Whats the best value round of golf you have had ?

I guess anyone can choose to interpretate this anyway they like, you might have paid £180 to play the old course but felt it was the best money you'd ever spent (not that SR would agree) or you may have played some unknown little backwater for a tenner and loved it.
For me I played the Oxfordshire on a voucher which I think cost me £20 so I thought that was a bargain as I loved the course and played OK that day.
Only stipulation is there had to be some amount of money paid, Ive had a few freebies including the Grove a couple of times but I dont think its fair to count those.

Kingsbarns for £10, Carnoustie for £20.

Old Course is "only" £140 at present Digs.

Not quite sure this meets your criteria but I know a guy that has corporate membership at Wentworth. He has very kindly taken me up on 3 occasions and I've played all 3 courses for free.

I did however buy him a polo shirt from the pro shop which cost me about £50 as a thank you so does that count as payment?

If not, how about the Coast of Down tournament? Played it last year, you play Ardglass, Kirkistown and then the top qualifiers (which included me) play the championship course at Royal County Down. Entry fee....£109!!

In the late 1980's Canyamel golf club was one of the first to open in the north of Majorca. For publicity and promotion purposes they invited around 100 UK golfers to play in the inaugural event. I managed to win the qualifying competition at my own golf club and was therefore duly eligible to attend.

I went with my then girlfriend and we were expecting to be bombarded with timeshare nonsense and similar. To our pleasant surprise it was nothing like that. We had the flights, 4 nights accomodation in the new hotel including all food, a practice round and two days of competition golf and the presentation dinner for the prize winners on the last night all completely free of charge.

Only downside was that we had to fly Dan-Air...anyone remember them?

Just spotted the stipulation that there has to be some amount of money paid...the girl that was my girlfriend then is now my wife and so it has been costing me ever since, will that count?

Dan-Dair - now there's a blast from the past! They used to fly out of Bournemouth Airport (when it was still called Hurn, before it assumed the grandiose title of "International").

Best value rounds of golf I've ever had have been when playing in club matches and only had to pay the match fee instead of a green fee. Trouble is, not all the courses were even worth the match fee!

Apart from the freebies seniors opens are generally great value as little as £12 to play Bondhay nr Worksop.
Been ripped off a few times though.
Going back a bit(well a lot) Wentworth used top be £18 for the day incl sandwiches and Woburn at £50 fro the day incl lunch was good,happy days

A friend of mine used to be a member at The Berkshire. For a while we used to say I was a junior and pay only £2! This was in the early nineties but still ridiculously cheap. Even a couple of years ago we could sign in as guests for just £30.

I once made a spreadsheet to calculate the best value round in scotland. It turned into a bit of a mess, but I can put it on google docs later if people want to fiddle around with it.


Back to reality and I think North Berwick day ticket for around £115 is pretty much the best deal in my area.

Best value golf I ever played was Pebble Beach in the early eighties: $75.00 for an all-day ticket including share of cart. Such good value I played the following day for another 75 bucks.

I still pay $18.00 greens fees in CNY for a "hidden gem" for an all-day golf, more on weekends. Can't beat it.

drive4show wrote:If not, how about the Coast of Down tournament? Played it last year, you play Ardglass, Kirkistown and then the top qualifiers (which included me) play the championship course at Royal County Down. Entry fee....£109!!

Now that sounds like a great deal. Would love to get a shot at playing RCD .

Navy

That trip worked out to be a complete bargain.

We played a practice round at Ardglass plus the 3 competition rounds, return flights from Southampton to Belfast, car hire for 5 days, 4 nights B&B and a share of the petrol (minimal) plus the golf fees, came out bang on £400. All we had on top of that was food and drink.

Highly recommended that you give it a go

There's something called the Highland Golf Ticket. You get 5 days of golf in Perthshire for £65, or 3 days for £40.

From the website -

Five days of golf valid at any of the following clubs: Comrie, Muthill, St.Fillans, Milnathort, Killin, Dalmunzie, Dunning, Kenmore, Blair Atholl, Strathtay, Crieff and Strathmore nine hole courses; £65.00. Three days of golf £40.00.

These aren't Open Championship standard courses, but without doubt they are really lovely, and very welcoming.

Ladyputt - that's an excellent point about airports calling themselves 'international'. There probably are a few airports in the US that don't fly anywhere outside of the US, but in the main, an airport is there so that you can get to somewhere a long way away. Places a long way away tend to be abroad. Adding 'international' to an airport name is tautology. One day in the distant future, I expect Bournemouth Spaceport will add 'Intergalactic' to its title just in case we had any doubt that you could travel to ESO 137-001 from there.

As a young boy I once went round Vale of Llangollen in about 130 shots. Not sure how much it cost but in terms of pennies per shot it must take some beating. I've got the scorecard somewhere and I started 10, 10, 10 so at least I improved as I went round!

Not really played anywhere "famous" but I remember playing Kilspindie just outside Edinburgh early one morning just as the sun was rising and it was a pretty special experience. Can't remember the cost but bet it was less than £20 and would have been good value at £200. Remains, very regrettably, the only links course I've ever played.

