sunshine
Well-known member
Yes agree, but it is for locals and other golfers too. Making visitors pay 100 times more than locals is going too far in my opinion.
St Andrews Discontinues 3-Day Unlimited Pass
- Thread starter rystaman
- Start date
rystaman
Active member
Or have a UK golfer rate and an international golfer rate, rather than expect the American money from the UK golfers. And TOC green fee is ridiculous but being an open venue and the history around it, fine. But it's the increase of the other courses too that's just ridiculous
Doon frae Troon
Ryder Cup Winner
What is the going visitor rate at The Belfry compared to a round on the second best course of the Links Trust.
Which is the better course?
rystaman
Active member
The Brabazon is £110pp/£140pp for a weekend in May, Castle £180pp. Suppose better is subjective, depending on what you like.
PJ87
Journeyman Pro
I'm going to the belfry with a group in September
Thursday Friday £329 overnight with breakfast (and dinner I think) and a round on the brabazon and the pga national
Me and my mate going up the day before for £160 for the derby and an extra night plus breakfast and dinner which whilst isn't amazing course is reasonable for 3 days of golf
Arthur Wedge
Well-known member
Do they pay you £140 to play on the Potato Field ?
rystaman
Active member
My home club is literally round the corner so I know how boggy it can get
sunshine
Well-known member
Bit of an irrelevant question, but £110 to play the Belfry, which has hosted the Ryder Cup 4 times as well as countless European Tour events, is a reasonable price tag.
I'd expect the second best course (I assume you mean the Old Course ) to be more expensive, but not 3 times more.
Doon frae Troon
Ryder Cup Winner
In it's earlier years The Belfry was an absolute midden.
It improved and when I last played it around 25 years ago it was a decent, if somewhat flat and boring course.
The only reason it held the Ryder Cup and other PGA events was because the PGA were based there, before they upgraded and moved to Wentworth.
Doon frae Troon
Ryder Cup Winner
£47.50 to play the old course seemingly.
Belfry neatly twice as expensive as TOC.
Backache
Assistant Pro
Realistically around the World whatever people's opinions are here about TOC it's probably the course that more people want to play than any other that you can actually get on to without an invitation.
Starter
Active member
The PGA are still based at The Belfry.
It is the DP World Tour that is based at Wentworth and has never been at The Belfry.
The main reason that the Ryder Cup was first taken to The Belfry in 1987 was quite simply no other venue was interested enough to make a viable offer to host it.
And, BTW, I am sure many on here would love to know how you calculate the cost of playing TOC.
GreiginFife
Money List Winner
Probably referring to the (very) limited green fees that the Links Trust gimmick, I mean advertised. And even then he’s not right, £42.50 was the rate.
evemccc
Well-known member
I have only played it once….can remember my favourite holes really well but, as always, my least favourite holes merge into nothingness..
I wouldn’t have said there are ‘daft’ holes, but the only holes I didn’t think were great were 8,9, and 10….meh rather than daft, perhaps?
Some of the other holes were quite similar to each other but very good golf holes IMO
Almost every course has some weaker holes, and for me, it’s 8,9 and 10 only at the Old Course
TigerTime
Well-known member
I have done TOC singles queue when it was still a thing and just had the most magnificent experience. I did it in shoulder season so the green fee wasn't full whack but still lucked out weather wise. Would do that again in a heartbeat.
Second time I tried they made me sit around for hours after phoning me an hour before the time they offered me despite the fact I live about an hour and half at least away from them, and didn't even offer an apology and it left a sour taste in my mouth as the staff were pretty rude and unhelpful.
Third time around I was lucky enough to get into TOC Reversed ballot, my ballot partner didn't show up and they almost never let me on - again I found the staff rude. I got on and had a good time with a couple of links ticketholders.
I love the place, but like most they just cater the tourist. It will eventually get to the stage where your average UK punter will just never have the opportunity to experience it if it isn't there already.
Second time I tried they made me sit around for hours after phoning me an hour before the time they offered me despite the fact I live about an hour and half at least away from them, and didn't even offer an apology and it left a sour taste in my mouth as the staff were pretty rude and unhelpful.
Third time around I was lucky enough to get into TOC Reversed ballot, my ballot partner didn't show up and they almost never let me on - again I found the staff rude. I got on and had a good time with a couple of links ticketholders.
I love the place, but like most they just cater the tourist. It will eventually get to the stage where your average UK punter will just never have the opportunity to experience it if it isn't there already.
howbow88
Hacker
I think we're already there. I can see how maybe the average UK golfer can think it is still worth it as a once in a lifetime treat, but all I can say is that I'm happy to have played it when it was £180.
In the 7 years since I played it, my income has been fairly stagnant whilst my bills have gone up
I dare sat that for the average bloke in the UK, my situation isn't too uncommon. So the fact that TOC's green fee has now doubled, just makes it twice as hard to justify playing it again.
rystaman
Active member
Yup we're 100% there. For the average UK golfer it's ridiculous. Even over the past 4-5 years, everything has skyrocketed and even when income has increased, it isn't as much as the bills are...I think we're already there. I can see how maybe the average UK golfer can think it is still worth it as a once in a lifetime treat, but all I can say is that I'm happy to have played it when it was £180.
In the 7 years since I played it, my income has been fairly stagnant whilst my bills have gone up
I remember reading this from ukgolfguy, where he says visitor play at the top end is now almost entirely American. The Asian market hasn’t come back fully and the European market has been largely priced out of peak time play. I mean in comparison to 2015 the average green fee for the top 20 courses has over doubled.
In that time though, we've seen ridiculous increases in the prices of a lot of 'value for money' courses that have put up their fees to capture the American market. I know after speaking to someone at St Annes Old Links that when they put their prices up from £80 to over £100 (think it's £140 in June now) that they saw a lot more US visitors because the Americans seemed to turn their noses up at anything under £100.
D-S
Well-known member
I think in a lot of cases this is just an excuse or a rationale clubs have used to reduce visitor numbers whilst maintaining income (because they can).
American visitors obviously exist and are very present at the bucket list courses, however the likes of Pyle and Kenfig and Pennard in South Wales are hardly overrun with them but they have increased fees by 3 or 4 fold. The same is true at the better Dorset courses which don’t see coach loads of US visitors to rolling up day after day. I regularly play Burnham and Berrow and have yet to see groups of overseas visitors
It is a supply and demand issue that, as the golf boom slows, might change.
rystaman
Active member
Fair point and absolutely silly, seeing Pennard at £155 is wild. As soon as I see that golfworking website I know the green fee is over £100 haha.
We know though with inflation, once it goes up it's not coming back down again. So if anything, it's just going to get more expensive, just slower.
Trapdraw
Medal Winner
The Old Course is unreal, even if you take away the history side and it’s still a brilliant course.
I’ve played most of the top courses in Scotland and still rank it as my number one.
Unfortunately with green fees to playing the top courses, its supply and demand and the demand is there.
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