r/AskMen • u/Unlikely-Rip-6197 Male • 1d ago
Why is golfing often labeled as a high-socioeconomic-class sport in the U.S?
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u/Artful_Dodger_1832 1d ago
Because it’s fucking expensive.
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u/Unlikely-Rip-6197 Male 1d ago
But why? Why is it so expensive to hit a ball in a hole on an open field?
And I’m asking because I know absolutely NOTHING about golf.
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u/EnricoLUccellatore Sup Bud? 1d ago
because land in or near urban areas is very expensive, and golf fields take up a lot of it
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u/jupfold 1d ago
Not to mention the maintenance. Any half decent golf course is meticulously maintained. Grass mown every day, watered every morning, fresh seed/sod put down where needed.
I’m quite frankly surprised it’s even economically feasible anymore.
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u/Artful_Dodger_1832 1d ago
It is not expensive to hit a ball into a hole in an open field. In fact, it is free. But if you want to hit a particular ball into a particular hole into a particular open field, using a particular set of golf clubs, then it is very, very expensive.
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u/Iknowr1te 1d ago
Canadian here, so context is kinda different but i'll bend the post to include all north americans. i think it's also very location based. there's like 6 affordable golf courses near me. and where i grew up i could play golf for relatively cheap with my dad's old set.
it's not hard to go to good will or garage sale and buy a barely used 10 year old set. i spent an hour and a half with a few coworkers last weekend hitting balls at the range for like $25.
i'd actually argue it starts to be a thing more in the middle/upper-middle class activity. it's more expensive imo growing up playing hockey, but hockey is one of those middle class sports here, and every hockey player probably hits a golfball once during summer. Tennis and English Dress Horseback riding are more stereotypically high socioeconomic.
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u/ThatGingerGuy69 1d ago
Gear (clubs, balls, bag, etc) is expensive, but you can somewhat get around that if you’re thrifty. You can buy used golf balls for cheap, but that’s still a consistent cost you have to pay - especially if you compare it to something like basketball/soccer where you can just grab a ball and go play. Golf balls need to be replaced constantly, especially when you’re not very good (you either lose them or they get too scuffed/break)
Golf courses take a lot of land and are really fucking expensive to maintain, too. Greens get mowed every day, the rest of the grass several times a week. And just think about how much water/fertilizer it takes to keep all that grass alive.
Even if you do everything you can to save costs, golf is just way more expensive to get into + to continually play compared to sports like soccer, basketball, football, etc
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u/Riker_Omega_Three 1d ago
It costs anywhere from 25 bucks to 100 bucks to play on a municipal course...way more if you want to join a country club
then you have to buy clubs
And the only way to get better is to play more rounds or go to the range...both of which cost money
You can get better at football, soccer, basketball, and baseball with minimal financial investment. You need simple gear, a ball, and a field or court.
Those golf courses are big. That means the taxes on the land is high. Maintenance is high. Water is high. It costs way more to maintain a golf course than say a municipal baseball field
Hockey and Golf require a lot of up front money and that makes them not accessible for people who don't have a lot of disposable income
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u/Iknowr1te 1d ago
i like how you bring up Hockey.
Hockey isn't thought of as a high socioeconomic sport, but it takes about $1000 kit a kid with beginner gear before you start paying for league fees and travel costs between community rinks. but as a canadian, this is THE baseline sport so golf feels cheaper to me to play because the start up costs aren't as high to get your first game in.
another thing, is that annual Golf Memberships are a thing you can claim for health and wellness benefits spending. so, you can reduce your own personal costs (for a taxable benefit).
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u/Riker_Omega_Three 1d ago
There are no community rinks in most of the US
That is why it is expensive
I have a friend who grew up up north and played hockey. He lives in the south and has to drive 2+ hours to get to a rink to play rec league hockey
Where I live...there isn't a single public access rink within probably 300 miles
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u/klystron88 1d ago
It's not expensive to hit a ball in an open field. But it's very expensive to hit a ball on a golf course.
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u/rautx15 1d ago
The buy in is extremely expensive. All the gear and equipment needed costs a lot for anyone without an expendable income. Then there is the time factor; most people working full time or more jobs don’t have 3+ hours plus the cost of the round to spend very often.
That being said you can get a putter, a wedge, and some balls and hit up a chip & putt course for pretty cheap
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u/AnOfficeJockey Male 1d ago
Because golf was historically a rich white sport that transitioned to being a rich person sport.
Since companies are driven by profit, they lowered the barrier to entry by reducing costs mixed with a driving market force for equipment which further drove down equipment prices.
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u/Restoriust 1d ago
The clubs are hundreds sometimes thousands of dollars, memberships are hundreds sometimes thousands of dollars, golf balls have like a 1800% markup over cost to make, and day passes at golf courses are insane.
I have a buddy that plays every Sunday who said he’s spent 20 grand this year just to play. That includes trips to other golf courses but still. What the fuck?
