In its century-plus history as an organized sport in the United States, golf has never been a more popular pastime.
A record 48.1 million people engaged with the game in 2025, either on a traditional course or at a simulator or entertainment venue like Top Golf, according to the National Golf Foundation. That represents a 41% increase since 2019, when the COVID pandemic triggered a resurgence of interest in golf as a safe, socially distanced outdoor activity.
That boom in popularity, combined with rising inflation, also sent the price of a peak season round of golf to record levels, up 29% in the past six years. That increase can be even greater in destination markets like Fort Myers and Naples, where some seasonal residents and tourists seem willing to pay whatever it takes to play 18 holes and private courses far outnumber public ones.
Southwest Florida is undoubtedly a golfer’s paradise, but is the price of paradise becoming too expensive?
The News-Press and Naples Daily News posed that question and received more than 80 responses via email. The answer: a resounding yes.
From left, Andy Gonta, John Regina and Greg Budd play a round of golf with friends at the Fort Myers Country Club on Tuesday, April 14, 2026.
“One of my thoughts when I retired and moved down here to Florida, there are so many golf courses around, you’d think it’d be fairly cheap,” said Randy Thompson, who relocated from Virginia Beach to Fort Myers in 2019. “But they raise the rates so much in January, February and March, I’ve only played once since right before Christmas.
“I can afford to do it, but I can’t seem to get myself to pay $100 for a round of golf when I can go out, have dinner with my wife and enjoy other entertainment.”
Southwest Florida has two distinct golfing seasons
The good news for Thompson and other area golfers is that May signals the beginning of the summer golf season in Southwest Florida. Rates will continue their steady decline, eventually bottoming out at about one-third of the winter peak. That floor, however, is a lot higher than it used to be.
For example, last September, the city of Fort Myers substantially hiked prices for passholders and visitors at its two municipal courses, Eastwood and Fort Myers Country Club. This May, the 18-hole daily rate with a golf cart at the country club is $65, half the $130 price from January through March. But $65 is more than double what the course charged last May and before the increases, golfers could play a round for just $35 in January.
Elgin Hicks, the parks and recreation director for Fort Myers, said while there was understandably some grumbling from passholders and daily players when the higher prices began, those complaints dissipated and seasonal traffic at the courses didn’t see a noticeable decline.
Rob Armfield plays a round of golf with friends at the Fort Myers Country Club on Tuesday, April 14, 2026.
“The price increases were really just an opportunity to bring everything up to speed,” Hicks said. “We were just trying to find a common denominator so that we can stay affordable, obviously, but still be able to take care of some of the other maintenance issues that always come up.”
Indeed, in early April, the city’s listed rate of $95 for 18-hole morning play with a cart at Fort Myers and Eastwood still fell significantly below the average cost of an early round at most full-sized golf courses in Lee County. That’s made the courses attractive options for golfers like Frank Smith, who has lived in North Fort Myers for the past five years after relocating from New Jersey.
“It’s tough to get on the private course,” said the 60-year-old Smith, a once-a-week golfer. “I play (at Fort Myers Country Club) because it’s accessible and it’s still pretty affordable.”
Smith said the most he ever paid locally for a round of golf was $400 at Tiburon Golf Club in Naples.
“That’s more of a function where you’re with your buddies, and everybody’s doing it, so that’s why you’re paying that,” he said. “I wouldn’t seek it out to go out and play there myself. It’s not like gas where you have to have it, right?”
Rob Armfield, 67, who recently relocated to Fort Myers Beach from Apple Valley, Minn., said he’s found it difficult to play 18 holes for less than $100 a round but considers both Fort Myers public courses a good value.
“Would I like for more of them to get under $100? Sure,” he said. “Pricewise, I’m not going to pay $200.
“So many courses down here are private, it’s hard to know what all of your options are.”
For frequent golfers like Bob Enright of Cape Coral, sitting out the peak season isn’t an option. That’s why he opted to pay $4,500 for a 12-month membership fee at Cape Royal Golf Club. The pass covers his greens fees, which he said are as much as $155 in the winter, and allows him to book his preferred tee times up to two weeks in advance.
“When you’re paying $130 or $140, and I want to play two or three times a week, that’s $400,” the 76-year-old said. “Doing the math, season is like 17 weeks, January through the end of April, so that’s almost $7,000.
