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Golf is EXPENSIVE!

Johneli

Johneli

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$1600 for new clubs. $85 for a couple dozen balls. $40 dollars to play in the mornings in Florida. $10 a bucket range balls. Shoes, tees, shirts, pants, gloves, lessons. And if you're an equpment fanatic....forget it!!

I actually have a couple of questions here. First, do you think at all about how expensive the game is? AND does your significant other (or any other family member) EVER say anything about the costs incurred playing 3-4 times a week ($640 per month)
or hitting range balls until your wallet breaks?
 
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I'm not too much of an equipment ho so most of my clubs are "one-time costs" where I'm not replacing them for awhile. The other stuff is just the cost of having fun. I also ski and dive so my wallet never gets a break at any point during the year. :beat-up:
 
It is a very expensive sport. I have mentioned before that the day I was born my father (who was an outstanding golfer at the time) quit the sport to devote more time and money to his young family. He got rid of his membership to Blue Hills Country Club in MA and moved to FL. The temptation to play was all over the place for him, but he never did. He took the game up again after I was in college and his first time out shot 82, so the game did not pass him by I guess.
 
JB said:
It is a very expensive sport. I have mentioned before that the day I was born my father (who was an outstanding golfer at the time) quit the sport to devote more time and money to his young family. He got rid of his membership to Blue Hills Country Club in MA and moved to FL. The temptation to play was all over the place for him, but he never did. He took the game up again after I was in college and his first time out shot 82, so the game did not pass him by I guess.
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I bet that took some serious discipline. Good for him. Family first.
 
Actually I do think about it. Just about everything I have bought for golf I have had to shop around for deals to buy. I also try to pick the least expensive time of day to play to save that $20-$30. Many times golf gets put on the back burner for a few weeks when need be. I do love the game but there are many other much more important things in life than golf.

Part 2 of your question does not apply to me....
 
I have convinced my self that higher some piece of golf equipment cost, the more I don't need it. Quality, and a high price tag sometimes do not collide well with each other in the golf business. Expensive equipment has very little bearing on how well a player scores. I bought a new set of clubs this year. Add that price to 120+/- green fees of various amounts, balls, golf road trips (gas, food, & lodging) , and other incidentals, I will probably spend around $6-7K for the year. The golfing road trips are the major expense. My wife has no problem with my golfing expenditures. She likes the road trips too:clapp:
 
I try not to think about it. I have been tempted to look at the AMEX summary for last year but I cant. Im sure it will change once I have kids.
 
thanks1974 said:
I'm not too much of an equipment ho so most of my clubs are "one-time costs" where I'm not replacing them for awhile. :beat-up:
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I too am not an equipment ho - because I could not afford to be one! I'm happy I can afford to pay my weekly greens fee :blob: - I work with guys who can no longer afford to play the game and they are miserable.....:banghead:

Oh Yeah - when my family inquires what I would like for xmas or my birthday - that's easy - gift certificates to my home course and/or gift cards to local golf shops. Those will cover greens fees, balls, shoes, cloths, bla, bla, bla....
 
My golf fixation isn't too expensive. I play old clubs I buy off eBay and only play 9 holes of golf at a time at cheap local courses (usually ~$20). Even then, my wife complains I spend too much time and money on golf.
 
If it weren't for golf, I'd be buying a new rifle/shotgun every month, or a new hot rod.

I pay for it all with side work, so it doesn't cut into the family budget.

Green fees are what's eating me alive nowadays, it's $40 to play a mediocre course. Up until a few weeks ago, I was playing 2 times a week, I probably won't really play again until some time in September, things are busy at work, I'll be at the office 7 days a week until then.
 
Its only as expensive as you want it to be,you dont need a bag full of the latest big name clubs,you dont need to play the latest multi piece ball,and you dont have to be a member of a club.

The game can be enjoyed at any level without breaking the bank.
 
JB said:
That is blasphemy...hehe
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Yeah, I was thinkiing exactly that when I read it! To me it's all about golf.....others in the family may have different ideas. Let's hear em! :D
 
PRO V1 KENOBE said:
Its only as expensive as you want it to be,you dont need a bag full of the latest big name clubs,you dont need to play the latest multi piece ball,and you dont have to be a member of a club.

The game can be enjoyed at any level without breaking the bank.
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Exactly right! Now....back to eBay I go! :act-up:
 
I haven't bought a new club in over a year. I did buy a driver and 3 wood last year but nothing else. So I don't spend money on clubs that often. I pay $225 a month to play unlimted golf with carts and unlimited range balls. I don't think it is all that expensive if you don't have to have the best and/or latest greatest of everything.

The money part of it really isn't a big deal but then she doesn't really know what I spend on golf anyway. THe time is harder to play is harder to come by.
 
I know some folks who wait to buy their "annual new driver" when it is one, or two models older than really new stuff. They rationalize it as "just how good can the newer stuff be?" Their new club, a year, or so ago, was touted as the best on the market at the time, but now has price tag $200 less because it is now a "has been" piece of equipment.

