Naturally, there would be a significant amount of overlap between golf fans and beer-drinkers (who among us hasn’t enjoyed a cold one while playing 18 on a summer afternoon?). Which is why the social media masses were outraged to learn what Southern Hills Country Club is charging for beer at this week’s PGA Championship in Tulsa.
Eighteen dollars for a Mich Ultra? Nineteen for an “organic seltzer”? Anyone with a passing knowledge of macroeconomics understands the laws of supply and demand, but $16 for a Caesar salad? Even cheeseburgers ($14) cost an arm and a leg.
Southern Hills doesn’t host many tour events—this will be the first tournament contested there since the 2007 PGA Championship (Tiger Woods paced the field at eight under par). But you can understand the sticker shock experienced by fans shelling out $19 for a Stella Artois. Compare Tulsa’s high-priced menu items to the affordable offerings at Augusta National, where a pimento cheese sandwich will only run you a buck-fifty.
At the heart of this controversy is a marketing debacle that could easily have been avoided. The $18 and $19 Southern Hills is charging for adult beverages is more than a little misleading—each pour comes in at a whopping 25 ounces. So essentially, patrons are getting two beers for the price of … well, two beers.
That said, overpriced concessions are a staple of major sporting events and let’s be honest—most fans aren’t coming to Southern Hills for the booze. They’re making the pilgrimage to see 156 of the best golfers on the planet, including World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler (fresh off winning his first green jacket at last month’s Masters) and Tiger Woods, in just his second tournament since returning from a serious car accident that almost ended his career. Notoriously absent from this year’s field is reigning champion Phil Mickelson, who is still dealing with fallout from controversial remarks about Saudi Arabia and its disturbing history of human rights violations.
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