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Should a Course Charge a Full Fee for a Practice Round?

+ News, Notes, and weekly favorites

Author

Sean Melia
September 05, 2025

Hey Everyone,

Greetings from California!

The Walker Cup starts on Saturday, and I’ll be there at Cypress Point.

It’ll be televised on Saturday and Sunday. A rare chance to catch a glimpse of Cypress Point as some of the best amateurs in world battle.

This week, I wrote about the connection that Massachusetts has with the Walker Cup. It starts with Francis Ouimet and continues through courses and players over the last century.

I’ll be posting from the Walker Cup on Saturday over on Instagram. And will share some thoughts next week.

I have a quick news and notes, and then a bit of a dive into practice rounds for championship events and the different amounts that courses charge competitors.

News and Notes

Pro Golf

All quiet on the professional side this week.

🏌️‍♀️ Last week, Megan Khang finished T24 in the FM Championship at TPC Boston. Alexa Pano shot 73-72 and missed the cut. Brittany Altomare deserves my apology for leaving her off these LPGA recaps. The Worcester native shot 76-70 to miss the cut. She’s now on the radar.

College Golf

⚓️ Ryan Downes notched his best college finish in the season-opening Carmel Cup for Vanderbilt. He shot 69-68-71 to finish in fourth place. Two of the three players in front of him, Jase Summy and Ethan Fang, will play in the Walker Cup this weekend. Not too shabby for Downes. The Commodores won the tournament, too. Results

🏌️‍♀️ Isabel Brozena shot 68-71-75 (-2) to finish in 5th place in the Boilermaker Classic Xavier finished 5th as a team.

🦅 Boston College won the Red Bandanna Invitational. Marcus Lam and Jack Pogorelc were both co-medalists, a big reason their Boston College team won the event. Matthew Quinn (Holden, Mass.) finished in third for Lehigh. Results

Amateur Golf

🏆️ Steve Tasho won the Mass. Super Senior at The Haven. Recap

Top Ten 👇️ 

🏆️ Tara Connelly won her first Mass. Women’s Senior Open. Recap

Plugs

August recap on YouTube. Get a peak at the newest course in Massachusetts - The Pines. Planning to do a big video next week about the course and my day there.

Should a Course Charge a Full Fee for a Practice Round?

For those who haven’t dipped their toes into the competitive golf scene, it can get a little expensive to try to qualify for state and national championships. Players who wanted to qualify for the Mass. Mid-Amateur this year paid a $175 to to register. The Mass. Senior Amateur was priced at $200.

Here’s a list of the qualifying courses for the Mass. Mid-Amateur this summer.

Part of the registration fee takes into account that players will move on to the championship and won’t pay another fee. Bass River is $70 at peak walking price. So obviously, players are paying for more than just the individual round. This is also why private course qualifiers are so coveted and fill up quickly. Excellent championship venues also make $200 to play Worcester CC in the Mass. Senior Amateur feel like a steal.

For some players who are good enough to try to qualify for a number of events, the total cost can get pretty high. For mid-amateurs and seniors, qualifying and then playing in a championship means taking days off from work. Even college kids might need to miss work or an internship if they aren’t chasing golf tournaments all summer.

There is one additional cost that a player might have to incur if they wish.

The practice round.

Usually, courses offer a discount for the practice round. Some charge a cart fee or a trail fee. Those typically range from $20 to $50 to help give a player a chance to see the course. This is the case for both qualifying courses and championship courses.

Oakley CC charged $29 for a Massachusetts Women’s Mid-Amateur practice round this year. Keep in mind that there is no qualifying for that championship. Players register, and if the field fills up, there is a waiting list.

On the men’s side, Andover CC is hosting the Massachusetts Mid-Amateur from September 8-10. The club is charging the full guest rate of $125 for a practice round. No discount at all.

After looking around at other events, this is an outlier across the MassGolf Championships. The Haven, which is hosting the Massachusetts Super Senior, charged $50 plus a cart fee if a player chooses to ride.

It’s unclear why Andover CC is charging full price, and it seems like each club sets its own price. In 2023, I played in a Massachusetts Amateur qualifier at Andover CC; I dug up the player information for that event (this is why I don’t delete emails…). They had two different prices for those practice rounds.

On May 22, there was a $60 trail fee for rounds between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. However, if someone wanted to play a practice round outside of that four-hour window, they would be charged $125.

So, Andover CC has charged full price before. When I contacted the club to get an explanation, they didn’t respond.

It would have been nice to know how many players had played a practice round. Is this a way of limiting outside play at a time of year when members want access to the course? Does the full guest fee price deter players, or do they end up with the same amount of practice rounds, so they just charge a little extra to make a little extra?

Some players said they contacted members for a round because it was easier to schedule something through them than through the pro shop.

In 2022, I registered for Mass. Amateur qualifier at Pine Brook. They charged a $25 trail fee and provided ten dates, including some weekend dates, for practice rounds. To be fair, each of those ten dates had two specific tee times available. That’s 20 total tee times, if each tee time had a foursome, that would be 80 players. There were 90 players on the tee sheet for that qualifier.

Private clubs can do whatever they want and have a membership to keep happy because they fork over a lot of money to play the course when they want. Most of these clubs have small windows of time available for practice rounds. That’s to be expected. Even Oakley CC and The Haven listed specific dates and times. However, they are also making playing a practice round a bit more financially manageable.

Some clubs, like Essex CC in 2023, didn’t offer any practice round opportunities for the Mass. Amateur. They allowed players to walk the course, without balls or clubs, the evening before the tournament began.

That’s a pretty extreme decision, too. However, it almost creates a more even playing field than offering limited practice windows for a full guest fee.

(Post Publishing Note: I was informed that sometimes the player information sheets posted on the public side of the Golf Genius System don’t reflect practice round access. For example, practice round access for the Mass. Amateur is trickled out to players as they qualify via email because the demand would be too high if they waited for all qualifiers to finish.

Players, especially at the Mid-Amateur level, have kids and jobs that make it tough to practice. Charging a full fee for that round, on top of $175 to register and qualify, seems like a slap in the face to players who want to prepare and then compete for three days in Mass. Mid-Amateur.

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When I’m not golfing…

I’m reading…

🐭 This piece about Disney World and pricing was interesting - Disney and the Decline of America’s Middle Class.

😆 Marin, Lately is a website that pokes fun at Marin County in California. The anonymous writer showed his face this month. A fun read here. - Outsiders Love Mocking Marin County. Now, It’s Laughing at Itself.

I’m listening to…

🎼 Had some friends attend the Oasis concert at Metlife Stadium, so I popped What’s the Story Morning Glory on while making dinner this weekend.

😵‍💫 This Pablo Torre Finds Out podcast about the LA Clippers paying Kawhi Leonard under the table is nuts and very well done.

I’m eating…

🍔 We had In-N-Out after our flight. It was pretty good. I think I need to go back and order again. A little overwhelming in the drive-through line. Fries weren’t great, cheeseburger animal style was solid.

🇲🇽 If you ever come to Carmel, Cultura is an incredible Oaxacan restaurant called Cultura. We had a squash enchilada that was insane. Tacos were delicious, and their churro are insane. I think I gained 10 pounds in one day between this dinner and In-N-Out.

I’m watching…

💊 Hightown Season 2 is pretty solid.

🖼️ The Girl in the Picture on Netflix was wild.

⛳️ This Fried Egg video about Cypress Point is great.

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