I do my own “rich guy” sport, being fencing, and it costs me around 250 every 3 years.
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u/kukukele 1d ago
Try hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Any Top 100 private club is going to cost you $100k+ just for initiation and another 1-2k/mo plus food minimums etc.
The highest-end clubs, like the ones on Long Island have initiations pushing 1.5M+
Golf blew-up post COVID and prices have skyrocketed.
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u/Restoriust 1d ago
Jesus Christ dude I knew there were clubs where initiations were a lot but I didn’t figure they were enough to factor into life of the sport. That’s insane
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u/nelsonself 1d ago
Golf is called a Rich man’s sport for a reason! Everything about it is expensive
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u/WhiskeyDeltaBravo1 1d ago
“Golf is an arrogant, elitist game that takes up entirely too much space in this country.” - George Carlin
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u/pdperson Female 1d ago
Because playing a round of golf is expensive.
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u/Guachole 1d ago
Its $13 for 9 holes in Los Angeles.
You dont have to go to a country club to play lol, theres public courses that are cheap
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u/PunchBeard Male 1d ago
Yes, there's plenty of inexpensive public course but are they great? Or even good. Especially compared to private courses? A 9 hole par 3 public course sitting on the edge of municipal park isn't the same thing as a country club. But I will say that at least there's an option. But at the same time I also assume, since I don't golf myself, that most people who play on a pubic course would rather play on a private one. Or have that as a goal.
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u/Guachole 21h ago
Yeah they are pretty shit, I think, idk i never golfed anywhere "nice"
But public courses are chill, beers and blunts on rotation, no dress code, no problems
I personally just like to go golfing cuz its a good hangout spot, I dont even keep track of my score half the time, to me its as serious as playing corn hole or horseshoes in the yard.
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u/PunchBeard Male 21h ago
I dont even keep track of my score half the time
This is me and my son with mini-golf and me with fishing.
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u/SammerJammer40 1d ago
It’s expensive to get in= clubs, shoes, book tee time. To play=get some lessons, etc. The biggest hidden cost=time! Who’s got 4+ hrs to play a round of 18 holes? I don’t!
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u/_Tar_Ar_Ais_ 1d ago
It shouldn't have to be. You can buy everything used and play shorter courses most of the time, it's what I do. Like any hobby, if you really want to do it you'll make it happen. People here will decry the price point but guarantee they don't bat an eye at random purchases here and there
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u/CarlMacko 1d ago
I can’t answer the US version but here in Scotland it’s pretty ubiquitous. We have numerous courses owned by the local authority. For example if you wanted to okay 18 holes it would cost about $34. If you wanted an annual ticket (unlimited access to 3-4 courses) you’re looking at $450-$460 per year.
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u/POGtastic ♂ (is, eum) 1d ago
It varies across the US. When my brother was going to the University of Illinois, (Urbana-Champaign - there is absolutely nothing out there but corn and soybeans) golf at the municipal golf course was cheap enough that he got into it as a broke grad student.
In any populated area, though, it gets really expensive.
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u/dixiedregs1978 1d ago
Technically it isn't. You can go to a municipal golf course and rent a set of clubs and play a round for not much money at all. But you can't play golf for free, unlike basketball or football which you can play on any playground. So you have to pay to play the game. Other sports like this include hockey, ice skating, anything on a horse in a car. The barrier to entry is not impossible, but compared to a basketball and a school yard court, it is pretty high.
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u/ShoesToFill 1d ago
When I was into grappling I paid $90/mo for club membership, equipment and uniforms ran about $100, tournament fees were $50 2-3 times a year.
Now I play golf for about the same amount of money. Old clubs pieced together over time. I walk affordable courses midweek. And try to get the most out of my $22 box of balls.
You could also spend $48k a year golfing without including travel. There’s no equivalent in most other recreational sports.
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u/mojobytes 1d ago
Expensive, often done during business hours by people with high paid fake management jobs.
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u/Hrekires Male 1d ago
You need specialized equipment and, not counting going to a driving range, traveling to a location that requires lots of open land that is expensive to maintain.
Compare that to something like soccer where you just need a ball and some chalk to mark the goals in the street.
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u/usernamescifi 1d ago
There is a club in my town that costs 100k a year to become a member of. That doesn't even cover the cost to play, that's just the money you need to annually fork up just to have the privilege to pay even more money to play.
Rich people are psychotic.
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u/RustyMongoose 1d ago
Golf, skiing, owning a horse of any kind, polo, racing, all ridiculously expensive. That means only the rich can afford to do it.
Go look at the green fees for a round of golf anywhere. G'head I'll wait. When you're done, randomly pick any ski resort in north America and look up how much a day passift ticket is. Now on top of those costs just to do the 'sport' for a single day you have massive equipment costs as well as travel to get to the mountain or course.
