[JGVillages]

Homes will continue to sell easily in TV. There are so many amenities excluding golf to attract people here. If I was here strictly for golf I would be greatly disappointed because the course conditions are not up to my standards. With that said I believe the course conditions are acceptable to many Villagers standards, so considering this debate, we will always have many opinions on both sides of the fence. For me this is certain; I have been here going on 9 years and course conditions have deteriorated during that time. The Golf Division always has excuses for this but for 8+ years I have periodically played nearby courses (World Woods/Juliette Falls/RedTail/Mission Inn/Golden Ocala/Deer Island/Black Bear/Orange County National) that have kept consistent course conditions so why can't TV?

[Grill Meister]

Harbor Hills is very close and it's in good shape

[CFrance]

I don't know much about golf, so there may be a reason for this, but at TooJays they had the British Open on the TV, and there were lots of burned-out places on the course. It looked pretty awful. Worse than any of the courses we drive by down here around 466A.

[fred53]

Originally Posted by JGVillages

Homes will continue to sell easily in TV. There are so many amenities excluding golf to attract people here. If I was here strictly for golf I would be greatly disappointed because the course conditions are not up to my standards. With that said I believe the course conditions are acceptable to many Villagers standards, so considering this debate, we will always have many opinions on both sides of the fence. For me this is certain; I have been here going on 9 years and course conditions have deteriorated during that time. The Golf Division always has excuses for this but for 8+ years I have periodically played nearby courses (World Woods/Juliette Falls/RedTail/Mission Inn/Golden Ocala/Deer Island/Black Bear/Orange County National) that have kept consistent course conditions so why can't TV?

only have 18 to 27 holes to manage...not 100+. They will get there, but not as quickly as the nay sayers would like. To bad there are so many complainers as doing so online rarely accomplishes anything.

[Barefoot]

Originally Posted by JGVillages

Homes will continue to sell easily in TV. There are so many amenities excluding golf to attract people here. If I was here strictly for golf I would be greatly disappointed because the course conditions are not up to my standards.

I think that a lot of us take up playing golf after we move to The Villages.
Therefore, we don't have "golf standards".
I'm happy to be able to have free golf for life at over 30 executive golf courses.
Occasionally the courses are in less than stellar condition, but who can complain about free golf?

[graciegirl]

Originally Posted by JGVillages

Homes will continue to sell easily in TV. There are so many amenities excluding golf to attract people here. If I was here strictly for golf I would be greatly disappointed because the course conditions are not up to my standards. With that said I believe the course conditions are acceptable to many Villagers standards, so considering this debate, we will always have many opinions on both sides of the fence. For me this is certain; I have been here going on 9 years and course conditions have deteriorated during that time. The Golf Division always has excuses for this but for 8+ years I have periodically played nearby courses (World Woods/Juliette Falls/RedTail/Mission Inn/Golden Ocala/Deer Island/Black Bear/Orange County National) that have kept consistent course conditions so why can't TV?

Yes, but for many of us playing nine as we age, and we all will age if we're lucky. Those nine hole courses? The price is right.

[dbussone]

Originally Posted by Grill Meister

Harbor Hills is very close and it's in good shape

The greens have just been aerated. I played there Thursday.

[Lizbth8]

I thought if you moved to TV, golf was free.

[rubicon]

Originally Posted by Grill Meister

We have a group that plays the championship courses and we have found the courses throughout TV to be in other than championship condition. The greens have little grass, the fairways are not so hot and the tee boxes are all chopped up. We have come to the conclusion that GMS (Golf Management Systems, which is in charge of the condition of all the courses) is not only contracting with the lowest bidder to take care of the courses, but is hiring landscapers and not greens keepers. You will hear them offer as an excuse that the conditions are due to excessive play....that's a bunch of hooey. We have elected to eschew TV courses and play "outside campus" and what a good decision. We played Mission Inn, Howey in The Hills, and man, oh man, what a difference. The greens were immaculate, the fairways where in great shape, rolling hills, rolling greens....it is what a real golf course is supposed to look like. It's a challenging course and I just loved it. I won't tell you my score, but I got two birdies and an eagle.

Before that we played Black Bear, and again, what a contrast to TV courses. Beautiful greens, lush fairways, kempt tee boxes, rolling fairways.

