[Bob_Huntley]

There is a constant when Pebble Beach is discussed on this site, it is the cost to play.

For non guests at the Lodge the tariff is as follows:

Green Fee           $475.00
Cart Fee             $30.00
Caddie- Base       $55.00 (Collected at the Shop)
Caddie Discretionary.

Expensive, yes.


Assume this a one time thing and a dream of a lifetime. Is it more expensive than a host of other sporting events that you must try once? Super Bowls, NCAA Finals, NASCAR Biggies, Broadway  and concert tickets. I don't know, I am just trying to find out if others out there fork out huge sums of money to experience a lifetime dream.


Bob

[John Kavanaugh]

Bob,

It is a fair price when compared to most other best of show activities.  Saying that, it still really is one of those places that is best played for free...I tried in the 2000 Amateur but came up short.

[Brent Hutto]

Bob,

The cost at Pebble is within my "lifetime dream" range, just barely. If it's truly a once-in-a-lifetime thing that I've dreamed about for years, the price isn't an object unless it requires missing meals or not playing golf again for a year or some other unacceptable tradeoff. So even at $1,000+ for a round I'd find a way to talk myself into it under the right circumstances.

However, the "right circumstances" might be something along the lines of your round yesterday. I'm not willing to take a $500 flyer hoping that it indeed a dream-worthy experience given the chances of bad greens, severe weather (no weather refunds at Pebble if I understand correctly) or a 5-1/2 round.

So if I could be standing near the first tee one beautiful morning at 6.30am and in exchange for $1,000 they would send me off with the first group of the day I'd never regret a penny of it. But if I sent them even a few hundred dollars tomorrow and showed up a month from now to play on punched greens in a torrential deluge with the ocean just a distant blur I'd feel pretty ripped off. In other words...for $500 I want the whole damned fairy tale, brother.

[John Kavanaugh]

To compare I spent $600 for two tickets to the Colts/New England NFC Championship last year.  Nice game.

[Jim Franklin]

I just paid a pretty hefty fee to see Black Sabbath and Megadeth from the front row so I say Pebble is still worth it. Look at what it costs to go to the Super Bowl and it is not even close. Now playing Pebble every week or a few times a year might be nuts, but everyone ought to play it at least once.

[John Kavanaugh]

I will go to many different events alone including shows and concerts but I will not ever play golf at a great course unless I am with a friend..."internet friends" count of course.  ANGC being the one exception.

[John Foley]

Bob,

I looked last week at getting playoff tix for the Sabres under the same assumption, once in a lifetime event. They we're in the range of a round at Pebble, but in the end I couldn't pull the trigger.

Have not played PB. Been there many many times and walked around the lodge & pro shop, saw the Crosby 20+ years ago. I'm interested, but there are others I want to get to & see first such as Bandon.

One day I will, but with that pricing structure it'll be a one time thing.

[Russ Miller]

Based on the prices you listed, I would think Pebble is more expensive than almost anything but the Super Bowl.  I was in Monterey 3 years ago and would have loved to play, but simply couldn't pay that much at the time and it was so foggy you could barely see 3 feet in front of you.  I will say that I'd rather play Pebble than go to any sporting event, with the possible exception of seeing Vanderbilt in the Final Four (which I'm confident is not likely anytime in the near future - maybe Omaha this year, though).

[Pete Lavallee]

Bob,

It's certainly cheaper than the Super Bowl. My brother is an avid New England Patriots fan and season ticket holder. Unable to win a Superbowl ticket through the season ticketholder's lottery he went to Houston with no ticket and a wad of cash. He and his buddy had decided that their limit would be $1500 for a ticket. They scored one for that very price just before game time. Unwilling to go through that experience again when they played in the next Superbowl in Jacksonville, they determined beforehand to get tickets through e-bay. That year cost them $2500; at least they left knowing they would see the game. Of course this doesn't include airfare or hotels and refreshments. He routinely attends the Final Four, but for a lot less I'm sure.

[Jeff_Brauer]

I would pay that to play PB, esp. if I could share it with my son. I did pay similar to allow him to experience Pinehurst No. 2 a year ago.

Speaking of the SB, I just heard it will be played down the street from my office in 2011!  With 100,000 seats (about 20K more than normal), I wonder how this will affect scalpers prices.  Hopefully, I can afford to go to my first and likely only SB and I won't even have hotel costs. Maybe I can even rent out the spare bedroom and make money on the deal.

[Tom_Doak]

Bob:

I've checked into tickets for special events a couple of times the past couple of years and I'm amazed at the prices ... they are going through the stratosphere.  Three years ago I'd have said Pebble was overpriced, but not compared to World Series tickets now.

I do wonder if any golf course should be priced as a once-in-a-lifetime event for people, even though I paid a similar fee to play The Old Course at St. Andrews backwards in March.

[Jeff_Brauer]

Back when the Stars went to back to back Cup finals 7 years ago, my $30 season ticket seat went to $65 per game for the finals games.  It was (I think) $35 for round one, $45 for round two and $55 for round three.

All told, those 14-16 playoff games cost almost as much as the 41 game season.

[Matthew Hunt]

Who owns PB?

Your sports event prices in the US are phenomanal. The only thing ever like that in Ireland was the first Rugby matches in Croke Park (Voted #2 Stadiam in the world for all rating lovers ) It was £500 ($1000) for the France game per 1 ticket and £1500 ($3000) for seat against England. I got 6 tickets for the france game for £40 due to a good contact and a lot of luck  

[Jim_Kennedy]

Bob,
I have to look at it the same way I look at going to the casino, the money is already 'spent' before I walk in the door.

