STUDY: How Much Does a Round of Golf Cost?

Seems like the app is fairly lite on data/analytics. Standard deviation, variance. Even the basics like mean, median, mode would be helpful.

With my Wednesday group, we play in the San Francisco Bay Area. Course fees run $45-$75. What adds to the cost is just getting there. One or two bridge tolls= $7 to $14.. Gas at $4.45 for round trips between 40-100 miles And a $20 skins fee. . With my once a month group, we are starting in March with Silverado South for $140 with lunch.

Great topic and discussion thread. Moving from Manhattan to Fort Wayne, IN, I thought I had found the value capital of golf. Walking round are generally around $20-35. The other cost consideration is play access hassle. In Fort Wayne I can just show up to play or book on the given day. This allows for getting in more golf around your daily work schedule – no need to plan and book seven days ahead.

There is another path. Volunteering to work as a ranger or cart barn attendant will get you golf & cart at extremely low rates. Three examples near here: $10.00 a round, $6.00 a round and free. In the latter case some restrictions as to time of play, but none on the number of times you play. In return a few hours a week of generally pleasant labor at the golf course in question. It’s a win-win. This in FL

I think that what people are forgetting is time of year. Fir instance I go to Florida every summer to golf. And the reason are the very cheap rates from 11 AM on because of the heat, and summer golf in Florida is not their prime season. And as cheap as the summer rates are, GolfNow rates make them even cheaper. I play the Tampa, Brooksville, Sarasota, Orlando and Ocala areas. For instance, I have played both World Woods courses for only $10 including cart. I have played some of the best courses for under $20. The main reason for the cheapness of Florida courses in the summer time is the high heat an humidity most of the time. And the locals play the courses in the morning to avoid the heat, making for a lot of open uncrowded cheap play from 11 am on. Even on the weekends.

I live in the Syracuse, NY area. And compared to the Tampa area, we only have a handful of courses that use GolfNow. And of course our season lasts only from around April through October and sometimes November. I hate winter! Of the handful of courses in our area, there are only 4 that use GolfNow. And the cheapest rates are usually under $20. I play every day, and can’t afford playing expensive courses or pay expensive memberships. The last time I had a seasonal membership was 2015 which cost $750 including a cart. And now most memberships in my area are around $1,000 not including a cart. So I figured I was wasting membership money, considering I spend my time playing in Florida from June until September.

And not to forget S. Carolina where I have played golf in the Florence/Santee/Myrtle area, either during the Christmas vacation or the winter break in February. During those periods I have paid less than $30 for golf and a motel room. Not the warmest time of year, but still warmer than central NY. I can’t remember ever paying more than $30 for a round of golf including cart.

I live in Penang, Malaysia,but live in the high desert where prices are a little more reasonable. I also look for deals and usually pay about $20 to $25 a round. Although those deals usually have me playing in the afternoon hours, which I don’t mind.

I play all over the west. Covid has created many new golfers and more demand and higher prices.. But also more money for courses to buy new carts and improve course conditions. Let’s hope they save some since most new golfers quit within 3 years.

Well , I live in northern Illinois and I pay between 25 – 40 to play and thats in the afternoon . This past year , the green fees exploded in my area due to the
amount of new players that started playing since covid . Morning rates have been high in my area , too high , not to mention alot of the so called premium courses have terrible greens that just about kill your chances for a sub par round . They over water the courses , soft and slow greens , Nothing worse than paying 75 dollars and the greens are trash

As others have mentioned, this data needs to be refined. Lowest rates posted doesn’t provide much value. We all know that twilight on weeknights are the best prices. Unfortunately for many those rates are meaningless due to work.

An interesting measure I’d love to see would be the average cost of 18 on Saturday morning across the board. That would provide a more apples to apples comparison. Additionally, I’d want to segment the data into quartiles. What’s the cost of a median round, the 25th percentile, the 75th percentile. That would be interesting.

