I'm struggling with a decision about joining a course and wondering if any of you have thoughts/advice. Right now I have the chance to join TPC Colorado as a founding member. They are just completing the course now. I went on a tour 2 weeks ago and the course itself is just stunning. It seriously looks the one of best courses I'll ever play and is a total players course (can stretch out to 8k yards including a near 800 yard par 5). Down payment and dues right now are incredibly low for a course of this caliber ($16k down, $320/mo). Down payment is non-equitable, non-refundable and non-salable. Both will go up significantly after the founding memberships are gone at the end of this month so timing is important. All of this would be a no-brainer for me, except for 2 things. First and foremost, it's nearly an hour drive from my house. Secondly, my wife doesn't play and I don't have kids so I'll get literally 0 benefit from the family only memberships they do. There are other aspects that my wife will use (lakefront dining, pools, beach, horses, etc.) but with the drive it means we'd never go separately and meet up after a round so it's something we'll do probably 5 or 6 times a year.
So, do any of you have significant drives to your courses? Does it deter you from playing? Anyone regret their memberships due to lack of use?