Talking your way on: the secret to playing top private courses when you're not a member? Sometimes all you have to do is ask

Golf Digest, August, 2004 by Peter Finch

The thing is, it's worth asking--no matter what club you belong to. "It's like anything else: Your success rate depends on the quality level of the course [you're trying to play] and its exclusivity," says Steve Neuliep, superintendent at the Country Club of Asheville, N.C. He helps members get onto other private courses several times a year. "At the very elite level, like Cypress Point, it may not work so easily. But when you go beyond the top 10 courses in the U.S., I would say you'll have close to a 75 percent success rate at getting on as a guest."

He's right about the top 10 courses. When we asked a local pro to make a few calls for us, clubs such as Cypress Point and Pine Valley turned us down. We had to lower our sights a bit--the Denver Country Club, for example--to find success.

Timing is everything

Try to play a popular private course on Saturday or Sunday morning in peak season and you can be sure you'll have a hard time getting on. But if you can time your visit for a weekday, or better yet an offseason weekday, you'll increase your odds.

Timing is important in your choice of a club to visit, too. Older, more established courses tend to be the toughest to crack. But newer clubs, especially if they've got openings for members or if the developer is trying to sell homes on the property, will generally let you out if you can at least dress the part of a prospect. "You know Seven Canyons, that new Weiskopf course in Sedona, Ariz.?" says one golfer who asked to remain anonymous. "A friend of mine said he was thinking about buying a home there. They said, 'Come on out.' It was great. They comped all four of us on our rounds and brought us to lunch." Though the group didn't love the course, they kept that to themselves. It was certainly better than a day at the office.

Seek professional help

OK, so you're not a member of a private club and you don't have any friends who belong to the one you want to play. What is your next step? A polite letter or phone call to the head pro.

Besides flattering the club and its great reputation, it doesn't hurt to drop a few names here and there. If you're coming to the area to meet with a prominent business person, even if he's not a member of the club, mention it. If you happen to know the local fire chief or other notable civic leaders, drop their names, too. "The secret is to make some sort of a connection," says Hughes of the course owners association. "Private clubs are really all about networking."

A phone call to the pro is seen as less formal and thus not as polite as a letter. Some pros say it makes them uncomfortable to field these kinds of calls because for all they know you're a psychopath. We tried calling several clubs, without help from our pro or identifying ourselves as being from Golf Digest. Only Medinah Country Club offered any encouragement. The three-time U.S. Open site accepts some reciprocal play, we were told, and would let us visit if the pro from our club called first.

Americans have long gotten on top private courses in the U.K., including British Open sites such as Muirfield and Royal Troon, by calling first. "Anyone wishing to play here just needs to phone the caddiemaster in advance to book a tee time," says Stewart Zuill, secretary of Sunningdale Golf Club just outside London. "The book opens in February. We get pretty busy, but if we can fit it in we will endeavor to do so."