Gentlemen, sorry it took me so long to respond:
Mike, Geoff, I have played the Westchester munis, yes, they are inexpensive and are very fine for a quick round. And yes, they are also enough to induce one to join a private club, I agree with you there! (Perhaps we can get together for a round one of these days.) Similar point in fact, I am exercising my freedom of choice tomorrow and playing Casperkill, a RTJ design, for the heck of it.
JaKaB, I'll take it up with my wife, though she's on the tenure track and I gave up my pursuit of medicine long ago. The Met, by the way, is the Metropolitan Museum of Art ... or it can be the Opera. No kid I know, though, is too crazy about the opera, including this one.
George, you have your own ideal course to take care of now, don't worry about muni golf in western PA, let alone New York. One of these days, I'll finally make it to Pittsburgh and play Oakmont.
Adam, I did not mean to suggest that munis are horrible. Not at all, esp. where I've played them in and around NYC, CT, and PA. I hope you'll see what I am getting at below.
Doug, considering that the cost of living in KY or lower OH is quite different from NY, golf at those prices does not surprise me. Consider yourself very lucky.
Tom D., I agree that prices for golf in the UK have increased dramatically in the last decade or so -- a recent phenomenon. Gary, ditto. They are not cheap by any means, esp. with the dollar where it is vs. the pound or Euro. If you follow Jim Finegan around on his travels these days, you rack up quite a tab. You will also note that a resident of Brancaster can play Royal West Norfolk for free, however. Tom, I think I can probably come up with a few other examples, give me time.
Patrick, first, those courses that you list are in no way inferior. In fact, the 15 on the 100 on Golf Digest's '06 Top 100 list that one can *actually* play are in no way inferior. As Mr. Childs pointed out, though, most of them are in no way affordable for the Average Joe, either.
As a side note, I do not agree with your price comparison with Yankee Stadium because I've paid $40 bucks on numerous occasions to sit in mezzanine seats, with $16 for two beers and have as good of a time as if I sat along first or third base, which has cost me $80. But the analogy btw. seat location and quality of course is stretching it methinks.
My 18 month old son has been to the Natural History Museum three times, the Metropolitan Museum of Art twice -- though I admit this is odd but we couldn't find a babysitter for a pre-opening event. I was really talking about when he becomes an adolescent/teen golfer and can comparison shop with his friends on the weekend. John made my point, though.
Bill, Gary, Steve, Scott, you mention Bethpage, and here is a bit of what I guess I am getting at, perhaps, is there should be more Bethpage State Parks in this country. (Thank you, Phil, fittingly, for hitting one of my nails on its respective head.) I don't think I'd be too far off by stating that Bethpage Black is the ONLY US municipal course that garners high architectural respect from the GCA discussants. There are no other muni courses on any course raters' Top 100 lists that I am aware of. I guess that's why you have to sleep in your car to get a tee time!
Another point: I can play all of the UK courses on the Golf Digest Top International Course list or on the Top 100 British course list or the courses from the Top 100 Courses of the World recently posted here by Sean Arble (I think it was Sean), even if I must pay out the nose in some cases to do so. Still, I can play Royal County Down at twilight for $30, Machrihanish is still cheap, though not what it once was, Alwoodley, Woodhall Spa Hotchkins, and Dornoch are relatively cheap for their stature on the GCA scale, not to mention many of the top Welsh courses are very inexpensive.
I have more, but I'll post and hear any responses.