There’s not enough rain in the world to help these courses with this management.very sad to say

Do you have a plan to offer? What are they doing wrong that you could do differently and have you tried to approach Management? I would be interesting to hear your ideas and I suspect others too. Thanks

In my experience it is not ball marks causing the problem, it is large grassless spots in the greens, incompetent and poorly timed aeration, mindless operation of equipment damaging the greens, and lack of grass care. On one course I saw three greens damaged by leaking fluid... you have to wonder if the operator was half asleep... pure amateurism. I agree they are on the way to busting the bubble. In general the greens north of 466 seem to be in better shape than those to the south... have no idea why

Moving South with less traffic?? Please share where that may be. Others may want to follow....

I think he meant "foot traffic" on the Golf courses.

I also think all of Florida has the opportunity to have great greens. Moving south would only help if the management put more time and money into maintenance. We need that here.

You are absolutely correct

Southern Star this week. Green conditions fair-to-good. Far from perfect. Far from deplorable.

This is actually a great idea. Have a rotating closure of ALL greens, including the Club/Championship courses. There's what, 40 Exec and 12 Championship at the present time? So here's what you can do:

Close Nancy Lopez for 2 weeks to upgrade, maintain, repair, and rest the greens. While Lopez is closed, close Mira Mesa, Turtle Mound, and Okeechobee. Notice that's pretty spread out. A CC course up top, with the 3 execs at totally different locations, so that golfers still don't have to go too much further to visit one of the other ones in the area.

Then have them all stay open for a week, before closing the next CC and 3 execs for 2 weeks. And keep doing this, rotating with enough spreadout to minimize complaints of distance from someone's "usual haunt."

Any course that shows more wear and tear than 2 weeks can repair, would stay closed until it has a chance to rest, but while that one is closed, only two other execs would be closed during that rotation, not three.

By the end of the season, all courses should be ready to reopen in much better condition than they were before the process begun.

I meant the courses, not the roads. After all, this has been the winter season and this is Florida. If you are looking for less road traffic, shoot for Arkansas or Iowa. Rumor has it their golf courses might have less traffic as well.

So how and what would you do differently? Have you ever thought that the soil conditions are night and day from North of 466 to South of 466? Or the longer the course has to mature the better shape it will be in? The Villages was/is being North to South correct?

Posting displeasure about the executive course conditions here amounts to venting with no expectation of improvement. These complaints need to be brought to the district directly just like you would complain to the city or town council. Since the problem involves courses over many of the residential CDDs I don’t think it would be effective going through them.

As far as the difference between courses above 466 and those below, consider that above 466 (plus the Pimlico group, I believe) the maintenance budget is a function of the AAC, which has been involved for many years. The budget for those below has only recently become the responsibility of the district since the sale of the amenities by the developer.

Since people have been venting on this website, even tho I agree its not the ultimate method of getting expected improvement, they have closed down 3 executive courses and I believe another 2-3 will be closed for repairs in the near future. Uneccessary venting, I agree with dosent help, but because the problem has negatively influenced so many golfers that I think this forum has given them a feeling of some satisfaction with the expectation that something will get done about it. Slowly there will be improvement but softening the problem gets nothing done.

Agree with your comments. In addition to posting on this thread I have been in touch with executives. Their response as you have pointed out resulted in closing of several exec courses. It is anticipated that when more of the seasonal folks depart over the next 4 weeks we will see others clos as well.

I think it helps to know you're not alone, when you feel you have a valid complaint. You express it in a community, and get feedback. You can decide for yourself if the feedback is useful - whether it validates your concern, or offers a different perspective you might not have had before, that changes your mind.

If you get enough feedback that convinces you to take action, you can then go more confidently into a dialogue with the appropriate parties.

Well said!

https://www.talkofthevillages.com/fo...+closed+repair Thread from 2008

I just said to the good golfer and reasonable person in our family who golfs 18 hole courses here four days a week, I said "lot of complaints on TOTV about the courses being in bad condition". He said "they're right, there are patches that could be easily fixed but aren't". I am not golfing these days due to a hitch in my get along.

Apparently you are right Shbullet. I apologize.

Oh GG there's no need for apologies, if you could ask another member of your family that golfs the executives, I think you would really get a earful. Also, at no point have I complained about the courses, I have merely been a advocate of those that have used this forum for there concerns about the courses, without having their concerns "softened".

Still friends GG....oh and by the way, Im Shbullet not sht...hopefully that wasn't a short abbreviation purposely thrown my way,,lol

There is a new piece of equipment called Air2G2 built by a Jacksonville company that shoots air into the greens and avoids the old way of aeration. You can play on the greens immediately after it’s completed

The Air2G2, which is painted blue, looks like just another greens mower. Except instead of blades, it’s got three large circular pads beneath its midsection. They’re 2 feet apart and each pad has one injection point. The pads are pressed down on the turf, then compressed air is injected into the ground. It reaches as far as 12 inches underground in two blasts, breaking up compacted turf.

