Every downturn in the economy results in many golfers having to decide on if they play golf or not. Overall, the question from people who are interested in playing golf becomes…
Why is golf so expensive to play?
- Golf is a sport that requires a lot more skills & knowledge than any other sports. To be fairly good at golf, it requires years of practice, course playing, and coaching, and that costs a lot of money. Golf coaches are also more expensive than other sports. Most professional golfers will tell you it will take up to 20000 hours of training before turning pro.
- Golf clubs are expensive because there are 14 different clubs in a bag that you have to buy; which is unlike other sports. Every club in the golf bag serves a different purpose. A typical set of golf clubs costs roughly 1500$ USD.
- Golf clubs are expensive to make. Once again, golf is a game that requires tremendous precision, such as hitting the ball from hundreds of yards to target that is 4 inches wide. That means that club manufactures will need to put a lot of technologies and designs in the club to improve performance, distance, apex, spin, launch, feel, and looks. Plus all kinds of other stuff. This makes a club extra expensive. The most expensive club in the bag; which is usually the driver costs around 400$ USD
- To play good golf you will need to upgrade your equipment frequently. Golf manufactures are constantly releasing new clubs and claiming better performances. This makes amateurs constantly buy new clubs; it is almost like buying a new iPhone. Every time a new generation is released, everyone rushes out to get a new iPhone. Golfers are just like that.
- Golf is a hard sport, so there are often times when people just play horribly. This motivates them to switch clubs; because amateurs tend to blame the problem on the clubs when they don’t play well.
- There are tons of accessories needed to play golf. The must-need accessories are gloves, tees, and balls. A pair of gloves costs 25$, a pack of tees costs roughly 20$, and 1 golf ball costs about 5$. The amount of golf balls you use per year depends on your skills. Average amateurs spend about 300$ on golf balls a year. There are also tons of other accessories that aren’t mandatory, but fairly important. Such as range finder, golf shoes, private golf club attire, alignment sticks, head covers, GPS watches, apps, and other swing assisting devices. I’ve spent about $5000 USD on those other accessories over the last decade.
- Green Fees are expensive. One round of golf costs about $100 USD. Average amateur plays 15 rounds of golf a year. Golf courses are expensive to play because it is not cheap to maintain a golf course. Golf course managers have to keep the grass in very good shape. A golf course’s size is between 100–450 acres, and it will require a lot of workers to keep the course in shape.
Of course, there are more affordable ways to fund your golf experience. But still, the price of golf is very far out of many people’s reach.
Golf being expensive turns people off to Golf.
What Makes Golf So Expensive
There have been a large number of attempts to address whee the money goes in Golf. Most say it goes into making the newest diver. Others say the cost of research and development of new technology for golf is the cause for golf being too expensive. Then a few will say it is the professional golf tournaments that set the expectations for high costs.
Many will argue that the trillions of dollars invested in private golf courses and resorts is what keeps the costs of golf going up.
Will Golf Ever Become Affordable?
There have been a number of attempts to bring the cost of golf down over the last 100 years. None of them seem to work. However, at some point, the leadership of golf will have to find a way to bring the cost of playing golf down. I am certain that would like shooting themselves in the foot since the leaders of golf are making their salaries from the high cost of playing golf.
One can only hope that one day a person entering the wild world of golf for the first time could do so for less than the cost of a small house. I hope I get to see you that day.
Until then, let me know how I can help.
