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17 September 2026 · 9 min read

What does golf cost in Switzerland? Course permit, licence, green fee and simulator compared

Golf has a reputation for being expensive. How expensive depends on how you start. The course permit, the licence, the green fee and the hour in the simulator, every figure with its source, and three ways through year one.

What does golf cost in Switzerland? Course permit, licence, green fee and simulator compared — post image

Golf has a reputation for being expensive. That is true if you join a club. It stops being true once you know the other ways in. Here are the figures as published in September 2026, and what they mean for your first year.

1. The course permit

Without the Platzreife, the Swiss course permit, you may not play a golf course alone in Switzerland. It has a theory exam and a practical part signed off by a Swiss PGA professional. The theory has 40 questions on rules and etiquette; 28 correct answers pass. That is what the Swiss Golf Platzreife regulations say.

You can do the theory online for CHF 99. The practical part costs what the lessons cost: a 50-minute private lesson is around CHF 160, a package of twelve around CHF 1,680. Depending on talent and experience you need five to fifteen lessons. The figures are from FIT4PAR, a golf school in Zurich; other professionals are in the same range. Budget CHF 1,000 to 2,500 for the permit, depending on how much coaching you need and whether you learn in a group or alone.

The simulator helps more here than you would think. You learn the basics of the swing just as well indoors, and with a launch monitor a professional sees in one lesson what takes three to guess at on the range. How that works is in the beginner's guide.

2. The licence

To play Swiss courses and hold a handicap you need a Swiss Golf licence. You get it through a club or through one of the two large organisations for independent golfers:

  • Migros GolfCard: CHF 300 per calendar year for adults from 26, the CHF 80 Swiss Golf contribution included. CHF 150 from 19 to 25, free under 18. On more than half of Swiss courses you play with it without a green-fee surcharge. (migrosgolf.ch)
  • ASGI: the mid-season membership from August costs CHF 320; the regular annual membership is CHF 60 above that. Juniors under 18 play for free. At the end of 2025 the ASGI had 19,761 members. (asgi.ch)

Club membership is the expensive way: several thousand francs a year depending on the club, often with an entry fee, in return a home course, tournaments and club life. Nobody needs that in year one.

3. The green fee

The green fee is the price of a round as a guest. It varies a lot by course, weekday and season, and every club publishes its own. With the Migros GolfCard the six Migros Golfparks give CHF 10 off 18 holes and CHF 5 off 9. A realistic budget for twenty rounds a year on different courses runs into four figures. What individual courses publish, and why it can cost more without a club, is in What a green fee costs in Switzerland. If you play a lot, you reach the point where the club is cheaper. Not in year one, though.

4. The hour in the simulator

80 of the 110 indoor venues in our directory publish an hourly rate. The cheapest is CHF 25, the dearest CHF 99, the median CHF 50. That is the price per bay, not per person; a bay is usually shared by up to four players. What an hour costs in your canton is on the price page, in the operator's own words.

That makes the simulator hour the one piece of golf that needs no licence, no permit and no membership. You can go on day one.

Every item on one page

The published prices, as at September 2026, in one table:

ItemWhat it isPrice
Course-permit theory40 questions, onlineCHF 99
Private lesson50 minutes with a proaround CHF 160
Block of twelvelessons bought togetheraround CHF 1,680
Migros GolfCardlicence from 26CHF 300 a year
Migros GolfCard19 to 25CHF 150 a year
Migros GolfCard, ASGIunder 18free
ASGIannual membershiparound CHF 380, CHF 320 from August
Simulatorone hour per bayCHF 25 to 99, median CHF 50
Green feeone round as a guestwhatever the course publishes

Two things are deliberately missing. The green fee, because every course sets its own and any figure here would be wrong. And equipment, because the second-hand club market moves too much to deserve a number. You ask for both directly: the course about the green fee, the pro about a half set that suits you.

