Your dream round at Pebble Beach just got more expensive thanks to rising greens fees

Have you been saving up your hard-earned money for the ultimate Pebble Beach golf vacation? If so, you’re going to need to increase your budget. The operators of Pebble Beach Resort have decided to raise Pebble Beach greens fees for 2020.

The costs for a round at Pebble Beach were already among the highest in the game. Last January, the base price was $525 for both resort guests and golfers not staying at any of Pebble’s hotels. Ahead of last year’s U.S. Open at Pebble won by Gary Woodland — the sixth U.S. Open and seventh major held at the iconic California course — fees rose to $550 per round.

On April 1 of this year, Pebble Beach greens fees will rise once again to $575 per round.

Of course, if you do end up going on your buddies trip and land a round at Pebble, it will cost you far more than the initial $575.

If you choose to use carts, it will run you $45 per person. If instead you choose to go the caddie route and walk, which is recommended, the caddie fee will be $95 per bag. (That figure does not include a caddie tip. Here are some guidelines for how much to tip your bagman.) So your total cost will easily approach $800.

Greens fees at two other Pebble-owned courses will also increase in April. A round at Spyglass Hill will grow by $20 from $395 to $415. At The Links at Spanish Bay, 18 holes will now cost $295 per person, a modest rise from $290. Del Monte Golf Course, on the other hand, will remain at its current price of $110.

That may seem like an awful lot of money to pay for a round of golf, and it is, but if John Sawin, vice president and Director of Golf at Pebble, is correct, it’s actually cheap compared to what it could be.

“It’s expensive,” Sawin told golfadvisor.com, “but we still want people to be able to afford it for that premium golf experience. When you run 100 percent occupancy for the whole year, you would say we are under-priced.”

Whether or not that is true, golf will be the least of your budget worries if you plan on staying at the resort during your golf vacation. A night at The Lodge at Pebble Beach will run you anywhere from $940 all the way up to $7,280. At The Inn at Spanish Bay, room rates start at $820 and go up to $4,750, while rooms at Casa Palmero cost between $1,100 and $3,600. But for many, it’s still well worth the splurge.

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