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Conclusions. If Tierra Del Sol was a real Country Club its members would have the ground crew and greenkeeper fired. Whoever did the aerification has no clue how to do the job correctly. Or worse, they don't care.
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A greens aerifier is a very slow moving machine and it takes a long time to properly aerify a green. In order to do the job in much less time, some companies will use a fairways aerifier or the type of aerfifer that is used on lawns.
With a greens aerifier you might be able to do five to nine greens in a day. With a fairway aerifier they can do 18 greens in less than eight hours.
I'm not saying that this is what's happening because I haven't seen it myself. I'm simply speculating on what might be the cause.
Unfortunately, when owners of a golf course contract out the maintenance the company is going to try to do the job as inexpensively as possible.
What is surprising to me is that The Villages does everything so well except golf. The pools, tennis and pickleball courts, rec centers, cart paths, flowers and everything else seem perfect until you get onto a golf course. What many here call excellent conditions are simply mediocre public course conditions. I've played golf all over this country and in some other countries and I've never seen conditions as bad as I see here then they are bad.
I've also heard he excuse that these courses get so much play in the winter. I've worked and played at many courses in Florida and guess what? They all get a huge amount of play in the winter. Yet most of the places that I've worked and played have been able to maintain decent conditions year round.
I think that part of the problem is that some of the courses were poorly designed. Most people don't understand that 75% of a golf course is underground. If what's under the grass isn't done correctly to begin with you never have a chance of maintaining it properly. This is especially true of the older courses north of 466.
They can keep sodding over problem areas, but unless they correct what's underground the new sod will always fail.
The problem is, I'm afraid they simply don't care. They're not making any profit from the executive courses to they no motivation whatsoever to keep them maintained. The so called championship courses have an almost captive audience so there is little to motivate them to attract golfers with excellent conditions. I realize that some people play off campus, but most do not. For most, it is simply too convenient to get into your golf cart, drive to your nearest 18-27 hole course, pay you fee and play. As long as the courses are full, they have no reason to improve conditions.