Wow I was reading and could not believe it so I looked online and it was like someone said 100 dollars for a non resident on weekends. That is still high for a public course, to me anyway. I play as a guest at a private country club and my fee is 65 dollars. T he economy has not made a difference for me but a number of the people I know are having difficulty. I am really enjoying golfing. If I had to give up something it would not be golf.

I have heard several people tell me that golf is too expensive a sport and a waste of money. But, I just don't agree with them. If you love what you are doing, then how can it be a waste of time and money. Golf is a very detailed oriented sport and takes lots of skill and patience. I believe that if you enjoy playing, then go for it. Give up a coke or a smoke instead.

My pastime used to be distance running. Buying a pair of new running shoes and paying $25 or so for a dozen races a year was pretty cheap compared to golf!

On the other hand, by the time I get home after a round, I am as renewed and refreshed from the pressure of my urban lifestyle as I'd be if I'd spent the weekend traipsing around in the alpine wilderness (something I truly love also). I am amazed at how renewing golf is for me. Besides being a wonderful challenge.

We have courses which are run by our county. So if you live in the county, you pay $30 for an anuual golf membership. That allows us to play for $26 on the weekend. It's almost double that if you live outside the county. So there is a benefit to our high real estate taxes.
Golf does not have to be expensive if you do some research. Many semi-private courses have rates that go down at certain times of the day, so you can save a few bucks if you play in the afternoon usually. And I've found that if you sign up for emails from golf courses, you'll get all kinds of promo's and coupons that can oftentimes cut $10 off the greens fee, or maybe free power cart for a round.

I know people that love tennis, and talk about how much cheaper it is. And I don't disagree, but you like what you like. So as Aimee says, you can play golf reasonably cheaply being smart, if you care to do that. Me, money's not the biggest factor for me. If I'm going to spend 4-6 hours that often plus practice time, which adds up to a lot of involvement hours over a year, I want to really enjoy it, so I cut back other places so I can afford to do what I want with golf. But if I were in a different economic situation, i might do differently.

Now that I'm 62, I get a senoir discount at my local city owned golf courses. I can play 18 holes now for as little as $18 for a pretty nice course, or $20 for a round on a course that used to be a private country club before the city purchased it a few years ago. Can't reommend getting old, but it does have one or two perks at least.

We have a course that just re-opened 2 weeks ago. Was a military course before the Air Force base closed down, then became a public course. Played my first 3 rounds of golf there, and paid $20 for 18 holes, with a cart. That was 6 years ago. Now the same course with the re-modeling job, is open, They claim they set to green fees so the course would be affordable to all golfers. Turns out their idea of affordable is now $50 not includeing a cart. That's supposed to be what they figure it costs to cover the overhead, and nothing more. Will be interesting to see how much busy they are in a few months with prices that are more than double what they were before the re-model.

These are some really great alternatives to paying a fortune. Now, if I hear anybody complaining how expensive it is to play; I will have some information to give back to them.

Aimee
I agree there are some great deals I have joined a club and have played with them twice. As with anything networking is the key to great deals. We played a course called gleneagles it is a public course and is beautiful and only 24 dollars for 18 holes. I also bought a book of 2 for 1's.

So like Amiee said I does not have to be expensive.

I still have not seen the article yet but did read someones post that it is real hard to get on the course if you are not a resident. People actually go the night before and sleep in the car to get on that course? I did look at the site for rates and it is a reasonalble price for such a nice course.

The economy and my three kids have all taken a toll on my golf game. I find that I can't get to the driving range as much anymore, so I don't play anywhere near as well as I did when I was younger and could go hit a bucket or teo a couple of times a week. My friends and I still get out, but we look for cheap deals.

I, for one, refuse to participate in this recession. I have altered my lifestyle very little. I just run my business with higher standards. I have been fortunate enough to retain my profit margin this way, allowing me the money and time to enjoy golf.

Welcome Jax. Glad you've been able to sustain the status quo. I have too, just cut back on some other things like electricity, gas for the car, those types of things that are second to golf!

Unfortunately, the economy has impacted my plans and just about everything else that my family is involved in, be it hobbies or just survival. I can't wait for things to improve so we can get back to normal.

Oh, we've cut back on some things, but it's more of the same things we cut back on when we had a child. On the other hand, I think that it's important to continue to do things we enjoy - maybe just a little less or at cheaper places.

Golf keeps us sane. For $27 a round, I'll figure out how to work it in to the budget.

I agree with you Aimee I don't make much money but I am not going to give up golf. I pay 110 a month and play as much as I want during the week on a muni course. Most of the time it is just enough time fro nine holes by the time I get off work but at 110 a month I can't think of anything I would enjoy more.
From looking around on the web there are a lot of courses that offer the same kind of deal. I enjoy weekday more anyway less people and more serious golfers.

$110 a month for unlimited golf-even if you can't get in 18 holes-is a good deal. You have to weigh out what you enjoy and what it's worth to you.
I play golf every weekend, sometimes more, that's $26-27 per round. So I'm spending over $100/month anyhow.

That's about what my clubs runs though it's all up front, $1200. If you want the range that's another $200, but I will gladly pay a net $100/month for unlimited golf.

My dad still pays for me to golf whenever I go with him usually, and he has a coupon book where basically on every course in the county (which is actually a lot...like 20, well some are just across the line, but still.) he gets 2 for the price of one. The book cost him like $100, but that's not a bad deal. Some guy came into his autoparts store and offered it to him.

Those coupon books can be great deals if you have a lot of courses nearby. They always pay for themselves if you play a couple of times.