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Austin area Golf Membership costs?

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Orange&White

Orange&White 5522

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I did a few searches and couldn't find anything related. I also wasn't sure if this should go to "Other Sports" or here, but thought it fit better here. Feel free to move.

I am curious as to what people are paying for golf memberships around here. 

I live near 2222/360, so I am most curious about Great Hills CC or Balcones or even Twin Creek. Not so much interested in River Place because I really dislike the course, but membership info would be helpful as a reference. 

I play about 50 - 75 rounds a year, so the costs might outweigh the benefits, but I also really enjoy playing a variety of courses, so if the money is close, I'd rather not be tied down to a single course.

Any info is appreciated. Upfront costs. Monthly dues. Cart fees, Food and Bev minimums. Any recent assessments, etc.

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blacklab

blacklab 11926

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Lost Creek is a little south of you and was $3000 to join and $500 a month a few years ago, not sure what it is now.

It's part of Club Corp and you get a free round a month at a bunch of local courses and golf all over the country by just paying a cart fee.

Horseshoe Bay and Barton Creek lakeside are some of the local courses.

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horn4life

horn4life 3760

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Balcones was just about free to join a short time ago, but is down to one course. So think of maybe $2500 to join and $300 a month.  At this point I imagine you could get in for perhaps nothing to join. This will be your most affordable option I imagine.

Great Hills sounds like the ticket you are looking for, it used to run $10-14K in stock plus fees, if my memory is correct.  Again you might find a covid deal here as well.

I think you would be nuts to go from your location out to Twin Creeks on a regular basis.  At least Balcones you could run all the way up Spicewood Springs. IF I were going to twin creeks route I would just move out there.

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drewlaws

drewlaws 126

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6 minutes ago, Texas St. Armadillos said:

What about Austin Golf Club and ACC?  I know, I know...if you have to ask...

Why not both?

Of those options, I would join Great Hills. The member I play with there said their initiation is going up to $20k due to the new clubhouse they're building. I'm a member of Lost Creek (and live in the neighborhood). It's super cheap to join (<$2k I think) and we use it for tennis, golf and the pool several days a week. In my experience, prioritize location and convenience then get the best option that works with your budget.

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ZB'Tejas

ZB'Tejas 593

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Lost Creek is $5K to join and $515 a month for Full Golf. If you are <40 then you can join for $2500 and dues are a bit less. If you want the ability to play other Club Corp courses it probably another $85 a month on top.

RiverPlace, Onion Creek and Twin Creeks are all part of Arcis therefore you have a similar network of courses you can play beyond your home one. Arcis was going to put some money into these courses and the dues have gone up a little but I think they still might be around $5k to join RP. Twin Creeks might be a bit more as I've heard they have a very active golfing membership. Carts run a dollar a hole or you can buy a yearly pass upfront. No min on food/bev purchases.

Other than Barton Creek the options above would give you the most access to other courses in the area.

 

 

 

 

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ZB'Tejas

ZB'Tejas 593

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Other than golf and being able to take into a variety of courses what else are you looking for? Active MGA? Tournaments? Family friendly activities? Dinners/Date night events. How old are you/kids and are you hoping to find people in those similar age ranges to hang with at the club?

 

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drewlaws

drewlaws 126

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Good point on LC. I am under 40 so I pay a different rate. I have the ONE membership which gives me access to the club corp network nationwide. My basic dues are around $450/mo and I joined a couple years ago for $1500 initiation. Message me if you want more info on Lost Creek.

In my experience, Great Hills keeps their greens in nice shape and they have some good golfers out there.

If you are willing to drive to Twin Creeks, look at UT Golf Club. It's the same distance, if not a little closer.

Onion Creek is semi-private so it's not apples to apples comparison and the location is less than ideal.

Another factor could be whether you want to walk or ride. Great Hills has a lot of elevation change and some tee boxes are a hike from the previous green. 

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Steel Shank

Steel Shank 9422

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11 hours ago, drewlaws said:

Good point on LC. I am under 40 so I pay a different rate. I have the ONE membership which gives me access to the club corp network nationwide. My basic dues are around $450/mo and I joined a couple years ago for $1500 initiation. Message me if you want more info on Lost Creek.

In my experience, Great Hills keeps their greens in nice shape and they have some good golfers out there.

If you are willing to drive to Twin Creeks, look at UT Golf Club. It's the same distance, if not a little closer.

Onion Creek is semi-private so it's not apples to apples comparison and the location is less than ideal.

Another factor could be whether you want to walk or ride. Great Hills has a lot of elevation change and some tee boxes are a hike from the previous green. 