For example, I grew up in Denver but have lived in Orange County, CA for the last 10 years. While I love being able to play year round, the “value” of a round between CA ($64) and CO ($54) is far greater than that $10 delta implies. In both places you can probably play a muni or muni like track for $40-60. The big difference I’ve experienced is that there are almost no mid-priced courses in Orange County. Denver has a bunch of solid options in the $60-100 range. Similar layouts in CA immediately jump to $140-$180 for what I would consider sub-resort / sub-country club like courses. For those familiar, courses like Oak Creek, Strawberry Farms, or Tijeras Creek are decent tracks but run $150-200 on the weekends. Drop those same tracks in Metro Denver and you’re paying $80-100 tops.

That is what is missing by using a macro average. I can find reasonably cheap golf in SoCal but if I want to up the quality a little bit it gets pretty punitive. I don’t mind mostly sticking to those $40-60 courses, especially the few that are maintained relative to the traffic they get. But it would be nice to grab a nicer round every now and than to break up the monotony without having to 3x or 4x the cost.

The NY numbers are going to be very different if you play in or close to NYC. Five years ago when I lived in Orange County, NY (about 1.5 hours from the city), unless I played a County course, the average was probably $60-70. for other public courses. Going over $100 wasn’t hard to find. Now living near Cleveland, my average is probably $45-50 with courses as good or better than what I found in NY/NJ.

The pricing of golf in Hawaii is peculiar and different from what you find on the mainland (with the possible exception of some very localized resort areas).

Basically, just about every course in Hawaii offers at least two sets of rates: one for visitors, and a discounted rate for Hawaii residents (which they often don’t post online). (Resort courses will usually offer additional rates in between for hotel or condo guests.) The discount for residents varies from course to course, but will often be 50% or more off the top visitor rate. There’s a course nearby my home on the Big Island whose rack rate for visitors is $195, but residents pay $65-70. A heavily-played municipal course near Waikiki charges $86 for visitors but $21-$30 for residents. Except for the big name courses (Kapalua and Mauna Kea), residents aren’t likely to pay more than $100 a round.

So saying $111 is an “average” for Hawaii is meaningless. If you live in Hawaii, your average rate will be much lower, well under $100. (But still expensive compared to much of the mainland.) If you’re visiting, your average rate will likely be significantly higher since you’re not likely to be just playing municipal courses)

Yes $50 is too much for a dozen golf balls: Kirkland et.al. show that high quality golf balls can be reasonable price. Yes, the ball test lab identifies differences, BUT I play in the low 80’s with any golf ball suggesting no benefit from higher price balls.
$50 per round of 18 with cart is my top price. I live in northeastern OK and can play nice public courses around Tulsa for 18-25 per round with cart. I also play in southern KS at lower cost.

Utah was very reasonable- lots of public golf to pick from one of the best.

South Jersey here, I have got to say that with the smaller geographic size of the states in the Mid Atlantic that I am able to sample many different resort & public golf course options from Virginia to New York and still return to home in the evening. I generally pay about $35-50 per round including the cart. Sometimes more for high end course and sometimes less for practice round at a local goat tract, New Jersey has some fine public course offerings however they have seriously ramped up even their off peak rates due to popularity of golf during covid. Course conditions haven’t improved , just the price increase. Traveling to DE or Central PA gets you alot better bang for your buck for course layout and conditioning at a much lower greens fee. Economics 101, more rural areas have to compete for enough golfers to pay the bills , property taxes, water , land cost & labor is much less. I either have to move or suck it up and pay in NJ!

Charge what the market will bear. Seattle expensive though available for most of year. Spokane, limited season, but great courses and great prices.

Interesting article, here in florida where there is no winter our rates vary wildly. I can easily pay $35 to play a course here in the summer and that same course in the “winter” will go up to $125 for an AM weekend time.

I live in Illinois and I walk so I pay $20 for 18- holes. At the course I play, though there is a course where Pujols (use to live) , Molina, and 2 other professional athletes. Played it 2 times and it is $80 to walk $100 with cart.

A better comparison would be weekend morning rates since that’s when most rounds are played. Also, median rather than average is a better measure because the average can be inflated by a few ultra-expensive courses.

I’m from SoCal. in my view golf courses should charge based on the condition of their golf course. There are several courses here that over charges for a dump. and they will keep doing it since golfers are willing to pay.

Never mind I expanded the map and can see it now

We have no price for Va.

