Tobacco Road Prices 2.5x from last year?

[Carolina Golfer 2]

22 minutes ago, smashdn said:

 

Conditioning?  

 

I must have caught TR on a really bad day when i played it.

Perhaps, or perhaps things have changed with it since I last played it about 3 or 4 years ago.   Despite my name, I'm not in Carolina anymore, so I only play it when going back to and from Pinehurst.  But I've never seen it in anything less than ideal conditions. 

[smashdn]

4 hours ago, Carolina Golfer 2 said:

Perhaps, or perhaps things have changed with it since I last played it about 3 or 4 years ago.   Despite my name, I'm not in Carolina anymore, so I only play it when going back to and from Pinehurst.  But I've never seen it in anything less than ideal conditions. 

 

I don't think I caught it on a bad day though.  It was late August when they had bent greens.  They were just what you would expect late summer bentgrass greens to be.  Aside from that everything else was just fine.

 

I get the architecture standpoint and I get the location to an extent as well.  I know this is incredibly hard to do but if you pick that course up and put it in Nashville it is a 75-100 green fee course.  That was my only point.  

 

Or maybe a better way to look at it, if you picked up Tot Hill Farm with TR level conditioning and dropped it in Sandford, NC, is it a $260 course?  Hard for me to say.

 

Maybe I am just a skinflint but a course needs to be really, really special for me to drop $150 plus to play.  And that is likely molded by the area of the country I live in and play most of my golf.  There are still courses here around $40 on the weekends that are more than adequate bordering on nice.  Nothing of architectural merit, but conditioning can still be just as good as what you find at top-end resort and "private-for-a-day" courses.

 

And I am not knocking TR either.  Loved it.  Would love to play it again.  But I can't do it for $260.  There are stay and play packages at Mid Pines that look more attractive to me.  But that is just me and my opinion on it.  Probably shaped that way by having already played TR once.

Edited June 12, 2023 by smashdn

[Carolina Golfer 2]

20 minutes ago, smashdn said:

 

I don't think I caught it on a bad day though.  It was late August when they had bent greens.  They were just what you would expect late summer bentgrass greens to be.  Aside from that everything else was just fine.

 

I get the architecture standpoint and I get the location to an extent as well.  I know this is incredibly hard to do but if you pick that course up and put it in Nashville it is a 75-100 green fee course.  That was my only point.  

 

Or maybe a better way to look at it, if you picked up Tot Hill Farm with TR level conditioning and dropped it in Sandford, NC, is it a $260 course?  Hard for me to say.

 

Maybe I am just a skinflint but a course needs to be really, really special for me to drop $150 plus to play.  And that is likely molded by the area of the country I live in and play most of my golf.  There are still courses here around $40 on the weekends that are more than adequate bordering on nice.  Nothing of architectural merit, but conditioning can still be just as good as what you find at to- end resort and "private for a day" courses.

 

And I am not knocking TR either.  Loved it.  Would love to play it again.  But I can't do it for $260.  There are stay and play packages at Mid Pines that look more attractive to me.  But that is just me and my opinion on it.  Probably shaped that way by having already played TR once.

Those are all fair points. 

 

 I agree if it wasn't in NC playing off the Pinehurst courses, even thought it's about 30 to 40 minutes away, it would probably cost less.   I can't speak to the overall TN market at all other than having played the Hermitage and Gaylord, but I can see TR being a $150 course in MD (where I currently live( very easily compared to some around here that charge $100 and are nothing more than a nice dally fee that happens to be located in a high demand golf area. 

 

 

[vandyfan]

37 minutes ago, smashdn said:

Maybe I am just a skinflint but a course needs to be really, really special for me to drop $150 plus to play.  And that is likely molded by the area of the country I live in and play most of my golf.  There are still courses here around $40 on the weekends that are more than adequate bordering on nice.  Nothing of architectural merit, but conditioning can still be just as good as what you find at to- end resort and "private for a day" courses.

 

And I am not knocking TR either.  Loved it.  Would love to play it again.  But I can't do it for $260.  There are stay and play packages at Mid Pines that look more attractive to me.  But that is just me and my opinion on it.  Probably shaped that way by having already played TR once.

 

Totally agree on that. I put Harpeth Hills and Two Rivers in that $40 but very good category in Nashville and then Legacy up North as well as Montgomery Bell and Henry Horton for the state parks. 

 

I played Harbour Town for $450 and would not do that again for the reasons you pointed out above. Cool experience once but that is waaaaaaay too much for that golf course. I agree $260 is too much for Tobacco Road and it is probably one of the 5 most fun/memorable golf courses I have ever played. But I can have almost as much fun at a higher end municipal with some history. 

[klebs01]

5 hours ago, smashdn said:

 

Daily public, high end resort, resort, state park course, etc.

I don’t see how that has any impact on the quality of a golf course. 

[smashdn]

4 minutes ago, klebs01 said:

I don’t see how that has any impact on the quality of a golf course. 

 

You don't think the type of course and therefore clientele impacts revenue or potential revenue which then impacts how much money you can budget for design, the actual construction budget, and then once built, the conditioning and the upkeep of the course and running of all the other aspects of a course?

[geauxtigers777]

I played it in April, and the conditions were pretty bad.  Multiple tee boxes with basically dirt.  Huge areas of dirt on the greens.  Some greens the pin was cut away form dead areas of approximately 30% of the green surface.  I loved the layout, but thought it was terrible value for the conditions (from someone that truly does not mind paying for a fun round of golf).  We played the main PH courses and midpines on the trip, and they were all in significantly better shape.  