◼ Watch: The Air2G2 in action

In use, the Air2G2 moves slowly, injecting air, advancing 3 feet and injecting air again, and so on. It leaves behind only a few holes — approximately 2 percent as many as traditional aerating, Jones figures — and play may resume immediately.

Congested Mess
 

Here goes 90% of the problem in The Villages, the developer allowing people to buy investment home(s) to rent out during the “season”. And people moving out of their homes and renting them out during season, just to make money! The renters are the problem, they have no vested interest in keeping the courses, picking up dog poop, allowing children to drive golf carts and, respecting our way of life! People can not be allowed to rent their homes out less than 6 months! I see advertising for weekly and biweekly rentals, what we have is a vacation club, not a retirement village(s)!

Greens Aeration
 

This machine is used on some courses, south of 466a.

Other than the greens that seem to be rotted (actually looks like over watering ) the fairways are way too short. It's almost like hitting off plain curt. The grass will. Never recover if they continually scalp the fairways every day. I'm not an expert by no means but I do have eyes. Half the fairways are no more than dirt and they still mow them. This I just my opinion for what it's worth.

It is not being used by any of the Executive courses. Can you identify which course is currently or has been using?

Condition of the greens on Executive Courses
 

The greens north of 466 are in better condition because they get less play. They get less play because the average age of residents north of 466 is greater than the average age of residents south of 466 and the older residents either don't play as much or maybe no longer play at all. For those of us who live south (almost to SR44), it is too long of a ride in a golf cart to play a nine hole course north of 466. Also, many residents south of SR44 are playing the courses north of SR44 and south of 466. That will get to be a bigger problem once the bridges over SR44 have been completed.

Condition of the Greens on Executive Courses
 

I could not agree more. It has become almost impossible to putt on some of the greens. On some of the courses, there appears to be two different types of grass growing in patches all over the same green. In reality, it may be a disease problem with the grass. On one course we recently played, the grass on the green had been removed in rectangular sections and new grass had been installed in its place; however, the sizes of the rectangles of new grass did not match the sizes of the rectangles that had been removed, resulting in ruts and bumps. Many of the greens have recently been aerated and sanded, making them difficult to putt on. I guess the bottom line is should they close these courses for longer periods of time to allow them to be properly repaired, spend more money to repair them properly or find people who really know how to properly repair the courses? The answers to all of those questions should be "YES"; however, the end result will be less availability and/or potentially higher costs to play golf. I think management has chosen to let more people play at the lowest cost. In the end, you get what you pay for.

None of those problems are caused by the players. I agree that many players don't rake traps, but I also know from experience that there are not enough rakes in many traps. Having one or two rakes in some of the very large traps makes it time consuming to go a long way just to get a rake and it just slows down play. During a recent round, we found that the sand in some traps had just been replaced with new sand of a different type and color than sand that had not been newly replaced in the other traps, making it difficult to play out of the traps due to lack of consistency. That is not a player problem, but strictly a maintenance problem.

Just played Volusia (near the Sarasota Driving Range). Entire course in very good condition - greens, close to excellent. Of course I may be biased - played pretty well today too...

If you check available tee times at the northern courses you will see this is not true.

Agree 100%. Played Sandhill Sunday: like putting in my back yard.

Emerging Alternative to Overseeding

Overseeding a golf course requires time, labor and money, and inconveniences golfers during the grow-in times. Is there a better alternative? There might be one emerging.


Some golf courses have experimented over the years with coloring, or painting, their dormant turfgrass, rather than overseeding it. It sounds kind of silly, but as the quality of the "turf colorants" has improved, and best-practices for doing it have been shared among greenskeepers, coloring (at least of the dormant greens) is catching on with more golf courses. Overseeding is still more common for now.







A case study of the use of turf colorants published by the USGA Green Section concluded:

"The majority of golfers could not tell the difference between fairways treated with turf colorants and the conventional overseeding practices. Low-handicap players at the course especially preferred the colorant-treated playing surfaces. Turf colorants provide excellent visual definition during the winter and eliminate the poor playing conditions during the overseed transition periods. Of course, there were some golfers who were not happy with the change and preferred the overseeded fairways, but for the most part the reaction has been extremely positive."

For me, as long as there is a vestige of grass in the fairways and I'm not hitting off of bare dirt...the condition of the green is the most important.

Even if the greens are not all that fast (which I personally prefer), as long as they're fairly consistent without large bare/sodded sections...I'm reasonably satisfied.

These days, I've actually been hoping to get in the rough instead of the fairway though...because it's usually a better lie.

On the positive side though, even topped shots or smothered hooks (the primary bane of my game :censored:) can run forever, and if the ball is lucky enough to stay in play...can make you feel like a hero after your tee shot. :D

So it's "The Developer's" fault that people buy investment homes (because The Developer would know that when they sell them). Can't you just say "The problem is that people that buy homes to rent don't have a vested interest...". Not that I agree or not. But why is it always the Developer's problem???