History of The Green Fee

[Adam_F_Collins]

More questions:

• When do we first see people paying to play?
• Did it begin somewhere in particular?
• How much did people pay?

[TEPaul]

Believe it or not I remember the time when you didn't even have to pay greens fees at certain golf clubs in certain circumstances. My Dad belonged to a ton of clubs up and down the Eastern seaboard and at a lot of them he'd just bring his non-member friends over and they played for free. But that was in the day when things like starting times and course crowding were not even thought of! I really don't know if that was the way it was there but that's the way it was with him, because he told me that before he died. And I'm talking clubs like Myopia, Meadowbrook, Piping Rock, The Links, GMGC, Pine Tree, Gulf Stream and maybe even Seminole! But in the later years obviously all that changed.

[A_Clay_Man]

It might be easier to pinpoint when and where the "green fee" turned into an 18 hole fee.

Anybody know what marketing genius came-up with that one?

[Brian_Ewen]

I would presume "green fees" came in along with the formation of Golf Clubs , mid-1800's .
 
My home course which was founded in 1888 , has proof of a vistors day ticket in 1892 , costing 6d .
 
Brian

[Adam_F_Collins]

I would presume "green fees" came in along with the formation of Golf Clubs , mid-1800's .
 
My home course which was founded in 1888 , has proof of a vistors day ticket in 1892 , costing 6d .
 
Brian

Interesting. Where's your home course, Brian?

[Brian_Ewen]

Adam

Stonehaven Golf Club , on the North East coast of Scotland.

Annual Payments in 1892
Members over 21 years: 17/-
Members between 14 and 21 years: 10/-
Members under 14 years old: 5/-
Ladies: 10/-
Family Ticket: 25/-

Visitors Green Fees
Single Ticket
Day: 6d
Week: 2/-
Month:5/-

Family Ticket
Week: 4/-
Month: 10/-

Please dont ask me to explain the pre-decimal monetary units . I am too young to remember
Brian

[Yancey_Beamer]

Brian,
I drove up from St. Andrews in June just to play Stonehaven again.My first play on the course was 2001 after reading Jim Finegan's book.You've got more ocean carries than Pebble and certainly at very reasonable rates.
Yancey

[Bob_Huntley]

For those of you too young to remember the peculiar monetry system pre decimalization, here goes.

The pound sterling was worth 20 shillings.
The shilling was worth 12 pence, or pennies.
The penny was further divided into half-pence and farthings.

Currency could be a Ten Pound Note, a Five Pound Note, a One Pound Note and even a Ten Shilling Note.

Coins were a Crown (Five Shillings), Half Crown (Two Shillings and Sixpence), Shilling (Twelve Pence) Sixpence(Just that), Threepenny Bit, and the divisions of a penny noted above.

The silver coins above a penny were of different sizes but the penny and derivatives  were of copper. The penny was as big as a manhole cover.

When calculating percentage discounts on a figure such as L2.15.6 ( Thats two pounds fifteen shillings and sixpence), it got quite entertaining

[Tommy_Naccarato]

Bob,
Very interesting, but I would rather hear it described by you in person. Its much more classy that way!