I live in Southern California, but live in the high desert where prices are a little more reasonable. I also look for deals and usually pay about $20 to $25 a round. Although those deals usually have me playing in the afternoon hours, which I don’t mind.

What has happened to the unlimited monthly golf memberships Green fees and carts included.. It’s a lot easier to budget for this. Where I live you can be a member with Green fees and discounted cart fees but that means the more you play the higher the monthly cost.

I think the cost of golf in my current home state of AZ is due to 2 factors–the cost and need for water, currently a commodity of increasing expense, and secondly, quality. Conditioning of the average course in AZ easily exceeds that of similar tracks elsewhere and many of the courses are high end resorts !

Water plays a part in this as well as supply/demand, population, cost of living, and seasons. Water sources are getting tighter and more scarce in western states. California, Nevada, Arizona, New Mexico, and Colorado are all in intense drought.and rely on the Colorado river and underwater aquifers, all of which which are at 100 year lows and getting worse. I love the game but it is very difficult to justify watering golf courses at millions of gallons per. Courses in the Midwest and East Coast where there are higher levels of precipitation don’t have as much of that cost to shoulder.

We live in the Niagara region of southern Ontario. There are good nine hole courses with inexpensive memberships and low green fees and there are courses rated among Canada’s top fifty with green fees at or above $100.
Between these two extremes, there are many courses in the mid range along with seniors’ rates and ten paks at a discount.
Between Toronto and Niagara Falls, a ninety minute drive, there are minimum sixty public courses, many of which are great value especially considering the current exchange rate. Once the pandemic has ended, I highly recommend a golf vacation in the Niagara region.

Considering I’ve been walking courses a lot more (a combination of COVID and being in better shape) greens fees are anywhere from $10-20 cheaper than with a cart. Winter fees for walking can range from $12-$18. There is a actually a metro parks public course that is FREE to play from Jan 1 thru the end of Feb! No riding carts available. It is actual a pretty nice course, used to be a country club and is still well maintained. Welcome to central Ohio where the winter weather is more like what Tennessee was 25 years ago.

I live in New Jersey near the shore, in Monmouth County. The county park system has a string of 8 courses: five full-length 18-holers, two executive courses (one outstanding, one easy), and a 9-hole par-3. The 18-hole courses range from very good for municipal to truly outstanding. Four of them I’d be willing to play any time with anybody — no embarrassment that it’s a muni course. At those course, I pay in the low 30s, depending on which course. But that reflects: (a) I walk, (b) I live in the county (higher rates for out-of-county), and (c) I’m a senior.

It would be more interesting if this was separated by public vs. resort courses.
Here in the Denver metro area prices for walking are pretty reasonable. But if you hit the resort courses or the mountain courses they are, IMO, ridiculously priced. And there are no discounts for locals. I’m sure those courses, drive that average price way up.

One should evaluate the cost of walking a round of golf vice the cost for health without the exercise. Cheapest health care available

My experience: Summer golf in Tampa area of Florida averages $30-$35, then Jan thru April climbs to closer to $40-$50.

Here in Central Massachusetts: (Worcester county), public/daily-fee pricing (w/cart) typically in the $45-65 range weekdays. Some of those facilities have ‘membership’ packages with a lower per round cost — eg. $129 membership, then a walk/ride fee of $28/weekday ($34/Friday-Saturday-Sunday). Just left a club that raised the ‘unlimited, anytime play’ cost to $3400/individual — Personally, retired & playing 80-rounds annually, I search for those clubs that have a more attractive ‘green/cart’ fee arrangement in the $20-25 range.

I live near a resort course in Phoenix and the price more than triples from summer when my group plays it to peak tourist season. My casual group plays public courses we can walk which now cost about 40 dollars per round but lower 30’s in summer.

Yeah, I’m not sure cost of living would be a reasonable thing to correlate to cost of golf. Usually, supply and demand rules.

Would be more interesting to see # of public courses per capita – this should correlate more closely to the cost of rounds.. For instance California has over 4 times the population of michigan or ohio. But CA doesn’t even have twice as many golf courses.

Most interesting is how many state’s with year round warm weather tend to be more expensive (NV, CA, AZ) then the states with only partial year warm weather. Obviously, demand from tourists probably drives up the demand in the warm weather states. to some extent. But those warm weather states also have booming populations and lots of retirees with high demand for golf. Very interesting. Great article.

