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Another golf question

dmclone

dmclone

Well-Known Member
Oct 20, 2006
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Well I have my clubs ordered and was looking at some public courses and came across a few country clubs. I have no intention on ever joining a country club but can someone explain why you would want to join one of these clubs? I was talking to a friend that is a member and here are the estimates he gave me.

2,500 one-time join fee
2,000 yearly member dues
something like $30 a month that you have to spend in food/drinks

So let's say that you have 8 months out of the year that you can play. Not including the one time fee that's $250 month. So if a round of golf costs $50 you would have to golf at least 5 times a month just to break even.

Am I missing something?
 
People also pay for the social aspect.

You have to play a lot to 'pay' for your membership golfing wise. Plus you are kinda stuck playing at the same course.
 
Networking, keeping up with the joneses. If I could afford it DMGCC would be nice, I love both courses there. For now, I just have to suck up to get a round in every once in awhile.
 
Ha...$2500? Try Glen Oaks or Des Moines Golf, their initiation fees are $25,000, $400/month dues and a minimum food/bev.
 
Depending on how much you golf, it CAN be a good deal at some of the smaller courses.

I'm a member at Indianola Country Club, and it's much more reasonable.

500 dollar initiation (but they run specials all the time), and around 130/month for a family. No food minimum. You can bring your own cart, or rent a space in the cart shed for 250/year. Or you can rent a seat on a club cart for a few hundred bucks a year (I don't remember how much for sure).

Comes out to less than a pass to the munis in DSM, if you factor in weekends and cart fees.

Plus, have fun getting out at Blank or Waveland on a nice weekend day in the summer. I can almost always just walk onto the course and get 9 or 18 in in 1.5 and 3 hours respectively, even when it's very busy.

There's a much different mentality at a country club, IMO. The members have a vested interest in not trashing the course, and not being rude to one another.
 
I joined elmcrest in CR last year and for me it was a great decision. In CR after work playing golf is nearly impossible because of leagues, plus it takes 3 hours to play 9 holes. I can walk on at the club any night of the week and walk 9 holes in 60-90 min. I play 3-4 times a week, so having the ability to play without crowds on a beautiful course is money well spent. Also we can play the Dubuque CC, Sunnyside (Waterloo) and one of the Davenport CC's for free too - so we can get some variety if needed.

They also do a great job of getting you involved with tourneys throughout the year and you meet a lot of great people in your community.

I will also note we don't have any kids and they gave us a great deal on monthly rates in the jr. Program for the next ten years. It is not for everyone.
 
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dmclone said:
Well I have my clubs ordered and was looking at some public courses and came across a few country clubs. I have no intention on ever joining a country club but can someone explain why you would want to join one of these clubs? I was talking to a friend that is a member and here are the estimates he gave me.

2,500 one-time join fee
2,000 yearly member dues
something like $30 a month that you have to spend in food/drinks

So let's say that you have 8 months out of the year that you can play. Not including the one time fee that's $250 month. So if a round of golf costs $50 you would have to golf at least 5 times a month just to break even.

Am I missing something?
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Wow, where are you looking? I live near Medinah CC here in Illinois. $50,000 entry fee, $1500/month food/drink, plus 5 or 10-Gs a year. When they had the PGA championship here a few years ago, they sent out a $10,000/member fee for course improvements, payable now.

Not that I'm snoody or anything, but for that price, I'd jump at the chance to call myself a country club member, lol.

I am with you though on the cost. I'd much rather spread my money around and play other courses.
 
Clonefan94 said:
Wow, where are you looking? I live near Medinah CC here in Illinois. $50,000 entry fee, $1500/month food/drink, plus 5 or 10-Gs a year. When they had the PGA championship here a few years ago, they sent out a $10,000/member fee for course improvements, payable now.

Not that I'm snoody or anything, but for that price, I'd jump at the chance to call myself a country club member, lol.

I am with you though on the cost. I'd much rather spread my money around and play other courses.
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I didn't realize this was a pissing match.....I'm sure there are a few expensive ones around here. I believe the one my friend was talking about was a cheap one in urbandale.

Even the cheap ones seem expensive to me.
 
acrozier22 said:
It's really about finding the place where your buddies play.
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This.

If it's a country club, great. If it's a 9 hole muni, fine.

