Conference 7.286::golf

    Three years ago I played Nashua Country Club and had thoughts of
    joining, the ProShop quoted the following, $2500 dollars initiation
    fee, and $1800 membership fee, that year and each year after, also
    a restaurant fee of $65 per month, whether you use it or not.
    
    Of course with prices rising ! who knows what it is now, if you
    find out please get back to me.
    
      IV
      Roger

    I am a member at NCC, and the cost is roughly about $2600 per year
    with everything. It breaks down to around $2100 for membership,
    $480 per year for kitchen renovations, and $40 per month for food,
    liquor is not included in the $40.  So it's roughly $2600...give
    or take...you're also looking at a two year wait list.  It would
    be smart to put your name in and get sponsored ASAP...Great friendly
    group of members there.....lots of social activity, etc....and they've
    recently brought in the greens keeper from Vespar, and what a
    remarkable turnaround in the greens.....NCC is starting to look
    like the OLD NCC!!  Oh, by the way, if you should happen to have
    a wife that golfs, its's an additonal $210 (I think) I don't pay
    the bills, I just play the game....(I'm the wife)! But I did just
    check with my husband on these numbers. Hope this is helpful....
    
    
    Happy Hunting
    Maureen Barber

    	I'd really appreciate your comments on thye following.  I'm
    married, but my wife doesn't golf.  So I'd be paying the approx.
    $2600.00 myself.  Assuming in that area, and this is exaggerating
    it a bit, that I cound golf a solid 8 months a season, and played
    3 times a week (I don't, but for arguments sake), that would come
    out to 96 rounds per year.  That comes out to $27.08, okay, $27.00
    a round of golf.  Assuming one of the 3 rounds per week is a 9 hole
    round, does it still seem worth it to you, and why?
    
    Beak

    Anything seems worth it to me when you can get on a course and set
    your watch for three to four hours for a 18 hole round of golf...I've
    gone the public course route, and once you've gone private there
    is no comparison....I guess it's just a matter or what you are looking
    for.  We play a lot of golf, and probably at this point NCC is not
    making money with us....but that's what it's all about. It's a lot
    more enjoyable playing tee to green, rather than hitting a ball
    and waiting 15 minutes in between each shot.  We play right up until
    the leaves cover our balls, and start when there is still some snow
    on the fairways....we also play pretty much five out of seven days
    a week, sometimes more.....hope this helps.
    
    Maureen (Lopez) Barber

Re:	.3

>    does it still seem worth it to you, and why?
    
     The decision to join a country club is generally hard to justify on 
     strictly a financial basis.  (Unless you are in business for yourself
     then you may be able to write-off some of the costs.)  You are paying
     a premium for the social amenities, the exclusive nature, etc.

     Is it worth it?  I don't know, but every year as the greens fees
     go up, the course gets more crowded, and more golfers take up the
     game I swear that next year ....

     Larry


PS.  Pat Bradley would probably say the cost of membership at NCC was well
     worth it.  (However I believe that her parents were footing the bill ;-) )

    	I guess I should have include this in my reply .3.  I also cannot
    and will not play every round of golf I play in one season, on the
    same course.  So you can minus 25% from the number of rounds played
    during a season for me, from my previous total.  That would make
    for me, each round cost approx. $36.00 a round, plus greens fees
    for the other 24 rounds I would play on course other than the one
    I was a member for.  Thats a tough pill to swallow, but I suppose,
    if you can afford it, why not.  Like you said, membership does have
    it's privileges.  But at this time in my life, I'm not willing
    to pay that kind of dough.
    
    Beak

    
    NO practical experience....
    
    But in my mind id one is making the choise to join a private country
    club then your getting into a different relm. I can see where the
    private seen would create an atmosphere where you get to know a
    group of people and the people get to know you. Your playing the
    course to play but also to be part of the atmosphere. Part of the
    club. 
    
    I myself have given it a little bit of thought about joining a club.
    However it would take a commitment that right now I'm not ready
    to make. In a few years however who knows. It would mean playing
    4-6 times a week.
    
    I wish that courses would bring back caddies. At times I'd pay a
    kid the price of a cart to have them carry the clubs while I walk.
    To me it's king of like the best of both worlds. When I was young
    I caddied for my dad once a week. 
    
    
    Tom

I started out playing at Stow Acres and was quite content there for a few
years. The DEC golf league got me playing once a week for the first time
ever - I really liked the competition and the socialness of the league. Then
I decided to also start playing once per weekend. This was probably the start
of my dissatisfaction with public golf. The biggest problem was time (this
was before tee times) and, I have to admit, being frequently paired with
people playing their annual round of golf.

The end came about 5-6 years ago. All summer long I would arrive at the course
at 5:45 to shell out $18 entitling me to tee off at 8:30. The round of golf
would end at 2:30 (no joke!) and I got home around 4:00. Meanwhile, on this
particular day, I was standing around in the hot sun watching a member of our
foursome whiff on tee balls. Pretty grim. I needed a solution or a new sport!

