Rise in green fees in your area?

[Dr.Zevia]

I live in the bay area of California and it seems since the new year, or maybe even before that, green fees have really made a big jump.  I would say it's about a 30% average increase.

Has anyone noticed similar increases in your area? I'm wondering if this is just a supply/demand issue due to a big influx of golfers since the Covid lockdowns and will even out if many of those casual players don't keep it up long term.  Or is it a sign of inflation.

[kmay__]

Haven't noticed an increase in rates per say, but most courses did not offer their usual "spring rate" because they've had full tee sheets since opening day.  But to be fair I've only played 2 different courses so far this year. 

[Abh159]

I'm a member at a private clubs so I don't pay green fees often, but I will on occasion go play one of the nicer public courses in our area with some friends. 

 

I haven't noticed an increase in green fees, but the courses are definitely more packed. It's almost impossible to get a decent tee time if you don't book it at least 10 days out. 

[MtlJeff]

Private clubs here mostly kept their fees the same

[caniac6]

I left a semi-private last fall after 10 years. In that time, the dues never went up more than $10/mo., and many years there was no increase. Last year they had more rounds than any year I was a member, and they went up $25 per month.

[8602081]

Everything stayed the same in my area, except for one..

 

They called it "Dynamic Pricing" and jacked the price up late last year..  I don't go to that course anymore..

Taking advantage of crisis..

 

 

[Pinky5]

Prices about the same here, but way more crowded.

[CLSS]

For many years, I was a member of a country club that I enjoyed so much for the most part here in Southern California.  Towards the end of my membership, when dwindling members, drought, tall assessments, and many of my regulars had left my club, I had to try and venture in the daily fees courses playing many high end courses and down all the way to the muni gems.  It was great!  Some of my regulars from the club became my regulars playing different courses while we joined a local men's club for almost nothing annually.  Palm Springs, Las Vegas, Mesquite, areas were among the little road trips.  Orange county, San Diego, Ventura were quite regular.  Then, 2020 happened.  Ugh... A gc we used to visit for example were among a favorite stop were in the high $70s but more so in the $80s-$90s.  They are now in the low rates of $115 and are usually in the $150s.  We get that these are dynamic pricing, but it's always questionable to just grab a tee time and meet up and expect not to feel being gouged.  These prices by the way can go as high as $225.... yep, that's from the $90 peak price.

 

Another thing that we've noticed in more than just a few courses that we don't feel is quite right is that on a decent layout courses with almost a terrible maintenance and playability used to charge, let's say $50, and are now charging $80, we would be okay with it IF they would at least put grass... err... I mean spend some money towards the course maintenance.  Just give us what's fair is all I'm saying.

[Buzzkill]

Annual pass went up 20 bucks, no biggie.  Don’t know about actual daily green fees.

[Dr.Zevia]

1 hour ago, CLSS said:

For many years, I was a member of a country club that I enjoyed so much for the most part here in Southern California.  Towards the end of my membership, when dwindling members, drought, tall assessments, and many of my regulars had left my club, I had to try and venture in the daily fees courses playing many high end courses and down all the way to the muni gems.  It was great!  Some of my regulars from the club became my regulars playing different courses while we joined a local men's club for almost nothing annually.  Palm Springs, Las Vegas, Mesquite, areas were among the little road trips.  Orange county, San Diego, Ventura were quite regular.  Then, 2020 happened.  Ugh... A gc we used to visit for example were among a favorite stop were in the high $70s but more so in the $80s-$90s.  They are now in the low rates of $115 and are usually in the $150s.  We get that these are dynamic pricing, but it's always questionable to just grab a tee time and meet up and expect not to feel being gouged.  These prices by the way can go as high as $225.... yep, that's from the $90 peak price.

 

Another thing that we've noticed in more than just a few courses that we don't feel is quite right is that on a decent layout courses with almost a terrible maintenance and playability used to charge, let's say $50, and are now charging $80, we would be okay with it IF they would at least put grass... err... I mean spend some money towards the course maintenance.  Just give us what's fair is all I'm saying.

 

This is exactly what is happening here.  A decent course that was a step up from a local muni used to be $40 to play weekend twilight, now it's $70.  Forget about any of the coastal courses that used to be somewhat affordable.  They are all pushing $100.  And by the way the quality of course conditions continue to go down.  It's not going to get much better around here with the lack of rain we had this winter and everyone predicting a dry hot summer.




 

[Soloman1]

If you want to have a heart attack, check out the prices in Scottsdale Arizona on Golfnow.

[golfandfishing]

Rack rates here in AZ were always high, but there were good values to be had - golfnow, teeoff, being on a course’s email list, etc could get a guy a decent rate. That’s all but gone. I could play Aguila in April 2019 for $35 pretty easily, might be noon on a Monday but I could do it with very little compromise and effort. It’s $70 Monday at 11:44 and every time I drive by the course is packed. 

[Greenie]

I certainly don't know anything about running a golf course or what needs to be charged to make a go of it.

 

I have around 20 different courses I play every yr.  Before Covid in recent yrs I noticed bigger than usual price increases each yr. with less and less course maintenance being performed. I questioned some of the bigger price increases at check in at several of the courses I played and got the same answer each time. Rounds were down so they needed to increase the price more than usual to maintain what they needed to make per year.

 

Since Covid started I've noticed all the courses packed. I've also noticed more price increases. Some have jumped so much I won't even play them anymore. If business is so good why haven't the prices remained stable or gone down? Supply and demand for sure. As long as your course is packed why not make it while you can.

 

What bugs me is I don't see the courses maintained any better. Some of the courses the staff are not friendly like they use to be. It's like they don't care if you play or not because someone is waiting to take your place.

