I played in the County Laois Golf Challenge a few years ago, a number of decent courses in the area and fairly close to each other including Mountrath, Rathdowney, Portarlington, The Heath, Abbeyleix, Portlaoise and The Heritage (a Seve designed course).
Has to be the Home of Golf, St Andrews, having watched The Open there many times over the last 25 years or so it would be awesome to play a course graced by some of the worlds greatest golfers.
As has been said previously on this thread, I think you need to be playing twice a week at a minimum to get value for money from your membership.
I didn't re-join my club this year as we had our 2nd child in March plus I was on the final year of my degree course, so I would've struggled to play...
I decided against renewing this year due to an addition to the family in March, couldn't see myself playing much over the summer and the club didnt really have any flexible membership to offer. So taking a year out to spend some time with the family and maybe re-jopining next year.
Sounds similar to a custom-fitting I had 3 years ago with TaylorMade at the Belfry, it was their Loft Up campaign with the SLDR driver, although a very enjoyable experience all in all, it was a bit intimidating to start, having a cameraman and a photgrapher around you, plus a few TM reps. They...
Bull Bay on Anglesey is a good test, they have an open week, usually the first week in August. I think it's around £15 (includes green fee) for visitors to play in the open comps.