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

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!

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.

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.

Ignore your friend learning golf is not only a fun sport and when you get older it makes for a great resource for networking and furthering your career. I know many kids that laughed at me when I was young but now they arent playing golf with the CEO.

We actually have a GOLF TERM for guys like your “friend”….”PUTZ”!
He’s just plain ignorant! Meaning, he doesn’t know ANYTHING about golf….just the old out-dated stereotypes.

“Paid for hitting a ball?”….how is that different from soccer or baseball?
and….he probably couldn’t even do THAT!

Not really worth the trouble to try to convince him, as he seems to be an idiot, anyway. So, I suggest you don’t bother discussing golf when he’s around.
If he really starts to annoy you, get in his face and tell him that golfers, at least, EARN their money…unlike NFL or NBA players that get paid just for being on the team!

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.

Your friend obviously doesn’t know what he is talking about and you will probably never persuade him that golf is a fantastic sport for kids, young men, old men, women, girls, etc.

Here is an interesting fact from the PGA Tour this year:

“The PGA Tour looks like it’s getting younger all the time. It sure appears that way, with eight winners so far this year in their 20s, including 27-year-old Adam Scott and 22-year-old Anthony Kim the last two weeks.”

I guess there will always be two types of people; those that love golf and those that don’t – who cares as long as you enjoy playing golf.

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.

Ignore the fool. Hes scared to even try because he’s a wuss.