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Tom_Doak

  • Karma: +2/-1
In my Anatomy book I devoted a chapter to maintenance.  One of the things I wrote [in 1991, not adjusted for inflation] was that maybe it cost $300k to get the condition of the course to 85%, another $300k to get it to 95%, and another $300k to get it to 99%.  You could probably double [or triple?] all of those numbers now.


The reason American clubs are so effed up is the governance style.  The decisions are made by a committee of rich guys, and they're not spending their own money, they are voting for 295 other members.  So they are quite happy to keep raising the budget to absurd levels to say they're better than the course across the street.  If they were spending the $$$ out of their own pocket, they'd spend much less.  But they don't want to look cheap in front of the other guys.

Thomas Dai

  • Karma: +0/-0
Thank you for the responses.
You’re not likely to be surprised that the thoughts that most line up with mine are the ones expressed immediately above by Niall and Tom plus those who have commented similarly earlier.
One of the biggest and most regular moans in golf seems to how expensive the game has become yet should its expense be a surprise given how expectations have risen over the decades?
A once simple game played with a small ball that probably wasn’t even round over rough, irregular, animal grazed terrain into a small hole using a few mismatched sticks with lumps of wood or metal on one end.
And folks had fun playing it!
Guess whether folks back in time had more or less fun playing golf than we do these days with our modern era big bags full of numerous multi material custom fit clubs, scientifically manufactured golf balls, technologically made clothing and footwear, satellite distance control measurements, irrigated, fertilised, multi-machine and multi-manpower manicured courses, carts and trolleys and fixed pathways, pristine water features, driving ranges, expansive clubhouses etc is likely arguable either way.
Atb


PS: Ever thought what you’d do with the money you’d save if golf cost you half the price? You never know, you might even play twice as much golf or visit twice as many interesting places to play golf! :) :) :)