Bang for your Buck

I am curious.
What are your expectations for the fees that you pay?
What is of primary importance? Price?Conditions?Layout?Length?Pace of play?
How much is too much?What is reasonable?

The reason I ask is that I was excited to get out and play one of my favorite courses recently- the Outaouais. I have played many many times and it is one of my favorites. I love the "old style" courses such as this one especially traditional holes 1,3,6,8,11,15, and the best hole on the course #16.

I have to say I was disappointed . We paid$60 each and teed up before 7:30.
We ended up playing the new 9 (east) and old front nine(south).
Conditions were average- sometimes not even-especially for the price.
Greens were quick:) tricky and true :confused but a bit too worn :(
And whats up with the freakin "next on the tee" announcements. What is this Royal Troon?
Trying to tee off on #1 South and I have the bilingual Ed McMahon announcing the Smail group.
****
Maybe my expectations were too high.
Love the course-but won"t go back.

LOL, well if you do go back, make sure to go into the pro shop with your shirt NOT TUCKED IN.
It gets that (-->> insert you own colourful adjective here) guy behind all the counter all rangy.
I predict he will see" And one more thing gentlemen ... plleeeeaaaaasseeee tuck in your shirts. He even accentuates and drags out the please part like I typed it.
Priceless, I purposely forget to tuck in my shirt just for the entertainment, LOL.

I like a nice course for a resonable price. Outaouais is up there on my list of regular courses to play, although it is a bit pricey. Nice layout and usually good conditions, plus free range balls and a great breakfast in the clubhouse.

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Originally Posted by 1972Apex

I like a nice course for a resonable price. Outaouais is up there on my list of regular courses to play, although it is a bit pricey. Nice layout and usually good conditions, plus free range balls and a great breakfast in the clubhouse.

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I'm with you. :thumbsup

I like the fact that they announce who's on deck. With the range right next to the tee often golfers will be hitting balls and lose track of time and risk holding up others. Outaouais goes the extra distance to ensure everyone keeps pace of play and has an enjoyable round.
I could only imagine the headaches this would create throughout the day if golfers who were expected to tee off were still at the range. Announcing who is up next is a good thing.:thumbsup

There are many clubs that require you to tuck in your shirt. Don't take offence to this as it's not unusual. In fact as you come out of the parking lot, crossing the road to the club house there is a large sign stating the rules.

I must say that the 2 times i played there this year , i really enjoyed it .If i didn't live so far away i'd be there more often. I thought the layout of the course is excellent and was fortunate that the conditions where good , although the drainage on the new 9 holes (east) was questionable.
The green fees are a little high , but i think Corporate golf or executive golf brings the green fees down quite a bit.
But the hole shirt-tucking-in thing is just silly, but i guess thats what they want !

Not sure if you are looking for a comparison to green fees or to membership rates, but I can't complain about Mountain Creek. Have been a member there for two seasons now and am very happy with my choice.

A 7 day membership is just over $800 after taxes. The course is enough of a challenge, the conditions are for the most part very good. The staff is just great. Very few tourneys, so a tee time is always available.

For me I compared MC to Pakenham, Irish Hills, Madawaska among others. With all those courses asking over $1000+taxes this was a no brainer for me. Not to take anything away from those other courses, but why leave a couple hundred bucks in your pocket. To a point, golf is golf. Why not make it as cheap as possilbe.

The only other choice I strongly considered was Arnprior. They offered an intermediate membership of $500 (less than 31 yrs of age), but because of the staff at MC I decided to return.

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Originally Posted by Geoff Johnston

Not sure if you are looking for a comparison to green fees or to membership rates, but I can't complain about Mountain Creek. Have been a member there for two seasons now and am very happy with my choice.

A 7 day membership is just over $800 after taxes. The course is enough of a challenge, the conditions are for the most part very good. The staff is just great. Very few tourneys, so a tee time is always available.

For me I compared MC to Pakenham, Irish Hills, Madawaska among others. With all those courses asking over $1000+taxes this was a no brainer for me. Not to take anything away from those other courses, but why leave a couple hundred bucks in your pocket. To a point, golf is golf. Why not make it as cheap as possilbe.

The only other choice I strongly considered was Arnprior. They offered an intermediate membership of $500 (less than 31 yrs of age), but because of the staff at MC I decided to return.

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I'm pretty sure he was comparing green fees rather than membership prices.

I for one, look at green fees and expect the conditions of the course, how well it's maintained, and the overall experience to be great if I'm paying over $60 for a round. I don't mind having to tuck in my shirt because I believe that is the proper way to wear a golf shirt on a course unless you're playing some duffer course where they have a lazy dress code.

I'm pretty sure all the courses I've played this summer with the exception of one, call next on the tee over the loudspeaker. As others have mentioned, lots of courses have a range where people are warming up so a reminder is always nice. The other thing the calling next on the tee does is let people know if perhaps someone has missed their time or not shown up etc.. This keeps the pace of play and gets people up to the tee in time.

Well I read fees, and it couldn't hurt to throw in a membership comparison. I hope others will chime in with some others courses and how their annual dues are set up. Always looking for a deal on golf. :thumbsup

"unless you're playing some duffer course where they have a lazy dress code " quote,
Loch March , Emerald Links , Eagle creek , to name a few ,don't insist on tucking your shirt in , hardly duffer courses , but as i said , if its their rules , then so be it.

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Originally Posted by Wilster

"unless you're playing some duffer course where they have a lazy dress code " quote,
Loch March , Emerald Links , Eagle creek , to name a few ,don't insist on tucking your shirt in , hardly duffer courses , but as i said , if its their rules , then so be it.

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The Outaouais has been around much, much longer than any of the courses you listed. The Outaouais obviously have a sense of tradition.

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Originally Posted by Wilster

"unless you're playing some duffer course where they have a lazy dress code " quote,
Loch March , Emerald Links , Eagle creek , to name a few ,don't insist on tucking your shirt in , hardly duffer courses , but as i said , if its their rules , then so be it.

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I've been to EC, Loch March AND Eagle Creek and they definitely prefer you have your shirt tucked in. I forgot to tuck mine in when I was late one day at Eagle Creek due to the stupid two lane highway in the West end and was kindly reminded to tuck it in.

I think the example givin with Outaouais might be a bit more strict because the course is semi-private. I've never been to a private course that wasn't very strict with their dress code. The older members are also policing this issue. I was at Rivermead one day and one guy had his hat on in the clubhouse and this "older" man was giving it to him about respect.

I guess I should apoligize for starting two threads in the same post.
My intention wasn"t to critiqe the Outaouais Golf club.
I wanted to hear what was important when deciding whether a course was worth the money and what the most important factors were. I think it applies to GF courses as memerships have a whole different list of criterion.
As I mentioned, I love the old course. I love the layout, the old trees and the tough greens. I am not crazy about the new 9 as I don't think it fits well with the old. If they could have(I realize they couldn't) made 18 new holes with the same design for that seperate 18 then it would have worked. I don't believe the conditions are worthy of charging $60 during the week.
As for the WWF announcer, it didn't affect my judgement of the course itself. I just found it kinda silly . If you can't make your tee time on time buy a watch. It is a distraction.
And lastly, TUCK YOUR SHIRT IN!

Like Geoff says Mountain Creek-for what they charge and the conditions I dont think they can be beat--the only thing missing is about 10 acres to spread things out a little. Renfrew is definitly worth the money and the specials at Mt Pellier on the Quebec side--one thing about Ottawa is that there is no shortage of courses