User:WhaleyTim/Sandbox : Course Types

Ownership and Management
There are three main categories of ownership and management of a golf course.

Private Members Club
The course is owned and managed by a golf club on behalf of its members on a non-profit basis. Many of the courses opened during the golf booms in the late 19th and early 20th centuries are of this type. Some courses, perhaps most notably Augusta National, are highly exclusive and will only allow visitors to play at the invitation of and alongside a member of the club. Others allow visitors at certain times but may insist on advance booking and proof of golfing competency.

Commercial
The course is owned and managed by a commercial organisation and is operated for profit. They may be constructed to provide a core or supplementary attraction for visitors to a hotel or commercial resort, as the centrepiece to a real estate development, as an exclusive Country Club or as a “Pay and Play” course open to the general public. Notable examples include Pinehurst in the USA and Gleneagles in Scotland.

Municipal
The course is owned and managed by a local government body for the benefit of residents and visitors. Some of the historic Scottish golf courses, including St Andrews and Carnoustie fall into this category along with Bethpage in the USA and many others of less renown. It is increasingly common for the management of municipal courses to be contracted out to commercial or other organisations or the course to be sold or shut down completely.

Associated Clubs
Many commercial and municipal establishments have associated golf clubs, who arrange competitions for their members on the courses and may provide clubhouse facilities. In the UK particularly, some older private members clubs have an associated "Artisan" club, originally established to provide low cost golf with limited playing rights in exchange for unpaid work on the course. These associated clubs may be totally independent organisations from the course management or have various degrees of formal or informal links.