If you really love golf and really enjoy playing great courses.....dump The Village's courses. Go off campus.....there really are good golf courses outside and they are very reasonable priced.....certainly competitive with the greens fees here. I have been a priority member since moving here a little over 8 years ago and I am thinking that I won't renew my priority membership. It cost me over $700 per year to play with a group, get the courses and tee times we want........to play on sub-par courses. With the $700 I will save, I can buy a new set of clubs

Grillmeister you are spot on . My golfing buddies prefer off campus play. I learned after 8 years that priority membership is a huge waste of money but there are a few exceptions such as those competing on the champion courses. compute $700 x 8 years and that adds up to a lot of play on quality courses. Prices are higher here especially prime season and the kicker is players provide their own carts

[nitehawk]

Originally Posted by rubicon

Grillmeister you are spot on . My golfing buddies prefer off campus play. I learned after 8 years that priority membership is a huge waste of money but there are a few exceptions such as those competing on the champion courses. compute $700 x 8 years and that adds up to a lot of play on quality courses. Prices are higher here especially prime season and the kicker is players provide their own carts

[rubicon]

This thread is representative of the ongoing conversation/complaints going on since my arrival 8 years ago. And in all that time little, if anything has changed. I believe the reason to be that The Villages has a captive audience

[dbussone]

Originally Posted by Lizbth8

I thought if you moved to TV, golf was free.

Only on the executive 9 hole courses.

[fred53]

Originally Posted by rubicon

This thread is representative of the ongoing conversation/complaints going on since my arrival 8 years ago. And in all that time little, if anything has changed. I believe the reason to be that The Villages has a captive audience

drive a car to courses off the villages. Strangely enough the courses get in the best conditions "before" they over seed with winter rye grass(about Nov.). I've played quite a few courses(championship and exec)in late summer early fall and they are in wonderful condition compared to off site courses. Naturally if you compare everything here to what the pros play you will most likely be let down unless you pay >$100 for green fees.

All a person has to do is use some common sense when it comes to course conditions and they'd realize that courses that get this much play are hard to keep up...I think they do a fine job so far and find the complainers to be in the minority....mostly because they don't really know about what they are talking.

[PPreu]

Ive been here for four years, and lived in a golf course community in Ocala for 10 years prior to that. I can tell you that these courses here are in fair shape. Harbor Hills is a great tract, however, that being said, I have a friend who lives there who drools over the Villages Courses and has given up his membership there. Most of the off-campus courses go thru their transitional peruods, twice a year when the conditions are awful. I played Orange Country National a few weeks ago and it was n phenomenal shape, I've also asked for my money back at the same facility several years back. There isnt a course in Central Florida that I havent played, and I can tell you to a course, they ALL have had their problems. On a 1-10 scale, Id give TV Courses a 7.5 and some of the others mentioned above surely an 8 or an 8.5. Beauty is in the eyes of the beholder. Harbor Hills: First year non-refundable initiation fee, $12,500 + $395.00 a month. Want to use your cart? Add another $1400.00 annually. Want to use the range? $250.00 annually. I only play once a week on our Championship Courses and once a week on the Executive Courses and for that reason do not prioritize my membership. Ive often found over the years, that where the grass seems a little greener, is because of what's underneath.

[John_W]

Originally Posted by Lizbth8

I thought if you moved to TV, golf was free.

Only the executive course are free, that's the 9 hole par 3's, and only if you walk the course. The executives are great for newer golfers to learn the game and for older golfers who can only play for about 90 minutes. Experienced golfers, especially those who have been playing since they were young, normally want to play an 18 hole par 72 course, which is the championship courses. GolfTheVillages.com has all the info and fees.

Before I moved here, in the northeast Baltimore area I had 7 courses within a 30 minute drive that was between $30 and $37 and were all in much better shape than any of these courses, and the $37 course included lunch. Also with the hills and trees they were much more challenging. Right now, if you'll play during the heat of the day after 11am, you can play a round for about $20 - $24, and that's while driving you own cart. Courses outside TV and up north, had to provide you a golf cart. Come Oct 15th, the 11am discount will be gone and you'll pay about $32 and come January 1st the green fee will go up again to about $50 until the end of April. While these fees are the highest during the winter, the courses in the north have no fees coming in, since they're usually closed for 2 to 4 months for the weather.

You can get a discount of $10 or $15 here off the winter rates and about $3 in the summer if you're a priority member, but that's an $800 or so, lump sum payment every year in addition to the green fees and you providing your own cart.