“Membership helps keep my costs down because I’m finding the price everywhere is just going through the roof.”
Naples golfers have fewer public course options
That price is even more prohibitive in Naples, often considered the golf capital of the world, with more golf holes per capita than any other metro in the country, according to the National Golf Foundation. However, the overwhelming majority of those are private, with just 14% available on public courses, by far the lowest percentage of the top 50 U.S. markets for golf and less than half that of Port St. Lucie, the second-lowest market at 35% public. In comparison, the average split of these golf meccas nationally is 61% public versus 39% private.
With just a smattering of public courses, finding an affordable golf option in Collier County is challenging at best, said Marco Island resident Reggie Gabriel.
“I’m not one of those guys that can join a country club,” the 81-year-old retired school administrator said. “I do very well, but I’m not wealthy like you need to be to play golf every day down here.”
Gabriel is part of a group of 30 or so golfers from the Marco Island Men’s Club, who play Mondays and Fridays. During peak golf season, he said the group is limited to Hibiscus Golf Club and Eagle Lakes Golf Club, two public courses. After the season, the group’s playing options expand to include Royal Woods Golf & Country Club and Royal Palm Golf Club, private courses where the majority of residents have gone north for the summer, thereby increasing available tee times.
Gabriel said he purchased a $430 playing card from Hibiscus, which allows for discounted rates at the course. That option is on borrowed time, however, as the course plans to transition to a private club in 2027.
Gabriel said he’s not playing anywhere near as much golf as he did just a few years ago due to the elevated costs.
“Could I afford $150 to play twice a week? Yeah, I could,” he said. “But it just rankles my feathers to have to pay that for those courses. It’s a real strain for a lot of people down here that love to play golf, especially if they’re on fixed incomes.”
Golf course operators also face cost challenges
Everyone has their breaking point when it comes to the cost of golf. For Doug Burnham, it came two years ago when he had a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to play the iconic Pebble Beach Golf Links in California, widely regarded as the best public access course in the U.S. The price: $750 for nine holes.
“Even as a PGA professional, they wanted to charge me that,” said Burnham, who’s spent the past 35 years working in the Southwest Florida golf business. “I wouldn’t do it. As much as that was on my bucket list, I didn’t think $750 was worth it for nine holes.”
Burnham, the general manager at Quail Run Golf Club in Naples, a private course that allows public play, said his goal is to try his best to keep golf affordable for locals. In early April, the morning cost for 18 holes was $109, among the lowest in Collier and as much as four times less as some Naples-area competitors.
“We try to keep ourselves very, very competitive when it comes to pricing,” he said. “Golf’s a game and everyone should enjoy it, and that’s what we try to do.”
For operators, the cost to maintain golf courses has risen along with their rates. But Burnham said increases in the prices of equipment, fertilizer and fuel don’t account for some of the area’s exorbitant 18-hole greens fees.
“Just because you’re (a private club) doesn’t mean you get charged more for equipment or gas,” he said. “Our expenses aren’t that much different from their expenses. So to keep our rates more affordable is definitely a challenge.”
Burnham said Quail Run’s rates will drop to the $50 or $60 price range this summer when the majority of the club’s 190 golf members are back north.
“But the costs are still the same in the summer, so how long can you go,” he said.
Jeff Nixon, the head golf professional at Myrlee Country Club in Fort Myers, said the popularity of golf could wane in the future if prices continue to rise.
“There’s some pretty outrageous rates out there that I never thought I’d see in my lifetime,” said Nixon, who’s worked in the Southwest Florida golf industry since 1992. “It’s not just a round of golf. It’s the cost of clubs, the cost of golf balls, everything has gone up considerably in the past five years.
“I think eventually you could see a reduction in play and it’ll go backwards, but right now, I don’t see that changing down here.”
Contact Sports Reporter Dan DeLuca at ddeluca@usatodayco.com. For the best sports coverage in Southwest Florida, follow @newspresssports and @ndnprepzone on Instagram.
Please support local community journalism and stay informed about Southwest Florida news by subscribing to The News-Press and Naples Daily News; download the free News-Press or Naples Daily News app, and sign up for daily briefing email newsletter, food & dining and growth & development newsletters here and here.
This article originally appeared on Naples Daily News: Golfers in Naples, Fort Myers pay high prices for tee times