What makes golf one of the most expensive sports?

dandelion_girl: What makes golf one of the most expensive sports?
Well i’ve never golf but i do watch all those people golfing on my telly, so it makes me wonder that whenever my uncle said that he went golfing the other weekend – my other relatives would be like WOW cuz well, golfing is expensive and the “rich” would always be the one that could afford to play for leisure for a sport like that. So why, why is golf expensive? Is it the golf set?

Answers and Views:

Answer by Alex A
A brand new complete golf set costs around 700 dollars.
But there is a wide variety of Clubs to buy, like woods, irons, wedges, putters. etc.
Driver- $ 500
Fairway woods- $ 300
Iron Set- $ 700-1000
Wedges- $ 90-140
Putter- $ 70-300
Golf bag- $ 90-$ 300
Not to mention the balls, and if youre just starting, you’ll easily go through a dozen
Golf balls range from $ 10 to $ 50 a dozen.
Also, the dozens of golf lessons you will need to get good.
And the green fees can get pretty expensive, some are $ 20 for 18 holes; but some can be really expensive, like $ 200.

Answer by Rocco J
Golf is played on a huge piece of property. Some more expensive than others. Millions to built. More millions to run and keep up, Millions of expensive equipment and staff thats specialists to run it all. And a Pro or two. Throw that all together and you need some serious cash to keep it going. And if you from Nevada even more. Water is something thats not just on tap and unlimited. Expensive stuff in that area. And in the middle east they make fresh water from sea water. And thats not cheap. So all in all. The equipment is a fraction of what you going to fork out to keep playing this wonderful and I think best game in the world. No other sport exist where you can start at any age and play till you can barely walk anymore, be competitive and play where the pros play, Think about it.

Answer by TJ Wharton
Golf can be cheap really. There are plenty of cheap municipal courses. But some places are like $ 250 a round. Rich people like to play it so it seems like an expensive sport.

Answer by green_lantern66
it’s a lot of junk, really. I’m a golfer, and I just can’t fathom paying $ 700 plus for irons. “good” drivers run around $ 300. I did a “dream bag” with the extras I wanted (just for fun) and it would’ve cost me $ 1479. Ouch- and that’s not counting a putter, or golf balls.

Club manufacturers pay professionals to use their clubs. they spend millions on “research and development” to make slight tweaks to their clubs from year to year. ever notice how wach year they make “the longest, straightest driver ever”? Makes me laugh.

reputation goes a long way to driving prices up. Any course built by someone like Tom Doak or Donald Trump (heavyweights in golf architecture) builds is going to be expensive. Pebble Beach charges $ 495 a round- they force you to stay at the hotel, and that helps add to the cost. It’s really just crap- you could have just as much fun at your local muni for 90% off.

Answer by ~PeRsOn~
good golf clubs can cost up to 2000$ for the whole set
also if you want to play at good private golf course you need to have membership
also practicing if you want to be good is expensive to find a good facility
and to be good you need a coach,golf pro, that always check your swing and stuff
unless you play for fun its pretty expensive

Answer by Brandan F
Golf can a be a very expensive sport because of the equipment used and the turn over of the equipment that needs to be replaced after a few years possibly. The prices of my bag break down like this:
Driver – $ 300
Fairway Wood – $ 180
Irons – $ 950
Wedges – $ 200
Bag – $ 160
5 boxes of Taylor Made balls for the year – $ 200

Total – $ 1,990

Thankfully I play all the local courses for free so I save money there.

Answer by padraig♥
Golf is expensive for many reasons:
First of all, if you want to get quality clubs it can cost from $ 700 upward.
Secondly, green fees tend to be a bit pricey, especially if you want to play a good or well known course. For example Pebble Beach can be up to $ 600 for 18 holes.
Thirdly, if you want to join a local Country Club that can be expensive with initiation as well as monthly fees.
Fourthly, if you want to become good you will most likely need to take lessons which adds up if you get them regularly.
Fifthly, a younger golfer who wants to pursue the game and play in college and so on, needs to play in a lot of national tournaments to get recognized. These tournaments can easily add up to $ 1000 and up a week.
Lastly, there are a lot of other reasons like golf balls, cart fees (if you want to take them), clothes, gadgets, etc…

It all adds up really.

Answer by gravedigger
pretty much every thing except the golf balls and some tees it even cost money to be in a tournament

Answer by tiger7377
all these guys hit on all the points (FIXED COSTS). I’d say one thing that makes it so expensive ( other than equipment ) … are the “OTHER” costs.
1. Green Fees …
2. Cart Fees.