What you do not need in the first year

Four items that appear on every beginner list and change nothing in year one. Your own clubs: many venues and all golf schools lend a set, and a half set bought before the first lesson rarely suits the swing you have after it. Golf shoes: not allowed indoors anyway, and for a round in your first summer firm trainers will do. A rangefinder: the numbers you need are on the screen in a simulator and on every scorecard on a course. And the club membership, which only adds up once you play more than twenty rounds on the same course.

What is always worth it in the first year, on the other hand, is lessons. An hour with a professional 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.

Three ways through the first year

The cautious one: ten simulator hours as a four, two of them with a professional. Around CHF 600, and it answers the question of whether you like golf at all. No licence needed.

The committed one: the permit over the winter with eight lessons and the online theory, a Migros GolfCard in spring, then twenty rounds on public courses. Around CHF 1,400 for the permit, CHF 300 for the licence, plus the green fees. Between CHF 3,000 and 4,000 in total for the first year, a used set of clubs included.

The club golfer: entry fee and annual subscription at a club, the permit through the club's academy. Well over CHF 5,000, in return a home course and a handicap that falls quickly because you play often.

The three ways, side by side

ItemCautiousCommittedClub
Course permitnonearound CHF 1,400through the club's school
LicencenoneCHF 300 to 380included in the fee
Roundsnonetwenty green feeshome course, unlimited
Simulatorten hoursthe whole winteras needed
First yeararound CHF 600CHF 3,000 to 4,000over CHF 5,000

What separates the columns is not the quality of the golf but the number of open doors. The first costs little and asks for nothing. Anyone who picks the second afterwards has already played a year and knows what they are paying for. What you may do without a licence is in Golf without a course permit and without a membership.

More on this: What a golf lesson costs, Golf bag and trolley and Golf glove: which hand, which size, Indoor golf prices by canton, Is golf an expensive hobby?.

The first year, month by month

Golf does not cost the same all year. Spread the spending across it and you pay less and learn more, because the lessons fall in the months when nobody is playing outside anyway.

  • November to February. The cheapest and the most useful time. Work through the theory online, take five to eight lessons in a simulator and book an hour a week on your own. Spending: the theory, the lessons and around CHF 50 a week for the bay, divided by however many people come along.
  • March and April. The exam, as the courses open, then the licence. Spending: the club's exam fee and CHF 300 or 380 for the card.
  • May to September. The rounds. This is the item that cannot be planned, because it depends on how often you go. Twenty rounds on public courses is a four-figure sum.
  • October. Nothing, except the decision whether there is a second year. Anyone who has got this far knows the answer.

The honest answer to what golf costs: getting in costs between CHF 600 and 4,000, depending on how serious you are. It only gets expensive once you love it. What of it falls due month by month is in What does golf cost a month. And by then you will not mind.

Every venue where you could start tomorrow is on the map.

Frequently asked questions

Can I play golf without the course permit?

Not alone on a course, but yes in a simulator. A simulator hour needs no licence, no permit and no membership, and you may practise on a driving range without one.

What is the cheapest way to a Swiss Golf licence?

The Migros GolfCard at CHF 300 a year (CHF 150 under 26, free under 18) or the ASGI, whose annual membership is around CHF 380. Both include the licence and handicap administration without joining a club.

How much does the course permit cost in total?

Budget CHF 1,000 to 2,500: CHF 99 for the online theory and five to fifteen lessons at around CHF 160, plus the exam fee and green fees for practice rounds.

What does golf cost in Switzerland in the first year?

Between roughly CHF 600 and CHF 4,000, depending on the route. Ten simulator hours for four people cost around CHF 600 and ask for neither a licence nor a course permit. A permit, a licence and twenty rounds come to CHF 3,000 to 4,000. Joining a club costs more.

When in the year is golf cheapest?

In winter. From November to February there is no green fee, lessons cost what they cost in summer and take place in a simulator, where the launch monitor shows more than the range does. Spending on a licence and on rounds only starts in spring.

Sources