It's funny what a little rain does, it is also the time the courses are aerating so people judge based on those conditions

So true. I'm starting to realize it's that "privileged/entitled" group that does the most complaining. Waa, waa, waa - call the waambulance. I'm looking at Southern Star as I write this and it's the greenest I've seen it for awhile; it is funny what a little rain will do. I wonder when the OP and his band of groupies will silently return to taking tee times from us loyalists?

Played Belle Glade today and it was in great shape.

It appears they are trying a new technique on some courses to transition from overseed to base. It is similar to what I experienced on our courses in SoCal. They basically starve the overseed, leaving an almost bare surface. When the overseed is dead, they hit the turf with water and fertilizer to spur growth of the bermuda. Usually, the transition is harsher, but shorter since there is no shading of the bermuda by the overseed.

We played Mallory yesterday (Amelia to Caroline) and the course was in good condition. In fact the greens were faster than I could adjust to, but they rolled very well. Fairways were green, but both rough and fairways are very tight. Obviously we need a lot of rain to get the grass growing in the rough.

I've learned to pay attention to the published schedules for week long maintenance and aeration and then take those courses off my play list for 3 to 4 weeks after. My satisfaction with course conditions has since improved.

:coolsmiley::coolsmiley::coolsmiley::agree::agree:

"No more play in The Villages" Newbies you got to love them:D

Belle Glade was very nice today. I was very happy with the condition.

I played Heron today and it's no worse than several other courses in TV.

The middle tee on #4 has been totally lost and is completely grass free, but that's the only one that I noticed.

What I did notice was an abundance of unrepaired ball marks. I always see them but there were many more at Heron than most other courses I play.

I will say that Heron is a very pretty course with water and wild palmetto areas. It's too bad the condition, like all of the execs that I've played is deplorable.

What really surprises me is that The Villages does everything else here in a first class manor. The rec centers, pools, cart paths, landscaping, softball fields, tennis courts and every thing else is so well maintained. You would think that a business such as this that sells itself on "free" golf for life. (yes, I know it's not actually free)would be a bit more concerned about the condition of the golf courses. I can't imagine that they help sales when prospective buyers come down for a lifestyle visit and play these goat ranches.

By the way, I played OBH Tuesday and it's in pretty bad shape as well, so I'm thinking that they don't maintain the championship courses very well either.

Sometimes we see completely but consistently different personalities in use North of the Political Talk section vs the Political section .

Well, this past week I played Silver Lake, Oakleigh, Amberwood, Chula Vista, Mira Mesa, OBH and Heron and I can tell you that, with the exception of OBH, they all are equally bad. Strangely, Silver Lake and Hilltop have the best greens.

OBH is in bad condition, the rest are deplorable. Hitting a fairway on a par four is no advantage whatsoever. Miss a green by a few feet and you are usually in a horrible position. On most course, the tees are pretty bad, but they are a low priority area to me since we are teeing up the ball.

I agree with you. The courses within a 30 mile radius didn't get rain either and they are PERFECT. Why are they so different???

What bothers me as much as the poor condition is the design of some of these holes.
I played Mira Mesa a few days ago and vowed I will not play it again. Besides the fact that the fairways on the two par fours are in deplorable condition, there are two holes, #2 and #6 where I could not aim my ball at the green. From the back tees, these two holes are literally, dogleg to the left par threes. In order to hit the green, you must hit a ten to fifteen-yard draw. This is absurd. I might be a bit prejudiced because I have been working hard on hitting a baby fade. But, there is simply no excuse for a par three where the ball cannot be aimed at the flagstick.

The ninth hole at Mira Mesa is a 180-yard par three but the green is designed for a short iron. Besides the fact that the green is only 17 yards front to back, the back 30% of it slopes away. I have hit many very good high spinning four hybrids to that hole only to be chipping from the back rough. I get the impression that this back tee was added sometime after the course was completed as it makes no sense to have a shot of that length to such a small green. I also notice that the back tee yardage on the scorecard is from the middle tee.

I have heard that this green was completely torn up and redone a few years ago. I can't imagine what the people who did the re-design were thinking.

I will not play Mira Mesa again. That's a real shame because except for these few problems it's a really nice track. As much as I hate the idea, one can always take a preferred lie on the bad fairways, But the two holes where the ball can be aimed at the green are a deal breaker for me. I play golf to enjoy myself. I get enough aggravation with some of the people that I play with who talk while I'm playing, walk on my line, don't fix ball mark or fill divots. I really don't need to be aggravated by holes that are all but impossible to play.

The eighth hole at Silver Lake and the ninth at Hilltop have the same problem. Sometimes, the tee markers on these two are moved far enough to the right to allow the hole to be playable, but there are some days where the holes have to be played for a chip and a putt.


I also noticed this on the sixth hole at Oakleigh. This time it's a par four and there are some palm trees planted directly in front of the middle tee. The ball has to be aimed at the big fairway bunker. If you can not turn it over, you have no play other than to hit it in the bunker.

The fairway of the second hole at Silver Lake needs to be totally dug up and re-done. It will never come back with the patchwork repairs that they are doing. The same for the third at Mira Mesa. The sixth at Mira Mesa may be able to come back with some care but the other's need to be totally redone.

I was playing Silver Lake last week and noticed that they are taking out some sod that it along the woods next to the fourth tee. I had to wonder what is in the minds of the people that are in charge that this is a priority to them while so many other things on these courses need attention.

I also noticed that it appears that they might be cutting the large tee on number six into two smaller tees. This makes no sense from two perspectives. Number one, it takes away area where the tee markers may be moved in order to disperse the wear and tear. Also, mowing two smaller tees will take more time than mowing one large one as more turns will be required and the mowers will have to be raised and then lowered again.

Dr. Boogie,

I can see your frustration, being an experienced golfer before even getting here. Now, for someone taking up the sport in retirement it's a disaster. I can't play consistently because the exec courses are wildly different. For example, if you played south of 466A, you would encounter wavy & hilly greens, greens that are above or below eyesight, and hazards that are completely out of eyesight.

If all the execs were the same this would be a very boring set of courses. And since their difficulty is defined so we know what level we are playing not sure what the issue is.