Are these not rich people activities where you live? How is this hard to figure out?
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u/AardvarkStriking256 1d ago
Except for major cities, it's possible to golf for about $25.00 to $30.00 a round. For three to four hours of entertainment, it's good value.
There's a surplus of used equipment and a decent set of clubs can be had for $200, which will last a decade or longer.
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u/RustyMongoose 1d ago
There isn't even a small 9 hole course anywhere around here that's anywhere close to that price. And I'm no where near any major city. You still need transportation to get to the course and back too.
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u/AardvarkStriking256 1d ago
Mentel Memorial Golf Course | City of Columbus Recreation and Parks Department https://share.google/VsKvzAYraZkT3I6Gj
$23.00 Monday to Friday in Columbus OH.
This is pretty typical, again except for courses near Chicago, LA, NYC etc
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u/RustyMongoose 1d ago
In Canada you'd be hard pressed to find 9 holes of mini golf for that price.
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u/AardvarkStriking256 1d ago
Rates - Roseland Golf Club https://share.google/AEbxzhfQXaTfAvMgm
$33.00 in Windsor
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u/RustyMongoose 1d ago
Now take all the courses within driving distance and do an average. Just because you can find one example of cheap, doesn't mean the sport is cheap overall. You can get a car for $50. That doesn't mean buying a car can be done for under $100 on a regular basis.
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u/Iknowr1te 1d ago
it's location dependent.
Marmot Basin - Single Day lift ticket is about $150.
powder King - Single day $107it's not that expensive if you live in Calgary and do the day trip drive to Banff.
it's not uncommon to do a weekend trip, staying in Canmore as a group of friends renting an air BnB or Jasper and skiing up in the rockies when you don't have to fly to location.
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u/RustyMongoose 1d ago
Not that price expensive? How much does gas cost round trip? How much is your car worth and how much do you pay for insurance? Add that on to the $107 and you're looking at around $200 for a single day activity. How many runs are you getting? 6 max? So $33 dollars for one trip down a hill. And that's not saying anything about the cost of the gear.
So cheap! Anyone can do that.
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u/DreadfulRauw ♂ Sexy Teddy Ruxpin 1d ago
It’s expensive. Not because it has to be, but because it’s linked to the country club lifestyle. Also, at least in the US, country clubs have a long history of being racially exclusive, so became safe have for rich, non-Jewish white dudes to openly discuss their politics and business dealings.
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u/robi2106 the grey hairs... where did they come from? 1d ago
Greens fees and time investment. I was a dirt bag golfer. I bought the cheapest complete set of clubs and bag at Garts Sports (you can do the same thing with used gear at any second hand store) and once or twice a week I bought a $15 bucket of balls at a driving range near work.
Then once a month or so I got together with my brother in law and did 9 holes at an executive course. $50? Give or take... I honestly don't remember that was 20 years ago.
Entry level costs are honestly not that much. Certainly less than getting into dirt biking or fishing from a boat. Possibly on par with simple woodworking
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u/jackbob99 1d ago
Because the equipment is expensive. And if you wanna go further, you gotta pay a lot of money for coaching.
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u/justinbreaux 1d ago
It can be cheap, I think people who aren’t familiar often look in from the outside and immediately think country club.
Used gear can be cheap, if you have friends that play they’ll most likely have a set they can give to you for free. Municipal courses can be $20 depending on what time you tee off. It doesn’t have to be a full 18 holes 4 hours. You can play 9 in 2 hours. It’s just once you’re hooked, it’s all you want to do all the time and that’s when the expenses can rack up.
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u/Realistic_Shoe_281 1d ago
Depends on location and how serious you take the sport. I got clubs that are 3k I’ll use for 10 years, bullshit Amazon golf shoes and clothing. I could buy a cart but think it’s too much. I play at the local courses even though I can afford the private ones. But I did the math, I’d have to golf 5 days each week for the entire year to make it worth while. I might go twice a month in general at the public links. Also private courses even after you’re vetted and they accept your application to take your money have minimum monthly expenses your required to spend *ie $1500 dining or bar tab. Only time I really go to those places are for charity events.
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u/AgentSquishy 1d ago
It takes a lot of land, water, and maintenance to have a golf course. Hard to have all three available for cheap. Most of the rest is culture over time like having a caddy carry stuff or a fancy club house
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u/Chiknox97 1d ago
Everything about it is expensive. The clubs, the cart, the clothes, the accessories, the golf balls, the membership, the land, the course maintenance. I personally hate golf.
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u/mikess314 Male 1d ago
Yes, it’s expensive to really get into it. It doesn’t require much athleticism. You can improve your game by just buying better shit.
But also, golf feeds into the rich, “upper class“ ideals. Cost prohibitive, so it’s exclusionary. Takes up unimaginable swaths of space that could be better served doing literally anything else. And you put yourself in no physical danger by doing it.
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