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last question Rick and it’s something we’ve discussed before we’ll discuss it again and I think we’ll discuss it until the cows come home cows waiting for those cows to come on the way home um just going past tbay now W be too long um anyway it’s from John car I think it is the John car who has been a a very regular s for a long long time and it’s a question that and it’s I’m not annoyed at him for asking it but I I get a bit annoyed about this and it says it’s so simple said it before but is golf getting too expensive now I don’t what your take is Rick but I’m definitely in the camp of no I bought a packet of tegs the other day and I couldn’t believe the price but I bought them at the wrong place at the wrong time oh yes and I think that summarizes golf in a nutshell you can pay a lot of money for golf equipment you can if you go about your ways correctly and you know I bought God there was 25 T’s in this bag for £250 you get a heart attack okay I could probably buy 5,000 t’s for a tener off eBay well I’m just looking straight not quite that value but even here these are bamboo which nor madir there’s a jumbo bag of a th000 for 25 quid in Amazon so I’m sure you can get obviously much much cheaper than that but that just kind of shows that kind of scale cost per T is cheap and it goes into anything with the golf equipment hopefully you all enjoyed the Costco Drive review I did the other day Costco Drive was £190 go to Costco you can pick one up obviously it’s not got the fitting properties but that was an unbelievable driver for the price we’ve also shown you on this channel where you can even buy even lesser price clubs than that like you can buy a package set for for £250 or you can go to golf bidder and pick up some secondhand equipment for for very very reasonable costs I would say where costs have potentially increased I think green fees have potentially gone up M would that be fair to say I don’t know and I don’t know the answer to that question I think practice facilities have gone up in cost certainly good ones um but I feel like they’re officing offering more of a service now certainly practice facilities whether it’s a driving range they’ve got top Tracer technology or or other technology on the driving range like they’re offering a bit more golf courses I think because of the demand of golf at the moment the or certainly over the last couple of years the green fee price has gone up potentially membership has gone up a little bit as well because of that again that that drive and that demand it’s that is frustrate frustrating on that standpoint because but that is business if if there’s more people going to facilities naturally there’s obviously businesses they’ve got to try and make more money they go well hold on if we’re getting more people let’s ramp the price up and and hopefully make more more pound per yeah I I have mixed views on this and I think it’s why somewhat annoys me because I I understand it and and if you are a golf fanatic and typically people that listen to this podcast week in week out obviously really enjoy the golf and and spend a lot of the free time playing golf and I think when that is the case naturally not everybody but naturally you become more into gear you know if someone that plays once every year maybe for a corporate do or something might have a set of clubs that they got given by their uncle or the Granddad that are Rusty and they don’t care cuz they use them once a year if you play twice a week or three times a week There’s typically a correlation the more you play not always the case I must admit but typically and something with our listeners the more play the more bother you about gear and when you more bother up gear you often like the latest the greatest the shiny new things and if you look at golf clubs now from the big Brands versus where they were a number of years ago certainly like the irons and and even Putters they have gone up a a massive amount and if you look now I’m just having a quick look like American Golf for even like a set of um ta made Qi 10 which kind of a game improvement in if you want those five to gap wedge you’re looking at a grand now that is a lot of money I remember only about six years ago when a set of forg Di and these aren’t forged by the way the qi1 you look at like 599 699 so I know we’ve had inflation and all that kind of stuff without getting too kind of mathematical it definitely does does feel a lot more expensive and you look at golf balls you look at gloves you look at you know golf shoes now you can get very expensive golf shoes and it also really kind of it’s what you’re looking at as well and how expensive you want it to be so you can see Nike have got a Jordan golf bag I a few times on the Nike Golf website and I’m sure it’s like 400 quid for a Jordan golf bag now obviously that is ludicrous and you’d only be buying that if you are literally wanting a Jordan golf B it doesn’t mean that golf has to always be expensive you can go on to Amazon you can go on to Sports Direct you can buy all right gol I mean here there’s a Jordan golf club for 50 Quid and there’s a Jordan golf bag for 460 quid now in isolation you could post those on Twitter as a and say look at golf it’s ludicrously expensive and people would engage with it and they’d say I agree but you can get cheaper stuff and you can get decent secondhand stuff from golf bidder Etc from Facebook Marketplace that still will get you out there and I think it’s only really for me the people who want the latest and greatest that naturally get affected by it so much if you took up golf today and you wanted to get something just to get you around a golf course you could buy a package set for 100 quid Max you could buy Lake balls you go to local mun and I mean looking now on like tea off times or play more golf or whatever you can go and play golf courses that are half decent for relatively cheap but equally you could go and play at some very exclusive golf courses and pay literally hundreds of hundreds of pounds which again I think is why we have this thing in our head that golf is expensive I think it does frustrate me that people perceive it as that only because it’s going to naturally put people off star in the game because