Best $25/under course (formerly the 'most bang for the bucks' thread)

[ed_getka]

You need to relabel your thread to best course under $25. Most bang for the bucks means there is a correlation between how good the course is and how much it costs, as in good value. Good value can be had at any pricepoint. I could play a golf course around here for $25 and feel ripped off, and play a $50 course that feels like a bargain. Just sayin'

[Phil McDade]

Ed:

I was riffing off the "least bang" thread when I titled the thing.

Sure, there is value, and then there is cheap value. I'm looking for the latter. It's kind of like going on some wine discussion board and asking about decent, drinkable wines for $6 or less a bottle. I've actually had a few...

[Bill Gayne]

Bethpage Black. Even the out of state fee is a bargain for a course of it's quality.

[ed_getka]

Phil,
   No worries, but even cheap value isn't the same across the country. Rustic Canyon is practically free compared to most courses in SoCal, so you midwest guys have an unfair advantage in the breadth of cheap courses you have to choose from. I would be lucky to find a course under $25 that had grass growing on it out here. Let alone any architectural merit.

[Mike Hendren]

Gotta go with Quail Crossing.  The golf course is good but the cachet of playing a little known Tom Doak design is worth the $17 alone.

Mike

[John Kavanaugh]

Gotta go with Quail Crossing.  The golf course is good but the cachet of playing a little known Tom Doak design is worth the $17 alone.

Mike

That was a winter rate.  I think the going price is well over $30.

[JC Jones]

Gotta go with Quail Crossing.  The golf course is good but the cachet of playing a little known Tom Doak design is worth the $17 alone.

Mike

That was a winter rate.  I think the going price is well over $30.

Just to keep the thread filled with people who cant follow directions...Im playing High Pointe for $30 on saturday.  To me, that is a deal and a half.

[Mike Hendren]

Very well Barney.  Wouldn't you agree that $30 is a cheap price to pay for being able to drop Doak's name?

[John Kavanaugh]

Very well Barney.  Wouldn't you agree that $30 is a cheap price to pay for being able to drop Doak's name?

I would but I wouldn't post about it on a thread about courses that cost less than a peak of $25 to play.  Quail Crossing is the most expensive public in the region and hardly the best overall value.

[Phil McDade]

Indian Canyon...

http://www.spokanegolf.org/courses/indiancanyon/

Cross Creek...

http://www.crosscreekgolflinks.com/course.html

and Quail's Crossing...

http://www.quailcrossing.com/

all look like interesting courses and good values. But all top out at more than $25 for their peak rate. Kavanaugh's Helfrich, which appears to have a top rate of $17...

http://www.evansvillegov.org/Index.aspx?page=571

...is the winner so far.

[Doug Spets]

Aiken Golf Club.  27 bucks.  awesome.

[Jimmy Chandler]

Weekdays walking, Shenandoah Valley Golf Club in Front Royal, VA is only $20 to walk; twilight (after 2 PM, which in the summer means you could still play 27 holes) the fee is $12 M-Th, $15 Fri-Sun.  SVGC is a wonderful, classic course kept in fabulous condition.  Best value in the DC region by far ($50 w/cart on weekends).

[Tom Birkert]

I realise that they don't qualify for the $25 (although they do qualify as £25) and I'd say Rustic Canyon was the best value public course I've played in the US. We simply don't have courses like that over here that anyone can play for that sort of price - unless you're with a Member of somewhere rather nice.

But hands down the best bang for the bucks I've had was Cypress Point Club as a guest of a Member. Extraordinary value, fantastic caddies and the golfing experience of a lifetime.

[Eric_Terhorst]

Just to clarify, you live Anywhere, USA. You visit an 18-hole course, any day of the week (yes, that includes Saturdays) any time of year, and say, I want to walk 18 holes. They charge you $25 or less. (Mandatory golf carts, trollies, forecaddies and such are included in the $25.)

Phil,  I'm not sure if I find it more 1) charming that everyone wants to  promote their fave cheap golf course, or 2) irritating that few seem to want to play along with your directions.  Perhaps you have to get explicit instructions in the title of the thread

Maybe Eric will relate his story about the guys he recently tried to convince to pay a visit to Salem, Wi.  

I was playing with a stranger the other day whose golf and comments about slow play made me think he was worthy of hearing about Spring Valley, so I told him it was worth a 45-55 min drive from Evanston, where he lives, to have a look.  Told him he could play in 3 1/2 hours on a Saturday morning and enjoy a fantastic golf course. Then I told him the best news was it cost only $21.50 on the weekend.  He looks at me like I'm from outer space and says, "No, I want to play a REAL golf course."

[Garland Bayley]

...

Maybe Eric will relate his story about the guys he recently tried to convince to pay a visit to Salem, Wi.  