What is meant by "semi-private" for Onion Creek?

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Updawg

Updawg 2266

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What is meant by "semi-private" for Onion Creek?

They will offer some tee times to the public on golf now etc. not too many but some. It’s similar to Avery ranch, terravista etc. but I think they limit it more at OC

I like the variety of having 3 9 hole courses to play from. I think they are offering deals to get people. I haven’t played there in ages though so not sure what it is like these days.
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conVINCEd

conVINCEd 21469

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2 hours ago, Steel Shank said:

What is meant by "semi-private" for Onion Creek?

You know the guy who you join a country club to avoid, the one wearing jorts  and an aggy tank top, with a 12 pack of schlitz in his tattered bag, a pouch of redman hanging out of his back pocket, who screams ‘mashed potatoes’ every time you hit the ball?  They let that guy walk on and play there in order to keep the lights on.

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ZB'Tejas

ZB'Tejas 593

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5 minutes ago, conVINCEd said:

You know the guy who you join a country club to avoid, the one wearing jorts  and an aggy tank top, with a 12 pack of schlitz in his tattered bag, a pouch of redman hanging out of his back pocket, who screams ‘mashed potatoes’ every time you hit the ball?  They let that guy walk on and play there in order to keep the lights on.

I've seen several clubs put tee times up on GolfNow as a recruiting tool and generate broader awareness when they do not have a full golfing membership. Once that does fill up I think that stops or is at least limited to just a few slots in the weekdays. 

Barton Creek does this by way of resort patrons except you also get to pay $80K for that pleasure.

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Updawg

Updawg 2266

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Depending on what time you are playing you might look at a weekday type membership. Basically any time on weekdays and twilight on weekends. It’s a cheaper option some clubs have - I did it at Avery ranch for a while

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HoustonHorn

HoustonHorn 1062

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Balcones (both courses is they still exist - I think they closed Spicewood? which was the better of the two) suck compared to Great Hills. We were members at both a long time ago and it wasn't even close. I didn't play much at Balcones but once we switched I played every day. You and your kid will want to play where it's enjoyable and Balcones is flat and boring. Great Hills has a really nice course with a lot of interesting holes and variations in elevation.

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Orange&White

Orange&White 5522

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1 hour ago, Orange&White said:

I appreciate everyone's input.

I was just contacted by Balcones.

Until December, there is a $1400 initiation, $359/month + $15/month range fee. Carts are about a buck a hole as someone mentioned above.

So I did the math.

At the above mentioned costs, for year one (including the initiation) if I play 100 rounds, I am paying $76/round. After year one, I am paying $62/round.

In the end, that is about what I average paying just by going out a la carte, or using GolfNow or similar, and I can change my course every time.

I think my gut reaction of a course membership not being for me was probably correct. With that said, if all the guys I play with all decided they'd do it, I might give it a shot.

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ZB'Tejas

ZB'Tejas 593

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You don't join a golf club because it makes sense financially. 

But if you are really just planning on going out and playing solo then you are probably correct in not joining. If you appreciate getting to know a group of golfers, being active in an MGA, playing the tournaments or enjoy the adult activities they have then it becomes a lot more interesting.

 

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SimonBolivar

SimonBolivar 10958

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13 minutes ago, ZB'Tejas said:

You don't join a golf club because it makes sense financially. 

But if you are really just planning on going out and playing solo then you are probably correct in not joining. If you appreciate getting to know a group of golfers, being active in an MGA, playing the tournaments or enjoy the adult activities they have then it becomes a lot more interesting.

 

Do any courses around Austin offer that anymore? I'd expect you get paired up most of the time at most courses correct?

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ZB'Tejas

ZB'Tejas 593

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9 minutes ago, SimonBolivar said:

Do any courses around Austin offer that anymore? I'd expect you get paired up most of the time at most courses correct?

I really meant that to be you are just trying to play and don't care who you are playing with. Post COVID our tee sheets are pretty full during the week but before that there were lots of tee times that no one was playing and you could go out on your own.

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Orange&White

Orange&White 5522

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You would almost assuredly get paired with someone. Courses (at least around here) are far too busy and need far too much money to let you go out on your own unless you showed up at the complete off hours.

I am not one to play solo. I play with people I know. I just have no interest in any of the other social aspects of a country club/golf course.

 

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Guest Lobo

Guest Lobo

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7 hours ago, conVINCEd said:

You know the guy who you join a country club to avoid, the one wearing jorts  and an aggy tank top, with a 12 pack of schlitz in his tattered bag, a pouch of redman hanging out of his back pocket, who screams ‘mashed potatoes’ every time you hit the ball?  They let that guy walk on and play there in order to keep the lights on.

