I thought this was pretty good value

[ZMendle10]

21 hours ago, Byrnzee said:

Prices have absolutely gotten too high for a round of golf. It's one thing if you're paying for a luxury stay-and-play experience, but if you're just going out for a weekend round, I don't think any standard public course should be more than $100. 

Couldn't agree more. My buddies and I go to PA occasionally to make a day out of it and there the courses are all well under $100 and have some of the most unique layouts because of the terrain.

[JCole]

Well Colorado is all over the board. The one thing I have noticed is prices have gone up but the quality of the courses has drop. Greens aren’t as good as they should be fairways in bad shape etc. and these are on course that were better taken care of before p

[Stuka44]

  Cost is going to keep going up likely steadily..  The reason is that a majority of golf is played by a minority of golfers.   So if golfers especially those 65+, 17% of which play 50+ times  a year are not readily replaced by others willing to take up the 50, or 30, or 20 times a year, then more must be squeezed from those left in the core of 15+ times a year golfers.

 

[Swood1994]

I know they’ve gone up but in CNY I don’t think it’s terrible. I’d say a $10-$15 increase for the public courses in the last 5-7 years. 

It’s definitely better than other areas in the country but I think that’s due to the limited season.

[BreakfastBall15]

12 minutes ago, Swood1994 said:

I know they’ve gone up but in CNY I don’t think it’s terrible. I’d say a $10-$15 increase for the public courses in the last 5-7 years. 

It’s definitely better than other areas in the country but I think that’s due to the limited season.

My parents live on the Thousand Island Country Club and it’s still very reasonably priced. I think it was $25 for a round last year. Have only played there recently and haven’t played in CNY in 6 years or so since I moved though
 

In OKC public golf is pretty cheap. Anywhere from $25 walking to about $60 with a cart depending on the course and weekday or weekend. 

[TBL_mill3r]

13 hours ago, Stuka44 said:

  Cost is going to keep going up likely steadily..  The reason is that a majority of golf is played by a minority of golfers.   So if golfers especially those 65+, 17% of which play 50+ times  a year are not readily replaced by others willing to take up the 50, or 30, or 20 times a year, then more must be squeezed from those left in the core of 15+ times a year golfers.

 

I don't think I agree with that.

 

Around here, the new fun term to use is "dynamic pricing"...which means more demand equals a higher price. More customers/players raising the fees for no reason besides demand. 

[Stuka44]

Maybe I am wrong, but I believe courses are looking to the future and it potentially is not good.  So they are making their money now, while the hype is good.  Using catch phrases like Dynamic Pricing, because of "demand" and  all of the hype about "new golfers".  Make no mistake it is the core, and not new golfers who are paying

*****The golfer base increased by 4 percent in 2023, from 21.9 million players to 22.8 million. That's a net increase of 2.3 million people since 2019, and is the highest number of golfers in the game since 26 million in 2010.   

*****According to the National Golf Foundation's definition, avid golfers play over twenty-five rounds a season and core golfers play at least eight rounds. 

*****The approximately 13 million Core Golfers in the U.S. represent about half of on-course participants but account for over 90% of annual play and spend. These are the consumers really move the needle in the golf business when it comes to play, spend and overall engagement. 

*****The number of Boomers in the game increased 4.8 percent to 4.9 million players. (65+ years of age).  I didn't want to attach a whole page, but trust me, it says that those 65+ accounted for 29% of all rounds played in 2022, and 1 in 6 or (16.66%) played 50+ rounds(the most recent I could find without paying for the data from NGF)

***** We haven't done a very good job of attracting the generation behind us. So part of our challenge as an industry is we're starting to age out. . . . We have a big gap in that next generation behind us that didn't take up golf like I did at (age) 24.   **

Generation X, or those aged 55-64, however, decreased by 3 percent to 3.7 million players.

It doesn't matter how many new people try the game , it only matters to courses how many of those people turn into core golfers, now and in the future, for long-term success. And 29% of a courses income is presently from golfers 65+ years of age, and they are they are going to decline over the next 5-10 years, through inability to play, or death.

  And think about core golfers (8+ rounds)  of all ages, who play 90% of all golf(remember it's less than 50% of ALL PEOPLE WHO PLAY).  Think about how many golfers play 24+ times a year, my two brothers and I all play 40+ times a year.  That's the equivalent of 15,  8 times a year players.   So think about how much of this 90% of play is played by relatively few individuals, when you think about individuals playing 100 times a year, or the listed 833,000 individuals over 65 who play 50 + times a year.  Calculated at only 50 rounds a year for these 833,000 players, it will require 5.2 million golfers to replace their rounds at 8 per year.

  Those 65+ are still carrying this game.  Now obviously the hope for the game and courses  is that there are enough people "trying" the game who as they age will replace the number of rounds these individuals play.  It doesn't matter they are a body, they must replace all the rounds being played by these individuals.

 

 

[Golf2Much]

Living at the southernmost end of US 1 in Key West, I'm in what many would view as a monopoly situation.  On one hand, we are lucky to have a good golf course.  It's the only 18-hole course within 150 miles.  The downside is that we only have one golf course within 150 miles and they can basically set the price they choose.  Throw in we're a resort location and it's the southernmost golf course gives the owners even more leverage. 

