Originally Posted by ldovermiller (Post 2203038)

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!!!!!!!!!!!!

Originally Posted by Papa_lecki (Post 2202864)

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.

Originally Posted by Steve (Post 2203134)

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.

Originally Posted by Papa_lecki (Post 2202864)

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.

Originally Posted by Bogie Shooter (Post 2202928)

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

Originally Posted by Burnie (Post 2203127)

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.

Originally Posted by ThirdOfFive (Post 2202904)

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.

Originally Posted by Burnie (Post 2203127)

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.

Originally Posted by vinricci (Post 2203076)

Or they could make the walkers pay their fare share.

Originally Posted by Steve (Post 2203149)

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?

Originally Posted by Steve (Post 2203149)

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?