[SHIBUMI]

Lot of good stuff here. Bottom Line is 1 good super per Championship Course. A little raise on green fee and rec fee will do the job. Whether you play golf or not a 10$ rec fee increase will do wonders for the executive courses. I dont play pickle ball yet I dont have a problem with their impact on the rec fees.

Better conditioned courses will raise market value of all properties, as it does everywhere in the country. We all benefit, golfers or not.

Its really that simple.................

Originally Posted by BrianL99

The deal with the Merion's & Oakmont's, is most of them have long term superintendents, that have been there for a lot of years, with continuous pay raises (as they deserve) and most of them don't need much outside consulting.

When the long-term guys retire (the guys making the huge money at the Merions & Oakmonts of the world), they get usually get replaced for a lot less money.

When Bob Ford retired as Head Professional at Seminole and Oakmont, he was making over $1,000,000/year. I bet Matt Cahill and Devin Gee who replaced him, started in the $250K-$300K range.

One of the main challenges The Village's golf operation is now facing, in my opinion, is it's very hard in the green grass golf world, to play "catch up". Once you're faced with a tradition of deferred maintenance, it takes a long time to bring a course back. As evidenced by all the examples we're seeing of "complete renovations" in The Villages. Riley Grove 2 years ago, Laurel Valley last year and the list of Executives under "restoration/renovation" seems to grow longer every day.

Golf courses shouldn't need renovation/restoration after 10 -15 or even 20 years. When they do, it's because of poor management, deferred maintenance or improper original construction. I was brought in to help manage a large, prestigious golf operation outside of Boston. We had 1 world famous golf course, that was 100 years old. Old fashioned, "push up greens" and a 50 year old irrigation system, with old-fashioned cannon heads. A few holes had been modified along the way, but the course was never "restored" or "renovated" and was consistently a Top 10-20 course in MA. Finally, after about 15 years of deferred maintenance (& some simple neglect) it's now undergoing its very first renovation by Coore-Crenshaw ...100 years after being built.

On the other hand, we also had a 30 year old Fazio course. All modern construction, although some things were "cheated" when it was built. It was not maintained as it should have been and "deferred maintenance" was a way of life. That course was completely renovated 2 years ago by Tripp Davis. I know they rebuilt most of the bunkers, but the greens were USGA spec and didn't need a lot of work. I suspect the tab was in the $3,000,000 range.

Just to put some numbers into perspective, full, proper "renovation" of a single green complex (depending on size, etc.) could easily run $100,000/each. Bunker renovation (again, depending on size), could be anywhere from $10,000 - $50,000. Staggering numbers.