1. Play closer to home.
Eliminate travel
expenses. Investigate courses in your area that you have
never taken the time to check out.
2.
Play during the week or early mornings.
Many courses
are less expensive on certain days of the week or before
8:00 a.m. It may only require a slight adjustment in your
schedule or a little more coffee, but you will save on
greens fees.
3. Walk!
Stop renting a cart unless it's absolutely required by the
course. It's cheaper to walk and much better exercise.
4.
Join a public or private course.
Wait a second, this sounds
like it would be MORE money...but do some research. If you
play a lot of golf (more than twice a week), you could
benefit by paying an annual membership fee in exchange for
unlimited golf. For the avid golfer, this is often times the
more economical route.
5. Clean or
recondition your equipment.
Instead of buying that new
set of clubs, stay friends with your old ones for another
year. Try
re-gripping them, give the faces a good scrub, scrape those
groves, tidy 'em up a bit. It'll give your game a refreshed
feel. Apply the same principle to your golf shoes - just add
new spikes!
Try practicing without a glove for a while...then if you
forget it or lose it, you won't need to buy another one in
the pro shop. If you absolutely need different equipment,
try eBay or CraigsList for your best new "used" options.
6. Recycle
your balls.
Wash and play with the same ball again. Resist the urge to
feed it to the squirrels...or the fish.
On that note, if you find a ball in the woods, keep it no
matter what brand it is. These are frugal times. It's a lot
cheaper to hit that one in the water on the next hole than
to tee up another new one. Along those lines, scale back on
the expensive balls designed for Tour players. You are not
Annika or Tiger!
7. Take advantage
of range specials.
Schedule your driving range practice in conjunction with
specials, or join a range and pay one fee for unlimited use.
Typically there is a "ladies day" where buckets are cheaper.
Many ranges also have punch cards that earn free buckets
once you've purchased so many regular buckets.
8. Make
your boss pay.
Sounds bad, but we mean it in a good way. Volunteer to play
in the company outings or to entertain clients on the course
if it's needed by your company. If you have to reduce the
number of rounds you play personally, try to expand your
golf role professionally.
9. Trade
specialties.
Do your favorite golf instructor's taxes in exchange for a
lesson...offer your professional skills to golf courses,
ranges, instructors, etc. to receive reduced or
complimentary rates on tee times, buckets, lessons and more.
Golf courses are businesses - they need services, too. Think
about a fair trade! |
