The Economics of Golf Events

This is a topic that could be controversial, and I don't mean for it to be, I'm just genuinely curious...

I attended a Fried Egg Golf event at Lancaster Country Club in (I want to say) 2021. The event featured 2 rounds of golf, lunch, a tee prize, and prizes for the winners. I believe the entry cost was around $425. I might not be exact on those numbers, but it was close to that. It was a great day out there (despite the greens being dialed up to US Open conditions). Now I can't help but thinking that this same event, with those same inclusions would probably come in at $899 and feature a waitlist.

I don't mean this as an attack on the Fried Egg at all, in my local area last month there was an event by another group at Aronimink that was $1200+ for a one day event. The list of golf courses I'd pay $1200 to play is very short, but that's fine, I don't have to pay it and there are many people who were willing to do so. But it really got me thinking, what happened in the last 5 years that has caused these events more than double in price? Did I just catch it in the early days of these events when clubs and organizations were trying to figure out how much these things should cost? Have the clubs decided that they are going to jack up their prices and the resulting entry fees have skyrocketed? Or is this honestly a case of just trying to find the ceiling? I don't blame Fried Egg Golf or anyone trying to make a profit on these events, and as I said earlier, there's a waitlist for many of these events so why leave money on the table?

Again, not an attack on anyone or anything. I can't be the only one who looks at the cost of some of these events and is surprised at how much they've increased.