I live in CA and looked pretty closely at clubs in the western part of the country before signing up at Ballyneal this past summer. I think it's the finest golf course and "experience" in the country that still has open memberships, and at $50,000 to join, it's priced below a lot of other places that aren't as good. Scott, the $50,000 is fully refundable at Ballyneal, unlike most clubs that will keep a substantial portion of the upfront fee when you leave the club....so you aren't spending $50K, you're simply losing the use of that money for as long as you're a member. I can't imagine that it will stay at $50K for a lot longer. I hope that you can find a way to make it work, it's a special place.
As for the annual, there are a lot of benefits that come with being a member of a club like Ballyneal...you can't do the math and just come up with a price per round. When a guest and I arrived at Ballyneal at 9:00pm one night, we found that we were the only ones at the place, and the chef was waiting just for us so we could have dinner. You can't put a price on that kind of experience, and playing a course like that without tee times, virtually by yourself, is pretty amazing. So I don't think of it just as golf.
And for the east coasters, the drive from Denver is no big deal...the club is NE of the airport, which is itself well NE of the city. This means there's never, ever any traffic, just an open road. As 2 1/2 hour drives go, it's a breeze.
Rob