Joined a Dog Track

Fellaheen51 · April 5, 2022

17 hours ago, raggal62 said:

Sounds like I need to move to Spartan Nation! Great golf opportunities.

Well, yeah, maybe. If you are willing to accept that the "great golf opportunities" are available from April until November (maybe). So far this year, the early spring weather has been beyond miserable. Courses that have opened, are no doubt a bog. With nothing climatically optimistic in the near term.

July is splendid though. Need a reminder this morning.

raggal62 · April 5, 2022

5 minutes ago, Fellaheen51 said:

Well, yeah, maybe. If you are willing to accept that the "great golf opportunities" are available from April until November (maybe). So far this year, the early spring weather has been beyond miserable. Courses that have opened, are no doubt a bog. With nothing climatically optimistic in the near term.

July is splendid though. Need a reminder this morning.

Sounds like a middle ground would benefit us both. Here in the Mountain West we are experiencing the 6th lowest precip numbers since 1939. Another horrible fire season looms.

mocokid · April 5, 2022

20 hours ago, Fellaheen51 said:

In my locale, there are three options available. Private Country Club, Semi-Private and Public.

Private clubs around here are expensive to join. Membership fee, monthly F & B assessments, then tiered golf packages. It's a non-starter for me. They are often as much a social club as golf one. Of which I have no interest, don't want to "hobnob" at the Club. To make the economics work, one needs to spend a lot of time eating, golfing, participating in the social events, drinking and eating in the grille to justify the costs. From a pure golf perspective, the numbers don't come close to justifying the expense.

Semi-Private are nothing more than a public course with some perks. Cart barn to park your rig. Yearly golf tiered options, from unlimited golf to "X" number of rounds, with reserved and preferable tee times (especially on the weekends). Not opting for a golf package, the per round cost is no different then being a non-member. Again, sort of need to play there with regularity to cover the initial outlay. There's a semi nearby that I play with some regularity. Once evaluated paying the one time membership fee, annual "dues" and the unlimited golf package. To break even on the annual outlay, would have to play it ~25x to break even. It's a decent course, but wouldn't come close to playing it 25x/season.

Publics are where I ball. Like the diversity of playing different courses each week. The buds group has 10 courses that we rotate through. Never have an issue with making tee times during weekday mornings (8 - 8:30). Weekday senior rates are relatively inexpensive. Heretofore, rarely paying more that $40 for 18 with a cart. Most of the walkable courses do not charge a cart fee if one chooses to walk. The layouts on others are simply not conducive to walk (primarily distances between green to next tee). Plus, most of the buds do not, or cannot, walk a golf course anymore. One of the regular rota courses, as close to a "home course" that I play, has an option to purchase a yearly unlimited golf package (IIRC, was $900 + cart last year. Otherwise 18 with cart was $32). But again, doesn't calculate into a cost savings on a per round basis unless one plays there with regularity.

There's a plethora of golf options in my locale. IMHO, the competition keeps the costs in check. Across a broad spectrum of quality from the local goat track to upscale, premium fee ($70+) courses. There's two large park systems that have a number of courses. Being partially tax funded, their fees are a little cheaper than the privately owned and operated publics. But only marginally. The park system courses are generally very nice and well maintained.

I've read and noted comments made by others elsewhere on the per round costs, difficulty in making tee times, and POP issues. Very fortunate to have the diversity and number of course options, at relatively modest expense, in order to play a round of golf. FWIW, rarely to never play on the weekends. Not into 5+ hour rounds amongst the hordes. The buds group routinely shoot and scoot around in 3:30 -3:45 hours. Just about right for a leisurely outing of mediocre golf.