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Originally Posted by Brown Keeper
Yeah, it's a great luxury to have. Enjoy.
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Originally Posted by UCBananaboy
Country Clubs are the most +EV thing you can do if you can afford it.
The little extra money you spend is worth not having 5 hour rounds. Also -- other members tend to be better about repairing ballmarks, divots, raking bunkers, etc.
Quote:
Originally Posted by UCBananaboy
I guess it's relative but I have a great arrangement.
Since I'm under the age of 30, I pay about $150 a month in dues with no initiation fee.
Obviously there are plenty of places that are super pricey but there are a lot of deals out there too. It's also a good time to explore joining because courses have little leverage / shrinking memberships and you might be able to negotiate a hard bargain.
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Originally Posted by westhoff
Yeah a lot of the courses here in Dallas area that used to have 4 or even 5 figure initiation fees, now have $0 initiation fee.
Check out "public"/"daily fee" courses too. Sometimes they'll have memberships/annual plans.
We have a similar deal (although not anywhere near as good as UCB's deal). A lot of the clubs in this area have gone either public or daily fee/restricted access. The club we joined is still purely private and is, in my view, ahead of the curve on being aggressive with recruiting new members and pricing it in a way that makes it accessible. For about $300/month we get full family golf and of course access to the pool and other amenities.
They are running a "six month trial membership" deal as an incentive. We have no food minimum during the six months (savings of $60/month) and get a $250 statement credit and 3 golf guest passes. Altogether it is a savings of about $700 over the first six months. Also, no initiation fee unless you want to have a voting share.
Unlimited range access, carts, bag storage are extra fees which helps keep the monthly fee low. It's a very walkable course and most members either carry or use pushcarts and the average round is still under 4 hours.
If you don't continue the membership after the 6 month trial period, you can't join for 12 months, so they have protected themselves from that angle shot.
In contrast, two historically very exclusive clubs in the area that never waived their initiation fee have in the past year allowed public access to the golf course and restaurant and have "merged" so that members at one have access at the other. They are basically public now. Being a member allows unlimited golf and preferred advance tee times but the course is getting more and more crowded and two people I know are quitting there and joining where I just joined because they no longer have the freedom to play the course on a whim like they used to.
Weather is improving, [insert Bart Scott can't wait!]