Just before COVID, we saw the start of the continuous rise in fees accompanied with elimination of some member benefits.  Visitor fees (golf and mandatory cart) in season is now approaching $200.  Annual membership fees are increasing $100-$200 per year.  Bag storage fees have doubled in the last four or five years.  Members used to be able to walk the back nine before 8:30 am and after 2:00 as part of their membership fees.  Now, if you want to walk, it an additional $500 on top of your annual membership fee.  For all of us who live here full time, we realize we have no options but to either greatly curtail (or eliminate) the game we love or pay the price no matter what.  

I remember the first time I ever paid $100 to play golf.  It was at a conference in the summer of 1993 at The Bear in Traverse City, Michigan.  When I finished, my wife asked me how it was?  My response was "If I lived here, it would be cheaper to be addicted to cocaine!"  With my annual cart fees exceeding my membership fee (I play three times a week, 52 weeks a year), I feel like I'm approaching that financial threshold in real life that I once joked about.  

[bama no 1]

3 hours ago, Stuka44 said:

Maybe I am wrong, but I believe courses are looking to the future and it potentially is not good.  So they are making their money now, while the hype is good.  Using catch phrases like Dynamic Pricing, because of "demand" and  all of the hype about "new golfers".  Make no mistake it is the core, and not new golfers who are paying

*****The golfer base increased by 4 percent in 2023, from 21.9 million players to 22.8 million. That's a net increase of 2.3 million people since 2019, and is the highest number of golfers in the game since 26 million in 2010.   

*****According to the National Golf Foundation's definition, avid golfers play over twenty-five rounds a season and core golfers play at least eight rounds. 

*****The approximately 13 million Core Golfers in the U.S. represent about half of on-course participants but account for over 90% of annual play and spend. These are the consumers really move the needle in the golf business when it comes to play, spend and overall engagement. 

*****The number of Boomers in the game increased 4.8 percent to 4.9 million players. (65+ years of age).  I didn't want to attach a whole page, but trust me, it says that those 65+ accounted for 29% of all rounds played in 2022, and 1 in 6 or (16.66%) played 50+ rounds(the most recent I could find without paying for the data from NGF)

***** We haven't done a very good job of attracting the generation behind us. So part of our challenge as an industry is we're starting to age out. . . . We have a big gap in that next generation behind us that didn't take up golf like I did at (age) 24.   **

Generation X, or those aged 55-64, however, decreased by 3 percent to 3.7 million players.

It doesn't matter how many new people try the game , it only matters to courses how many of those people turn into core golfers, now and in the future, for long-term success. And 29% of a courses income is presently from golfers 65+ years of age, and they are they are going to decline over the next 5-10 years, through inability to play, or death.

  And think about core golfers (8+ rounds)  of all ages, who play 90% of all golf(remember it's less than 50% of ALL PEOPLE WHO PLAY).  Think about how many golfers play 24+ times a year, my two brothers and I all play 40+ times a year.  That's the equivalent of 15,  8 times a year players.   So think about how much of this 90% of play is played by relatively few individuals, when you think about individuals playing 100 times a year, or the listed 833,000 individuals over 65 who play 50 + times a year.  Calculated at only 50 rounds a year for these 833,000 players, it will require 5.2 million golfers to replace their rounds at 8 per year.

  Those 65+ are still carrying this game.  Now obviously the hope for the game and courses  is that there are enough people "trying" the game who as they age will replace the number of rounds these individuals play.  It doesn't matter they are a body, they must replace all the rounds being played by these individuals.

 

 

Interesting data to say the least. Being in the golf industry i will say that the price of fertilizer, sand, herbicides and so forth have all gone up.  So in order to keep the same profit margins green fees have to keep pace.

[ce05krug]

I typically pay between $65-$90 for a round of 18 in the Charlotte suburbs. 

[JCole]

Well Colorado is all over the board. The one thing I have noticed is prices have gone up but the quality of the courses has drop. Greens aren’t as good as they should be fairways in bad shape etc. and these are on course that were better taken care of before

[Kenny B]

We have one private 18-hole course and six 18-hole public courses + three 9-hole courses.  Quality ranges from very poor to pretty nice.  Prices aren’t too bad compared to other places I’ve been lately… Palm Springs and Phoenix; about $40-50 to walk and $60-75 to ride.  Since my wife and I both play a lot, we have an annual couple's membership that includes cart and range that costs $3200.  

Prices have gone up since COVID, but that’s mostly due to increased cost of operations and higher demand… new golfers that started playing.  It’s only going to get worse, because in the last 25 years our community has grown from about 150K to about 400K people, and my course was the last “new” course built in the area but that was 26 years ago.  AND it was not a “new” course; it replaced an existing 18-hole course and a 9-hole par 3 course.  The last additional 18-hole course built was 30 years ago.  

It is extremely difficult to get tee times, and I expect prices to go even higher next year.  Our most expensive and high-end public course has gone to shotgun starts at 8am and 1pm Fri-Sun.  We need another course!!!!

[bama no 1]

1 hour ago, JCole said:

Well Colorado is all over the board. The one thing I have noticed is prices have gone up but the quality of the courses has drop. Greens aren’t as good as they should be fairways in bad shape etc. and these are on course that were better taken care of before

I do agree with your assessment, higher prices but not better course conditions.

[bama no 1]

4 hours ago, ce05krug said:

I typically pay between $65-$90 for a round of 18 in the Charlotte suburbs. 

We had a course here that was great for beginner golf. Was 12 dollars to play 9 walking.  I believe it was 20 with a cart for 9.  We called it the goat ranch (not the real name).

I wish we had one of those courses around here now, id play it everyday.  $90 a round is to over the top for me to play.

[HeathS16]

My main tracks are no more than $25 to walk 18.  Pretty good public courses too.