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Ahh, interesting topic! It seems to me the cost of golf varies
greatly between different areas, let alone countries.
There are very few public golf courses in Sweden - in general, you
have to be a member of a club to be able to play golf at all. On
the other hand, the idea is that if you're a member of a club,
you're entitled to play anywhere else for a green fee. This works,
in general, very well except for the Stockholm area. There are
about 30 clubs within a half-hour drive from the city centre, and
they are all under heavy load, particularly on weekends. This is a
big problem for most golf clubs, and so they have to limit the
number of green fee players in some way. Since it wouldn't look
good to ban visitors altogether, all they can do is raise the
green fees to be so expensive that guest players think twice before
coming.
At the start of the season, most clubs did this. For instance, my
club ( �gesta GCC, south of the city) raised the fees on weekends
to the equivalent of US$ 31 (per day, not per round) which is now
actually the highest in the country, on par with the fees at some
clubs in resort areas. This has caused a lot of discussion.
Compare this with the annual membership dues - $355. That's the
equivalent of about 12 green fees. Easy to justify taking out a
membership.
Sweden used to be a great country for golf, because you could
always play other courses for a low green fee. This is no more - I
can certainly not afford paying $30 just to try another course, not
when I've paid a lot of money for a membership.
-- Mr Litby
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| Here in western Mass., it's not that bad. It can run anywhere
from $5.00 to $8.00 for 9 holes, and $7.00 to $14.00 for 18 holes.
Carts can cost from $6.50 to $16.00 depending on where and for how
many holes. It's really pretty reasonable.
If you like to play in leagues, you can usually get away with
lower greens fees, buy have to pay league dues. I play in 2 leagues,
one costs me $15.00 a year to play in. But we pay only $4.50 for
greens fees as opposed to the normal fee of $6.00. It's a 9 hole
league. We play 18 rounds over the season, so we save $27.00 on
greens fees, and it only costs us $15.00 dues. Plus we have
tournaments at reduced Greens fees, where evryone is eligible for
some nice prizes.
I've noticed out in the Eastern part of the state, and on Cape
Cod, the rates are higher.
Beak
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