Golf/Country Club initiation/dues and how it impacts junior golf

[Golfquant]

some big #'s here; thoughts?

[DFW Snowman]

I'm not sure if it's like this in every area, but I haven't seen the benefit of joining a club for junior golf. I'm in the Dallas area though, so there may be more junior resources here than elsewhere. 

 

My 8-year old son attends a weekly class and has a coach at one of the clubs in that list without needing a membership. For practice we have my hitting net and putting green in the backyard. And we also have a Youth on Course membership for him to play cheap rounds at public courses nearby. 

 

If he's still playing as he gets older, we may get a junior membership at a nearby municipal, but that's maybe $100/month.

 

I'm probably missing something, but I don't see how a private club offers a lot more than that. 

[Tugu]

Thank God for Youth on Course.😇 Play the links at Spanish Bay for 5 bucks.

[leezer99]

56 minutes ago, Tugu said:

Thank God for Youth on Course.😇 Play the links at Spanish Bay for 5 bucks.

Yep! I’ll send my kid with $20 and that gets him a $2 bucket, $5 round, $6 hot dog and a $3 Gatorade. 

[ShortGolfer]

Junior**** Hawaiʻi Resident	$ 1.00
Junior Hawaiʻi Resident Monthly	$ 9.00

 

Cheap golf for Juniors at the Wailua municipal golf course on Kauai.  Non-residents pay $100 on weekends, $80 during the week.

A box of breakfast cereal, on the other hand, probably costs as much as a monthly membership, if you live on Kauai.

 

Edited March 7 by ShortGolfer

[jda]

I want to be clear that even though my daughters got a few D1 golf scholarship offers, they did not play any Junior golf - just HS.  ...so my take on this might be misguided since I only have coached, talked to other parents and did not live through this.

 

However, the parents around me who had High School Junior golfers will tell you that the kids do not need to spend a lot of time PLAYING at the same course.  Practice facilities and playing rounds at different places are key.  If you want a top-tier junior golfer, they need to be able to post a number anytime and anywhere and not just at their course.  Most courses offer VERY deep discounts to juniors in the summer afternoons... some don't even charge them all of the time.  All of the local courses near me allow use of the putting green and short game facilities for free.

 

If college is your goal, I would save that country club membership money for tuition, room and board.  Who knows how many golf programs are going to be around after the NCAA settlement fallout over the next few dozen years.  If pro is your goal, then I would also save that money to support your kid well into their twenties while they chase their dream.

[golferdad8]

Many private high end golf courses offer “merit” junior golf memberships for as little as $25-50/month!
Yealimi Noh was the most famous in our area who did this, and it’s one of the benefits that many people don’t talk about - no need for parents to pay $100-300k plus heavy monthly dues, and definitely worth pursuing if one has junior golfers. 

[Par4Nate]

As long as your kid has access to quality practice facilities, there is no need to join a country club, particularly a high end club that costs a quarter mil or more to join.  If you’re a golfer and you’re going to make use of the club, that’s a different story, but joining an exclusive club just for junior to golf is a bit of a stretch IMO.  Again, assuming they can get access to a quality, grass practice area.

 

BTW, none of those prices are ‘insane’.  $250k+ is minimum threshold for most high end clubs out here.  Basically, you could double the fees of those clubs for similar level clubs out here.

Edited March 8 by Par4Nate

[MahalNeneng]

20 hours ago, Tugu said:

Thank God for Youth on Course.😇 Play the links at Spanish Bay for 5 bucks.

This!! We milked this for sure. Runs through birthday of 19 years

[wegobomber31]

You don’t need to be a member of any of these clubs to excel in junior golf. 

[caniac6]

Get away from large metro areas, and the costs come way down. May require a bit of a drive, but that might be a sacrifice you’ll have to make.

[ATXGolferGuy]

17 hours ago, Par4Nate said:

BTW, none of those prices are ‘insane’.  $250k+ is minimum threshold for most high end clubs out here.

YES, most of these prices are insane. My parents were/still are members at a club here in Austin and the initiation has gone from 5K when I was a kid to over 60K now...and for what...it's not like the course suddenly became Pinehurst or something...it's a solid track sure that is normally always in good shape but for that amount of money you can get top quality lessons and play top quality courses all over the country. You're not getting that initiation fee back either....even if it is a stockholders membership.  

