What are the best ways to sneak onto golf courses public and private?
Don't reply telling me not to. I don't have enough money to pay $40 to $50 each time on want to play golf. I played competitive high school golf and now don't have the money because I'm in college.
My strategies include late day golf, stealing Club Car keys, and sneaking on rainy days.
What a load of crap. Sneaking onto a golf course when there's no one playing is the same thing as stealing a car? Trespassing is not a win lose economically. No one is losing money when you play free golf and respect the course like I do at off peak hours. I've gotten caught and no one has ever taken me to court. My law school frat brother says no course is going to pay a lawyer to prosecute some college kid. Please answer the question at hand.
Here's the PERFECT article for you.
Enjoy and please give me 'Best Answer' if it applies.
Sneak Attacker
He's played half the Top 100 courses in America without paying. Or being invited. Who says membership has its privileges?
My False Start
"I started in high school in suburban Maryland, where we were members at a nice enough club. But even better were Congressional, Chevy Chase and Columbia. One day, I drove up to the parking lot of Chevy Chase, scoped it out — where the first tee was, where the 10th tee was. I just walked on and played myself a round of golf."
Basic Technique
"The best private clubs are all the same — preppy, WASP-y places. You dress the part — a polo shirt and nice chino shorts — park in the lot, head to the tee and get going."
Details
"You're not gonna get on places with a starter on the first tee, because he knows everybody. But most of the better clubs don't have starters. My modus operandi is always to go mid-afternoon to early evening during the week. I'm not there at 8 o'clock on a Saturday morning."
Anxiety
"Once you're out on the course, there's not much to worry about. It helps that I'm a good player and don't raise suspicions with my game. A lot of times I'll join up with singles and twosomes. At the end, they'll go over to the veranda and have a gin-and-tonic, and I'll just excuse myself and go home."
Political Statement
"These are clubs that wouldn't take my money. This is the only way I'm ever going to play these courses. But I subscribe to the Groucho Marx theory: I wouldn't belong to any club that would have me as a member."
My Future
"I've got two young kids now, so my golf is limited, and I'm not sneaking on anywhere — for a few years, anyway."
What I've Learned
"The club members all just seem like the nicest people. Of course, when I told my mother that she would say, 'Wait until they find out you're not part of their club!'"
Behind ememy lines:
Merion
"I've played Merion dozens of times. I snuck on a friend of mine once, on a Sunday afternoon. The first tee is right next to the patio, where the members hang out. His knees were shaking. The head pro kicked me off the practice range once. He was pissed. But he's gone, and I've been back many times since."
Winged Foot
"I was walking around the parking lot trying to get a feel for the lay of the land when some guy came up and said, 'You're not allowed to wear shorts here.' I went back to the car and put on some khaki pants. The parking lot is near the famous par-3 10th of the West course. I jumped on there. By the time I finished 18 the course was pretty empty, so I played the front nine."
National Golf Links of America
"Probably the best course I've ever played. A spectacular place — makes Merion look like the local muni. They have wooden lockers with nameplates of past members, Eisenhower, Mellon, Ford Frick. I didn't walk onto the first tee, because there's a little clubhouse there and everyone knows everyone. I played two through 18. There were still people around when I finished, but by that time I didn't care. I played one and got back in my car."
Shinnecock Hills
"I watched the U.S. Open on TV in 1995 and just thought it was the greatest course I'd ever seen. I had to play it. Worth every second."
The One That Got Away
"I had the chance to play Cypress Point in the early '90s. The parking lot was empty. It was 2 o'clock in the afternoon, 70 degrees and sunny. I had clubs in the trunk. To this day I have no idea why I didn't play it."