When the Price Is the Point
A $5,000 golf trip is not always worth the money. A $5,000 trip to Pebble Beach is worth every dollar. A $5,000 trip to a Scottsdale resort that happens to charge Pebble Beach prices is not. The difference between a trip that justifies the premium and one that merely charges it comes down to whether the golf itself is doing things that $2,500 golf cannot do.
Three trips clear the bar comfortably.
Bandon Dunes ($4,500-6,000 per person, four nights). The five-course portfolio here, Bandon Dunes, Pacific Dunes, Bandon Trails, Old Macdonald, Sheep Ranch, is the strongest collection of public golf courses in the Western Hemisphere. The per-round cost runs $400-600 depending on season. The total trip cost is high. It is also accurately priced relative to what you receive. The golf rating of 10.2 and overall rating of 9.72 reflect a destination that earns its fees.
Kiawah Island ($4,000-5,500 per person, four nights). The Ocean Course is a Ryder Cup and PGA Championship venue. Cassique, accessible to resort guests, is one of the better Tom Watson designs in existence. The Sanctuary is a legitimate oceanfront resort. Kiawah charges what it charges because its flagship course has no accessible peer in the Southeast.
Pebble Beach ($5,000-7,000 per person, three to four nights). Pebble Beach Golf Links has hosted six U.S. Opens. The 18th hole is the most famous finishing hole in American golf. The property also includes Spyglass Hill, a Robert Trent Jones Sr. design that would be nationally renowned if Pebble weren't 200 yards away, and Pacific Grove, a municipal course that delivers dramatic coastal golf at $60 a round. The cost is genuinely high. The gap between Pebble Beach and everything else in its price range is also genuinely wide.
The Trips That Don't Clear the Bar
Whistling Straits is excellent but charges Bandon prices without Bandon's depth. A two-course resort cannot justify the same per-round fee as a five-course property, even if the individual courses are comparable. The Broadmoor in Colorado Springs has exceptional lodging and charges accordingly; the golf does not rise to the same standard.
Spend $5,000 when the trip has at least one course that belongs in a national top-ten conversation. Otherwise, spend $2,500 and take two trips.