Quote:
Originally Posted by Mikeod
C'mon Doc. Comparing Pebble Beach to TV? $495 greens fee! If played as frequently as you describe, imagine the resources they have available to keep the course in the condition you experienced. BTW, when I played PB, it was in the middle of a drought like exists now in CA. They had no grass on the fairway and were watering the greens and tees only. No reduction in fees, though. Plus, the quality of player who goes to PB is far superior to the beginners and novice players who frequent TV courses. Makes a big difference in maintenance costs.
The number of rounds played in TV has increased significantly every year, surpassing 2 million in 2015. Although they have added courses, those of us who have been here for 10 years or more will confirm that it gets harder every year to get desired tee times on desired courses. Each year you have to increase the number of courses and widen the time range on requests in order to avoid being shut out.
The organization of the maintenance program in TV is exactly as it should be. If we follow your logic in the previous post, then any large company or corporation should not utilize suppliers or sub-contractors and should do it all themselves. With all the courses to be maintained, it only makes sense to contract it out to companies that do this as their sole business activity. This is not the easy way out. It is the most efficient. Eric and GMS manage the contractors rather than manage the mass of individuals that would be required by your example.
Every year we go through "Miserable May" as the courses recover from the high season play and overseeding followed by the necessary aeration. And every year they get back to good condition.
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Only "Miserable May"??? The courses have been in "Transition" since mid-March when the warmer weather allowed the Bermuda to start to come in and take back over from the winter overseed. Now we have Miserable May Aerification with Greens recovering slowly, usually decent by July. Then we have "Miserable August" Aerification with decent recovery expected by October, then it is time to overseed. With a good overseed recovery may come late in the year. I say "good overseed" because in the 10+ years here I have seen only a few. Then hopefully a few months of decent conditions and we are back to spring transition again. I have been a member at 2 Florida Golf Clubs prior to moving here. The last was Riverwood GC in Port Charlotte. We went through a similar annual ritual as described above until (13 years ago) we changed to Champion grass for our Greens. No overseeding and transition issues. These modern grasses have been available for decades, and new and improve strains have been developed on an ongoing basis. Why The Villages decides to stay with "old" grass technology, when at least 6 of the 12 Championship Courses could have grass that does not require overseeding, is curious.