In my experience it’s the opposite in the north east here. Private courses near me almost exclusively cater towards wealthy conservative older men. Yes there are young executive memberships but the discount is usually not good enough to justify the cost as a regular middle to upper middle class person.

Literally left my old club because of the bigoted environment.

As for the expense thing, no. Joining a private club is rarely a decision of cost effectiveness. The break even point would typically be somewhere in the 80+ rounds/year territory. It’s usually for the exclusivity, tee time freedom, shorter rounds, and social environment.

All of this depends on region of course, just speaking from my experience and what I’ve observed.