That is assuming you will not play witha caddy that would cost you about $ 100 a day.

Golf is truly a leisure sport . You have to decide if this is somethign that you enjoy . The true golfer doesn’t play becuase it is expensive or “cheap” …

It’s a game … and you can play all alone if you want. Kind of LIKE PLAYSTATION.

Answer by Jason G
Historically, golf is an elitist sport. Back in the days of the Great Gatsby, some of the greatest courses were built during this time, even in the setting of the Great Gatsby. Hopefully you’re aware of the Great Gatsby, otherwise you won’t understand what I’m saying. Let’s put it this way. Say I want to invest in a new full set of Nike equipment. A new driver is going to cost 300 bucks prior to taxes. A new set of irons(VR Split Cavity is what I want) will run 900 bucks prior to taxes. A couple of VR wedges will run over 200 bucks. A putter will run you over 100 bucks. So you’re talking 1500 bucks and you don’t have anything to put the equipment in. A bag will run you anywhere from 100-200 bucks. Then you’ll need golf balls and those will run you anywhere from 20-40 bucks. All this and you haven’t went to the course yet. Even before that, those that choose to go this route, lessons will start as cheap as 25 bucks an hour and go as high as 150 bucks an hour if not more. Then you go to the course. Cost to play golf can be as cheap as 14 bucks for 18 holes(walking) to 500 bucks for 18 holes(walking or riding). There are low end courses and high end courses. There are cheaper alternatives to everything and golf is included in that. There is cheaper equipment. Buy an older, pre-owned model. Walking on most courses is cheaper than riding. Hopefully you’re in good shape. Oh, I forgot about apparel. Golf apparel falls into the same category as low and high end. Maybe all of this rhetoric can give you an idea of how expensive golf can be. It also should tell you that if you budget well, you can still enjoy playing golf.

Answer by speedingbus2003
Good question. Two things you really need are time and money, which are very hard to come by for most people. A round usually takes 4 hours to play, you also have to practice hitting balls a few times a week, ideally. And if you really like it you should join a private club, because public courses can get really crowded. Good clubs are expensive as are shoes and good golf balls. Golf can be extremely fun and addictive as well. Good luck.

Answer by no idea?????
yes the equipment is very very expensive in to days economy. the golf course is built on many acres of prime real estate. the cost of maintaining a golf course extremely high. very expensive sport. prices are not going up. courses are afraid to raise cost due to economy. same applies to equipment companies. it helps to be rich. but the average person. can afford one round a month.

Answer by JOSEPH A
One of the wonderful things about golf is that you can spend as little or as much as you want. The clubs in my bag cost me about $ 400.00. I played Hindman Municipal in Little Rock, Arkansas for $ 13.00 per round this weekend. I’m sure there are people with $ 2000.00 clubs paying $ 75.00 greens fees that didn’t have as much fun this weekend.
And I won a smooth $ 6.00!

Answer by Scott H
The reason golf is so expensive cannot be answered by one single, solitary reason. Many factors are present when talking about how expensive the sport actually is.

1. Golf Clubs – My set of clubs for example consists of a Titleist 907D driver, a Titleist 904F 3 Wood, Titleist AP2 Irons – 3-pw, three Titleist Vokey Wedges – 52 – 56 – 60, and a Scotty Cameron Studio Stainless Putter. My set, brand new, would cost the average person around $ 2,000 on the conservative side.

2. Equiptment other than clubs – Sure golf clubs are expensive, but you can spend a lot of money on other things. For example, a golf glove – $ 15, a dozen Pro-V1 golf balls – $ 45, golf shoes – $ 180, a golf bag – $ 200, tees, divot repair tools, and Sharpies for marking your golf ball – $ 30.

3. Playing a course – You can play 18 holes in some areas of the country for as low as $ 5-$ 10. But, if you would like to play, in some people’s opinion, the best course in the country, Pebble Beach Golf Links – $ 495-$ 530 depending on what time of day you play. If you would like to walk, but not carry your clubs, you would be looking at an extra $ 75 per bag carried by a caddy, and a gratuity on top of that.

In my opinion of course, golf is the most expensive sport to play because, in order to play, you must keep paying money for new clubs, new golf gloves, more balls, and playing the game itself.

I hope I answered your question.

-Scott