Is Golf now too expensive???

[patricks148]

No teasing. As predicted I'm still Recoil in stiff flex, standard grip size and blue dot lie code.

I certainly did not expect to walk out with i525.

Data and results were undeniable and the i230 couldn't get close to the performance gains on the i525. Dispersion and distance wise all comfortably better. I was concerned re land angle but again nowt to worry about. Very interesting fitting.

Happy for you mate but I predict they will be gone by the time it's light at 6pm?

 

[Backsticks]

So the answer is, it isnt. Which isnt to say you cant spend lots of money on golf.

The driver and the premium greenfee are two entirely different things though. The premium course is a question of supply and demand for a premium, limited supply product. There is only so much time on it to go around, the higher the demand, the higher the price. You just cant mass produce more Troons.
The driver is just fast fashion. There are people for whom it is worth £500 to have this years latest just because it is the latest, or because they like the blue lipstick on it, the red face, or the slightly matter grey. Thats just high disposable income in an affluent, throwaway, consumerist western world, with powerful advertising that convinces minds they want to be on that train.

 

[howbow88]

It's a shame they can't have domestic rates i.e. those from the UK and tourist rates, happens in other countries in other tourist attractions

A fair few places in Scotland do great rates for local residents, but they are very much local and not UK wide.

In fairness to the courses, they are just responding to the market. American tourists don't even blink at paying $500, and that works out to about £400 at the moment. The clubs are not going to turn it down and I don’t blame them.

It just sucks for us

 

[D-S]

A fair few places in Scotland do great rates for local residents, but they are very much local and not UK wide.

In fairness to the courses, they are just responding to the market. American tourists don't even blink at paying $500, and that works out to about £400 at the moment. The clubs are not going to turn it down and I don’t blame them.

It just sucks for us

The issue is that a lot of better courses base their rates on ’ranking chain’, if a course slightly higher up the ranking increase price they follow suit.
The US tourists tend to stick to the obvious, tried and tested, mainly Scottish links courses as well as a few Irish and a few top English courses. However, because a few Americans are happy to stump up stupid money for Troon so they up their prices dramatically then Birkdale must follow suit. Royal Porthcawl increase because they link pricing to the Open Rota courses, albeit at a lower level,, then Burnham and Berrow whack their prices up and Saunton seem suddenly out of kilter as a top 100 course so up they go. The fact that suddenly Saunton are charging £130 when a few years ago they were £60 or 70 is part of this chain but they receive hardly any US visitors which is the case for Burnham and Porthcawl too, they are not part of the British golf experience sold to American golfers but nevertheless the prices are dictated by them.
Unfortunately the additional costs at these non-American visitor courses do not lead to a better customer experience, it is the same as it ever was but just worse value for money.

 

[Voyager EMH]

Its like cars. Far too expensive now. You cannot get a Ferrari for less that £200k.
I can hardly even afford wine any more now either, with a half decent vintage of Chateau Petrus setting me back £4000 a bottle.

You might have to sell another painting, or even worse, grandmama's tiara.

 

[jim8flog]

Not quite. I realised years ago that a single glove was not needed so now I don't use one. If you are one of these people who get sweaty hands then why is it always the left hand only (RH golfers)?

Right handed player. When I first started playing the idea was that the left hand is the one holding the club (and supplying the power) and the right hand is gripping the club more lightly (and controls direction). Hence when you see the pros on the TV letting go with their right hand but still holding on to the club with their left.

 

[sunshine]

Inflation, supply and demand etc. Those are the correct answers.

However, green fee escalation for premium courses has gone nuts, the % increases are way higher than inflationary increases for earnings or similar expenditure so the prices are clearly less affordable. Personally I hope it’s a temporary bubble

 

[evemccc]

Right handed player. When I first started playing the idea was that the left hand is the one holding the club (and supplying the power) and the right hand is gripping the club more lightly (and controls direction). Hence when you see the pros on the TV letting go with their right hand but still holding on to the club with their left.

