After a record number of 531 million rounds of golf played in the United States in 2023, the arrow is still trending up for the business side of the game. While it may have been ignited by the pandemic, there’s no question that the resurgence is still in overdrive. Country Clubs have gone from closing their doors to charging full initiation fees and building up waiting lists longer than those old Steeler season ticket lists. On the surface, that seems pretty perfect in terms of the health of the sport. However, some players are feeling like they’re on the wrong end of supply and demand.
Affordability and availability have become quite the issue for the weekend warriors and good luck if you find yourself getting out of work early on a gorgeous day. You have just enough time to squeeze in 18 at your local public track. You try to book a tee time on line and there’s nothing available. You show up as a single and they just can’t find a spot for you.
The frustration is real and the fixes are far and few between. If you have the means, in my opinion, nothing beats a membership at a country club. If you can find the club with a course you would actually enjoy playing two or three days a week, do it. Keep in mind, you’re not alone in trying to find the right spot for you and your family and you may run into a pretty steep initiation fee with a healthy waiting list. If you do find that right club at the right price, problem solved. Before my club closed, I could not have been happier. I loved the course; my family loved the pool and the events and the members became like family.
We are blessed to have the 9th highest number of courses by state in the United States. Now that’s the entire commonwealth but here in Western, Pennsylvania we have a tremendous selection of public and private courses. That’s the good news. The bad news is that whole supply and demand concept. Golf has exploded and after struggling to make a living prior to the Pandemic, owners can finally get back in the black as we dream about putting up some red numbers.
That also means that if you’re not able or interested in the private options out there, you’re looking at a sticker shock at the better public courses when you ask for 18 and a cart. Then after shelling out a small fortune, you’re dealing with a 5 to 6-hour round. I know that’s painting with a very broad brush and there are some great courses that are reasonably priced and attempt to keep the pace of play slightly ahead of a slow crawl but those aren’t easy to find or get on. Many of the circumstances I’ve presented are beyond your control and I keep my limited sanity by never worrying about the things that I can’t control. So, much like our beloved tunnels make rush hour much worse than it needs to be, slow players are killing this great game. I realize that I never write or talk about golf without mentioning how all of you that play need to pick up the pace.
If you would simply become more efficient and understand the concept of READY GOLF, you would be amazed at how much time you would save. Always be prepared for your next shot. Take a couple of clubs with you if your partner is way right while you’re way left. This has nothing to do with politics. Make sure your next shot is the priority. Not your damn phone, your cigar or the cart girl. If your tee ball has less than 2 % chance of being recovered, hit a provisional or if it’s in a lateral hazard, drop and keep it moving. Unless you actually are a great putter with a keen ability to read greens, take a good long look and stroke it. Be efficient with cart placement meaning when you’re done with the hole, make sure your cart is in a good spot to get you to the next tee. When you turn all of these common-sense rituals into habits, you will have become a great person to play golf with. I’m a decent player and when I play with beginners or players that struggle with their games, I tell them all I care about is making sure we’re not holding anyone up. The score, the ball striking, the overall level of skill doesn’t matter. Keep things moving. Sorry but that’s my way of giving back to the game.
We’ve touched on the affordability as well as the availability but if you’re like me and literally on the back 9, you may have put together a bucket list of courses you need to play. I definitely have plenty of shirts and golf balls are never an issue so that means the challenge is the time and the money.
My good friend and sportscasting legend Bob Pompeani recently knocked off a huge bucket list item. Golf Digest’s number one public course, Pebble Beach. There’s no need for explanation other than the fact that he said Spyglass Hill and the Links at Spanish Bay, while less heralded are extremely amazing in their own right. When I asked Pomp about the experience, he simply said, you have to go play there. It’s pricey but worth every cent.
While I was doing my research for this particular article I found the prices for the Golf Digest Top Ten Public Golf courses. They range from $1000 for a round at# 5 Shadow Creek north of Las Vegas to $150 dollars for the site of the upcoming Ryder Cup,# 7 Beth page Black in Farmingdale, NY. Good luck getting a tee time but at least the price is right. Your only top 100 in Pa. right now is# 80 Mystic Rock in Farmington, Pa. The $299 price tag is a little misleading because their policy now requires that you are staying at Nemacolin in order to play. I have been lucky enough to have played #3 Kiawah Island in South Carolina, #6 Pinehurst Number 2 in North Carolina and #9 TPC Sawgrass in Florida. I didn’t get numbers for the Top 100 for the private courses but if you’ve already knocked off Oakmont, Merion, Aronimink, Mystic Rock and Laurel Valley, you’re doing OK in PA.
The rough estimate for operating courses in the US right now is more than 16,000. Last year we collectively lost 1.5 billion golf balls and played an average of 25 rounds. Sometimes it’s good to save the best for last. The famous Karolinska Institute in Sweden found that playing golf adds 5 years to your life expectancy. Right now, far more people are taking up the game than quitting. For those that have quit cited that the number one reason is slow play and number two is cost.
That’s why I felt it was a good idea to talk about affordability and availability. I also believe I need to remind you that when you’re playing slow and holding other players up, you are literally killing them by taking years of their lives.
