What Golf Really Costs in the Bay Area

Key findings

• The median 18-hole round costs $57 across 119 public courses — but the spread is enormous: from $14 to $445. The region's priciest bookable round (Pasatiempo Golf Club, $445 median) costs about 26× its cheapest (Diablo Creek Golf Course, $17).
• Time of day moves prices more than anything else. The median tee time peaks at $72 in the mid-morning and slides to $37 by 7pm. Playing at the right hour saves more than driving to the right county.
• Twilight is the biggest discount in golf: at the same course, afternoon slots run a median 35% below morning rates — and at the most aggressive courses, more than half off.
• Saturday costs real money: the median course charges 25% more for a Saturday morning than a weekday morning; the steepest premium we found was 61% at Tilden Park Golf Course.
• Geography is destiny: the median 18-hole round in Lake Tahoe ($139) costs 3.1× the median in Sacramento ($45).
• 9-hole golf is the Bay Area's quiet bargain: the median 9-hole tee time is $25, and the cheapest we tracked starts at $18.

Median 18-hole price by region

Lake Tahoe's resort courses top the table, and the coastal counties — Monterey, San Francisco — carry the famous-name premium. The value belt runs inland: Sacramento, Napa's municipal side, and the North Bay all post medians under $50.

Median price of an 18-hole tee time, July 6–11, 2026. Region course counts reflect courses with bookable 18-hole inventory during the window.

The shape of a golf day: price by hour

Prices climb to a mid-morning peak, hold through lunch, then fall off a cliff after 2pm as twilight rates kick in. The 7pm median is roughly half the 8am median — the single most reliable way to play the same golf for less.

Median price of an 18-hole tee time by start hour, all courses pooled, July 6–11, 2026.

The biggest twilight discounts

Comparing each course against itself — median afternoon (3pm-on) price vs. median morning (7–11am) price — the median course discounts twilight 35%. These 8 discount hardest:

Among 85 courses with enough inventory in both windows to compare. See every course with live afternoon availability on our twilight golf page.

What Saturday actually costs

Same course, same morning hours (7–11am), different day: the median course charges 25% more on Saturday than midweek. A handful of courses barely move — 3 of 39 charge no premium at all — while these raise weekend rates the most:

Morning-to-morning comparison so time-of-day mix can't skew the result; 39 courses had enough inventory in both windows to compare.

The cheapest 18-hole rounds in the Bay Area

Median bookable price across the whole week — these are everyday rates, not one-off deals:

…and the cheapest 9-hole rounds

Browse all short courses on the 9-hole and par-3 & executive pages.

The other end of the scale

Pasatiempo Golf Club ($445), Poppy Hills Golf Course ($350), The Golf Club at Gray's Crossing ($197), Half Moon Bay - Old Course ($190), Half Moon Bay - Ocean Course ($190) top the price table. Pasatiempo Golf Club's $445 median buys 26 rounds at Diablo Creek Golf Course — the Bay Area contains the entire economics of American public golf in one 100-mile radius.