Par for the Course: High Fees

Michael C. Roseto, president of the Wide World of Golf travel agency of Carmel, was reminiscing the other day about the first time he took a golf group to Japan. It was to the Kawana resort near Mt. Fuji in 1973. “They sat us down, and with great bowing and apologies told us the greens fee was $125,” Roseto said. “They then carefully explained what it covered. So much for the caddie, a certain part toward insurance for the caddie, a portion for road maintenance, an overtime fee (again for the caddie) and an overweight fee (for our clubs, not us).

“Finally, we were told of an item that we felt was very sensible--$2 of the greens fee went toward an umbrella.

“Out on the course, though, that $2 charge wasn’t the good investment we thought it was. When it began raining like hell, we found out that the umbrella wasn’t for us, it was for the caddie.”

Throughout the United States and all over the world, greens fees at many vacation resorts are no laughing matter. Traveling golfers are being socked in their wallets without even the courtesy of whys and wherefores.

It was Pebble Beach that started it, taking a leaf from the Japanese book that avid golfers will pay any price for the thrill of playing a famous course.

For years that sublime slice of forest and ocean front on the Monterey Peninsula of Northern California, complete with luxurious mansions and the tune of raucous barking seals offshore, was delightfully affordable. The first time I played there it cost $15--and, honestly, that wasn’t so long ago.

Suddenly, in 1981, the cost of playing the Pebble Beach Golf Links jumped to $60. By 1983 it was $75. And if you want to play it today? Hold onto your hat! It’s $150.

“It’s supply and demand, you see,” a Pebble Beach employee, who asked to remain anonymous, said. “Everybody wants to play us, but everybody can’t; the poor golf course would be overrun. We have to raise the price to protect it.”

But how can the excuse of protecting a course be justified when high-paying golfers do just as much harm to a course’s precious grass as they would if the prices were lower? Sad to tell, there is no dearth of golfers at Pebble Beach. Just as at St. Andrews in Scotland, they swarm from all over the world to play it . . . if only for once in their lifetimes.

And the Old Course at St. Andrews? Marvelous as it is, impossibly ugly, created by Mother Nature 500 years ago (with the help of a few sheep burrowing for shelter from the chilly ocean breezes), and a kind of mother course for the 21,000 other golf courses in the world, it, too, is pricing itself out of sight for many.

While 10 years ago St. Andrews cost $7 to play, today a tourist wanting a confirmed tee time in advance must shell out $70.

But it isn’t just Pebble Beach and St. Andrews.

On the Big Island of Hawaii, the famed Mauna Kea Golf Course, for years a favorite of mine with its long graceful sweeps and orchids in the rough, requires $90 (versus $48 in 1986 and $72 in ‘87) for “outsiders,” that is, golfers staying at other hotels. The price includes a shared cart.

But I am disturbed. Hawaiians are, by nature, warm, sensitive people to whom an “aloha spirit” comes naturally. Without even a modest giggle of embarrassment, the pro shop staff sings out the greens fee to a never-ending stream of callers. And they seldom get a refusal. This was true even when the course briefly charged $116 earlier this year.

Mauna Kea spokespersons say they were forced to raise greens fees because Mauna Lani, the resort next door, did. But Mauna Lani, with the most unusual course in the Islands (great heaps of lava serve as fairway dividers), has held fairly steady at its rate for outsiders--$50 in 1986, $60 in ‘87, $70 today. On Dec. 20 (continuing through March) it rises to $100.

Prices at other Hawaiian courses are skyrocketing, too. There is something terribly wrong when a greens fee can cost more than a hotel room. But so it does at Kapalua, Maui, and the Sheraton Makaha course on Oahu; both charge $85 for players staying at other hotels. And Wailea on Maui is going up this winter to $90.

Now along comes the brand-new Kiele Golf Course at the Kauai Lagoons resort, better known as the Westin Kauai. Designed by Jack Nicklaus and blessed with great ceremony recently by Hawaii’s most revered minister, the Rev. Abraham Akaka, it is commanding--and getting--$125 from outsiders.

Other resort areas are showing a depressing tendency to fall into line. La Paloma in Tucson, Ariz., charges its hotel guests a greens fee of $70. (This does, however, include both cart and caddie.) Grand Cypress in Orlando, Fla., costs $79, with club and shoe cleaning included in the fee.

The Sawgrass resort near Jacksonville, Fla., has five courses on its property, including the Tournament Players Club course, the one that started the “stadium golf” rage with its hilly spectator mounds and frying-pan hole, complete with alligators. Want to play it? Greens fee is $92, or $104 if you’re stuck taking a cart by yourself.

Harbour Town, the marshy golf course at the tip of Hilton Head Island, S.C., requires $81 to play, based on sharing a cart; it’s $92 if you have no one to play with.

The so-called “mecca of American golf,” Pinehurst resort in the center of North Carolina, with its seven courses, charges a reasonable $35, plus $12 per person for a cart, or $18 for a caddie.

But if it’s the classic Donald Ross Course No. 2 you want or the feisty modern No. 7 by Rees Jones, be prepared to shell out from $57 to $67; that’s with shared cart. Make it $69 (No. 7 course) or $79 (No. 2) to take a cart by yourself, or, better idea, spend $63 (No. 7) or $73 (No. 2) plus tip, and walk and take a caddie.

When are resort greens fees going to come down? Not soon, in all likelihood. According to the National Golf Foundation, 30 million Americans will be hooked on golf by the turn of the century, just 12 years away. That would be a huge jump from the 21.7 million American golfers today.

The foundation has declared an urgent need for more golf courses in the United States; there are about 12,500 now. Where will all these golfers play? How will they afford to play?

The foundation says: “The trend (for new golfing facilities) is for expensive, premium quality in either resort areas or competitive real estate markets. The simple, inexpensive public golf course is a thing of the past and likely to remain so--unless positive actions are taken.”

In an effort to resolve this issue the NGF has called for a major meeting of golf industry leaders this week at the Sawgrass resort.

Meanwhile, Roseto says: “Traveling golfers have three choices. They can either not go; go and play alternate (not big-name) courses, or go and bite the bullet. You just have to think of greens fees as another cost of traveling.”

Incidentally, the greens fee at the Kawana resort in Japan is now a staggering $225.

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How to beat the high cost of resort golf:

--Write or call the pro shop or resort in advance and ask if the greens fee includes any extras, such as unlimited practice balls at the range, use of a spa, even lunch.

--Look into golf packages offered by golf travel agencies and certain resorts. But before signing up, be sure that your traveling time allows you to take full advantage of the features.

--Be aware of “preferential” greens fees for staying within the golf course’s resort area. They can be as much as $40 less than for golfers staying somewhere else.

--Beware of supplemental fees at some resorts having more than one course for playing their “name” course. You might have a better time on one of the generally more reasonable sister courses.

--Weekday play is often less expensive than on weekends, as much as $75 less in Japan.

--Changes of season can mean big savings, especially those periods just before and after the prime season.

--Be alert to special airline/resort promotions.