Would you pay £350 to play Royal Lytham?

100% yes played it once (didnt pay that actually got a four ball for £500), and it my favourite course i have ever played. would go back in a heart beat, especially if its for a one off bucket list.

People can say no they wouldn't pay it, but got to face facts if you are going to play these Top courses the price is becoming stupidly high.......

Top courses near me in the South East

Walton Heath £260
Sunningdale £395
Royal St Georges £350
Berkshire £260

The list will could go on and on even my home club is £160 in the middle of summer. If you want to play these places you have to pay, yes you might get on with a society or an open etc slightly cheaper.

Its the beauty of Golf though we get to play at the equivilent of Wembley, Lords or Wimbledon if we want to, and i bet if you asked a football fan if they wanted to play their sunday league game at wembley for £350 they would bite your hand off.
 
Newnsy said:
100% yes played it once (didnt pay that actually got a four ball for £500), and it my favourite course i have ever played. would go back in a heart beat, especially if its for a one off bucket list.

People can say no they wouldn't pay it, but got to face facts if you are going to play these Top courses the price is becoming stupidly high.......

Top courses near me in the South East

Walton Heath £260
Sunningdale £395
Royal St Georges £350
Berkshire £260

The list will could go on and on even my home club is £160 in the middle of summer. If you want to play these places you have to pay, yes you might get on with a society or an open etc slightly cheaper.

Its the beauty of Golf though we get to play at the equivilent of Wembley, Lords or Wimbledon if we want to, and i bet if you asked a football fan if they wanted to play their sunday league game at wembley for £350 they would bite your hand off.
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I see where you're coming from, and thats a bit how I feel, once in a lifetime, special occasion etc. I'm not rich by any means but to play where legends have tread is very appealing. Heard there are nice courses in Spain, Portugal etc.. but its the history of Royal Lytham that attracts me, and it is very close to me distance wise.

Any members on here want to get me a deal!? 😂😂
 
PJ87 said:
The tourist market definitely is at a play again. I know a member of a club in Ireland called carne. His membership was like 500 euro at first , still low but the green fee is 100 euro (was when he told me) because if they didn't go to that level the us market werent interested as they see price as mark of quality.
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clubchamp98 said:
But Americans use price as a guide to quality.
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Why does this urban legend persist? Do you all think visiting Americans got rich being stupid?

If someone fly's to Orlando from the UK and likes Disney they're going to pay $250 for their theme park ticket. People wouldn't go to Fun Spot America Theme Park if they started charging $250 and Disney was at $60.

Courses/clubs are charging high prices because enough people are willing to pay high prices for a top 100 course. I will agree the price is high because of tourists. Golf is expensive in the US for various reasons so the prices don't create sticker shock for wealthy americans who visit.

I promise they'd visit a course on a top 100 list if it was 50 euros and the travel agent could still make some profit on the booking. BTW I'm also a member at Carne and it's gone up to 195 euro during peak season.
 
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Never. I could afford it…but that’s not the point. Golf isn’t supposed to be a game for the wealthy - it’s just greed on the part of these clubs. They should be ashamed of themselves…pandering to wealth I find distasteful at best and in any context… But of course they won’t.
 
stymied said:
I promise they'd visit a course on a top 100 list if it was 50 euros and the travel agent could still make some profit on the booking. BTW I'm also a member at Carne and it's gone up to 195 euro during peak season.
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Absolutely. There was a large group of Americans at Nefyn last summer paying very reasonable money!

My mate from Boston goes mad when I put that old chestnut to her.

Of course there are exceptions. Word gets round, if it's crap, they stop going there. But of course, increased demand, up goes the price.

However, it's really sad if golfers are priced out of playing some of the top venues. But sometimes it's worth saving up for a special day out.
 
No one has mentioned that Lytham do - at least did - a winter rate, so one can/could play there without spending £350

Not all Open rota courses do that - and some non-Open rota clubs like Formby don’t either….I enjoyed Lytham a lot and say it’s comparable to almost any Open course I’ve played.

I played really quite poorly, for my level, when I played there but thought the place was smashing in general
 
stymied said:
Why does this urban legend persist? Do you all think visiting Americans got rich being stupid?

If someone fly's to Orlando from the UK and likes Disney they're going to pay $250 for their theme park ticket. People wouldn't go to Fun Spot America Theme Park if they started charging $250 and Disney was at $60.