I spent a day following Arnold Palmer at the Marlboro Senior's tournament and
really liked what I saw - a good course in good condition at a reasonable
price! I signed up and got in the next year. And I couldn't be happier with
the decision. MCC is semi-private so it is a bit cheaper - I now pay about
$1K for golf and $250 for meals (Stow is now $30 on a weekend). It is a whole
lot easier to play golf! I keep clothes in my locker and my sticks are also at
the course. It is close to work and home so I can putt around at lunch time
or play a few holes on my way home (5, 7, or 9 - no pressure to play 9 to get
my money's worth)! I play in pretty good tournaments, and my game has improved
(presently a 9). On weekends I wake up at a less barbaric hour and am still
home by 12:30. Good deal.

A private club is clearly not for everyone. It is generally more expensive
unless you play a lot. It does tend to keep you on one track since you've
already paid to play a nice course. Each person has their own criteria. For
instance, neighboring courses typically require a $5K bond plus $2.5K yearly
dues - a bit much for me (but worth it to others). There also is a big
difference between Eastern and Western Mass golf. I grew up in Northfield
and played a lot at Chicopee and Westover while at UMass. I found a huge
difference in the number of players vieing for playing time. The number of
players is astronomical compared to the number of courses here and the greens
fees here are probably also much higher than in the west (i.e. $1250 is a lot
of money for a sport and it may not make sense in Westfield but it does look
better in Marlboro).

	Eric

As a fellow member of Marlboro CC, I agree with everything Eric said. 
And I'd like to expand on something he alluded to: tournaments. Unless 
you have a highly organized group of regulars at a public course, 
the competition you get into on publinks is limited to the foursome 
you're plying in, if that. Whereas good private clubs with an active 
membership have tournaments going on all the time. And, if you're so 
inclined, there's usually a crowd of competitive characters with 
similar handicaps to your own that you can make side bets 
with--you can end up with more matches than your mind or nerves can 
handle.

Belonging to a club is well worth the added expense, if its members 
and philosophy is compatible with you and your own. A bicycle is 
cheaper than a car, but that doesn't make a better choice of 
transportation. It depends on how far you want to go.

    To answer your question, this is how I feel.  If you are an avid
    golfer, and if you would like to golf 8 months out of the year,
    which I do, and even if your wife does not play, it's just 
    knowing that I can run over there at any given time of the day or
    night and play 2 holes, or 22 holes.  You would be surprised how
    much you play when you become a member at any course.  Keep in mind,
    that many Country Clubs, such as NCC have other facilities such
    as pools, curling rinks, tennis, etc., that other members of your
    family can enjoy when you are out on the links! I have a close friend
    that virtually drops her two kids off at the pool at NCC in the
    morning and doesn't have to worry about them until her round of
    golf plus her "19th" hole is over. There are life guards, and all
    kinds of swell folks that frequent the pool that you get to know
    also. Just think about the money that you would spend going to the
    beach's, etc., or renting cottages, or whatever you do as a family,
    that could all be done at a private club.  We start golfing as soon
    as the snow leaves the fairways and play until we can't find our
    balls in the fall. We play roughly anywhere from 5 to 7 seven times
    a week, and quite often will play 27 or 36 holes on Saturdays and
    Sundays......I guess it is just something that you have to justify
    yourself, but I can assure you it won't take too long to do so.
    There are also leagues on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday nights,
    Monday and Tuesday is men's and Wednesday night's are ladies. Every
    Thurdsay anywhere from 2:00PM on they run a men's hatred, that gets
    a very good response.  They run mixed scotch's and many other social
    functions often.  We have made many wonderful friends, and to be
    honest with you, I don't know how I survived without it.  I can
    tell you that I would never want to not have it now.  I hope this
    answers your questions.....
    
    M. Barber

Re: .-1

>Every Thurdsay anywhere from 2:00PM on they run a men's hatred, that gets
>a very good response.  

What's a men's hatred?

Larry

    Isn't that when the women members get together and plan on how to
    get more access to the course ???

    	Thank you all for your responses.  I can see where for a lot
    of people, it is certainly well worth it to join a private course/club
    and always play there.  For others, like myself, right now, it's
    just not worth it financially or otherwise.  Maybe in 10 years,
    it will be different.  But the one private course that's close to
    where I live, is not nearly as expensive as most I've read about
    in this file, but also is not nearly as nice, and doesn't offer
    as much.
    	It runs around $850 for a single golf membership, and around
    $2000-$2500 for a family membership that includes everything.  They
    have an inground pool, 2 tennis courts and an 18 hole golf course,
    that in my opinion, doesn't really compare to quite a few of the
    public courses in the area.  They do have a nice clubhouse though.

    Beak