[Bogie Shooter]

Originally Posted by ldovermiller

NO WAY!! We should fire the golf course management and maintenance!! Get qualified INDEPENDENT management/course maintenance firm that cares, has good skill sets that will improve ALL the courses. They currently over cut (shave) the grass, poor
green's care and flat out waste our money. We need an AD HOC committee of resident owners to organize and check how our money is being wasted. It is not a money problem...we are flushed with money! WE ARE BEING HOSED!!!!!!!!!!!!

Ad hoc committee……
Your voice is your elected district board member. Have you spoken to him/her?

[Dburesh]

I will be finding some other place to play if they start charging for the executive courses, as we are already paying for those in our amenities!

[Burnie]

Interesting fact: In 2004, the annual trail fee was $128.40. In 2005 it went up to its present amount of $141.24. That's 18 years with no increase. Not that I want to spend more, but I think they've held the line pretty well.

[Steve]

Originally Posted by Papa_lecki

I know this post will be crucified…..

But, if the districts picked ONE executive in each “area” (i.e. north of 466; 466 to 466A; 466a to 44, south of 44) and charged $20 or $25 a round, BUT the courses get an extra level of maintenance, basically, they are awesome courses.
Maybe tee times are spaced out an extra minute or two.

Would you support it? Would you pay to play that course?

You still have the others you pay for the trail fee. They would be maintained as they are now, some good some bad. They may not be the most interesting courses, but the conditions would be REALLY good.

To answer your two questions: "NO" and "NO". The folks who run the execs collect amenities fees from 138,000 people (~70,000 homes) every month.

My fee is $175.31/month. That's over $11,011,700/month ($132,140,400/year) taken in by the amenities authority. If they can't budget sufficient funds to maintain the courses, the primary draw for The Villages, than somebody needs to be booted out and a better manager installed.

[Steve]

Originally Posted by Steve

To answer your two questions: "NO" and "NO". The folks who run the execs collect amenities fees from 138,000 people (~70,000 homes) every month.

My fee is $175.31/month. That's over $11,011,700/month ($132,140,400/year) taken in by the amenities authority. If they can't budget sufficient funds to maintain the courses, the primary draw for The Villages, than somebody needs to be booted out and a better manager installed.

Oops! Minor miscalculation. It comes to $12,271,700/month ($147,260,400/year). $15 million here, $15 million there, pretty soon you're talking real money!!!

[pdp07]

Thank you, this is very informative.

[RonRich]

Originally Posted by Papa_lecki

I know this post will be crucified…..

But, if the districts picked ONE executive in each “area” (i.e. north of 466; 466 to 466A; 466a to 44, south of 44) and charged $20 or $25 a round, BUT the courses get an extra level of maintenance, basically, they are awesome courses.
Maybe tee times are spaced out an extra minute or two.

Would you support it? Would you pay to play that course?

You still have the others you pay for the trail fee. They would be maintained as they are now, some good some bad. They may not be the most interesting courses, but the conditions would be REALLY good.

This is the driest Winter EVER

[tophcfa]

Originally Posted by Bogie Shooter

This weeks District Bulletin has info on executive courses.
https://www.districtgov.org/PDFView/...20230330001301

Interesting read. The basic summary is that two factors, the weather and the amount of player traffic are responsible for the conditions. Given that the weather is a constant, which is out of human control, the amount of player traffic is the only variable which can be controlled. Since the conditions were MUCH better 5 or 6 years ago, before a crap load of new homes were built without a corresponding increase in available golf holes per rooftop, logic would dictate that increased player traffic is the culprit.

Simple solution, build more executive courses until the amount of player traffic is reduced to a level that allows the courses conditions to return to what they used to be 5 or 6 years ago.

[Steve]

Originally Posted by Burnie

Interesting fact: In 2004, the annual trail fee was $128.40. In 2005 it went up to its present amount of $141.24. That's 18 years with no increase. Not that I want to spend more, but I think they've held the line pretty well.

Yes, but check the Amenities Fee. That's what supports the execs. The trail fees are just icing on the cake. When I moved here in 2005 they were $125/month. Now they are $175.31/month. That's a 40.248% increase.

[Steve]

Originally Posted by ThirdOfFive

Not trying to shoot down the idea of finding a way to better maintain the executive courses, but it is fair to point out that these types of discussions seem to happen every year about this time. Time, fewer people on the courses and more rain in the next few months will go a long way toward rectifying the situation.

Nevertheless it is a fact that some of the executive courses seem to be maintained better than others. Rather than selective maintenance, here are some ideas of better overall maintenance of the executive courses, keeping in mind that the cost of just about everything has gone up and course maintenance is no exception:

1. Charge a bit more for trail fees, say 10% more for motorized carts and raise the cost of pull carts from $1 to $2 per cart.
2. Close each course for scheduled maintenance on a regular basis (once every two weeks?)
3. RIGOROUSLY enforce the rule of no unauthorized motorized carts on the course (Seeing people violate that rule is becoming more and more common).
4. Do maintenance as a preventative rather than a restorative. Allowing a course to go downhill to the point where it needs (say) $100,000 in repairs over two weeks while the course is closed is ridiculous if the same amount (or probably much less) spent in routine maintenance on an open course is the other option.
5. Have the “ambassadors’ (as others have suggested) be more than just smile-and-wave guys and have them actually ENFORCE rules. Pushcarts on greens—cigarette butts negligently cast onto the course—unfilled divots—unprepared ball marks on greens—etc. etc., could all be minimized by better rule enforcement.
6. Allow more time between tee times. Even one more minute between tee times, when spread over a year, means significantly less traffic on the courses.

There are most likely a lot of other things that could be done to improve playability and minimize major repairs. Unfortunately the powers-that-be seem all too hesitant to upset the status quo, unless there is absolutely no other choice.

I haven't played an Exec in a while but aren't carts supposed to stay on the cart trail except for the occasional Par 4 and the rare Par 5 holes? How do carts wear out the fairways if they aren't driving on them?

[ThirdOfFive]

Originally Posted by Burnie

Interesting fact: In 2004, the annual trail fee was $128.40. In 2005 it went up to its present amount of $141.24. That's 18 years with no increase. Not that I want to spend more, but I think they've held the line pretty well.

Interesting point. I hearken back to a different discussion about amenity fee increases. Numbers-wise it seems like a lot but over the past 20 or so years, when inflation is taken into account, the increase was something like $5 per month in real money. Not outlandish by any means.

Everything is going up. Maybe, rather than castigating the powers-that-be in TV for such increases as there have been, maybe we should be thanking them for holding the line on things as well as they have.

[Steve]

Originally Posted by vinricci

Or they could make the walkers pay their fare share.

Walkers ARE paying their fair share when they pay their Amenities Fees. If you want to pay extra to ride instead of walk, that's up to you. Walker or rider, you are both paying $0 at the course to play golf. You want to ride? Pay the trail fee.

[Bogie Shooter]

Originally Posted by Steve

I haven't played an Exec in a while but aren't carts supposed to stay on the cart trail except for the occasional Par 4 and the rare Par 5 holes? How do carts wear out the fairways if they aren't driving on them?

But, but, you haven’t played for awhile……..so how can you comment on conditions?

[ThirdOfFive]

Originally Posted by Steve

I haven't played an Exec in a while but aren't carts supposed to stay on the cart trail except for the occasional Par 4 and the rare Par 5 holes? How do carts wear out the fairways if they aren't driving on them?

As the post pointed out (Item #3), carts ARE being observed on the fairways in disregard of the rules.

[dewilson58]

Result of poll is not surprising.......................I want, but I won't pay.