What's The Most You HAVE Paid For Golf - and Where Was It?

[Tom_Doak]

I hate watching people set hypothetical bars for themselves, so this one gets to the nitty gritty.

Please limit your responses to two:

a)  What's the highest green fee you've paid, and where was it?

b)  Think a while about this one -- what's the most you have spent to go play one round somewhere, including the travel and lodging, assuming the main purpose of the trip was to go and play that course.

[Tom_Doak]

My own answers:

(a)  This is funny, but the most I've ever paid for a single round was the one round I paid full freight for, when I visited Japan 22 years ago at the peak of their golf boom.  Most of the other clubs comped me, but I went on my own to play at Nagoya Country Club, where the guest fee was $325.  That was pretty much the guest fee at all the top Japanese courses at the time.


(b)  I'll have to think about this one a bit.  The most recent one that comes to mind was flying to Nepal to see Himalayan Golf Club.  I had to be in Asia on business, but it was still a $1200 airline ticket from Haikou to Kathmandu and a $300 transfer on Yeti Airlines    (really) to get there.

[Pete_Pittock]

Easy answer for me.  I flew from Portland, OR to Pittsburgh, PA to play Oakmont in a First Tee/WPGA fundraiser. So probably about $1200-$1400. No other golf, business or sightseeing. I think the event fee, including caddie was $500. I would also do it for Merion, NGLA, Pine Valley, etc.

That beats out a similar cross country flight to play The Country Club, but the two days of sightseeing attached doesn't meet the specifics of the thread. I balance it out by the time when I stayed at the Lodge at Pebble Beach, dinner and golf the next day for about $125

[BCowan]

1. Pinehurst #2 $150

2. I didn't plan on playing #2, played MP in morning round and was paired with Pinehurst member who invited me.  The travel expenses were raised greatly for my car broke down on the way to #2 and that is another story.  $60 hotel fee and gas i don't feel like figuring for a 4 day trip.  I think i would pay more to play on another country (Australia/Scotland).  Gas was pretty cheap in 98'

[Dan Kelly]

1. In *real* dollars: $125 (including required cart) at Pebble Beach, June 1986. In actual dollars, see No. 2.

2. Something like $250 a round for four-round fall weekends at Sutton Bay -- including fine lodging, terrific food, gasoline to get there (and a forecaddie, once).

(Oops. That's not "one round.")

[Rob Curtiss]

 250.00 for Mayacama for the member guest rate and caddie tip incluided

[Sean_A]

Tom

The nitty gritty for me isn't about travel costs because I rarely get on a plane for the purpose of playing a course.  If anything, its about at least 2 or 3 courses.  That said, I don't think I would have gone to Philly unless I had a game at Merion.  I think the flight was pretty cheap from Detroit, maybe $100.  Hotel and food wasn't bad either.  I am sure the round of golf was at least as much as a flight, food and accomodation.  Lets call it $500 all in, but I did get play other courses while in the area. 

I only asked about the guest fee at Augusta because I don't have a clue what it is, but I think I would pay it.

Ciao

[Tim Leahy]

$375 at Pebble with a shared cart in 1996. It was worth it too. Sun came out after two holes and I played great.

[Matt Schiffer]

The dovetails nicely into my question about Spyglass for $265.

1. Out of my own pocket was Kingsbarns for 100 GBP when the exchange rate was worse than it is today (and I was much poorer).  PGA Stadium Course West when I knew I'd be reimbursed and I think that was going for about $180.

2. I'll be breaking all personal records when I drive up to Bandon next spring.  Figuring on more than $1300 for 6 rounds of golf, gas, lodging, caddies, pub tab, etc.  A birthday gift to myself.

Incidentally, what did you think of the Himalayan Golf Club?  It was my amongst my well-traveled former boss's (Ron Fream) favorites.

[Mark Saltzman]

1) $500 at both Shadow Creek and Pebble Beach. I'm sure caddie was extra at SC. Also paid $400+caddie at Shinney, €350 at Old Head, £210 at Royal Troon...

