It’s like the elephant in the room that we are all avoiding. Yes, another rant about what is going on in the current economic climate is to follow. Well, not so much a rant but more like questioning. Sure, this is winter and much of the country is unable to golf. Heck, even places you would think golf would be playable has experienced wild weather lately (Las Vegas, for example). It all begs the question…how has your game changed lately? Not your score. Not your swing. How much has your game changed in terms of spending?
Let’s not joke around about it. Consumers are afraid to spend money. Those of you that live in areas that actually have seasons have another “excuse” to not spend money on golf, but what about the rest of us? The driving range seems less populated and it seems awfully easy to get a tee time at some of the normally busy courses. Is it just me, or are people truly spending less on their beloved hobby?
I’ve been lucky enough to have more work than I can handle so I actually haven’t had enough time to golf. Fortunately, I can still swing a club with a respectable manner and am socially acceptable on the course. That said, I do think about how much I should spend on practice balls and find ways to cut my costs.
In fact, I recently went to a golf open house at a local store just for the freebies. Why not? It was close to my office and on the way home. I came home with balls, tees, hitting tape, and a new glove without spending a dime and only investing about 25 minutes of my time. While there, I ran into several golfers that explained that they were only spending when they had coupons or discount codes. One patron explained how she spent most of her time signing up for newsletters searching for demo day freebies. It was quite a system that she had going but I am not sure that she time invested made up for the savings.
So are you doing anything different? Are you playing less? Are you looking for more bargains?
No more NJ to AZ winter trip and $200+ rounds at Troon, Boulders and Greyhawk. Muni golf all the time – this year 3 upscale exceptions vs 10 to 15 – and I bring my own soda and water. Equipment expenses slashed from thousands to hundreds. Driving range visits drastically reduced in favor of free putting and chipping practice at local mini.
Know what? Golf is still a thrill to play.
Comment by 8thehardway
— December 20, 2008 @ 3:51 pm
I play for free at to local private courses with the connections I have made. I am also good friends with a person who owns a high end club fitting business so I get clubs and shafts at cost. The local driving range I work at has seen some downturn this year in business but we expect it to return and some of it was due to bad weather earlier in the year. A local muni has chosen to resurface their greens so they must be doing well. Golf is powerful it survived the great depression and will survive these weak financial times.
Comment by Almost
— December 23, 2008 @ 11:05 pm
Almost has a good point, every time you play golf make friends with everyone and get their business cards, this is called networking, with this economy a round at a country club or good prices on golf clubs are always appreciated, i have not really noticed any difference because the golf shops in michigan have been cutting prices so we can afford stuff and i also play high school golf which means free golf almost always
Comment by Chuck
— December 31, 2008 @ 2:30 am
I’ll be spending more time hitting my own bucket of balls in a public park that not many people visit rather than spending at the driving range. There’s enough room in the park to hit a 7 iron — barely. I won’t be able to afford the number of rounds of golf I would like this coming year, but at least I’ll be keeping the swing alive for when I can play golf. Of course, I can chip, pitch and putt for free at a local course, so I’ll be doing more of that, too.
So — less golf, but better?
Comment by Watch
— January 15, 2009 @ 2:12 pm