Quote:
Originally Posted by Alien
Not a Villager yet, but spend a lot of time looking online at TV property and reading TOTV comments. I have been analyzing the annual cost for golf if we lived in the Villages and would like some feedback from residents.
My wife and I belong to a club in Ohio and one in South Carolina - normal situation of annual dues & unlimited play with trail fees for golf carts. If I understand the cost structure at TV correctly, the executive courses are at no cost, but the Championship courses are at an additional daily fee.
Seems to me that even if you pay the membership enhancement to join all the clubs ($925.00) and my wife and I play a Championship course on an average of two times per week (avg $25.00 ea.) that we would be spending about $5,800.00 annually.
I would likely play more rounds than my wife so we might spend $7,500.00 or more on an annual basis. This is equal to or greater than the cost of belonging to either of the Clubs we currently belong to.
I guess my question is this - we expect to play more golf after retirement and if so, it seems we could be spending more than if we belonged to a "normal" Club situation.
Any comments would be appreciated!
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Our country club up north was substantially less, but it was only open 6 months per year, and you could only really get about 4 months of golf in because of the weather. In The Villages I find I only play about twice a week in the winter, because of weather cancellations, and I tend to play a little more in spring and fall when rates are cheaper, and coincidentally the weather is nicer. I've found if I play3 times per week, then maybe once a week on a (free) Executive course, that's all I care to play. I'm sure it comes out a little higher per round that what I paid up north, but on the plus side, it is year round golf, there are a lot of nice organized activites - men's and ladies day, tournaments, etc., and its convenient. We travel some too, so there are weeks at a time when we're not even playing golf. I like playing in my own cart in the winter, with pull down side covers and a heater, as opposed to playing at an outside course using their course golf cart which might not even have a windshield. I suspect your figure of $7500 is not far off, depending on how much golf you choose to play. You could probably cut down on that amount if you played the specials at nearby outside course, and didn't get a priority membership. The priority membership includes the trail fees, by the way.