2) my dad and I stayed at Pebble for two nights (min stay) for one round at Pebble. That was $700/night.

[jeffwarne]

That's just it.
One can moan about $265 for Spyglass, but a 6 day 5 night trip to Ireland can run $4000 for what 7 rounds -so that's north of $500 each round.

Most courses I play I'm PGA comped though some of the higher end courses charge a PGA rate.

Troon was 200 pounds ($404 at the time) which also included the Portland course and lunch, BUT my tab was being picked up by the other 7 I had set the trip up for .
Even if I was paying I would simply average the cost with many of the less expensive gems we usually play-in this instance it would've been Prestwick St. Nicholas, Shiskine, Dunaverty, and Carradale, bringing great value to the entire trip.

Sankaty Head ($1400 for a small plane)+lodging
Got rained out of Nantucket GC
Was a hell of a trip and well worth it 




The highest I've actually paid for a green fee is $150 at Pebble Beach (well worth it!!!) and the same +caddie at Kiowah (not worth it)

[Michael Felton]

1. I paid $500 plus a caddie to play Bayonne the week of my wedding. Wouldn't make a habit of it, but it was great.

2. I don't think I could say more than that for a trip to play one round. I flew to the UK earlier this year to play Kingsbarns with some friends, but I played it twice and also played the Castle Course at St Andrews and the Torrance course at St Andrews Bay. That, all in probably cost me $1,800 for the flights, plus about 500 pounds in green fees (about $800 or so) and a few other sundry things. Similar numbers for Royal Porthcawl the year previous. Oh - it was absolutely chucking it down at St Andrews Bay, and the only waterproofs they had in the shop were Galvin Greens, so that cost me about another 400 pounds. Not sure if I should count that though.

I would willingly pay a lot more for a couple of clubs. Not many, but a couple.

[Brian Freeman]

1) $280 to play Kingsbarns back in 2010. 

2) I've done the whole travel and lodging thing to go to Bandon and Scotland, but both of those were multi-round (5 at Bandon, 10 in Scotland), extended stay kinds of trips.  Never paid airfare and lodging for just one round of golf.

[Peter Pallotta]

TD -

1) $150 at Wooden Sticks, the replica course north of Toronto. I got a breakfast and a lunch with that, and it also included a shared cart and range time. (I still remember the course fondly; the replica of the St Andrew's holes had the biggest greens I'd ever seen). I think i paid $125 at Cooper Creek just for the green fees when the Doug Carrick CCFAD first opened. I have some found memories of that too, including the short Par 3 that Ian designed.

2) The trip to Crystal Downs was probably most expensive, but it wasn't really expensive: about $80 in gas roundtrip, $100 more for guest fees and a hat, $90 or so for a night at a Best Western, and about $40 for food -- say $350 in total.

Peter

[Brian Finn]

$300+caddy at The Preserve in Carmel, CA.  Course alone wasn't  worth it, but was incredible day at really cool club with my brother and 2 good friends.  Plus, I had played Spyglass and Spanish Bay both for 50% off that trip, so this was our most expensive round on that trip.  

$300+caddy at Kiawah Ocean. I loved it, and would say it was worth it.  

Pinehurst #2 was part of a package, and probably worked out to roughly $300+caddy as well.

I've paid more via charity auctions for a few private courses that otherwise would have been very tough for me to get on.

[Matt Glore]

1. Whistling Straits course, $315 plus $40 for Caddie +$100 for Caddie Tip  -prime rates (weekend summer)

2. One day for a round or two of golf- Dismal River probably was the most, lodging, travel, and food prob was right at $1500 for a single day.  But that's private unaccompanied, prime rates, lots of food, plenty drink, travel and car.  I did pair that up with other golf courses but I would have/would again do it.  
  

[Jerry Kluger]

Most I paid was a trip to Long Island where we played Shinnecock, NGLA and Maidstone as unaccompanied guests - cost me roughly $500 each including caddie and lunch.  Can't really say that I spent a great deal on airfare just to go play a course.  