[Par4Nate]

1 hour ago, ATXGolferGuy said:

YES, most of these prices are insane. My parents were/still are members at a club here in Austin and the initiation has gone from 5K when I was a kid to over 60K now...and for what...it's not like the course suddenly became Pinehurst or something...it's a solid track sure that is normally always in good shape but for that amount of money you can get top quality lessons and play top quality courses all over the country. You're not getting that initiation fee back either....even if it is a stockholders membership.  

 

Yeah, owning and maintaining a golf course, club house, pools, tennis courts, kitchens, etc., costs money.  Lots of money.  $60k isn’t expensive as far as private clubs go.  IIRC, isn’t Barton Creek CC way more than that?

[Hawkeye77]

On 3/7/2025 at 7:49 AM, Golfquant said:

some big #'s here; thoughts?

 

Well, what's your point?

 

Who says access to private clubs has anything to do with junior golf success in general?

 

Don't many juniors already have parents who are members of private clubs?

 

Don't plenty of successful juniors have parents who aren't members of private clubs?

 

Just a clickbait social media post about DFW (hardly the USA) inspiring nothing not already known.

[JimMLINY]

I play at Westchester Country Club in Rye, NY for my HS alumni outing.

$200K or $500K initiation

$10K or $100K annual dues.

Don't know if there is a food minimum, never asked.

[Par4Nate]

What’s criminal on that original list is $80k for TPC Craig Ranch.  That’s akin to highway robbery.

[leezer99]

We play at a track that UCLA uses a lot for the men's and women's teams. Really nice grass range, a big chipping green with multiple bunkers and a giant putting green where you can set up a station and not be in anyone's way. Initiation was around $5,000 with $350 monthly dues back during covid. Monthly has gone up to $480 and now there's a food minimum of $1,000 per year which is easy to spend. 

 

I really like being able to easily book a time whenever we want to play and not feel committed to 18 if we feel like bailing after nine. 

 

Watched Omar Morales hitting balls next to my son today. Homie was getting 195 ball speed (measured on GC Quad) but was cruising at 180. Really makes Charlie's 188 ball speed that much more impressive. 

[LOB-Dwight]

6 hours ago, leezer99 said:

We play at a track that UCLA uses a lot for the men's and women's teams. Really nice grass range, a big chipping green with multiple bunkers and a giant putting green where you can set up a station and not be in anyone's way. Initiation was around $5,000 with $350 monthly dues back during covid. Monthly has gone up to $480 and now there's a food minimum of $1,000 per year which is easy to spend. 

 

I really like being able to easily book a time whenever we want to play and not feel committed to 18 if we feel like bailing after nine. 

 

Watched Omar Morales hitting balls next to my son today. Homie was getting 195 ball speed (measured on GC Quad) but was cruising at 180. Really makes Charlie's 188 ball speed that much more impressive. 

180 cruising to 195 is quite a spread.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited March 9 by LOB-Dwight

[leezer99]

6 hours ago, LOB-Dwight said:

180 cruising to 195 is quite a spread.  

He was speed training and was doing a drill that bumped the cruising speed up real quick. 

[Golfquant]

12 hours ago, Hawkeye77 said:

 

Well, what's your point?

 

Who says access to private clubs has anything to do with junior golf success in general?

 

Don't many juniors already have parents who are members of private clubs?

 

Don't plenty of successful juniors have parents who aren't members of private clubs?

 

Just a clickbait social media post about DFW (hardly the USA) inspiring nothing not already known.

I think it matters

 

and if nothing else, the post got you to reply (albeit with a comment that added little to no value to the discussion)

 

if you don't care and it's not relevant, why bother to respond?

[Hawkeye77]

40 minutes ago, Golfquant said:

I think it matters

 

and if nothing else, the post got you to reply (albeit with a comment that added little to no value to the discussion)

 

if you don't care and it's not relevant, why bother to respond?

 

It's a discussion - if you think it matters then explain why, you started it.  

 

Again, what's the point?  There are country clubs in the DFW area and some cost a lot of money, some not as much, same in a lot of places.  Many other large cities in other states don't have anywhere near that level of cost for private clubs, let alone cities that aren't so large everywhere --- most kids that go to college and golf come from high end country clubs in the largest metro areas in the U.S.?  No. 

 

Who says access to private clubs has anything to do with junior golf success in general?

 

Don't many juniors already have parents who are members of private clubs?