That was and is my understanding…and one of my main faults is that I ‘hold the club off’ — which I understand to be playing a cover-drive and with too much bottom/right hand and not releasing it properly (as the right hand is holding it too tightly)

Has the idea of Left hand strong changed now in golf coaching?

 

[evemccc]

I have seen a few good Scottish links courses offering a discount for British members of golf courses — akin to a County Card —!for their GFs….Lundin Links and Panmure were two that did, when I mulled over a possible golf holiday whilst in bed this morning ?

 

[patricks148]

A fair few places in Scotland do great rates for local residents, but they are very much local and not UK wide.

In fairness to the courses, they are just responding to the market. American tourists don't even blink at paying $500, and that works out to about £400 at the moment. The clubs are not going to turn it down and I don’t blame them.

It just sucks for us

Some of those that offer the local reduced rate have has support from local Gov, so it's a pay back for that.

 

[KenL]

I have seen a few good Scottish links courses offering a discount for British members of golf courses — akin to a County Card —!for their GFs….Lundin Links and Panmure were two that did, when I mulled over a possible golf holiday whilst in bed this morning ?

Panmuir is fantastic.

 

[IanM]

Silloth Senior Open in August.

£35!! OUTRAGEOUS

I was surprised to see that the summer green fee is now £80. Great value relative to some nutty ones, but more than I expected to see

 

[KenL]

Some of those that offer the local reduced rate have has support from local Gov, so it's a pay back for that.

Really? What golf courses have had financial assistance from the Scottish Assembly?

 

[evemccc]

Silloth Senior Open in August.

£35!! OUTRAGEOUS

I was surprised to see that the summer green fee is now £80. Great value relative to some nutty ones, but more than I expected to see

Rick Shield effect..?

 

[evemccc]

Silloth Senior Open in August.

£35!! OUTRAGEOUS

I was surprised to see that the summer green fee is now £80. Great value relative to some nutty ones, but more than I expected to see

More evidence (to me) that the more that ‘golf is booming’, the more the average golfer on an average salary sees the pinch…

 

[IanM]

More evidence (to me) that the more that ‘golf is booming’, the more the average golfer on an average salary sees the pinch…

But have you seem the annual subs? It's worth moving house!

 

[evemccc]

But have you seem the annual subs? It's worth moving house!

I played Siloth in Sept 2020 for I think £45 - 36 in one day - day rate. Blue sky, zero wind, zero clouds

Played it again for I think the same (or maybe £35) last March but end of winter rate…zero clouds, zero wind, blue sky —- asked about doing 36 holes like 18 months previous, but ‘unable’ - yet didn’t think teesheet was that busy ?

So glad I played all the top courses when I did…only wish I’d discovered golf a few years before I did!!

 

[D-S]

I played Siloth in Sept 2020 for I think £45 - 36 in one day - day rate. Blue sky, zero wind, zero clouds

Played it again for I think the same (or maybe £35) last March but end of winter rate…zero clouds, zero wind, blue sky —- asked about doing 36 holes like 18 months previous, but ‘unable’ - yet didn’t think teesheet was that busy ?

So glad I played all the top courses when I did…only wish I’d discovered golf a few years before I did!!

Exactly this, I am fortunate enough to have played a lot of the top 100 courses, however at todays prices there would be no way I would play a lot of them because they simply don’t represent value for money any more.
It is a great shame as one of the good things about golf was the accessibility of wonderful venues for ordinary golfers (treading the fairways where the greats once did etc.). I feel sorry for todays golfers who are faced with such high costs.

 

[Backsticks]

Maybe its just that golf participation is booming, and the price of access to the premium top courses will always escalate exponentially as demand exceeds supply.
Overall, its probably indicative of a good time for golfers.

Number of UK golfers has nearly doubled in just four years | The Golf Business

 

[patricks148]

Really? What golf courses have had financial assistance from the Scottish Assembly?

I'd read things first before commenting if I were you, no one said the Scottish Assembly, I said local Gov. Castle Stuart for one.