[BigGuy]

Lived here five years never seen exec greens this bad.
Play about three times a week both regulation and executives. I know they have aerated many greens but these are just in terrible shape. Heron looks likes some kind of fungus. You can count on one hand if any decent greens on most executives.
Anyone know what's going on?

[Polar Bear]

Don't normally complain about the conditions, but I played Heron tonight and must agree with your sentiments. Almost felt like a waste of time fixing ball marks. (But just for the record, I still fixed them. Heheh.)

[Mikeod]

I agree. This is the worst I have seen them at this time of year in eight years. For some reason it appears the bermuda is not recovering from dormancy like it should. The temps have been high enough. Played Hawkes Bay Thursday where they aerated about five weeks ago and it was like putting on cobblestones. Lots of bare spots. #5 had about a third of the green covered with sand.

[Rollie]

It's not just TV golf courses. It's bad all over. Spruce Creek is closing for 2 days to address their greens issues. Stonecrest is just awful. It must have been the harsh winter.

Rollie

[kittygilchrist]

It must have been the harsh winter.


There was no harsh winter here. It was the opposite..

Weather History for Lady Lake, FL [Florida] for January

[nitehawk]

Forget about golf in the villages --- Price and conditions have me playing other golf courses -- we have heard all the excuses - too much rain, too little rain, too much traffic, fungus, disease, etc. Fix them -- we are a golfing community - we should have the best courses in the area -- in 9 years i have seen the courses go from a "8" to a "3" --

[Barefoot]

Originally Posted by nitehawk

Forget about golf in the villages --- Price and conditions have me playing other golf courses -- we have heard all the excuses - too much rain, too little rain, too much traffic, fungus, disease, etc. Fix them -- we are a golfing community - we should have the best courses in the area -- in 9 years i have seen the courses go from a "8" to a "3" --

Perhaps it's a question of finances.
Amenity fees cover an awful lot of activities.
It seems more money spent on the Exec courses may be the answer.
Either a fee to play, or an increase in amenities.
Are you willing to pay a fee to golf the Executive courses?

[Polar Bear]

Originally Posted by Barefoot

...Are you willing to pay a fee to golf the Executive courses?

Nope. Not I. Still a great deal IMHO, and I'm confident conditions will improve.

[CatskillBill]

Originally Posted by nitehawk

Forget about golf in the villages --- Price and conditions have me playing other golf courses -- we have heard all the excuses - too much rain, too little rain, too much traffic, fungus, disease, etc. Fix them -- we are a golfing community - we should have the best courses in the area -- in 9 years i have seen the courses go from a "8" to a "3" --

I agree with you a 100%. Most of my favorite courses outside TV are back to normal within 2 weeks after punchimg them. Not here. For most it's been over a month and they're still showing bumps and holes?

Someone explain to me how the Glenview's practice greens are perfect and the rest of the course's greens stink? Played Palmer yesterday, Evan's Praire today and they were just OK, and forget about the hideous exec greens being in good shape anytime soon.

Go play World Woods, Stone Creek and Mission Inn to see what our courses SHOULD being looking like.

[rubicon]

Originally Posted by Barefoot

Perhaps it's a question of finances.
Amenity fees cover an awful lot of activities.
It seems more money spent on the Exec courses may be the answer.
Either a fee to play, or an increase in amenities.
Are you willing to pay a fee to golf the Executive courses?

Hi Barefoot: The Villages claim was free golf for the rest of your life. Resident pay $141.00 for trail fees and also amenities. In addition they paid a premium component for the privilege of living here. In order to get a tee time they need to pay $8 per month to utilize the computer system. forget the free phone system its not user friendly. so free golf is not so free. Guests pay to play on executive courses plus they charge for pull carts...both acceptable practices.

I believe if TV attempted to begin charging fees for executive courses there would be an upheaval especially since this was the main calling card for many who bought here.

[Challenger]

Conditions of the greens on the Exec courses is the worst that I have ever seen - anywhere. We have lots of visiting guest and I am pesently embarased to take them to play.

