How far is too far to drive?

Hey guys - I am looking for opinions on what is too far to drive to for your home course. It is all relative on options. I am in OC SoCal and have the ability to get to many courses, but trying to find a home course either through membership or a players card. I was a member at Arroyo Trabuco last year and their inconsistencies with the conditions have me rethinking it for 2015. May be time to join a private course. I am looking at a few options. I am curious on your experiences on home course driving time and distance. The options are:

A. 4 miles from house - maybe 10-12 minutes with traffic

B. 10 miles from house - highway, so 12-15 minutes no traffic and forget it with traffic

C. 15 miles from house - highway and 20-22 minutes no traffic and forget it with traffic

A seems like a no-brainer, but it is the most expensive and has the highest initiation and full equity. B is Oak Creek. It is a public course with a Fazio design, but can be a pain for pace of play. C is private, but no real range, but the most affordable and non-equity, so if the drive kills me, I can move in a year or two.

It is all relative on what you are willing to spend, so I am looking for feedback on your experiences in the past. If it is 25 minutes away, I may not sneak out for 9 holes, but at the price, I don't feel I need to justify the cost either.

Thoughts or experiences?

If you are looking to join a private course, the cost/benefit ratio is not going to be good.
Given the above choices, A is the only logical one. Close to home, no traffic to speak of, with a range.
B and C - traffic headaches, and lesser benefits. Pace of play is a huge issue to me.
And, importantly, how much is your free time worth? It may turn out that the savings in travel time alone pays for the increased initiation fee.

Depends on how busy your schedule is but I would opt for closer if I could afford it. If its not convenient its hard to make time to go.

Closest is Best! The more convenient it is the more that you will use it. I was a member of a private club for a couple years. It is 30 minutes away, so I did not uses it enough to justify the cost.

I agree with everyone else. Closest is the best. The times where I have lived within a mile or two of my home course, I have a tendency to play/practice the most. Even if it's just chipping/putting or a small bucket of balls. When I lived in TX, there was a course right next to where I worked (and I had a membership) where I would oftentimes play the first three holes before heading home. It was a par 4, par 5, par 3 that routed right back to the parking lot. If it was empty, I could play that little loop in 20-30 minutes. More fun than range balls...

If you can afford it and the inevitable assessments that will come with, you should definitely go with the closest.

beatarmy02 picked up on a good point... sure, these courses may be far from your house, but do you still work someplace? I joined a club that was 25min away from my house, but only 5 min from my office. I'd stop by on the way home often (since I was out of the office earlier than my wife).

On the weekends, there was no traffic, so getting to/from the course was a non-issue also.

--kC