I am writing this blog to help golfers get excited about and think about getting out of the house and into the great outdoors for a few hours.
I am going to list the top 5 affordable golf courses in North America. I’ve looked at over 20 courses in my search for affordable courses. Here is a list of the top 5:
1. The Super Canyons Golf Course – Las Vegas, Nevada
Cost: $45 Cost per 18 holes: $18
2. TPC Las Vegas – Las Vegas, Nevada Cost: $55 Cost per 18 holes: $22
3. Silver Creek Golf Club – Henderson, Nevada Cost: $55 Cost per 18 holes: $22
4. The Canyons Golf Club – Las Vegas, Nevada Cost: $60 Cost per 18 holes: $25
5. Canyon Dreams Golf Course- Las Vegas, Nevada Cost: $65 Cost per 18 holes: $27 **This is a link to the website where you can read more
After my initial tour of the golf courses in North America, I decided to expand upon the list. I dove deeper into the data and found some interesting trends—especially in terms of gender.
The most affordable courses were all in Canada (where a round costs about $10), and every single one was all-male. The average length of these courses is more than five miles, and they are rated as excellent by golf course ratings site Golf Digest.
Perhaps the most surprising thing was that there were no courses in the United States that were even remotely affordable, at least based on my analysis. Half of them cost more than $50; two were more than $100; three of them came in at $200+. Only one was under $250; it was only 15 minutes away from where I live, so that’s probably not a coincidence.
In other words, if you’re looking for a place to play golf near your house, you might as well start looking at alternative sports like soccer or golfing…
It’s hard to choose among luxury resorts, but of all the options, golf is the one that works best for most people.
You don’t need much money to play golf, and there are lots of courses within a few hours’ drive of almost any major city.
The courses are mostly for leisure, so you don’t need to be in peak physical condition. You can go on weekdays and have days off from work, or take your kids to play.
The courses are also reasonably scenic—they won’t win any architecture awards anytime soon (but you’ll probably like them better than driving on freeways).
Room rates at most resorts are reasonable; most of them can be had for under $100 per night.
There are a lot of golf courses in North America, and many of them cost more than $100 an hour to play. That’s because the golf industry is a huge business, and the courses are almost all owned by rich people who have a lot of money to spend.
Not many people have $100 to spend on an hour’s worth of golf. But not everyone can afford to buy a club, either. Golf is a game for rich people with money, or rich people who want to feel like they’re rich.
Golf is so expensive that there are only a handful of affordable places to play it. One is Roughrider Golf Club in San Antonio, Texas. Roughrider charges members $3 an hour, which is the same price as a cup of coffee at most places around here; you can play 18 holes in an hour for less than $12. That’s a lot cheaper than any other course around here (and I’ve played all the others). If you’re having trouble imagining what it would be like to play golf for less than $12, imagine trying to get your car fixed for that much money.
The reason for the four-ball team is to get a round in at these courses and make some friends. If you’re getting a hole-in-one, maybe you’ll get invited back.
I’ve also heard that in some places an all-day golf outing is called a “golf marathon.”
If golf is a game for the wealthy, soccer is a game for the poor. In many parts of the world, it is an Olympic sport. For most players, it is also a career.
It’s an elite sport for elite people, but soccer costs little to play. The equipment costs little. The leagues have few rules and can be played in parks and empty lots. Soccer is cheap even for the poor—my own 9-year-old son plays against kids ten times his age in a league that has never had a fee before.
Soccer, golf, and other sports seen as low-skill activities are often not considered to be real sports. But those who understand that making a good shot or getting a good result is largely a matter of skill, not luck, have a tougher time understanding why the word “sports” is applied to such things.
It takes skill to play tennis well. It takes skill to play golf well. It takes skill to play golf well at a high level and it takes skill to play soccer well if you’re supposed to be defending, not attacking. And it takes skill to play soccer at a high level and it takes skill to play soccer well if you’re supposed to be attacking.
And yet the three don’t even have the same definition of “playing” in common. Sports means playing at an above-average level, which can mean many different things. And sports is not just about competition; it also has political overtones that seem alien when they appear in what other people would call “play.”