[4x4GGG]

3 minutes from my house was this Cow pasture turned golf course. Par 72. couldn't tell the diffirence 

between the greens, the rough and the Tee boxes. All crab grass. I could be scheduled to work at 4PM on a Wed, get a text from my coworker at 10AM asking if I want to golf and still bang out 18 with plenty to spare. $30. Was it a dog track? Yes. But 18 holes, 6500 yards, good and bad lies and no pace issues..... I'd play any day of the week. 

 

October of 19 the deal went thru to close them down. X bought the land wanting a permit to build housing and didn't get the permit and tried to sell it back to the county but couldn't... just a long sad story. I could only imagine what that course would be if it had survived to the pandemic. 

 

I rode my bike around the 18 holes the other day. I think it was #4 where I saw a home owner mowing with his riding mower from 150 yards and into the old green. Mad props to that guy. Keep living the dream. 

[cristphoto]

On 4/16/2021 at 2:17 PM, MtlJeff said:

Private clubs here mostly kept their fees the same

 

Agreed.  My club just had a reasonable dues increase starting in March, but last year due to COVID there was no increase.  We were completely shut down for two months however - not even allowed on property.  

[MtlJeff]

1 hour ago, cristphoto said:

 

Agreed.  My club just had a reasonable dues increase starting in March, but last year due to COVID there was no increase.  We were completely shut down for two months however - not even allowed on property.  

 

I did forget that in mid-summer last year we did get an emergency "give us 1000$ now or Rocco will break your thumbs" assessment. Rumor was we had some bills due. 

 

But all in all not a huge thing. Our dues are not very high compared to other clubs

Edited April 18, 2021 by MtlJeff

[596]

Our muni rates are up a tad this year.  Even being closed for 5 weeks in 2020 we still saw close to 70,000 rounds.  2021 will see many more then that.  We see as much as 350 rounds a day.

[Snaphooker12]

I looked at a membership at the end of December and held off until April to get it, price went up $400. Granted they did tell me in December the annual fee was  going up in the new year, so I have no one to blame but my self for the $400 hit

[Shushwap]

Rates are up 20 to 40 %.. west coast Canada 

[DrOldSchool]

Mixed bag here near Indy. Nearly all went up, mostly around 10% or so. A couple increased by more, including a mid-tier course here that went up by 25% here in town to a laughable rate for the quality of the course.

 

Biggest change I've seen so far this early in the season are twilight rates are later in the day a lot of places, and a few dumped them altogether, most notably around here Brickyard Crossing at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Also the golf now hot deals that used to be really hot (like half price) are now basically $5-10 off the rack rate. 

[Bonneville85308]

The muni courses here only raised rates a couple bucks but their tee sheets went from "busy, but if you plan a week ahead of time you can get a decent tee morning tee time, otherwise pretty open in the afternoons" to "tee sheet is 100% full until 4pm even on a weekday and if you don't have your finger on the button the second the tee sheet opens up at midnight 9 days in advance, you will be out of luck."

 

Many of the middle range courses here probably raised rates 5-20% and are as busy as ever, some of them have changed their "loyalty card" programs to tighten up the advance booking windows or otherwise make the cards useless if you want to play during primetime. I've noticed at two courses where their 25%+ price increases got a bit ahead of their level of quality/conditioning relative to the competition, the tee sheets are not as full as elsewhere.

 

I've heard a lot of anecdotal information saying that the lower end private clubs (the ones with <$10k initiation) here all took on a ton of new members, are at or over capacity, and it is difficult to get a morning tee time at them. These are the same clubs that were half empty and begging for members 5-10 years ago.  I know one guy who quit last month and went back to middle-range public courses because it was easier to get an early tee time there.

 

 

 

 

 

Edited April 19, 2021 by Bonneville85308

[smashdn]

Local public had a sign up that there was going to be an increase.  Like maybe $5/18 or something like that.  

 

Supply and demand at work.  I am sure they did a crazy number of rounds last year.  Probably fewer events (scrambles and the like) too.  I would imagine they make more with a full tee sheet at rack rate on a saturday than the local civic group scramble.

[cardia10]

In many East TN course, I've seen 20-30% increases. When the government is paying you extra not to go to work, courses will reap the rewards.

[TTCarrera]

On 4/16/2021 at 11:17 AM, MtlJeff said:

Private clubs here mostly kept their fees the same

Our private club's green fees have stayed the same this 2019, but we've been told to expect a 5% bump in June, going from $625 to $655.

[phizzy30]

Prices have skyrocketed here in SoCal.  You can thank covid for that.  The time period that forced courses to closed obviously impacted the golf industry in terms of revenue.  To make up for the loss in income, the courses have jacked up their green fees, some more so than others.  I get it from a business perspective but on the same token, many people have been laid off, had to close their businesses and some have had their hours severely reduced.  It sucks from the golfer's perspective but that's just the way the way businesses works.  For example, Los Serranos used to be 50 bucks before covid on weekdays.  I would go play there often.  Now they're charging 65.  I still go there sometimes because I love the lay out but not nearly as often.  I'm still willing to pay 50 for weekdays but 65+ is steep especially for a course that is your typical public course for this area. 

[mallrat]

Random thoughts...

 

Our course had its busiest year ever, not 1 month but EVERY month. Winter golf averaged 60-70 a day for 20 years, this year averaged almost 200. Course just got abused. That much play and grass not growing is a bad combination. 
 

Raised prime time rates from $78 to $95 a round. Now we are averaging about 230 a day instead of 300. Profits have gone up and play has gone down. Win win for the course.