Thumperfive

I'm not sure if private courses are really all that better than the public courses in my area... they seem to be just as tough and it's nice to see new players getting into the game without having to buy memberships and all that.

not that private courses don't have their bonuses... but are they all that?

fitz-uk

I suppose it depends on the local area.

The only real public course near me is a bit of a tip. People can just turn up and play wearing jeans or normal t-shirts, add a total lack of etiquette and you have one long horrid round ahead of you. The course itself is quite good, but after constant abuse by players with no idea (not replacing divots, repairing pitch marks etc) its a pointless waste of a green fee.

Having said that, if you can find a good public course then they can be good value for money.

What is the average price for greenfees where you are?

Public course greenfee (weekend) £25 - £30

Private membership (for me this year) £850 pa, so £70 pcm and at the moment I play 3 times per week (no more greenfees once I am a member) so my average round cost is something like £6!

I must get on the course more!

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acricketer

As fitz-uk says, it depends on the area in the UK. My club in West London is great - you can walk on any time, even on weekends. This is a big advantage and on the whole private courses are better kept than public courses.

Speed of play is faster and the course doesn't get the same amount of wear and tear as public courses.

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sroh

Out here in CA, pace of play is a big issue, with 5 hour rounds common at public courses (unfortunately, I can only play on weekends).

As for cost, there is a good No. CA Golf Assoc home course that charges $55. Otherwise, good public courses here cost $100+.

But private courses charge $100K+ plus $350 monthly fees. There is no way I can justify that.

green lea

here our public course, that im a member of, is much nicer than the private course. we do get some slow golfers or some bad etiquette golfers but they usually get yelled at by the old ladies and they shape up.

lllscssf

I have played at many private courses, includint ones in the heart of san francisco., they rae much nicer and tougher to play. I raelly enjot playing the public courses due to the amount of new players and and the atmosphere is much more welcoming

Thumperfive

those prices seem outrageous, tho... do you really get that much more bang for your buck?

sroh

You got that right. Outrageous. To me, it's not close to being worth it.

But there are a lot of people here with ungodly amounts of money. For them, private club membership costs are like you and me paying fees to join a gym.

This is the one negative of living in CA.

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ma_wilson

Private clubs are not worth the amount of 'green' you have to pay per year to play them. I am just as happy playing my local city courses and being able to still eat when I am done. If I had all the money to do it, I am not sure that I would even then. Maybe i am p-laying the wrong private course, but the ones that I have had the chance to play were not any better than the public.

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arcelt

It's a matter of how much you are willing to pay. I don't have the $$$ to spend on private fees, though I have gone as a guest a couple of times to private courses and they were less crowded, better maintained, and just more fun to play than public courses. I'm a pretty casual every-other-weekend sort of golfer; if I were more dedicated, I would look for some way to come up with the fees to play at the private clubs.