 

Don't plenty of juniors have parents who aren't members of private clubs? 

 

Asking questions because you've literally added no value other than a social media post about what various clubs cost in DFW - just a social media post and sit on the sidelines. 

 

The golf boom continues, youth participation up again and at record levels among other key indicators.  Nothing to suggest kids aren't getting into golf (quite the opposite) and the demographic info suggests other barriers are not getting in the way.  

 

Kids' parents don't "need" to belong to private clubs, but they aren't as inaccessible as you are suggesting nor did the "X" post have anything to do with junior golf. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited March 9 by Hawkeye77

[MtlJeff]

Some places golf is really expensive, i'm less familiar with Dallas but i'm guessing if you are willing to drive 40-45 mins you can get a more reasonably priced club. I know in Austin most clubs within 20-25 mins of the city are quite expensive, but if you go a bit more north to like Georgetown area there are better deals including some with <10k initiation. 

 

I imagine many cities are similar. My club has a 10K CAD initiation and 5K / dues per year and MTL is not a small city (though weather isn't ideal for golf). If i showed you the initiations of Laval or Royal you'd think Montreal was crazy too.

 

Most places you just have to be willing to drive a bit. 

 

Overall i agree though that it does hurt capitalization a bit. Because i do think it's better to be at a private club with a good junior program

[caniac6]

I belonged to a semi private that had a kid go to Auburn, and was the SEC freshman of the year. I now belong to a private that had had a fair amount of girls go to D1 golf, including an ACC freshman of the year at Wake Forest. What both courses had in common were great teachers. If you can find a good teacher, and access to decent practice facilities, you don’t need to spend a ton of money to be a member at a high end club. In fact, my club is the least expensive private in the area, and we produce more successful juniors than the other clubs. It’s because of our teacher, not the cost or prestige of our club.

[Hawkeye77]

1 hour ago, caniac6 said:

I belonged to a semi private that had a kid go to Auburn, and was the SEC freshman of the year. I now belong to a private that had had a fair amount of girls go to D1 golf, including an ACC freshman of the year at Wake Forest. What both courses had in common were great teachers. If you can find a good teacher, and access to decent practice facilities, you don’t need to spend a ton of money to be a member at a high end club. In fact, my club is the least expensive private in the area, and we produce more successful juniors than the other clubs. It’s because of our teacher, not the cost or prestige of our club.

 

And I agree with @MtlJeff - in general, private clubs or semi-private (and that's a big distinction) are more likely to have junior programs, access to instruction (yep, need the right people) and so forth. I was never playing at the "next" level, haha, but enjoyed having a place I could just go play when I wasn't working one of my three summer jobs. 

 

Aren't there almost 300 D1 schools, let alone all the smaller four year schools and community colleges?  They are drawing a wide demographic, and that's a lot of kids.  

 

And even if not all kids have parents who are members, plenty of privates and semi-privates allow HS teams to use their facilities for practice and meets and some allowing team members who don't belong to have access in various ways during the HS season.

 

 

 

Edited March 9 by Hawkeye77

[Hawkeye77]

And almost 75% of the courses in the U.S. aren't private - so odds are a similar ratio of juniors playing and having access to golf other than country clubs.

[Par4Nate]

6 hours ago, Hawkeye77 said:

And almost 75% of the courses in the U.S. aren't private - so odds are a similar ratio of juniors playing and having access to golf other than country clubs.

 

My guess is that the ratio would be skewed to private clubs simply because they afford easier access to quality practice facilities and playing opportunities, but I still don’t think it matters that much.  If your kid is motivated and skilled, they are going to blossom in either environment.  Key is simply getting good instruction and guidance, which certainly isn’t solely limited to private clubs.

[Guest RobS]

I think it depends on what type of practice facilities and courses are available in your area.  Private becomes a big advantage when the club is conveniently close to home and the public facilities aren't but it has to be a junior friendly club.  Many private clubs aren't.  At some private clubs, the juniors are low priority even if they may be the best player at the club.  I can't speak to the private clubs in the DFW area but in the NE and MidAtlantic, a junior may only be able to play during certain, limited times and when the practice areas are crowded, they may be asked to give up their space for a 'member', i.e. an adult that's signing initiation and dues checks.  Some clubs are junior friendly and some aren't and if the club isn't junior friendly, you're better off paying daily fee and buying buckets of range balls anywhere you can find some decent grass.