John,
I don't believe I insulted you. I did offer an opinion on your opinion, however. The car analogy is wrong in almost every way. First, a round of golf or a visit to a golf club is not the purchase of an asset, it is a recreation. Second, there is a "test of driving ability". Most, if not all, clubs require visitors (unaccompanied) to be a member of a club and have a handicap. The majority also require a maximum handicap. IMHO the key thing here is not how good a golfer the visitor is (though it makes sense not to have 28 handicappers playing, say, Muirfield for speed of play reasons) but whether another club has accepted them as being suitable for membership.
Most importantly, however, it's not a lot of money. Even a £150 green fee is affordable to the vast majority of golfers once or twice a year, if that's how they want to spend their money. There's no bragging rights associated with paying the green fee at Royal Birkdale or Sunningdale or Ganton. It's not like, dare I say it, being a member of an exclusive Country Club or a golf club like ANGC which does require serious money, money, money.
I haven't got a great deal of experience of the US system but what experience I do have was tremendously enjoyable. Great courses, kind and hospitable hosts. On balance, I think I prefer the UK system because it does offer more opportunity toplay great courses and because clubs tend to be more about the sport than anything else but this is what I grew up with as a golfer, so I have a prejudice. What I wouldn't do is criticise the US model without a great deal of experience of it, let alone none.
You have chosen to criticise, fairly robustly, a system you admittedly have no personal knowledge of. It ill behoves you to get precious if people respond fairly robustly.