[Papa_lecki]

Who knows the structure of the golf course maintenance?

Is it outsourced, does each championship course have its own company doing the maintenance?
Do the companies doing championship maintain the nearby executive courses?

Is the same person in charge of the maintenance of both?

[DrBrutyle109]

I believe it’s more than one company. BUT some must be better than others as conditions on some courses great…..some poor

[Papa_lecki]

Seems to me the methods used should be the same at all courses, and defined by a Villages Golf Course Superintendent- i.e.

apply XYZ fertilizer between May 15 and May 20.
mow fairways on Tues and Thur
Aerate greens on this schedule.

The difference would be 1) equipment and maintenance or equipment - do the mowers get washed every day? 2) the supervision and adherence to the schedule.

I HOPE, The Villages doesnt allow each company to define their own maintenance schedule and buy their own fertilizer/seed etc.

[BrianL99]

Originally Posted by Papa_lecki

Who knows the structure of the golf course maintenance?

Is it outsourced, does each championship course have its own company doing the maintenance?
Do the companies doing championship maintain the nearby executive courses?

Is the same person in charge of the maintenance of both?

I'm sure there are people that know more about The Villages golf course maintenance structure, but this is what I believe to be the situation with the Championship courses:

I believe there are now (2) companies that handle maintenance of the Championship courses, ASG & Down to Earth. Southern Oaks is maintained by employees of The Villages.

When fully staffed, each Championship course has its own "Superintendent". In most cases, that "title" is not as used by most golf courses around the country. What The Villages considers a "Superintendent", would be someone who would occupy the 2nd or 3rd spot in the hierarchy at a tradition (non-Villages) golf course. Probably a #3 at a country club and a #2 at a public course.

Rickey Craig is the VP of Golf at The Villages. I believe he is the overall "Superintendent" of all the Championship courses. Seems like a really good guy, who's overwhelmed with the scope of his job and perhaps a bit over his head (or probably frustrated by budget constraints).

From what I understand, the sub-contractors that do the maintenance (ASG & DTE) are glorified landscape contractors, who have branched out to bid on TV's golf course maintenance.

The Executive Courses are managed by the CDD's and the man is: Mitch Leininger, who is the Director of Executive Golf Maintenance

Executive Golf Maintenance
1026 Canal Street
The Villages, FL 32162
Phone: 352-674-1885

One important consideration when considering the golf courses operations, is TV is dealing with different Counties, with strict water usage regulations.

North of CR 466, golf courses are irrigated with a combination of reclaimed wastewater, storm water runoff that is collected in water retention areas, and groundwater (some upper Floridan and some Lower Floridan, depending on the specific course).

South of CR 466 all golf courses are irrigated with a combination of reclaimed wastewater and lower Floridan groundwater. (Village Community Development Districts).

I've been told that Glenview & Lopez have much more flexibility with their irrigation system, than Palmer Legends, for example.

TV holds water usage/withdrawal permits in all the involved counties. The permits are all different. The single most important facet of golf course maintenance/conditioning, is managing the water. Just my speculation, based on few years in the golf course business, I'm not sure TV does as good a job as they could, managing water usage effectively.

They do a great job with drainage, but I suspect they need a more sophisticated irrigation management program at some of the courses .That's just my speculation, as I don't know the specifics of the permits or their management program, but I do see widely varying conditions at Championship courses.