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Great Golf for Great Prices

Like many golf fanatics who are housebound by the chill of winter I escape my boredom with a few needed diversions.

The Golf Channel, websites, books and magazines get teamed up with some living room putting to help me escape from my seasonal prison.

Golf Digest’s listing of America’s 100 Greatest Courses is always a welcome addition to my arsenal of tools to fight off the winter boredom. But at the same time it is a bit frustrating.

The vast majority of those courses are private and those that allow public hackers like yours truly are so expensive a second mortgage is required before you tee off.

So, I got to thinking (which can be dangerous) about some of the best bargain course I have played over the years. Playing a good course is great but playing a good course for peanuts is even better.

And any golfer worth his Footjoys loves to play a bargain course.

After some extensive research and a few Guinness I have come up with some of the best bargains my buddies and I have played over the years.

Here are three courses that will make any golfer happy. They are all very good layouts that will leave you some cash in your pocket for a cold one in the grill room afterwards.

The first stop is Garrison Golf Course, Garrison NY. We play Garrison dozens of times each season and never tire of it. It’s a Dick Wilson design that winds through the hills of the Hudson Valley.   garrison 9th

The front nine plays like Augusta with major elevation changes on many holes. The back nine is flatter, more open and it should be where we can really score, but we rarely do.

The greens are always top notch and the views of the Hudson River are worth the price of admission. There’s always an early Bird Special, we played for $45 with cart last season. That’s a steal for such a great course.

In 2013 we headed down to Philadelphia and the U.S. Open at Merion. Merion was occupied at the time so my brother found us a suitable alternative, Jeffersonville Golf Club just outside of Philadelphia.

Jeffersonville is an original 1931 Donald Ross design with a renovation by Ron Pritchard a Ross specialist. In 2013 we paid $38 with a cart and it doesn’t cost much more today.

This is how I described it then: The course was simply amazing…each hole was better than the last. Old Mr. Ross got the better of me as I found his “hidden bunkers” with regularity. The clubhouse looks like it has seen better days but the starters warned us to not judge Jeffersonville until we get a few holes under our belt. They were right. It was as an enjoyable round of golf as you could have. There were challenges on each hole and the greens were very interesting. You really had to think your way to the green and then try and figure out Ross’ intricately, subtle green complexes. I only wish it wasn’t three hours away because I would be a regular there for sure. 

I also remember that the folks at Jeffersonville, both the staff and patrons were extremely friendly and “real” golfers.

Donald Ross for $40 amid a bunch of avid golfers? That’s a great deal.

A few years ago we headed to the Tampa area for some winter golf. We were headed to World Woods in Brooksville, which boasts some world class golf for a relative bargain, but we started with another bargain course.

Right off the plane we headed to The Dunes Golf Club in Weeki Wachee with the idea that this was a fair, cheap stop to get our airplane stiffened bones loosened up. We didn’t expect a world beater but figured it was a decent place to start. We couldn’t have been more surprised.  dunes weeki

The Dunes is an Arthur Hills design on an amazing piece of property that looks like the new Coore/Crenshaw redesign of Pinehurst No.2. Hills is a prolific American designer that came from the Ross school of design.

Hills uses all the natural elements on this interesting and challenging layout. The course is rarely flat and covered by those sandy waste areas that are so popular now.

Hills may have been ahead of his time with this one. It’s a great natural layout and as good a bargain as you’ll find anywhere. Their website has 18 holes listed for only $32 and it’s worth three times that amount.

So all the great golf isn’t reserved for the one percenters, even bargain hunters like me can find some great golf for a few bucks.

Click here for my full review of Garrison Golf ClubClick here for a video of The Dunes Club.

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