I was playing with a stranger the other day whose golf and comments about slow play made me think he was worthy of hearing about Spring Valley, so I told him it was worth a 45-55 min drive from Evanston, where he lives, to have a look.  Told him he could play in 3 1/2 hours on a Saturday morning and enjoy a fantastic golf course. Then I told him the best news was it cost only $21.50 on the weekend.  He looks at me like I'm from outer space and says, "No, I want to play a REAL golf course."

Definitely a consumer of Veblen goods.

http://www.golfclubatlas.com/forums2/index.php?board=1;action=display;threadid=28155

[Jason Topp]

This one ranks up there for me.  Scenic tough course.  We played the 2nd round for the cart fee.


TEXARKANA GOLF RANCH
A Hank Haney Course on Bringle Lake
7401 Scott Wright Road
Texarakana, TX 75503
Tel: 903-334-7401
Greens Fees: Mon-Thurs $23.00, Fri-Sun $28.00, 18 Hole cart fee is $13.75.

[Phil McDade]

Aiken looks like a real contender; the course website lists its peak rate for non-members at $25, a rare case of a poster trying to skirt the rules and missing too high! (That is, for 51 weeks of the year; I do note this caveat:

http://www.aikengolfclub.com/Special/special.html

The course dates to 1912 and was designed by a John Inglis, who I don't know much if any about. Doug -- any more details?

Shenandoah Valley has $20 walking Mon-Thurs., and $25 walking on Fridays, and some very affordable post-2 p.m. walking rates. But, alas, it's carts mandatory Sat., Sun. and holidays pre-2 p.m., and for $50, it's a far cry from the criteria set out for this thread.

Eric:

I just realized my recent round of putt-putt golf with the kids at Madison's famed Vitense Golfland -- which quite literally does have a clown's mouth -- cost me $7, or not much less than the $10.75 I "paid" for the afternoon round at Spring Valley.

Anyone out there played either of the two older Rockford, Ill., courses -- Sandy Hollow or Ingersoll? Both are more than 75 years old, and Ingersoll is a Bendelow from 1922. I've been meaning to play Ingersoll, but haven't made it yet.

http://www.rockfordparkdistrict.org/golf.html

At $22 for weekend play, they both easily make the eligibility criteria.

[K. Krahenbuhl]

Anyone out there played either of the two older Rockford, Ill., courses -- Sandy Hollow or Ingersoll? Both are more than 75 years old, and Ingersoll is a Bendelow from 1922. I've been meaning to play Ingersoll, but haven't made it yet.

http://www.rockfordparkdistrict.org/golf.html

At $22 for weekend play, they both easily make the eligibility criteria.

Phil,

I have played both courses many times and would describe them both as crowded (by trees and people).  Neither course does anything for me and I would have a hard time labeling them as best anything, even if it was course under $25.

[Phil McDade]

Kyle:

Thanks -- I heard they were popular; didn't know if they were any good.

[K. Krahenbuhl]

Kyle:

Thanks -- I heard they were popular; didn't know if they were any good.

I know there are good things about both courses, they just don't stick out in my mind over the negatives when I think back on them.  Ingersoll is very tightly tree lined fairways with a lot of short par fours.  Like all of the courses in Rockford, a city that loves golf, it gets a lot of play and tends to show it.

[Jeff Shelman]

I've played Aldeen in Rockford a long time ago (long before I stumbled on here) and it was fun.

A good Illinois value is Piper Glen in Springfield. Pretty good track and it was about $30 the last time I was there (a few years ago).

And the twilight rate at Lawsonia is awesome.

[David_Tepper]

At the risk of mixing apples and oranges, I would offer the Country Membership at Golspie GC@under 170 pounds per year, with no joining/initiation fee, as providing a big bang for the bucks (or pounds, in this case).

Not only does it entitle one to unlimited play at Goslpie, you can also get comped a few rounds per year at Brora.  

[Doug Spets]

Phil.....

Aiken Golf Club is like walking back in time.  Incredible set of par 3's...5 of them in total...4 of them are 195+ from the tips.  Sorry about the incorrect greens fee figure...I pay a caddy rate of $20 there.  2 reachable par 4's in a row on the back.  1 and 17 share a very very funky green.

As I understand it, Inglis was a club pro from somewhere in the northeast who came to Aiken to build the course for owners of the old Highland Hotel.  They've tried to claim a Ross lineage...but the people at the ODG society say Mr Ross had nothing to do with it.

[Phil McDade]

Doug:

The course sounds and looks really interesting. I especially like the look of some of those (presumably original?) sleepered bunkers; this greensite and bunker look pretty neat:

http://www.aikengolfclub.com/Photos/8thgrn.html

[Jeff_Perryman]

Pinehurst #2 has a cheeseburger under $25, mid-week twilight.