Some people on here think they're a lot more important than they really are. Whenever golf comes up a few people on here act like they know everything and that nobody else should even have an opinion. D-bag golf guy.
 
Belonging to a golf club is awesome, but still hard to justify the price. I have 2 kids who are getting close to the age where they will start golfing more so I can make the math work easier since there will be 3 of us using the family membership versus paying 3 greens fees everytime I want to go golfing. A country club also offers a pool and work out facilities which help justify the costs. As far as the $50/month food fee requirement, it's easy to justify that, just eat at the Country Club once a month instead of taking the family to Applebee's, the food is better anyway. Plus, those beers and snacks add up fast over a month's time so the food fee is really not a factor. What is a factor that hasn't been mentioned yet is member assessments if they decided to rebuild the bunkers or something......but if they charge too many of those then members will be leaving.

No offense to you hackers out there, but I can't stand to play alot of public courses. Seems like I'm always behind some hackers who take 5 hours to play a round, take 5 mintues to line up every putt like they are on the PGA Tour, lose a ball on every hole, take 15 mintues to look for their lost ball which is a .25 cent Top Flite any way, you'd think they lost a golden ball or something. Also, they don't repair divots or ball marks on the greens and in general leave the course in worse condition then they should which really irks me............

FYI....private country clubs are in a world of hurt right now. Glen Oaks has lost 80 members recently which equates to $50K/month in revenue, Ouch!
 
jamesfnb said:
Belonging to a golf club is awesome, but still hard to justify the price. I have 2 kids who are getting close to the age where they will start golfing more so I can make the math work easier since there will be 3 of us using the family membership versus paying 3 greens fees everytime I want to go golfing. A country club also offers a pool and work out facilities which help justify the costs. As far as the $50/month food fee requirement, it's easy to justify that, just eat at the Country Club once a month instead of taking the family to Applebee's, the food is better anyway. Plus, those beers and snacks add up fast over a month's time so the food fee is really not a factor. What is a factor that hasn't been mentioned yet is member assessments if they decided to rebuild the bunkers or something......but if they charge too many of those then members will be leaving.

No offense to you hackers out there, but I can't stand to play alot of public courses. Seems like I'm always behind some hackers who take 5 hours to play a round, take 5 mintues to line up every putt like they are on the PGA Tour, lose a ball on every hole, take 15 mintues to look for their lost ball which is a .25 cent Top Flite any way, you'd think they lost a golden ball or something. Also, they don't repair divots or ball marks on the greens and in general leave the course in worse condition then they should which really irks me............

FYI....private country clubs are in a world of hurt right now. Glen Oaks has lost 80 members recently which equates to $50K/month in revenue, Ouch!
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Agreed. If you join a good club, you get so much more than just the golf. It really is worth it. And I agree about playing on public courses. It really can be frustrating for those of us who are serious golfers. Also, you don't have the waiting and the long rounds that you would have on a public course. And at private courses, the courses are always in great shape.

Bottom line, if you have the money, and are really into golf it is totally worth it.
 
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Definately join a club if you are a good golfer. You have members who are there for golf and know all there is about golf. They keep the course looking great and it is just a great atmosphere. If you are just looking for a place to hack it around, the club is not for you. Go to any club course and you can probably get a trial membership, and I suggest giving that a go.
 
jamesfnb said:
FYI....private country clubs are in a world of hurt right now. Glen Oaks has lost 80 members recently which equates to $50K/month in revenue, Ouch!
Click to expand...


Oakland Hills here in metro Detroit (host of PGA Champ last year) dropped their initiation from $125,000 to $65,000 this year. There also used to be a $25,000 down payment, non refundable, just to get your name on the member waiting list. Hefty.

I'd love to join a club but my job calls for a move every few years so it doesn't make sense for me at this point. Not having to worry about tee times and being able to sneak 18 in under 3 hours if I had the itch would be excellent!

I'm curious how many rounds I'd have under my belt this year if that were the case... probably a least a few more than the 24 I've already played. :yes:
 
I have considered the private club here in M'town. It's pretty reasonable and I'd love to be able to just walk on the course whenever I wanted to play and not worry about tee times. But, it's still a bit more than I can justify and I'm not sure I like the attitude of a lot of the people there. I do have some friends that are members but it's the other 90% that I'm not sure I'd want to deal with.
 
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