[klebs01]

1 hour ago, smashdn said:

 

You don't think the type of course and therefore clientele impacts revenue or potential revenue which then impacts how much money you can budget for design, the actual construction budget, and then once built, the conditioning and the upkeep of the course and running of all the other aspects of a course?

not that much. I’ve seen good munis and goat tracks, same with privates and resorts, etc.  it’s a case by case thing. Either way, it’s not a factor in how I view a course or how much I’m willing to pay. 

[vandyfan]

Just as an update to my earlier complaints about Pursell Farms (and many other courses) inflation in the last few years, I was looking at playing there this weekend and...I mean...is this a typo?

 

 

TWO HUNDRED AND NINETY TWO DOLLARS???? For a november weekend? That is RICKDEEZULOUS. Is this the influencer tax? Farmlinks, please get a hold of yourself. 

 

[coreymitch5]

On 10/31/2023 at 1:56 PM, vandyfan said:

Just as an update to my earlier complaints about Pursell Farms (and many other courses) inflation in the last few years, I was looking at playing there this weekend and...I mean...is this a typo?

 

 

TWO HUNDRED AND NINETY TWO DOLLARS???? For a november weekend? That is RICKDEEZULOUS. Is this the influencer tax? Farmlinks, please get a hold of yourself. 

 

Reactive industry... it is like the 08 housing bubble..... golf is not still on the incline post-covid. Clubs are going to realize soon they'll need to go the other way with pricing! 

[BEND OF THE RIVER GC]

I played it on a beautiful 60 degree December day, I think I paid maybe $90. Great golf course, but I don't think I would pay $300 now. The prices will start to come back down, it's cyclical.

Edited November 23, 2023 by BEND OF THE RIVER GC

[Looper34]

$218 to play midweek this time of year is way too much money. I suppose the wide open tee sheet is the result.

Price goes down to $114 second week in December. 

[cardia10]

Sadly, courses are fat and happy now, but if the impending crash happens, they will have no clue how to cut back. These influencer courses will end up as the next housing development sadly. 

[gopack7777]

On 6/2/2023 at 12:06 PM, theweekendgolfer543 said:

Personally, I think that the worst part about the 260 is the fact that it takes atleast one round through to even "get TR". Round 2 and beyond was way more fun then round 1. Round 1 is pure trial and error....and mainly error.

Couldn't agree more, its almost impossible to appreciate all the small details in one round. So many ways to play each hole that you can only appreciate over time and a lot of rounds. 

[Gdane]

I just booked my groups trip to Myrtle for 2024 and this thread getting bumped made me wonder what we paid in 2017 to Play Tobacco Road, and I almost fell out of my chair when I pulled up the old quote.

 

We played Tobacco Road, Talamore and Dormie Club (on a Friday/Saturday in late August), with a 1 night stay in at the Springhill Suites by Marriott in Pinehurst all for a grand total of $279/person 😨

[Carolina Golfer 2]

3 hours ago, Gdane said:

I just booked my groups trip to Myrtle for 2024 and this thread getting bumped made me wonder what we paid in 2017 to Play Tobacco Road, and I almost fell out of my chair when I pulled up the old quote.

 

We played Tobacco Road, Talamore and Dormie Club (on a Friday/Saturday in late August), with a 1 night stay in at the Springhill Suites by Marriott in Pinehurst all for a grand total of $279/person 😨

Time have certainly changed!! 

[driveandputtmachine]

I play in a big 14 v 14 Ryder Cup event and we have done it every year in Pinehurst.  I used to live in Raleigh and played TR all the time.   Last Year TR was $260, and we went end of April beginning of May.  The course was in horrendous shape (Greens) they had a ton of winter kill, and even the large practice green was closed, only the super slopey little one next to the range was open.  They tried to put the pins in places where the greens were in better shape, but it was the worst shape I have ever seen it in.

 

We also played Mid Pines, Mid South, and a few other lower end courses for warmup rounds.  Hyland will end up being the best bang for the buck in Pinehurst.  Greens were good, fairways just had new sprinkler lines run and the gras had not grown in yet, but the greens were great.  Mid Pines was in AMAZING shape, I mean absolutely fantastic.  Mid South, while I really do not like the layout was in great shape and they had a 25 or 30 dollar replay afternoon rate.

 

This year we dropped TR, due to the conditions we saw last year.  We are playing Mid Pines, Southern Pines, Tallamore, and Tot Hill Farm for the tourney.  Tot Hill just underwent a significant restoration, and Zoysia greens will be interesting, half the price and only about 15 minute farther away from our house than TR.   Warmup rounds at Forest Creek(we got lucky to get on here) and Hyland.  Mid Pines is mid 250's, southern pines is right around 200.  Can't remember Tallamore cost, but there are Good/Great courses in Pinehurst and all are around 200 or more, then there are a bunch of lower courses.   Then above them all you have the resort proper where because of how much their rooms are, they are gouging you even for courses 1,3,5,6,7,8,9 not to mention the high price for 2 and 4 and 10.

 

Next year we are moving to either Hilton Head or South Myrtle(pawleys Island) as Pinehurst Resort because of it's super high pricing, has driven all of the courses in Pinehurst to extreme pricing, yet they are still booking up very quickly.