Pay & Play
Pay & Play means: you pay per round and do not have to be a club member.
Pay & Play is the open model of golf. You pay your green fee and play, without membership, joining fee or annual fee. The facilities behind it are public courses that deliberately operate without a club structure. In Germany there are several hundred such facilities, and the trend is rising. The model comes from Great Britain and made golf accessible to the masses there. For beginners and casual players it is the most direct way onto the course.
On the course everything runs as it does everywhere: you book a tee time, pay and play your round. Many pay & play facilities do not require a course certificate, some only a short introduction. Example: you have been at it for three months, do not yet have a handicap, but finally want to get onto a real course. A public facility near you accepts you without proof of a handicap. That is how you gather your first course experience before deciding on lessons or a club.
One misconception is the assumption that public means easy. Even among the open facilities there are well-kept 18-hole courses with ambition. And vice versa: not every pay & play course waives the course certificate. The safe way is to check the guest rules. Which facilities in your region are open is shown by the golf course search. The article on playing golf without a membership compares the models.
FAQ
Do I need a course certificate for pay & play?
Not everywhere. Many open facilities deliberately waive the course certificate or settle for a short introduction. But there are also pay & play courses with a handicap requirement — the facility's guest rules always state this. A look at the website or a call before your first round saves you the surprise at reception.
Is pay & play worth it, or is a membership cheaper?
That depends solely on your number of rounds. Compare a club's annual fee against the green fee per round: those who play only ten to twenty times a year almost always come off cheaper paying per round. Only from about one round per week does the calculation usually tip towards a membership.
What do I need to watch out for when booking at a pay & play facility?
Book your tee time in good time; at weekends in particular the popular times go quickly. When booking, ask straight away about the day green fee, hire clubs and trolleys if you do not yet have your own equipment. Many facilities offer online discounts for early or late tee times.