These conditions do not meet the standards of what the Developer put in place and in most places the head grounds people would be fired.

I am usually defense of this beautiful, well managed , paradise, but these conditions stink!!!!!

[dbussone]

Originally Posted by Barefoot

Perhaps it's a question of finances.

Amenity fees cover an awful lot of activities.

It seems more money spent on the Exec courses may be the answer.

Either a fee to play, or an increase in amenities.

Are you willing to pay a fee to golf the Executive courses?

No. We were guaranteed free golf for life.

[blueash]

Originally Posted by Barefoot

Perhaps it's a question of finances.
Amenity fees cover an awful lot of activities.
It seems more money spent on the Exec courses may be the answer.
Either a fee to play, or an increase in amenities.
Are you willing to pay a fee to golf the Executive courses?

Yes. If that is what would help. All the "but we were promised free golf" complainers are correct. But the agreement never said "with nice greens and fairways" So if you are going to make the developer stick to the letter of the agreement don't complain. Your golf is still free.

There were nearly 2 million rounds of executive golf played in 2011

http://nancysheehanrealty.com/THE%20...S%20TRIVIA.pdf

So if the charge were a single dollar a round, that would be a lot of money and I don't see how it would break anyone's budget.

Something needs to be done and you can be sure it can't be done for free so the money is going to come from some source which ultimately means us. I'd prefer that the golfers, which includes me, pick up most of the cost rather than spreading it to everyone.

[Barefoot]

Originally Posted by rubicon

Hi Barefoot: The Villages claim was free golf for the rest of your life. Resident pay $141.00 for trail fees and also amenities. In addition they paid a premium component for the privilege of living here. In order to get a tee time they need to pay $8 per month to utilize the computer system. forget the free phone system its not user friendly. so free golf is not so free. Guests pay to play on executive courses plus they charge for pull carts...both acceptable practices.

I believe if TV attempted to begin charging fees for executive courses there would be an upheaval especially since this was the main calling card for many who bought here.

Exactly Rubicon!
We were all promised free golf for life.
So I doubt that anyone is going to gladly start paying a fee for executive golf.
Well, perhaps the really avid golfers wouldn't mind.
But there would be a huge public outcry by most golfers.

And I doubt the non-golfers would appreciate the amenity fees being raised to improve the golf courses.

So if the golf courses aren't maintained in pristine condition, which is the topic of this thread, what do you think the solution is?

Perhaps the situation will correct itself with grass seed, nurturing and lots of rain?

[Dr Winston O Boogie jr]

Originally Posted by blueash

Yes. If that is what would help. All the "but we were promised free golf" complainers are correct. But the agreement never said "with nice greens and fairways" So if you are going to make the developer stick to the letter of the agreement don't complain. Your golf is still free.

There were nearly 2 million rounds of executive golf played in 2011

http://nancysheehanrealty.com/THE%20...S%20TRIVIA.pdf

So if the charge were a single dollar a round, that would be a lot of money and I don't see how it would break anyone's budget.

Something needs to be done and you can be sure it can't be done for free so the money is going to come from some source which ultimately means us. I'd prefer that the golfers, which includes me, pick up most of the cost rather than spreading it to everyone.

There are almost 500 golf holes in The Villages. Two million dollars would be a drop in the bucket as far as golf course maintenance goes. I've worked at regulation 18 hole courses where the budget was $1.5 million. And unless you have an almost unlimited budget like Augusta National some things are just beyond your control as far as maintaining a golf course.
One thing I have noticed is that they're doing a lot of renovations on some golf courses. On some I've seen them totally rebuilding greens. This is a huge budget expense and may be what's taking away from the regular maintenance of the rest of the courses. I can't say for sure. I'm only speculating as to what might be a reason.
For the most part, I spent my career in golf in the north. I know of courses that haven't rebuilt their greens in over 100 years and the greens are fine. I don't understand rebuilding these greens every few years. I've heard of places that do it, but I've never actually seen it before. Maybe sand based bermuda greens need to be rebuilt more often. That was not my specific area of expertise in the golf business.