Top Ten Most Expensive Green Fees Golf in the World Today

As most amateur golfers know, golf is a game which gets into the blood. It is like an addiction and it is one we feed willingly with our sweat, tears, toil and cash. Equipment and gear may be, in relative terms, a little more accessible to most golfers these days and the thriving second hand market means it is relatively easy to pick up good quality golf gear at low prices.

Yet there remains a place where money is no object and that is when it comes to paying for the cost of a round of golf on any of the following top ten most expensive golf course green fees for a round of golf.

1. Shadow Creek Golf Course, Nevada, United States  ($500 per person, per round)

Shadow Creek was designed by Tom Fazio and built by Steve Wynn, a casino mogul who has made billions from his casinos in the US, Macau and other gambling meccas. He handed Tom Fazio a blank cheque to create this fabulous course in the Nevada scrublands.

Of course, it cost an absolute fortune to build (the exact figure is open to conjecture, but it is estimated to be around $100m) and its clientele remain exclusive and generally private. It’ll set you back $500 to even tee up at the first hole, but for that you do get limousine transport to and from the course and your own personal caddy for the round.

2. Pebble Beach Golf Links ($475 per person, per round)

One of the most famous courses in America and a venue for US Open and Ryder Cups, Pebble Beach is a name synonymous with American golf and outside of Augusta (which doesn’t make this list because it does not allow the great unwashed masses to play on the course, only its members) it is arguably the course most American’s would associate as being one of their very best.

The good news is that you or I could go and play it, the bad news is that at $475 per person for a round, it would probably take up all your holiday spends just to experience it.

3. Old Head Golf Links, Ireland ($400 per person, per round)

Situated close to Cork in southern Ireland and jutting out on the south coast into the Atlantic is the Old Head Golf Links, at $400 per person for a round, it is an expensive 18 holes, but does offer some incredible scenery and views in addition to fabulous golf. The course doesn’t meet with universal approval however with locals unhappy at the private club denying people access to the beautiful Old Head.

4. The Pinehurst Course Number 2, North Carolina ($375 per person, per round)

Designed by Donald J. Ross, Pinehurst Number 2 is the signature course out of several that are part of the greater Pinehurst Golf complex in North Carolina. The course has hosted several major tournaments and will be the venue for the 2014 US Open.

5. TPC Sawgrass, Jacksonville, Florida ($350 per person, per round)

The site of the recent Players Championship, TPC Sawgrass has gained international acclaim thanks to it hosting the ‘fifth major’ each year and of course, its incredible 17th island green. While golfing purists may be divided over whether the tee shot over water to a small green is a fair test of golf, it certainly provokes drama and interest as the $350 per round price tag testifies.

6. The Ocean Course, Kiawah Island, South Carolina ($320 per person, per round)

The scene of Bernhard Langer’s Ryder Cup missed putt, Kiawah Island is a name that will be forever synonymous with the Ryder Cup.  Few people realise that this South Carolina resort is a complex of five courses, of which the Ocean Course is the oldest, opening in 1991 and designed by Pete and Alice Dye.  Don’t expect an easy ride however as in 2010 Golfers Digest in America voted this course as the toughest in the United States.

7. The Spyglass, Pebble Beach, California ($315 per person, per round)

Another Californian classic course offering a real test of nerve, it is over $300 to play a round at the Spyglass, but you’ll be following in the footsteps of some of the world’s biggest names. Phil Mickelson and Luke Donald hold the course record of 62 and this Robert Trent Jones Sr designed course was ranked as the 5th best public golf course in America by Golfers Digest.

8. Kingsbairns Golf Links, Scotland ($300 per person, per round)

It is strange to think that of all the incredible courses in Scotland with a long and prestigious history, Troon, Muirfield, Carnoustie, Gleneagles and even the home of golf itself, St. Andrews, not to mention a glut of exclusive new courses such as the magnificent Loch Lomond course, that it is the relatively unheralded Kingsbairns that is the most expensive on the mainland UK.

9. Whistling Straits, Wisconsin ($300 per person, per round)

This Pete and Alice Dye designed course nestles next to Lake Michigan and is one of the few courses in American to have a genuine Scottish Links feel. It has hosted two USPGA Championships in 2004 and 2010 and will host the 2015 event as well as the 2020 Ryder Cup.

It’s distance to major population and tourist centres makes this one of the least frequently played courses in the world’s most expensive top ten and when the wind picks up, as the name suggests, this is a course that would test even the finest players in the world.

10. The Barton Creek Foothill and Canyon Golf Club, Texas ($298 per person, per round)

One of four courses that are part of the Barton Creek Complex, the Fazio designed Foothills course is the signature course at this large golf complex. The other three courses are equally well regarded but cheaper to play, though it is cheaper to play all four courses as part of a package staying at the resort.

(Images Courtesy of : Kingsbairns Golf, , Kiawah Island Resort, Pinehurst Resort, Pebble Beach)