I play mostly in Westchester County New York. We have 6 County public courses that while often busy are in very good condition. NY has many great public courses including Bethpage and Montauk Downs. Of course, we also have very expensive private clubs like Winged Foot and Westchester Country Club..
I play almost exclusively on the public courses. As a senior resident and walking the posted weekday price is $26 at the county courses. With additional discounts, I usually pay $22. You can’t beat that price anywhere. By the way, if I start a round near 9:00 I finish in just over 4 hours and with the tee times well managed I almost never feel pushed or have to wait at the next tee.

A better gauge would be a comparison between muni’s in different states, open to public in different states, and keep private courses’ guest fees off the list as the average player does not have access. to those courses.

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I play in Ohio, and there is a big difference in Cleveland and Canton rates. However I live near Akron and pay $250 for a years membership, unlimited no carts necessary. If you do you homework there are places to play on a budget.

Also, you might want to look at private club per round costs. I am trying to keep mine to under $50/round.

I have lived and played golf in Nebraska, Kansas, Wyoming, and Colorado. Colorado definitely is expensive compared to the other three. Wyoming has some less expensive, but great golf.. Cottonwood In Torrington was only $300 for a yearly membership without daily green fees just ten years ago. Mariah Hills in Dodge City KS was only $350 per year with $2 daily fees not long ago, and it has hosted the national JUCO Championships. Nebraska and Kansas still have a some 9 hole sand-greens courses with buffalo grass fairways (barely need maintenance or water) that usually have a metal lock box and honor system for the $1 to $2 fee. That is how you bring people into the game…make it affordable.

Why limit it to “lowest posted” rates? The better measure would be all posted rates. $45 for Illinois seems about right for weekday, but it’s about $15-$20 more on weekends.

Obviously allot of factors come in to play here. States with many resorts like South Carolina and Nevada are going to charge more on average than states without.

Areas with allot of courses and competition, like Pinehurst , NC where I live usually have cheaper rates.

I also wonder how having a year round golfing season fares against northern states who have to make their all money in a shorter season.

I believe that the higher cost states also are the states with the most visitor rounds of golf being played at resorts. Delete the resort’s green fees and then show the results.

Boy, so much more to this, Chris. I know there are courses in the upper Midwest (Michigan) that are super reasonable all Summer long. ($45 or less w/ cart) There are also courses for instance in SW FL that charge $55 on September 1st and $255 on January 1st. (Maybe the 3rd, but you get the idea.) Supply and demand can so grossly affect the greens fee number as to make this study kind of useless until it’s filtered a lot more than what’s shown.

Very interesting stats. When we moved from Texas to Ohio I couldn’t believe just how inexpensive golf up here was. Plus there are more courses within 60 miles of my home that makes my handicap feel real as we don’t play the same course week in and week out.

Kansas has some very good public and private golf courses. Go Jayhawks!

Walk. Carry your bag. Play fast and by the rules of golf. Don’t complain. Repeat. Never pay more than $40 to walk.

i have an interesting perspective on this because i grew up in Oregon, currently reside in Texas, and spent my holiday this year playing golf in Phoenix. As i was booking rounds on Golfnow as i typically do in a new city the difference in cost per round was EXTREMELY noticeable. In defense to PHX i played nicer courses but as i was playing i couldn’t help but to think the course i was playing for $118 there would have cost probably $75-$90 here in Dallas.

As someone who has lived their entire life in KS, I can honestly say we have some really good golf at the best prices. Sure there aren’t any famous public access courses like Pebble, but you can find a lot of really good golf courses, with great greens and turf conditions all over the state. Its not uncommon I was able to sneak in a round all 12 months of the year as well. Although from mid Dec. to late Feb. you have to be flexible and a bit lucky year to year.

Just a head’s up….the graphic used for South Carolina is actually North Carolina.

SC sure is looking a lot like NC these days…

Around &40 to &50 at most courses. Splurge at &75 to &80.

The silhouette above in the graph for South Carolina is actually North Carolina’s.

SC sure does look a lot like NC these days, interesting!