Courses/clubs are charging high prices because enough people are willing to pay high prices for a top 100 course. I will agree the price is high because of tourists. Golf is expensive in the US for various reasons so the prices don't create sticker shop for wealthy americans who visit.

I promise they'd visit a course on a top 100 list if it was 50 euros and the travel agent could still make some profit on the booking. BTW I'm also a member at Carne and it's gone up to 195 euro during peak season.
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Golf in Florida is expensive.
But it is tourist based.

Tourist price. $100
Florida resident $60
Orlando resident $50

Seen it for over 30 yrs.

It was an American who told me they don’t look at anything in the UK under £200.
Why fly 3000 miles to play the local muni.
 
moogie said:
No...no...no....

Golf is (i hope) on an unsustainable upward spiral
Getting out of hand
Green fees, equipment, madness
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I'm not sure it is unsustainable, sadly. Certainly whilst Americans are coming to these shores, green fees at Open courses are only going to get higher and higher.
 
I'm in the camp of yes, for a special occasion, or just to play it once so you can tell the grandkids when you're watching the open on TV, I've played this course, I'd do it. There's no other sport that allows you to grace the same turf or theatre as the greats of the game.

At the end of the day, when you're an old man and can't play golf anymore, what are you going to sit and tell the grandkids, that you've played the same course as Jack Nicholas, Tiger Woods, Ben Hogan, Rory McIlroy, or that you got a good deal on a couple of courses in Spain with flights and BnB included for the same price.

These are the courses that you look back on and remember for the rest of your life. I haven't played many iconic courses yet. Royal Portrush and Carnoustie are the only ones so far. I can tell you the experience was totally different to playing even somewhere like Hillside. I remember going to a fairway bunker on the 10th at Carnoustie where I watched Tiger play a shot from and stick it to 8ft. I stood in that bunker and the shot took on an entirely different context. Standing there you get a sense of what an amazing shot it was!

It does leave a slight sour taste in the mouth I won't lie knowing how much you've paid, but it's still something I'm willing to do and it's just the way it is now. If you want to play them you've got to pay the fee. The days of playing the iconic courses for £80 with soup and sandwiches have gone. Golf had a boom after COVID and the state of the world's economies are ultimately what started off the trend of increasing green fees.

I've set myself a plan of trying to play one a year so it's a bit more manageable. I'm 40 this year, so I really want to go to Scotland and play Kingsbarns which is probably closer to £500 by time you've paid the caddie. But for a one off special occasion and the memories it'll give me, I'm willing to do it. My close golfing friend is also 40 in a couple of years and he wants to go to Pebble for his and if I get the nod from the wife I'll probably do that if I can as well.
 
evemccc said:
No one has mentioned that Lytham do - at least did - a winter rate, so one can/could play there without spending £350

Not all Open rota courses do that - and some non-Open rota clubs like Formby don’t either….I enjoyed Lytham a lot and say it’s comparable to almost any Open course I’ve played.

I played really quite poorly, for my level, when I played there but thought the place was smashing in general
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Don’t believe they do a winter deal anymore. Played it about 16 years ago in the first week of December. £300 for a 4-ball including a round on the 9-holer and lunch. Outstanding value.
 
A guy I play with is on the board of a pretty famous place, that do not charge anything like £350 a round.

The conversation they are having is that they need to charge more to put off stag dos and folk who are "less proficient" as he put it. Last summer there were some really slow rounds. So expect a price hike and more active management of the handicap limit.

American visitors etc has nothing to do with it. They actively look at their visitor capacity, and set a price to fill those times. Although they are leaning towards "fewer visitors, paying more" as its is similar revenue with less impact

Other places will have a range of priorities.

I'm sure Bryan will confirm that Kingsbarns charge top prices and sell the majority with ease. I paid it last year, and would do so again without hesitation.

That said. I've come away from some places feeling I've been fleeced!🤣🤣
 
I probably would, I think this is how all the open / ryder cup / Famous courses are going. Rather than charge £200 a tee time charge £350 and you need less footfall to earn the same amount (or more)
We all know that if numbers dwindle then they'll re-address the pricing structure
Take the ryder cup this year in new york standard ticket is $750 a day and if you tried to buy one on the US official website they dont have any but will do a $1350 per day ticket.

Its mad but you pay your money and take your choice
 
I don't think so. I certainly wouldn't suggest a trip to any of my mates. However, if one of them said they were organising a trip and did I want to go... maybe.
 
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