Oh I've played Monte Mayor in Spain, which I think is amazing, on three occasions too but that can't be considered good value due to the fact whatever the green fee is you pretty much need to double in balls lost!

Best value I get is from entering singles and pairs matchplay knockout tournaments. There are a few, sponsored by the likes of Volvo, HowDidIDo and Direct Golf, and all follow the same basic format of 4 or 5 regional rounds of matchplay, a regional stableford final and then ultimately a week playing somewhere like the Algarve or Dubai. Entry is usually about £25-£30 and courtesy of the course is encouraged, otherwise the away players' green fee is shared among all players. I've not yet had to do that, though, as virtually everywhere gives courtesy. Naturally if you lose at home in the first round you'll be out of pocket but otherwise you'll probably get a cheap round somewhere out of it, and the better you do the better the value gets. I've certainly got good value out of HowDidIDo this year, I'm off to Vilamoura in Feb!

Hibbz wrote:
Oh I've played Monte Mayor in Spain, which I think is amazing, on three occasions too but that can't be considered good value due to the fact whatever the green fee is you pretty much need to double in balls lost!

Now there is a blast from the past. There is a par 5 there where you play to one field, your next shot to the next field (over a wall if my memory serves me), & your thrird to a plateau'd green, high above the fairway.

Its probably the only golf course I've played, if you miss the fairway, you were in a hazard, on every hole.

And as Hibbz states you need loads of Balls....

Best value as in cheapest i've paid out, £12 or a course in North Wales a few years back called Maesdu, used to host the PGA before it moved to Wentworth really enjoyed the course, it was tough but fair and there wasn't a hole you couldn't play in several different ways. Good value for money.

Best Value as in free and for the venue Shinnecock Hills, got to play there in a Ryder Cup type match when in the Army, British Soldiers v US Soldiers, was set up by a serving officer we were all in the Gulf with. To this day best course and toughest course i've played and fact we played it over 4 days(1practice round and 3 Competitive days) was simply the greatest golfing experience of my life.

Best Vaue in paid out a lot but felt every penny was worth it, either Wentworth new course off the very back tees or Chart hills, everytime I play Chart Hills which is often I simply enjoy the round, it's not everyones cup of tea but always a good day there.

3rd place = dunaverty £28.00
2nd place = machrihanish £56.00
1st place = gleneagles kings.......for the cost of lunch!(and not from the gleneagles hotel!!!!!)

North of Scotland Open at Dornoch about 20 years ago.

£10 entry. 1 practice round, made the cut so an average of £2 / round on one of the best links courses in Scotland.

ScottieD18 wrote:North of Scotland Open at Dornoch about 20 years ago.

£10 entry. 1 practice round, made the cut so an average of £2 / round on one of the best links courses in Scotland.

Correction, one of the best links courses in the WORLD.

PGA West, Palmer & Nicklaus private courses in Palm Springs, California for $80 dollars each, couldn't quite beat Duvals 59 though

Best value golf I ever had was in the very early 1970's, up in Doons old neck of the woods at Gullane 2. I'm struggling to remember exactly how much it was a round, but I seem to remember it was less than a fiver and included a caddie.

I have found that you can get the best deals in continental Europe.

A few years ago some friends and I decided to check out the golluff in continental Europe. We had 2 days (4 rounds) at Royal Zoute for 160 euros, then after an overnight stop in Rotterdam, went to Noordwijkse and had a round there for 30 euros. We rounded off the trip with a night in Amsterdam. I don't remember any details from that night.

However, the best deals I've ever got have been in France. Belle Dune for 30 euros, and les pins & les dunes at Hardelot for 60 euros in total.

I also remember playing in a 3 day pro-am at St. Omer for about 75euros. Unfortunately it was a boozy affair, and I spent about 10x that amount on post-golf activities (including a night out at a French disco where it seemed that 90% of the people there were trannies). Never again.

I played Royal Zoute back in the 90's, cracking course and pretty reasonable as I recall. I remember it was a Saturday morning and I was trying to squeeze a round in before catching the 1pm ferry from Zeebrugge. Asked for the earliest available tee time, they gave me 9am. I thought I'd get in maybe 14 holes or so. When I arrived at 8.15, there wasn't a single car in the car park. Starter arrived at 8.50 so I paid my fees and went straight off. I noticed on his start sheet that the next game after me was 10.15!!

I had a continental Europe top 100 course completely to myself on a Saturday morning! Whizzed round in a little over 2 hours and had a leisurely drive back to the ferry port

My local 9 hole course charges 250baht, ( 5 pounds) for 18 holes plus 80baht, (1.35 pounds) for a caddy.
About 30 miles out of town we have Victory Park, 18 hole course that up until recently held the Issan Open which attracted nearly all the top Thai pros. Cost on sports day, 500baht, (10 pounds) incl of caddy.
Next week playing Singha Park at Khon Kaen. This is a new course that hosts several top pro tournaments a year. The course is immaculate. Cost 940 baht, (19.50 pounds) incl of caddy.