At Shadow Creek, in Las Vegas, greens charges jumped by 25 %.
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Money, cash, cash.
This previous yr in golf was awash in it. Eight-figure first-place prizes. Nine-figure participant contracts.
The sums have been astounding, and what they mentioned concerning the sport grew to become a supply of some dispute. Depending in your view, the elevated purses and lavish signings both signaled that skilled golfers have been a) wildly overpaid or b) lastly getting what they deserved. Whatever the case, the sheer quantity of moolah was sufficient to warp views.
“Generational wealth is there to be had,” LIV CEO Greg Norman enthused, describing the attract of the Saudi-backed circuit. As if the monetary welfare of, say, Jon Rahm’s grandkids may in any other case be unsure.
And it wasn’t simply the professionals.
Big cash flooded the leisure sport, too. Everywhere you turned, it appeared a lavish new membership was enrolling well-heeled members. In New Jersey, baseball star Mike Trout introduced that he was constructing a course that he’d named in his personal honor. In Florida, a non-public redoubt opened with a Norman-design structure. The initiation dues? $1 million.
All across the nation, high-end resorts and daily-fee programs have been packed. Some raised charges. In April, Pebble Beach bumped its greens charges to $625. At TPC Sawgrass, peek dynamic pricing pushed the price of a spherical above $800.
All of which made headlines. But on GOLF.com, no story drew extra clicks than a submit concerning the most expensive greens payment of all of them.
Ever because it opened, in 1989, Shadow Creek Golf Course, in North Las Vegas, had been a spot aside. Designed by Tom Fazio, and bankrolled by on line casino magnate Steve Wynn at a reported price of roughly $60 million, the impeccably saved structure existed for years as a Shangri-La reserved for the very best of high-rollers. In 2000, although, MGM Resorts International took over from Wynn and flung the gates open, kind of. Anyone may now play Shadow Creek — offered they have been staying at designated MGM property and have been keen to shell out $500.
What appeared expensive then comes off as rooster feed at this time.
In more moderen years, as Shadow Creek has loved rising nationally televised publicity because the host of a sequence {of professional} occasions (beginning with The Match: Tiger vs. Phil, adopted by the PGA Tour’s CJ Cup and the Bank of Hope LPGA Match-Play occasion), its charges have grown as properly. In 2019, $500 grew to become $600, which swelled to $1,000 in 2021.
If you suppose that what goes up should finally come down, you is perhaps proper. But 2023 was not the yr for that. Not at Shadow Creek. This previous fall, MGM raised charges once more. To $1,250. Caddie not included. Though you do get a limo trip to and from the course.
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