The Demo Site

If you're a beginner golfer, you'll find that golf shoes are not necessary to play. You simply need only wear some sort of comfortable athletic shoe suitable for walking considerably long distances. For more advanced golfers, you will find several online sources offering deep discounts including online auction sites like eBay, Craigslist and even Amazon. In addition, you'll be able to access several golf sites with amazing bargains up for grabs. You will also find great bargains on all sorts of golf clothes. See the online section above on how to access the best discounts on golf equipment on the Internet.

A great golf ball tip is: look out for balls which have been recovered from water hazards on golf courses. These balls are usually referred to as "reloads" because they are cleaned up to appear new, they are then repackaged and resold. So as you can imagine, the sale prices are quite low compared to those for brand new balls of the same quality. This is an excellent way to buy premium branded, high-quality golf balls at amazingly low prices.

Another great way to save a bundle on golf balls is by buying "X-out" balls. Here's what happens with these: often, when golf balls are produced by the manufacturer, they go through an exacting process of quality assurance inspections where balls with minor cosmetic faults or blemishes are removed from circulation. These balls are normally perfectly fine as far as playing them is concerned…usually the issues are purely cosmetic. The loophole here is that manufacturers of these golf balls offer them at a substantial discount to recover some cost, instead of dumping them in the waste basket. And once again, as a savvy golf consumer, you can often snap up these premium, high quality balls at a significant discount to their retail value.

In a similar fashion, you should also be on the lookout for "Logo Overruns." Basically, this situation arises when corporate entities like companies and other organisations, golf courses, individuals, and various societies will order some balls to be produced with their custom logos or special illustrations printed on them. Frequently, during the process of production, the manufacturers will erroneously print more numbers than the customer ordered. So these balls end up getting sold at a discount, again because they can't go to waste. They can usually then be found at major national retailers and other outlets including online stores. This is another great way to buy the best quality brands of golf balls for amazingly low discount prices.

If you absolutely must have brand new balls and nothing else, look for the lower end of the spectrum in your selections. Yes, it’s really tempting to play the balls that the pros do because of the power of advertising and what you're exposed to in the industry, but if your handicap is high, then there isn't going to be much point in playing those balls, instead it's smarter to play a ball that’s more appropriate. Chances are that your level of skill will be an obstacle to fully take advantage of the sophisticated characteristics of the better, more high-end balls. Plus the fact that you're likely to lose them at a much higher rate than the pros do.

Playing by Paying Lower Green Fees

A major recurring cost for budding golfers across the world is the price of green fees. There are several hundred local golf courses that do not charge prohibitively high green fees. You can easily find these clubs with a minimal amount of research. And particularly, if you're a beginner golfer, you may also want to consider executive courses, which are much shorter that those catergorized as "championship" length. Executive courses traditionally charge lower greens fees, too.

Later on as you improve, you may be challenged to play the normal sized course. Fortunately, some golfing companies are bringing the price of golf within reach for more and more golfers on a budget. Those sites, however, are only concentrating on major metropolitan areas until their popularity grows and they expand into smaller markets.

Finally, you can always call your local courses to determine the particular times when they run their special offers or reduce their daily rates. Most offer a twilight rate, a lower green fee for playing in the late afternoon or early evening. With a little research, effort and patience, you can still enjoy your game of golf without battering your wallet and overextending yourself beyond your budgetary benchmark.

If you are a frequent golf player, you should seriously consider getting a proper membership at the main course where you usually play. Certainly, it's psychologically very difficult to pay up that amount of substantial cash up front, but to take the sting out of it, think of it this way: you may only need to play a couple of times a week to make it worth your investment joining a lower-end public course.

A great opportunity to make substantial savings on course fees is with special occasions like birthdays. So when your birthday or your close friends and family members' birthdays roll around, you could find out from your local courses to see if they have any special offers available for you and your friends. You may find that some courses will offer a free round of golf for birthday or anniversary celebrations, sometimes providing further free sessions a few days on either side. If there are generous deals being offered, you can time it just right, so that you can have a prolonged one to two-week free golf extravaganza that you'll never forget.