PGA Village Green Fees

[golfortennis]

Since I'm up north and only come down in April and November, I'm not familiar with the pricing habits of golf courses in Florida, but in prepping a reservation for November, the hotel manager mentioned she heard PGA Village is reviewing their pricing, with an eye towards raising the fees. So I took a look on the website, and there are no rates listed, and if you find the "online specials", you find after 12 noon $59, and in the morning $79. Now these are awfully similar to what I have paid in shoulder season. Are they really charging that much?

 

Is raising their green fees a smart move or will they just cut their own throat?

[golfortennis]

Was on their website two days ago and it was showing $119 for a round in October. I sure hope they seriously improved the conditioning since April to charge that.

[dbleag]

Ditto on conditioning.

Wife and I played there over Labor Day, and even my "discounted rate" felt too high.

No one more than me would love to see those courses in great condition, but .....

[golfortennis]

I made the point to someone, who was well involved in the whole operation there, that there was an attitude of "we're the PGA of America, this is our place, which makes it a premium product by itself, and you will pay what we charge and you will see value in it because it's the PGA of America's course", with no thought to competition, actually providing a product worthy of the price they were charging.... The smile betrayed the silence.

[Openwater22]

Played the Ryder Tuesday, very good condition. Played the Wannamaker today, ditto on condition. Dye tomorrow, hear it is in good condition also. PGA has made a committment to offer a roduct commensurate with the Brand. Starting to show.

[golfortennis]

So what did you pay, J?

Long way from the Michigan forum....lol...

[P3 Sweden]

Are there any other places around Florida you guys would recommend.
We are going for a week long golfholiday in february.
Would like to play lots of golf, so looking for some sort of a package deal..

[golfortennis]

So looks like not only are the green fees going up, the Learning Center is doing away with individual baskets and is giving people the lovely option of $30/day day pass if they aren't on some other kind of membership plan. Just checked the website and that is effective Nov. 1. Either 96% of their business already is memberships, or someone is making a calculation that misses the mark. Considering half the practice tees are closed down most of the time, this makes no sense, unless they are trying ot drive away business. Of course, if you go between 4 pm and 7pm(closes at 8), it's a steal at $23. Have never heard anyone say that $30 a day was worth it. $130 for a week...... might be. The others start to not be too bad, but if you're visiting forget it. They're just trying to soak you for whatever they can while you're there.

P3 Sweden, I can't believe I'm saying this(because I've pimped PGA Village quite a bit on this site), but you would want to look at maybe Sarasota, Fort Myers, Naples on the west coast. there is Miami but it is heavily spanish and traffic is horrible. You want to be in the Southern part of the state though if it's February. Orlando and north can be great, but could be affected by frost.

[jabrch]

All I am seeing is $150 a round for all three courses. Is there somewhere I can find decent discounts at PGA Village?

[Mags]

I was down there a little under a month ago and played the Dye course. It was in amazing shape (apart from where they were doing construction/moving dirt) and the rate was $120 + tax.

Great course but I didn't feel it was worth that much (I believe that's the most I've ever paid to play anywhere). $80-100 and I'd probably be interested in playing again and/or checking out the other courses in the future.

[moose557]

Not sure if this is too late, but Orlando in mid to late February will be fine weather wise. According to the weather channel the average highs in February are 74. And if your looking to play tons of golf Orlando is the place for you. So many great golf courses.

[golfortennis]

[quote name='Mags' timestamp='1386620679' post='8273827'] I was down there a little under a month ago and played the Dye course. It was in amazing shape (apart from where they were doing construction/moving dirt) and the rate was $120 + tax. Great course but I didn't feel it was worth that much (I believe that's the most I've ever paid to play anywhere). $80-100 and I'd probably be interested in playing again and/or checking out the other courses in the future. [/quote]

And now they are showing $140. Maybe the idea is try to bring in the same amount of money with fewer rounds. I think there is a very strong "We are the PGA and because we are the PGA you will pay a premium because our courses are better, because we're the PGA" attitude behind many of the decisions. Or they are trying to make memberships more attractive. Boggles my mind frankly....

I played Hammock Creek 20 miles down the road for $50, and frankly, it's very nearly as good as any of the three. The drop in quality that may be there is certainly not commensurate with the difference in price. I played a private club who's unaccompanied guest rate was almost half of what PGA Golf Club is charging. And that course was just as good as theirs.

What I find particularly telling is how hard they make it to find out what their green fees are. Somebody somewhere is out of touch with reality....

[10smonkey]

I was there at xmas time and the rates they wanted were outrageous 149$ a round. I talked with other pga pros around the pool ( stayed at pga village) and they were dumbfounded by the price hike as well. When I would play the little par 3 course around 4 o'clock the parking lot was empty. I just don't understand it. I played 8 rounds in 10 days at the Champions club and Hammock Creek 20 miles south on 95 and was treated like royalty.