professor
Per your logic, shouldn't you also expect the club to increase your fees when the greens at the course are deemed good?
Do you have any idea of how much a single application of snow-mold treatment is prior to winter, per green? How much money is spent on chemicals and fertilizers to keep the grass growing nice and green for the season? How much water is used in that process? How much the maintenance of the irrigation costs alone are? Or the labor costs of the maintenance workers who have to basically annihilate those greens twice per year, yet do it in a way to get them back to full growth within 3 weeks so they come back healthier and can tolerate the summer heat? Or how many tons of sand are used to top-dress them and have them somewhat playable for that 2-3 week period when they're not exactly perfect?
I'm guessing you have no idea of the monthly/annual budget needed for a course that only gets 35k + rounds per year, let alone more. Keeping in mind that our seasons in the Northeast are basically from mid-April through the end of October. That's a lot of traffic, wear and tear for those 24-25 in-season weeks.
You've been playing golf long enough to know when the spring and late-summer aerations generally occur. You've been playing golf long enough to know when you should ask if the greens are aerated, without the need of a staff member on the phone needing to inform you.
Wanna know something? Anytime I play somewhere other than where I usually play - I'm always asking, no matter what the month is.
Ever heard of Pythium Blight? It's a common disease in the Northeast during the warmest part of summer. And for that reason I'm always asking when I travel elsewhere, "How are your greens? When were they last aerated?" Poa Annua treatments? Know how easy it is to transmit Poa from one course to another? It's as easy as having the seeds on your golf cleats being transferred from one course to another. Know how much time and labor costs are involved in treating a poa infestation on bent-grass greens? It's another aspect that the greens staff/budget have to deal with, all season long.
Like you, I don't want to spend a day on a golf course putting on shitty greens. Sometimes I don't have a choice, depending on the situation or the time of season. Sometimes I do have a choice. And the reason on those sometime occasions is because I actually inquire ahead of time.
To expect a discount for typical aeration in the spring and fall months?
It's just typical of golfers who have no idea how much it costs to maintain a golf course, and expect something for nothing.
Support your club, if you like playing there and enjoy the layout.
People (in general) around here will eagerly spend $45 on a dozen balls, $399 for a driver, but then bitch about spending 40 bucks to play a course with aerated greens for a couple weeks during the aeration season and expect a discount.
And golfers wonder why their beloved local favorite courses are closing their gates! LOL