Really enjoyed this one as a listener from across the pond. Thank god I can afford to join a club here in the UK (I’d imagine I’d never have the chance in the US) - the thought of not having access to play any golf terrifies me.
Future topic I’d be interested in is the incredible inflation in green fees. I’ve seen this in the UK since Covid where it feels like green fees at good to great courses have just sky rocketed. It feels like around £100 for an average course, £200 for a really nice course and £300++++ for a top tier. I know we’re lucky here to be able to even play these courses versus truly private US courses but the prices seem totally out of whack.
At my course, visitor green fees have gone about a third because foreign (mainly US) visitors will pay and we want to have a similar price to what we perceive as peer courses (there’s a weird phenomenon where you put prices up to increase the perception of how good your ccourse is!). That makes me worry about local people who, years ago, could have played one of these courses as a treat (expensive but not ridiculous) and now likely can’t afford/justify it. Knowing a member of a good course seems the only viable way to play some of these places.
Not sure if I’m way off with this but it has been bugging me for a while.
I’m not a member of a club in the UK but I am hearing this from friends who are and seeing it when I go to book one off rounds or longer trips. Great article here from earlier this year on the green fee increases at the top 100 courses in the UK as well as some of the surrounding courses and the trickle down effect it is having on membership subs and the ability for new players to join clubs.
@KVV - realise the vast majority of the NLU reader / listenership is US based but I think a segment in your series focused on public golf in the UK would be of interest to all.
Just chiming in to say that I’ve never much cared for Dave Fink’s schtick or his golf tips (many of which I think are wrong). Happy that he persevered through hard times, but ever since being introduced to him while hate-watching some EAL, I’ve found his main-character-syndrome quite insufferable.
All that said, I still found Sean’s comments to ring hollow. I really can’t see Fink’s anger and actions as anything but justified, and Sean’s critique suggests to me that he’s embarrassed and/or defensive about his participation in said con and his inability to recognize the corruption for what it was from the start. I think hearing from some of the Korean Americas who spoke up in opposition to the brokers would have been a better way to balance the narrative.
Overall, great start to the series. Really excited to hear more of these.
Dave and John notice tee times really disappearing in late 2020
LA is finally forced to action in spring 2024
That’s about three years where the tee times were completely gobbled up. I felt like the timeline got a little lost here but damn, that’s a long ass time. Congrats to Dave and the other dogged golfers who fought through the red tape to bring this public resource back to the public.
I’ve resorted to joining text/signal/discord groups to play with people who get good tee times. That’s about half the rounds I play, the other half yeah I’ll snag some shitty 1 pm tee time slot when I realize I want to play 3 days before. I never seem to plan these tee times a week in advance so I’m never in priority.
Another big thing was I joined a mens league with a few buddies which is nice for the tournament events as well as getting the early tee times when you play in these events.
Y’all motherfuckers need some rural Iowa. Last weekend I showed up before 9:00 and was about to just walk when the owner pulled up and said he saw my car so he thought he would stop over to see if I needed anything.
There’s a bunch happening in the UK just now - particularly scotland - with members biting back at the amount of tee times (and time in general taken) by overseas visitors. Clubs are (in my view) getting greedy on visitor fees and members are being shut out on the courses many have spent decades at. St Andrews links trust are taking action next year to hand more times and priority back to links ticket members, and there’s other places looking at similar.
That being said - the cost of green fees over here for visitors is eye-watering - but supply and demand and all that - visitors are paying it and are obviously willing to pay more.
To play some of the better courses in scotland - you either gotta be a member, know a member or be a tourist with money to burn. Domestic tourists and visitors getting the short end of the stick.
Thank goodness for the RACDG and wealth of generous members at brilliant clubs
Made the mistake of going to the beginning of the video to check out the course and got to the part where he’s giving unknown drugs to the 20 cap. Yeah, he took them, but enormous red flag behavior.