you see it as being expensive if you look at lot of the golf shoes now sorry I’m ranting but a lot of the golf shoes now you can even use echo in this this um discussion as well make a lot of onour offc course shoes and yes they’re better than the trainer because they’re waterproof but they’re still breathable Etc But ultimately they’re not a million miles of a trainer so if you turn up at a golf course in a trainer and A’s black pants and a secondhand set or a package set you can go and play golf yeah you’re absolutely spot on I think what what is quite interesting as well is like I was just looking at a few online only Brands as well I’m not going to drop any names but like golf equipment you can buy online only the price there reflects what major brands were five or six years ago so you can still pick up reasonably priced irons golf equipment Etc um yeah and just but even you’re right but even that to your point though about what you can pick up when we’ve done videos or whatever we’ve used some of like your fans and an example of this would be when we did the uh the first go to make a bird he wins 10 grand yeah ironically that was obviously a lot of money but we had four golfers come who were big fans of the channel who love the golf right and I was looking at their gear and most of them had the kind of latest and greatest think about it if you are that that much into your golf you buy a motor caddy or a power Cy whatever 500 quid you then might buy a bag that is better suited to an electric trolley that’s a couple hundred quid then you even have to be got a laser or GPS watch then you might have a Scotty Cameron or even an Odyssey Putter and your wedges your your your irons you drive your 3-wood then they’ve got Galvin green waterproofs they’ve got foot Joy golf shoes then they’ve got a of spiked golf shoes they were then they’ve got the maets or whatever the waterproof gloves like it can get ridiculous and you wonder how people afford it but that is because they aspire to have that stuff and they found a way to afford it but again that doesn’t mean everybody has to have that and I think that’s just the difference it’s like what you want and what you need are two very different things like gas prices and food prices is is a real pain in the ass for most people naturally cuz it’s we need those things but we don’t need a new laser range finder because you just want one I that’s the difference I think you’ve put that perfectly well
28 Comments
Green fees are on the rise and thats the issue. I was talking with someone who moved where I live from California and he said green fees were less than $10 everywhere he golfed there. He came here and its impossible to find a course thats under $15. Supply and demand at its finest. There are not enough courses here to support how many people want to play and pick up the game. It is near impossible to get a tee time here, especially on the weekends. Tee times are often taken a week in advance. As long as this keeps going, I think the green fees will rise just because they know they can until the demand goes down
This Guy bloke is the weirdest person in the YouTube golf realm. A freeloader that never pays for greenfee let alone golf clubs claims that golf didn‘t become expensive.
Driver £500, 3 wood £350, Hybrid £280, irons £1360 wedges £380 putter £250, bag £150, 12 balls £50 that's £3320 just to get started then you want to talk green fees? a rubbish golf course is going to be around £25 a round once a week for a year is £1300 so the new golfer in his first year has just spent £4620. Yes there are cheaper options on equipment but the difference in performance is huge. Courses are hiking green fees up to attract in foreign holiday makers. Kings barn for example is £400 a round now. Golf is very expensive for the average person.
A guy with 2.5 mil subs and his mate who haven't paid for clubs or greenfees for years are clearly out of touch.
I've watched Rick,and the boys,since the Trafford days,and dont begrudge them a single thing they've earnt,but to talk about the cost of playing when they dont pay for anything is a bit much.
Prime example guys putter isnt "working" and he goes back to the car to get another like its nothing
Agreed, I got the pxg 2 series for $120, cause they were purging that product and making room for their new product. Almost every golf brand does the same thing. Why buy the newest clubs
A top snooker cue can cost you around £8k and take several years to arrive. A top bicycle is approaching £20k now. Running shoes can go for £500. Even replica footballs shirts are encroaching the £100 mark. Put golf in the mix and top end gear is relative. You can step down the value chain easily enough across the golf range. However, when you look at £500 for a top putter or a top driver and now looking at top irons being around £180 each, are we getting value for our money? Probably not.
Totally out of touch, green fees man, even the cheapest courses in my area are pushing $100 a round these days, and playing somewhere nice is astronomical. Memberships are out of the question with initiation fees costing in the 10's of thousands before the yearly membership fee
In canada where i live its like 60$ canadian, + 20$ if you want a cart,
Membership is 1100$, and we only have golf for 5 months, 3-4 months good condition, and this is like a middle of the pack course,
There are some cheaper around 750-800$ per year wich is 5months
Then you have more expensive, 1300+ … again for 4-5 months
It aint the clubs that is the issue
Golf is known as being a rich man’s sport
Golf is priced out of reach if your on low incomes or unemployed.not many offer reduced fees if proof of benefits or income can be given..Owr club at Tavistock do help with these reduced fees so it then promotes this sport for all and not just those that can afford high membership fees.as for clubs etc,everyone can afford cheap clubs from selling sites like marketplace.
Guy you my boy are delusional if you think golf isn’t expensive. Forget the price of equipment, joining fees and membership fees are nothing more than extortion.
My golf membership costs me £21/week.
If I have the time £3/round playing every day.
Probably costs about £10/round.
As a non member it would cost £40+ per round which I couldn't afford.