I actually believe that high price of golf items is one of the few hold overs from when the wealthy were the only ones playing the game.
 
It isnt too bad for me...now my bag is (pretty much) sorted, i cant see myself buyng any new clubs for a while...certainly not more than £100 in the next year on clubs.

As for playing...i managed to get a student membership till next july at a course 2 mins down the road that is better than the others nearby. Best part....£270 from March 2009 till july 2010. Thats covers golf at any time any day of the week. Range balls are fairly reasonable....but when playing is free and the course is quiet on an evening, i can just drop 10 and shoot in from whatever yardage i want...more "real world" than a range too!

if i had to pay for every round, i would not be able to afford it. Simple as. ... at the moment"
 
Johneli said:
$1600 for new clubs. $85 for a couple dozen balls. $40 dollars to play in the mornings in Florida. $10 a bucket range balls. Shoes, tees, shirts, pants, gloves, lessons. And if you're an equpment fanatic....forget it!!

I actually have a couple of questions here. First, do you think at all about how expensive the game is? AND does your significant other (or any other family member) EVER say anything about the costs incurred playing 3-4 times a week ($640 per month)
or hitting range balls until your wallet breaks?
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Yup, I think about it everytime I have to pay my credit card bill.

And nope, not since I got her hooked too ;-)
 
My wife has never said anything about my passion for the game. In fact, she encourages it which is just fine by me. I have probably bought six sets of clubs over the past two years along with a ton of other stuff. Like I said, she has never flinched and I never look at her credit card bill :act-up:

This is just my thing and she has hers....which by the way is interior decorating and shoes....oh my goodness the shoes. :confused2:
 
Greens fees at the better golf courses have certainly gotten WAY OUT OF HAND, but there are still good courses around me that I can play for ~$40 with a cart. My local 9 hole course (six par 4's, three par 3's) is "walkable" and a bargain @ $15/day weekday, and $18/day weekend - all you can play.

Equipment is as expensive as you want to make it. Bargains abound on ebay, with name-brand equipment a year or two old. You don't have to pay $300+ for an heirloom putter with a designer name on it! Good golf balls can be found on sale, and there's always Father's Day, Mother's Day, Christmas, birthdays, etc...

I don't think it costs much more (maybe less) than taking someone to a ball game nowadays.
 
I think golf is only as expensive as you want to make it. But in Scotland especially it is seen as a sport of the people. Nobody in Scotland is more than 5 miles from a course and no more than 50 miles from a world class course. We have clubs for all types of people, my club was founded by railway workers and coal miners and continues a strong ethos as being for everyone not just the rich.

On the equipment side I have been lucky and got my current clubs for free but before then I was using a really cheap set that I gradually upgraded with a mixture of new and second hand clubs (I get first pick on the pre owned ones when they come in). I used Top Flite balls at 4 pounds for 15, a power trolley that I made out of 3 broken ones.

Players don't need new equipment all the time it wont radically change your game, learn to play with what you have.
 
I only spend maybe $70 a mo on golf right now. The local muni is only $21 w/cart. I never buy balls, I get maybe 6 to 8 doz at Christmas each yr.
 
It's our family sport in the warm weather. Winter is skiing/snowboarding. So I guess we're reasonably high maintenance here. But the kids can play their entire lives, and it's better than having them sit in front of screens all day.
 
Keith said:
My wife has never said anything about my passion for the game. In fact, she encourages it which is just fine by me. I have probably bought six sets of clubs over the past two years along with a ton of other stuff. Like I said, she has never flinched and I never look at her credit card bill :act-up:

This is just my thing and she has hers....which by the way is interior decorating and shoes....oh my goodness the shoes. :confused2:
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What is it with girls and shoes!!?? I remember my sister telling me when I first started dating that women care about shoes and THAT THEY LOOK AT THE SHOES MEN ARE WEARING TOO. That was the end of my worn out desert boots and I actually started paying (a little) attention to what went over my socks.
 
Johneli said:
$1600 for new clubs. $85 for a couple dozen balls. $40 dollars to play in the mornings in Florida. $10 a bucket range balls. Shoes, tees, shirts, pants, gloves, lessons. And if you're an equpment fanatic....forget it!!

I actually have a couple of questions here. First, do you think at all about how expensive the game is? AND does your significant other (or any other family member) EVER say anything about the costs incurred playing 3-4 times a week ($640 per month)
or hitting range balls until your wallet breaks?
Click to expand...
I don't see the problem with buying used clubs.Cost is significantly lower. I'm a Walmart kinda guy so golf style isn't an issue I don't need a brand logo.army issue web belt and buckle about $5 an example.Buy shoes when they're closeouts for a significant discount. Play course I can get a discount. A goal of not paying over $40 for greensfees preferrably under $35. You can play golf on a budget if you just play to play the game not so much for the aesthetics.That's just works for me and whatever works for you isn't wrong in my opinion. People should have their own opinion about it we aren't sheep..But you can play golf on a budget.
 
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