Talk of The Villages Florida - Sweetgum Greens Not In Good Shape......

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- Executive Courses - The Villages Golf Course Conditions (https://www.talkofthevillages.com/forums/executive-courses-villages-golf-course-conditions-472/)

- - Sweetgum Greens Not In Good Shape...... (https://www.talkofthevillages.com/forums/executive-courses-villages-golf-course-conditions-472/sweetgum-greens-not-good-shape-284801/)

Quote:

Originally Posted by sheena0904 (Post 1625206)

It’s unfortunate they had to close. I will tell you this though, everyone that is involved with golf courses works their asses off to try to keep the courses in good shape. You think Eric Van Gorder, The Villages, or The District wants courses to be in bad shape? If the courses are in good shape, they will not have to deal with complaints thus making their lives/jobs easier. The executive courses in that area average over 60,000 rounds of golf a year which is absolutely unreal. Absolutely no where in the world runs that many rounds of golf through courses, let alone courses setup to be played as 9’s!! The average golfer takes 48 steps on a green according to the GCSAA. So let’s round that up to 50 because we know that there are more on the executive courses, that’s 3 million steps per green a year. That does not include any maintenance, ambassadors, and others who are out on the course. The fact that there is any grass in any area is amazing. You also have to remember things don’t always go as planned in life or a job. Before you all retired, did everything go perfectly and smooth at your previously place of employment?Or did you have to deal with speed bumps and some challenges along the way? Do you feel perfectly healthy all year? Or do you get sick from time to time? Same thing. All the courses are their own animals with different issues good or bad. They will get better and all the courses that are looking rough will also look better. But there will ALWAYS be issues and problems that arise when you are dealing with a line of work that is affected by an amazing amount of people, tough conditions, and the biggest factor Mother Nature!!!

Sincerely,

Former golf course superintendent

Great post! All the wannabe greens keepers do not understand the dynamics that goes into the upkeep of a course.

I’d really like to see what their yards look like; they’re a very small fraction of the size of what some of the courses greens are.

Quote:

Originally Posted by sheena0904 (Post 1625206)

This is a long time coming post. Glad you took the time to present your opinion....coming from someone who really knows. Thanks

There’s got to be something unusual in that area. Mangrove was constructed at the same time and hasn’t had anything near the frequent problems with the greens that Sweetgum has. When I played both courses prior to the official opening, Mangrove’s greens were fine, but Sweetgum’s greens were spotty and had sand spread to fill some low spots. One thought is the increased shade all the trees create that will inhibit the bermuda. We ran into that problem on Roosevelt #6 and they had to trim the surrounding trees to get more sun on that green. Much better now.

SweetGum's greens have been bad all year since the fall, anyways.
They are like dirt/mud with green fertilizer sprayed on them.

Played Sweetgum yesterday and the greens are in horrible shape. Good thing they are closing. The starter did not know how long it would be. Said it opened before it was ready and never really was right.

We played Mangrove Thursday (02/14) and Sweetgum Friday (02/15). Greens on both courses are in horrible conditions.
They BOTH need to be closed.

Too bad they had to close it but they have to keep up the standards. I hate seeing greens with black fungus and a patch work of repairs.