Quote:
Originally Posted by Warren Kiefer
I am becoming more upset with each passing year. When I moved to the Villages, Harold Schwartz was still alive and I had the wonderful privilege of discussing with him, his vision for the Villages community. Basically, Harold wanted the Villages to be a place where persons could enjoy retirement to the absolute fullest and at a very reasonable cost. I truly believe Harold had no desire to become wealthy and money to him was just a way to provide greater enjoyment to the residents. Sadly, I think Harolds's vision has gotten lost somewhere along the way. I just picked up the Country Club Golf Rates , I see the Country Club green fees have increased again this year. For a resident, the 18 hole high season rates now start at $41.00 (Orange Blossom Hills) and top out at $57.00 (Palmer Legends). It can be easily determined that generally, the MOST EXPENSIVE greens fees are right here in the VILLAGES ..and this is if you provide your own golf cart. Please don't respond by telling me how much you were paying for golf in Maine or California, it simply isn't relevant. For example, We would all scream at paying $8.00 for a dozen eggs, and yet that is what people in Alaska pay for eggs.
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I love this place, I truly do. But I don't believe we are getting quality golf for the price. I play a lot of golf, and play most of it right here. For most of the busy season the championship courses are collecting about $180.00 every 15 minutes, or $720 an hour. Multiply that by 10 courses and that's $7200.00 an hour. Yet, I spend most of my time hitting irons or chipping from hard pan due to the lack of grass. The greens have been in fair to poor condition. Now, all that being said, it really is supply and demand. Even with the conditions I've described, the courses are operating at max capacity. I also readily admit that my expertise does not include knowledge of the costs to run a golf course. Maybe when you have about a zillion people walking all over your golf course every day that its a miracle that they keep the courses as good as they do.