Which State Has The Cheapest Golf?

No one has ever said golf was a cheap hobby. Quite the opposite, really. Just equipping yourself for a round with new equipment costs thousands, and that's without stepping foot on an actual golf course. When you play as often as I do, green fees add up very, very quickly. So, the question of which state has the cheapest public golf courses is a very relevant one to those of us who aren't members of private courses.

New York is decidedly mid-tier when it comes to cost, but Copake is tough to beat in the value department.

Conveniently, a recent survey from Supreme Golf has ranked all 50 states (plus D.C.) by the cost of an average round of golf, based on an analysis of over 5 million rounds of golf. And the cheapest state by a wide margin – at $14, it's half the price of second place – is Alaska. Which isn't surprising, really, considering how few courses there are up in the Great White North, how basic most of them are, and how short the golfing season is. In fact, I'm inclined to throw Alaska out since it's such an outlier. It's the same story for D.C., which is tied for second at $28; there are only three public courses in the District and they're all incredibly cheap municipal courses.

So, now that we've gotten rid of the noise, which state possessing actual serious golf has the cheapest average round? A state in the Upper Midwest feels most likely, considering how abundant and accessible golf is there, but it's actually Maine, which matches D.C. at $28. That said, the Midwest does very well, with Ohio, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, and Minnesota all coming in under $40 (although Michigan at $49 and Wisconsin at $47 was mildly surprising). 

With tee times topping $200 throughout the summer, Cape Arundel's likely bumping up Maine's average a dollar or two all on its own.

Coming close to home, I was happy to see Pennsylvania do well, coming in at $40 exactly, and not surprised to see Maryland well down the list at $54. Actually, if anything I thought Maryland would be worse.

Of course, where there is cheap, there must also be expensive, and topping the list – with an average round costing a mind-melting $143 – is Nevada. Those artificial oases in Las Vegas may be engineering marvels, but they're expensive engineering marvels. At $108, Hawaii is the other state with an average green fee topping three figures, with the remaining spots in the bottom ten mostly filled out by popular Sunbelt states (California, Arizona, South Carolina, etc.), although Delaware is also down there for some reason. Just another reason to avoid Delaware.

South Carolina's (and Myrtle Beach's) reputation as a cheap golf destination feels mildly unearned to me, especially when solid but not earth-shattering courses like Caledonia nearly reach $200.

So, if you're a golfer looking to play regularly and not break the bank, Maine would seem the most obvious choice, right? From a strictly monetary standpoint, yes, but there is another wrinkle: weather. Most golfers don't love putting their clubs away for the winter, and while it may not match Alaska for cold weather, Maine doesn't have a particularly long golf season either. Seven months would be generous. And that's why I need to mention the sleeper hit of the nation: Oklahoma. The average price for a round? $31, and while winters may not be warm, per se, the average high in Oklahoma City in January is 50 degrees. That's a lot more hospitable than Portland's 32. You could play year-round in Oklahoma. The quality of courses is surely better in Maine, but if being able to play is more important than how good the course is, then Texas's hat may be the place for you.