[Brett Hochstein]

#1.  Mission Hills Haikou Lava Fields: couldn't get a break in green fees and paid the full rate of 1800 CNY, or about $300.  Really a pretty enjoyable golf experience, but like most of China and Asia, it is just a tad overpriced.  

#2.  Probably Mission Hills Haikou Lava Fields.  I can't think of flying anywhere or staying overnight to date for just a single round/course.  I've done a few long drives for one round, but the gas/train ticket and green fee never added up to the $370 or so total for a day at Mission Hills.  I've also been comped and discounted a lot, fortunately, which thanks again to any and all reading whom have done so.

[Buck Wolter]

1st time I played Augusta National, 3 buddies (including myself) all paid $20,000 each (tax deductible for a charity) for a visit including a night in the Butler Cabin & 45 holes.

2nd most expensive golf round was during a trip to Asia (Hong Kong & Shanqin Bay) with my wife Kat.  We then headed to Bali (Nirwana Bali) & were a day away from flying back to the United States.  Then I received a confirmed invitation to Ellerston.  So I had to buy 1st class tickets last minute from Bali to Sydney and then from Sydney to Los Angeles to Phoenix (coach was sold out).  The lodging ( a simple cabin like something you'd see at a Boy's Scout camp), delicious steaks & golf at Ellerston were all free but the airfare was over $10K.

My real problem on that trip was passport control in Australia.  The officer typecast me as a drug or arms dealer when I indicated I would only be in the country for a little over 24 hours with last minute tickets.

So he said, "what is your purpose to on this trip?'  I said, "to play golf" and he said "where?"  I told him Ellerston & he told me he had never heard of Ellerston.  He called over his supervisor who had never heard of Ellerston either.  They took me in the back room & I showed them the email invitation from one of the Packard family members (think they are the wealthiest family in Oz) with the crazy driving directions to the property (the Packard family flies by helicopter to/from Ellerston).

They let me go,  a free man to pursue my odd interests in life.

Bill Schulz is my new hero -- it's not about the golf, it's the stories you get to tell.

I paid full fare at Pebble ~$350 if I recall to play a waterlogged course in January from very short tees due to the impending AT&T, cancelled my next day's tee time and had a great day at Spanish Bay (My Wife had a conference so the rooms at Spanish Bay were paid by her work).

[Adrian_Stiff]

I did not get comp'd at Valderamma so €250 I paid. I think I have only had to pay a green fee about ten times since I was a kid and it hurts when your not used to it. I cant be bothered to ask anymore for freebies. I paid €70 about a month or so ago to play on a pretty crap course. I would pay $2500 to play Augusta. Largely I am happy with pictures!

[Tim Martin]

$330 plus caddie at Kiawah Ocean. It was worth it.

[Garland Bayley]

1. Probably $119 (I think) to play the Open preview event at Chambers Bay with Rich Choi and the boys last June.

2. I can't think of traveling any significant distance for a single round, so the same trip qualifies at 500 mi @ 40 mi/gal @ $3.50/ gal for about $45 travel expense. Stayed at friends house and ate free there except for maybe $15 for lunch together with GCAers after the round.

Total $60 + $119 = $179

That's right, I'm the last of the big time spenders.

[Don_Mahaffey]

The most I have ever paid for a round of golf was for my son to play Sebonac. After the guest fee, the caddie fee, and the fee they had to pay to have an assistant pro play with them, it was north of $600.

I'm trying to think if I've ever traveled to play just one round...don't think I have.
7 days in Scotland with 12 rounds was not inexpensive.
My first Trip to Bandon was in high season and paid full rate for rounds at Bandon Dunes and Pacific with replays each day and a caddie. That was a $2000 trip for two days of golf.

[Tim Martin]

1. Whistling Straits course, $315 plus $40 for Caddie +$100 for Caddie Tip  -prime rates (weekend summer)
  

This could be fodder for another thread but has anyone paid in excess of $140 for caddie services?

[PCCraig]

The most I've paid for golf was the initiation fee at my home club.