That's just rude, man.  That's the kind of guy I am at a golf course.  I look and dress like shit, and just wanna bring cheap beer onto the course.  Is that wrong, should I not being doing that?  

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conVINCEd

conVINCEd 21469

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1 minute ago, Lobo said:

That's just rude, man.  That's the kind of guy I am at a golf course.  I look and dress like shit, and just wanna bring cheap beer onto the course.  Is that wrong, should I not being doing that?  

Just lose the aggy tank top and don’t yell mashed potatoes.  Deal?

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Guest Lobo

Guest Lobo

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compromise---I never had an aggy tank top, and I'll only mumble "mashed potatoes"...but keep in mind I have a deep radio voice.  As a fixin'...I'll only agree to get moderately shitfaced on the course.  

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VolenteHawk

VolenteHawk 495

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I’m a member at Great Hills, but if you ran the numbers for Balcones and couldn’t make it work, GH is worse than that. The advantages of being at a club are you can walk 9 (or 7 at GH) after work by yourself for “free” and range balls/practice areas are “free”...so you very quickly don’t need to find 5 hours to play. Great Hills also has, by far, the best playing membership in town. There have been years I’ve been a 2 during the club championship and not even been in the championship flight.

But from a strict financial perspective, you have to play so much to make it work that it pretty much never will. That’s pretty much universally true of private courses.

Edited by VolenteHawk
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ZB'Tejas

ZB'Tejas 593

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19 hours ago, Dr. Beeper said:

Only one club to join in Austin and that’s ACC.  SO and UTGC would be considerations if I lived near Lake Travis. 

Austin is considerably cheaper for golf than Dallas and I’m jealous. 

ACC has about 800 golfing members so it's a real whip with only having 1 course. Sure it's nice but if you are farther out West AGC is really special too. The high end courses in Dallas are more expensive than similar ones in Austin but there are way more to choose from so there are plenty in all types of price ranges. 

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HouTex

HouTex 1866

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Discussions of the best courses in Texas is always interesting.  I've played very little in Dallas, except for Los Colinas, so I can't comment on Dallas courses.  But I've played ACC, Whispering Pines, all of the top private clubs in Houston (HCC, ROCC, Lakeside, Braeburn, etc.) many, many times, and I've played other courses around Austin and all over central Texas.  IMO, ACC is a great country club, but, strictly focused on golf, it's not light years ahead of Barton Creek Foothills or Barton Creek Canyons, or even Spanish Oaks--assuming the BC courses haven't gone to shit.  I've never played it, but I hear great things about Austin Golf Club.  And to single out Whispering Pines, I like it a lot and I love staying in the cottages.  It is consistently rated as the best course in the state and it might be, but I enjoy most of the courses mentioned above just as much.

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HouTex

HouTex 1866

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Whispering Pines isn’t consistently rated as the top in the state. That’d be Dallas National. Whispering Pines is a nice course that’s insanely overrated. Not top 10. And comparing any Barton Creek course to ACC is laughable. 

https://www.golfdigest.com/story/texas-best-in-state-rankings
DN and WP have alternated 1/2 lately. That really wasn’t my main issue though. I take these rankings with a grain of salt. I think ACC is overrated as is WP.
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  • 8 months later...
marriedup

marriedup 72

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Daughter did not make HS cheer, so her pivot is to try golf.  She's 14 and has never picked up a club to my knowledge.  Any insights on junior programs around Austin, lessons, clinics, clubs or anything else that may get her interested without breaking the bank. Although I will say with the money flushed down the toilet for cheer related nonsense I may come out ahead! 

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crash_davis

crash_davis 23107

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19 minutes ago, marriedup said:

Daughter did not make HS cheer, so her pivot is to try golf.  She's 14 and has never picked up a club to my knowledge.  Any insights on junior programs around Austin, lessons, clinics, clubs or anything else that may get her interested without breaking the bank. Although I will say with the money flushed down the toilet for cheer related nonsense I may come out ahead! 

Where are you located?

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blacklab

blacklab 11926

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2 hours ago, marriedup said:

Daughter did not make HS cheer, so her pivot is to try golf.  She's 14 and has never picked up a club to my knowledge.  Any insights on junior programs around Austin, lessons, clinics, clubs or anything else that may get her interested without breaking the bank. Although I will say with the money flushed down the toilet for cheer related nonsense I may come out ahead! 

Falconhead has a junior program that is $70 and gets you a group lesson a week. They just had some staff turnover and won't be doing it in April but will start back in June. My 12 year old boy loves it and looks forward to it every week.

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