All my golf gear has come from ebay. Nearly new at a lot less than half retail price.
Here in the West USA, it is prohibitive now. (not the clubs, fortunately clubs have been so good for so long now, it is easy to find an extreme bargain on used clubs ) It is the green fees. The mangiest goat track full of 25 indexer snowbirds is $100…A decent mid range course is $200, YES green fees have gone up at massive pace, not even a debate. ..and now land anywhere near public utilities or water and sewer lines is worth gazillions, so there is really no hope in sight, almost no land now is used at it's "highest and best usage" as a golf course (real estate maxim). 25 years from now numerous courses will be residential or commercial lots. In a small section of my home town I have seen 3 courses built, used for 30 years, and closed, and sold and developed. The Eastern US with older courses, less population growth, and plenty of natural watering from rain instead of canal water, maybe have a different future, and perhaps UK the same….don't know. But here a course will be built, run at a loss for a few years until all the homes are sold, then the course is sold, sometimes for pennies on the dollar and regenerated or the course sold and water rights kept separate, maybe it does ok, then sold again, and the cycle continues. Add to the inflating of golf prices your mortgage or rent, (rent averages $2500 +/-for small home), car, gas, food, health, ins, school, kids stuff…etc….and this is working / mid class Phx area. Luckily I am a reader, hiker, biker….so even after 40 yrs of golf, Ill have no problem ditching it if I have to.
As some who works at a golf course in its greenskeeping. Everyone of our chemicals, mechanical parts, sand and other soils and staff has exponentially gone up and how else can clubs cover the costs with raising green fees and memberships?
I’d imagine the cost of wooden tees would be the same given the demand for wood based products given the move away from plastics
Hey guy's it's not necessarily the price of clubs that's the issue it's the green fees at courses. Everything is already so expensive and Golf courses followed everyone else. That's very sad.
I found the best way to not get ruined playing golf :
1- buy clubs and balls second hand but in great shape.
2- play golf in the afternoon.. after 2pm prices drop and after 4pm even lower..
3- walk the course , in Canada is 20$ cheaper walking… it's weird in Florida it always comes with cart. No walking price..
i started playing frisbee golf instead because it's free, then i realized what i really like is just walking around nature, so forgot about the golf altogether and go on ganja herb hikes now. someone once said "golf is just a good walk ruined"… not anymore.
Best way to look at it..
The initial start up to play costs money.
But after a while you get settled in and know what you need and where to play. Once in a while, you'll play an expensive course or upgrade gear.
You don't have to break the bank per say to enjoy good golf.
Ever thought that if you want to play a lot of golf then get a membership in a club. I pay 1.500€/year for a 27 holes course and played 285 rounds in 2023. That comes to a bit more then 5€/round. Or +/- 1€/hour. Beside walking and running do you know of any sport that cheap. But a couple of weeks ago I played 3 courses, royal saint George's royal cinq ports and Rye. With transport (eurochunnel) because I live abroad, overnight stayings, food, drinks souvenirs etc. that has set me back nearly 1000€. So moral of this discussion, you can make golf as expensive as you want or as cheap as you want…😊
These discussions lead to nowhere. Rick your no longer even close to an average player…Dubai, and playing Augusta are not within reach of any of your viewers….Glad you have earned it. I am ok with what ever fees are there. You get what you pay for. On a side note your not a true marathon runner at all…a walker for sure so don't even say you ran a course…kinda like saying golf is expensive just saying till you run a close to 3 hour marathon your not running so keep things in alignment just saying your a turtle runner and a good golfer.
Does this show Guy and Rick don’t pay green fees anymore? Why was this something they very clearly forgot to consider as a massive cost.
It's almost like they totally missed the point on purpose to get comments on the video.
Guy saying he gets annoyed by this question, then proceeding to say he isn’t sure about current prices to play should make his opinion on this subject void. Especially when he most likely never pays to play anywhere.
What’s getting me is green fees are going up and it seems the course conditions are going down. May be because more people are playing the course but with more revenue you need to keep it to good conditions. Some places I won’t go now bc price vs condition is t worth it anymore.
Golf is as expensive as you want it to be.
As far as clubs go, I have the 2nd hand market locally and was able to stacked golf my way to a 2018 and newer set of clubs for about $350 USD. Green fees though….. harder to get my golf to value ratio to my preference.
It's funny isn't it.. I'd imagine that ten years ago, as a fresh young youtuber.. maybe Rick could actually be objectively able to debate this… But how can he? It isn't his fault.. per se… But he gets free everything.. it's like asking Sunak how much a pint of milk costs!
Btw… You can play little local 9 holers for 10-15 quid.. so I'm happy. But 'proper' courses are crazy expensive.
The golfbidder challenge shows if your just starting out can spend $500 on clubs to start playing.
If your trying to upgrade to newish clubs. Callaway preowned on eBay if you read the descriptions and conditions can get practically brand new clubs or clubs hit maybe 3x for 1/3 of the price. I got my 7W that retails for $280 for $110. Not a scuff on it.