I must love my home course because, when I divide the number of rounds into the total dues I've paid this year, each of those eight rounds has cost me - gulp - more than $500. Stated another way, I could have played the Ocean Course at Kiawah Island this summer more than a dozen times for what I've paid in dues.
I was warned many years ago by a friend and fellow club member not ever to calculate the per-round costs of my private club membership. This was during a year when we had two toddlers at home and I felt guilty about leaving my wife Connie alone with the burden. I played only a handful of rounds at Hop Meadow that year. Dues, I figured then, would have paid for a few rounds at Pebble Beach, airfare included.
On more or less a fixed income over the last two years (subliminal message, please sign up for our HomeOnTheCourse community guide), I've taken to thinking more and more about the cost vs. usage equation of private club ownership. I've decided there certainly are intangibles that you can't put a price on but what they are worth is a purely personal calculation. The civilized approach to making a tee time, for example, is certainly worth something. The sense of ownership your fellow members feel will make it more than likely that pitch marks are fixed on the greens and divots replaced (or reseeded) in the fairways.
Your private course will be in better shape than the muni across town and is likely to have a board of directors that will hear your grievances about club management and even about fellow players who might not be treating the course and the club's facilities with due respect. There is also some comfort in seeing the same faces on the practice range and in the dining room time and again, assuming you have chosen a club with likable members. Your golf pro is more likely to be out on the practice range or green imparting free advice, or telling stories, than the pro at a public facility, who is likely anchored behind the desk in the pro shop. The list of intangibles goes on and on...
In the end, each of us will decide what exclusivity and the extra measure of "civility" and pride of place is worth. As you consider possible relocation to a golf course community with a private club inside the gates or nearby, have an idea of how often you are going to play, but also consider what value you put on the intangibles. Consider joining as a social member first, but make sure that golf privileges are available at that level, and check out how easy or difficult it will be to upgrade your membership if you find the club and course to your liking. You might also play a few rounds at the local semi-private courses, looking closely at whether ownership and golfers appear to have pride in the course. My over/under on course maintenance is two un-repaired pitch marks per green; more than two signals that boorish golfers play there, and fewer shows at least some modicum of respect for the course.
Most important, resolve before you join a private club that the pro rata costs of each round are beside the point. In that way, you will spare yourself the ugly calculation that you could have played at St. Andrews, or Ballybunion, or Whistling Straits instead.