Walker Cup: $500 3-day Passes ONLY...Really?

[Steve Lapper]

 Our favorite golf organization, the USGA, has once again proved just how tone-deaf they are.


 For the mere sum of $500 you too can spectate the upcoming Walker Cup competition. Don't fret, however, that you aren't getting enough value for a decent fraction of your mortgage payment.

For three days, you'll share the wonderful Seminole grounds with all those free-loading blue-coats from Far Hills, actually dine on the same  finger sandwiches, drink sweet tea and hopefully watch some terrific and competitive amateur golf on hollowed grounds. No flag-raising ceremonies for the hot polloi however.....commoners not permitted.


The USGA is working hard growing the game....and their coffers....one wealthy patron at a time. I imagine they thought this might be the last time they could make this move before Mike Whan takes the reins.

[PThomas]

spot on Steve...unbelievable

[Ronald Montesano]

That sucks....sucks sucks sucks...I'm going to write a column.

[Bernie Bell]

Does that include beer?

[Tom_Doak]

But, Steve, I thought you LIKED capitalism.  Just two days ago you were telling me I wad an idiot for questioning it.


Welcome to the club!

[JESII]

How many of these passes are available?


What would they generate, on average, if auctioned off?


How much, as a percentage, of the USGA’s income is distributed to organizations the need the money?

[Tim Martin]

I paid $40 to the USGA for two Friday passes at Merion in 2009. It included the practice round and opening ceremonies. It appears from what Steve has reported that it’s not possible to get a single day ticket.

[JESII]

Agreed.


I think it’s $500 to take in as much as you want.


I’d think the limit is 1,000 passes at most but haven’t read anything.


Unless they were going to go full give away to doctors, nurses etc...I’m not sure crying over the price makes anyone look good.

[Jeff Schley]

This is disappointing at the least, and erodes any trivial respect I may have still have had for the USGA. Grow the game amongst the top 1 %.  This is a non-profit at work?

[JESII]

How would you structure it...as a non-profit?

[Steve Lapper]

But, Steve, I thought you LIKED capitalism.  Just two days ago you were telling me I wad an idiot for questioning it.


Welcome to the club!

Tom,


  I do like capitalism, and you clearly didn't understand that your misstatement on it was both theorethically and factually baseless.


  I DON'T like excess or greed. Like various excesses found in most anything, from golf courses to economics, they give either black eyes or pause to the subjects validity. If you read my posts on the effect of golf discounters, my argument was consistently in favor of seeing lower prices and greater choices lead to more consumer empowerment. That is an advocacy for the practice of fair market capitalism without excess or greed. Quite the reverse actually.


  It is my personal opinion that limiting spectating of such a worthy event and venue should be made far more accessible for the average Joe. For sure, the USGA can (and obviously will) charge whatever they want (or what the market will bear), but it's an direct refutation to what their mission statement is. I think the golfing world ought to take note of their hypocrisy and poor leadership.


PS.. "I refuse to join any club that would have me as a member!"  Groucho Marx

[Joel_Stewart]

Just wait until you see the pricing for next years US Open at LACC. 

[Steve Lapper]

How would you structure it...as a non-profit?

 Jim,


  Some of yours are reasonable questions, but perhaps giving more people, incremental or exponential, the chance to watch the competition at a more reasonable price would've been a realistically defensible.


  Auction (or secondary market pricing) is irrelevant unless the issuer wants to go completely out on the greed spectrum. Face value is, at least theoretically speaking, supposed to represent reasonable value. Why else do concert and sporting tickets (even Masters passes) come out at a lower fixed price. The subsequent auction inflation is a product of the equation between market access and demand, and can be enforceably protected (again, Masters passes) if so desired.


 As for the USGA making donations to organizations in need, I believe it is a # (or at least was a few years back) vastly lower than it's own administrative and organizational costs. Let's not forget that it was only about a decade ago that the now Lords of Magnolia Lane (then the Lords of Far Hills) were leasing private jets on the donors dime to ferry them to various events.

[Ronald Montesano]

I like to think of the Curtis and Walker cups as the last vestige of amateur camaraderie. I like to see average joan and joe with a chance to walk CP, NGLA, Merion, LACC, and all the rest, without having to pay. This needs to be a one-off.

[John Kavanaugh]

Who are these people who need free access because they love golf? I have yet to meet one in person.

[Ronald Montesano]

You must have a small circle of acquaintances.

[John Kavanaugh]

You must have a small circle of acquaintances.

It’s just that I meet the majority of my friends who love golf at golf courses. That alone disqualifies them from complaining about the cost of watching a game that they play. I’d suggest starting a Gofundme page if you can’t afford to watch golf. I have several ideas on what you might shave. Two to be exact.

[Lynn_Shackelford]

For the past two years I told a friend in Atlanta that we should meet in Florida, play some golf and attend the Walker Cup.  I am on a wait list and could possibly buy some tickets tomorrow.  However the USGA has killed our interest with the package price.  Furthermore they are requiring all attendees(not players) to wear masks on the premises at all times.  I suspect by May I can turn on the TV, watch the matches, and see many, even most, not wearing masks as our society gets vaccinated and relaxes restrictions.  And that is probably what I will do as the USGA has killed my interest in this event.

[JESII]

Lynn’s actually real world...


And he’ll scrap a several thousand dollar trip to one of the top 3 or 4 sport viewing events this year because the ticket for the event is a couple hundred dollars more than he thought it might be.


Interesting.


What did I miss?

[JMEvensky]

I'm somewhere in the middle. I don't think the USGA has ever not represented the 1%--they just usually do it with a little more subtlety.


It's also possible Seminole put a hard cap on attendance and this was the least bad way to enforce it.


Lynn S, if you're still watching, there was a thread a couple of weeks ago which led to serious discussion of 60's/70's/80's college basketball players. If you can find it, your opinions would be much welcomed. Guessing you know something about the topic.

[Kalen Braley]

Given the USGA owns exclusive access rights to the venue for spectating, this is the exact opposite of "capitalism".  This is a de-facto monopoly at play.

[Steve Lang]

   and  Disposable cash has its limits...

[Bernie Bell]

Lynn’s actually real world...

And he’ll scrap a several thousand dollar trip to one of the top 3 or 4 sport viewing events this year because the ticket for the event is a couple hundred dollars more than he thought it might be.

Interesting.

What did I miss?

The part about the masks.  Doubt you missed it, just chose to ignore it for provocation's sake.

[Jason Thurman]

On the list of Egregious Examples of Golf's Tendency Toward Ridiculous Expensiveness, this doesn't even crack the top 10,000. The 8 people in the world who care have already posted in this thread.


Agree that it sucks. But I'd rather bitch about the fact that I'll probably never play Seminole than bitch about the fact that I won't attend the Walker Cup.

[Ronald Montesano]

John, good luck with your new razor.


Jason, "the eight people who care on this site." The folks I'm talking about, aren't GCA people. They are people who want to watch a Walker Cup, who want to see Seminole, or NGLA, or Merion, or LACC.