'Course I can't help wondering about Pebble Beach, if you only get there once, does the 'tease' spoil you?

[Jerry Kluger]

I have seen Pebble but not played it and perhaps I should.  The fact is that I would much sooner make every effort I could to try and play CP or MP.  Perhaps I've seen it too much on television - perhaps it is the fact that you have to pay stupid money to stay at the Lodge and if I'm going there I also want to play Spyglass which is also no bargain.  To me, I would sooner go to Bandon for a few days and play all 3 courses for not much more than one round at Pebble.  

[Dale_McCallon]

My wife and I went to Pebble back in 2001--one night at the lodge, a round at Spanish Bay and Pebble for me and an afternoon at the spa for her.  Final tab--well over 1000.  I would do it again in a heartbeat.

For most people it is a once in a lifetime treat--who cares if the round is slow.  With the scenery there, who wants to be in a hurry.

[Rich Goodale]

Bob

As you probably know, you can cut that cost at Pebble in half if you don't mind playing on newly aerated greens.

Rich

[G Jones]

If it's a course such as Pebble Beach, that you'd want to play at least once in your life, then i don't see what the big deal is. Even if you only live to be 50 its like paying $10 a year for your life... hardly a princely sum to ensure you play a course.

People who say they wouldn't pay that... a lot of them probably spend four times that a year just on "beer" for your fridge. A significant number probably spend that in 5 nights out in a big city yet put it together for one round of golf and suddenly it becomes objectionable. It would be different if it was to play somewhere regularly... but as people are pointing out it's a pretty good deal compared with, say, the superbowl... at least in golf you actually get to play the sport yourself!!!

Although I have to say that I do love the exchange rate at the moment...  :-)

[Jason Mandel]

Pebble is WORTH the experience, at least once.

My dad took me there about 9 years ago for my high school graduation and I still think about the trip and the round almost 9 years later.

Is it overpriced? sure?  

But Jerry, I don't get your statement that you would make every effort to play CP or MP before playing Pebble.  I would say this, as much as we cry about how much Pebble costs, at least it IS accessible to the public.  

99.9% of the golfers in this country can never experience PV,CP, Seminole, Merion, Oakmont, etc. But they CAN play Pebble.  I really think that means something.

Jason

[Wayne_Kozun]

To continue with your Oscar Wilde subject line: A cynic is a man who knows the price of everything but the value of nothing.

I have had the pleasure to play Pebble several times (luckily without having to pay for it myself) but I think Pebble at $500+ is better value than many resort courses and CCFAD courses throughout North America.  (How many mediocre courses in Arizona and Florida are > $200 in the winter?) Even compared to many low-end public courses that charge about $75 I would say that Pebble is better value.

I have played many courses where I did pay upwards of $200 from my own pocket and I think that Pebble was a better value.  IMHO Pebble and St Andrews are the two public courses that are extraordinarily special places.  St Andrews has more history and has a better golf aura but Pebble/Monterey has such beauty combined with the great golf that it is absolutely exhilarating and is something that you will remember until you take your last breath.

Particularly when you play the stretch of 6-10 and 17&18.  Any true golfer will find that an amazing experience.  

edit - It seems to me that a lot of golfers pay the high price play Pebble.  When I took economics if demand exceeds supply then the price is too low and there is value in the proposition.

[Ulrich Mayring]

Why is there a cart fee *and* a caddie fee?

Ulrich

[Brent Hutto]

As you probably know, you can cut that cost at Pebble in half if you don't mind playing on newly aerated greens.

I was not informed of that option when I spoke to the resort in 2005. I was waffling between playing Pebble or Spyglass. A friend returned from playing both of them the week before my trip. He said the greens were immaculate at Spyglass and were just about to be aerated at Pebble. They quoted me the straight price, IIRC it was $425 or $435 at Pebble versus about $290 at Spyglass.

So I played Spyglass (loved it) and after having supper at the Lodge walked down and checked out the eighteenth hole. The green looked nigh unputtable to me, when they're that pockmarked at my club I just played tee to green and pick up. Not sure I'd have wanted to play it at half-price but they quoted me full tariff on the phone a few days before I was there.

[JESII]

Bob,

It is a fair price when compared to most other best of show activities.  Saying that, it still really is one of those places that is best played for free...I tried in the 2000 Amateur but came up short.

Good thing too, because in 2000 you would have been on the wrong coast for the Amateur...Baltusrol was the host...


Bob,

for me, the Pebble experience you described in the CPC, MPCC, PBGL thread would be worth the once in a lifetime fee. The standard 1 pm start 7 pm finish on mediocre greens wouldn't entice me across the street...

[Geoffrey Childs]

Bob

I've been lucky enough to play Pebble Beach at least a dozen times.  The first (and most rounds) cost me $25.  My last round there cost $185 quite a few years ago (the old #5 was in play).

If I had never played it I would cough up the money for sure. I would not pay $500 for another play unless it was a very special occasion with dear friends that would result in a life long memory.  I would prefer a very early time with perfect weather while carrying my light bag and with a finish in less then 4 hours. I'm not a fan of the more typical 5+ hour round at PB.

[Greg Tallman]

If Pebble Beach is offering discounts following aerification then this is a new policy.
They had been charging regular rate the morning after aerifying greens behind play the day prior and finishing up the next morning.

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