Don't take anything I say as me trying to talk you out of it, Grant. They are just things I wish I'd considered prior to jumping in. Lots of people talk about the events being great, and they are, but in may case they are close to $40 extra when you pay the entry fee and the cart fee. I'd rather pay nothing and go walk after the event is over to save a few bucks.
I very very rarely play a found over 4 hours at my private course. Look around grant, you might find one in your price range. Tapin for bird
That's pretty reasonable I'd say. We've got 2 private courses right here in Sioux Falls and one of them is right around $250 a month for a silver membership. Silver membership basically has full access to everything but you have to tee off before noon on weekdays and after 3pm on weekends I think. You can get a gold membership for around $400 a month. The other private club is much more expensive and seems to be a little more on the stuffy side but basically they're around $5k a year more than the one I mentioned. We've really looked closely at it and have gone as far as taking the wife and kids out there for a day at the pool while I played golf with a buddy who's a member. Ultimately we did not sign up....yet.
I'm going to second this as well.. I think it's great that clubs try to create events for their members, but they definitely get in the way.. Mens league and womens league will take up at least half the course two nights out of the week.. Tournaments close the course down for weekends... It can get pretty frustrating.