26 September 2026 · 7 min read
Is golf an expensive hobby? The Swiss calculation, honestly set out
The reputation comes from a time when there was only one route. Today there are three, and they differ by a factor of eight. The calculation, item by item.
Golf has a reputation for being expensive, and the question is fair. The answer depends on which of the three routes you take, and they differ by a factor of eight: from about CHF 600 to over CHF 5,000 a year. Here is where the reputation comes from, how much of it still holds, and which items actually weigh.
Where the reputation comes from
From the entry fee. Joining a club in Switzerland costs several thousand francs once: Golf Club Davos names CHF 15,000 from age 33 and CHF 9,000 for 22- to 32-year-olds (golf-davos.ch), and Golfclub Erlen CHF 4,000 to 6,000 depending on age (erlengolf.ch). Anyone who meets golf that way is right to think it expensive.
Except that this route has for years been neither the only one nor the most common way in. 47,177 of the 108,543 Swiss licences run through the two public golf organisations, which is 43 per cent, and they charge no entry fee. The reputation is lagging behind reality.
The three routes, with numbers
| Route | One-off | Per year | What you get |
|---|---|---|---|
| Simulator only | nothing | around CHF 600 | two evenings a month, for two |
| Clubless with a licence | course permit, about CHF 1,400 | CHF 2,000 to 3,000 | licence, twenty rounds, lessons |
| Club member | CHF 4,000 to 15,000 | CHF 1,500 to 2,900 | home course, tournaments, tee times |
The annual fees come from published club tariffs: Davos names CHF 1,500 for single members, Erlen CHF 2,900 for a single member and CHF 2,300 for a weekday member who plays Monday to Friday. The figures for the clubless route are in What does golf cost a month.
What actually weighs
The green fee, not the licence. Twenty rounds at CHF 90 is CHF 1,800, more than any annual card. And playing without a club costs extra at some courses: at Golfclub Wylihof the same weekday round is CHF 120 for a club member and CHF 180 through the ASGI or the Migros GolfCard (golfclub.ch).
The lessons, not the equipment. Five to fifteen lessons up to the course permit cost between CHF 600 and 1,800 at CHF 120 for 50 minutes (Migros Golf Academy). That is money well spent and still the second-largest item in the first year.
Not the clubs. A used half set lasts two seasons, and rental clubs are available at almost every indoor venue and every golf school. Buy first and learn afterwards and you usually buy twice.
The cheapest honest way in
Two simulator evenings a month, booked for two: a median CHF 50 per bay, so CHF 25 each an evening, which is CHF 600 a year. For that you need no course permit, no licence and no clubs of your own. For four people the same evening drops to CHF 12.50 a head.
That is not compromise golf but the part of the sport with no preconditions at all. 110 indoor venues across 21 cantons rent by the hour to anyone; where they are is on the map.
The items on no list
Four costs appear in no brochure and in every reckoning. The journey: twenty rounds at a course half an hour away is twenty hours in the car plus the fuel. The clubhouse: a coffee after nine holes and a meal after eighteen are part of the round for many people, and over a season they cost more than the licence. Tournament fees, if you want to play for your handicap, although registered private rounds do that for nothing. And replacement: grips, shoes, gloves and, every few years, a club.
Together those are not small sums, but they behave differently from the big items: they rise with the number of rounds rather than with status. Play a lot and you pay more here, and at the same time you edge closer to a club making sense.
How a family adds up
At both public golf organisations children under 18 pay nothing for the licence. A family with two children therefore costs what two adults cost, CHF 600 a year with the Migros GolfCard, plus green fees, which are reduced for juniors almost everywhere.
Clubs look similar: Golfclub Erlen names CHF 500 a year for juniors aged 15 to 21 and CHF 200 for children under 14, in both cases with no entry fee (erlengolf.ch). For children, golf in Switzerland is therefore cheaper than most indoor team sports with regular training, and the winter venue is the same as for adults: a bay whose price belongs to the room and not to the head.
Three years, three budgets
| Year | What you do | Roughly |
|---|---|---|
| First year | simulator, a few lessons, theory and the course permit | CHF 1,500 to 2,500 |
| Second year | licence, twenty rounds, winter in the bay | CHF 2,500 to 3,300 |
| Third year | either the same again or joining a club | the same, or plus an entry fee |
The order is the actual advice. Join a club in the third year and you know how often you play, which course suits you and whether you want tournaments. Join in the first year and you pay an entry fee for a habit you do not yet have, and that is exactly where the impression comes from that golf is expensive.
What you can leave out in year one
The new set of clubs, the golf shoes, the rangefinder, the club membership and the golf trip. None of them makes you better, and four of them together cost more than all the lessons you would need this year.
What you should not leave out is the coaching. An hour with a pro replaces ten hours of trial and error, and in winter it costs the same in a simulator as it does on the range in summer, with better numbers. How many lessons it realistically takes is in How long it takes to learn golf.
Where golf does get expensive
In three places, and all three are voluntary. Joining a club with an entry fee, if you do it before the first season instead of after the third. Equipment, when a new driver is meant to replace a lesson. And golf holidays, which have little to do with the sport itself and are comparable with any other hobby.
Leave those three out and golf in Switzerland costs less than many gym memberships. Take all three and you spend more than a car costs in a year. Both are golf, and between them lies a decision, not a necessity.
More on this: Indoor golf prices by canton.
The answer in one sentence
Golf is not an expensive hobby but a hobby with a very expensive variant. Getting started today costs about a day's skiing a month, and the expensive part begins only where you let it begin.
What falls due in what order is in What does golf cost in Switzerland; which licence pays off is in ASGI, Migros GolfCard or a club; and what a round as a guest costs is in What a green fee costs in Switzerland.
Frequently asked questions
Is golf expensive in Switzerland?
It depends on the route. Simulator only is around CHF 600 a year, clubless with a licence and twenty rounds CHF 2,000 to 3,000, and a club membership CHF 1,500 to 2,900 a year plus a one-off entry fee of CHF 4,000 to 15,000.
What is the most expensive item in golf?
For club members the entry fee, for everybody else the green fees. Twenty rounds at CHF 90 is CHF 1,800 a year, more than any annual licence. Equipment is the smallest item, because a used half set lasts two seasons.
What is the cheapest way to start golf?
With an hour in a simulator. No course permit, no licence, no clubs of your own: the bay is a median CHF 50 an hour for up to four people. Two evenings a month for two is CHF 600 a year.
Why is golf seen as a rich person's sport?
Because of club entry fees, which still exist. They affect only part of the playing population: 43 per cent of all Swiss licences run through the ASGI and the Migros GolfCard, which charge no entry fee.
Does a club membership pay off financially?
From about 14 rounds a year counting only the annual fee, and from about 30 rounds if an entry fee of CHF 15,000 is spread over ten years. Play less and being clubless is cheaper.