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'

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

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

Quote from: Michael_Hendren on October 01, 2007, 10:27:57 PM

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.

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.

Aiken Golf Club.  27 bucks.  awesome.

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.

...

Quote from: Dan Moore on October 01, 2007, 07:59:47 PM

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

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.

Kyle:

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

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.

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.

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