[Fastskiguy]

Originally Posted by CWGUY

Here is a link to the ACTUAL prices.....

Golf The Villages

Thank you Sir!

Wow it is so incredibly cheap in the afternoon May thru December, that is just unbelievable. I was thinking how nice happy hour will be at 4 or 5pm but....honestly now I'm thinking golf instead.

[Fastskiguy]

Originally Posted by CWGUY

1st. post - 10:00 a.m.
2nd. post- 6:38 p.m.

Eight and a half hours..... only took me 3 minutes to find and link. Who you going to get to click on it for you?

I'm only joking..... RELAX!

LOL, I hear you and I'm relaxed

Actually...I'm not relaxed...I'm SO FIRED UP FOR CHEAP CHAMPIONSHIP GOLF!!!! WAHOOO!!!

[kcrazorbackfan]

Good lord, this has been whined and cried about ad nauseum. It's starting to rank up there with dog poop, saving seats and fast carts.

If you want to drive off campus and pay their green fees and your gas and time to get there and having a 4hr round turn into 6+ hrs. getting there and back, GO FOR IT.

Just stop the incessant whining and complaining.

[OhioBuckeye]

Originally Posted by mike234

I am appalled by the high green fees also. however whining here will do nothing....
if someone were to organize, and pass out boycott leaflets sometime at the golf courses, and give a timeframe as to when to boycott these fees, I would certainly boycott for the designated period of time...
there are plenty of off property courses begging for our money, cheap too

That’s exactly right Mike 234! Don’t play TV, play outside the bubble!

[Bay Kid]

Originally Posted by Fastskiguy

LOL, I hear you and I'm relaxed

Actually...I'm not relaxed...I'm SO FIRED UP FOR CHEAP CHAMPIONSHIP GOLF!!!! WAHOOO!!!

I'll take nice golf over cheap golf.

[Fastskiguy]

Originally Posted by Bay Kid

I'll take nice golf over cheap golf.

Wait a second...again, help the out-of-towners here. Championship golf at TV is nice, isn't it?

[dillywho]

Originally Posted by Goldwingnut

Do you want the employees to get a "living wage" or maybe a pay raise this year? Do you want the courses to be maintained properly? Do you really think that prices will never go up just because you bought here or you realtor "said so"?

The championship courses are a business, and businesses have to make money or they go out of business. It never ceases to amaze me that people move here to The Villages and then all of a sudden forget how the world works and think they should be immune to the realities of economics.

Here's another shocker that most people don't realize. When we get lot of rains and the retention ponds start to bulge with glut of water, were does it go? To the golf courses, both the executive and championship courses, yes this is an inconvenience when the courses have to shut down to accommodate this major function they were designed to carry out, and the whining kicks in on day one.

Closing down an executive course to dump water has only the inconvenience of residents who want to play there, fortunately this normally happens during the slow season and there are plenty of other open tee times available at other course to accommodate you. Remember this courses still have to be staffed and maintained even if no one is play them during the water dumping.

Closing down a championship course to dump the rain water is much more impactful. Yes, residents are inconvenienced by this and have to find alternate course to play, again during the slow season the makes plenty of tee times available. For the business the impact is much more profound, water dumping costs them revenue. No one playing means no cash coming in. If the dumping is happening on more that 9 holes (of a 27 course) the entire course is basically shut down. Well, the revenue side is shutdown, the cost side doesn't shutdown. The greens keepers are still working and taking care of the course. The restaurants and the pro shops stay open but business is dead slow, and the employees still get paid. The cost to the business owner is huge, as is the benefits to the residents by having hundreds of acres to dump the water. How do they recover from this? They don't. They receive no remediation or compensation for their loss while the courses are closed. They have to absorb the cost and expense. Should we do a special assessment to the residents for water dumping when they have to close to accommodate and pay them for their lost revenue? The championship courses would be justified in refusing to close for water dumping and put the burden fully on the executive courses. Of course then the whiners would be screaming "greedy developer" as always, never seeing the other side of the coin.

A 2 or 3 dollar increase in green fees, get over it. Your social security went up more than that, or maybe you would forgo the SS increase and keep the greens fees the same? But then of course the whining would begin there with "I'm a poor retiree living on social security...".

Remember, the world still turns, businesses still have to operate and make a profit, and just because you're retired doesn't mean any of this will stop.

You are so spot on! Thank you for taking the time to explain how economics and businesses work. Unfortunately, some still will not get it simply because they don't want to get it. Others can't because they have only been consumers and not involved in any part of operating a business.

Again, thank you. Hopefully, your post will put a lot of the angst to rest.

[collie1228]

In the end, it comes down to the consumer and how much the consumer is willing to pay. All the complaining in the world won't make a nit of difference. I played Mallory yesterday, as a priority member, and it cost me $47.00, and of course I used my own cart. This rate is up from $42.00 last year (12% increase). We are scheduled to play Tierra next week, and its new rate is up from $39.00 to $47.00 (20% increase). In my opinion this is too expensive for the experience and has reached a tipping point for me. I won't complain about the cost, but I decided yesterday to end my priority membership when it expires this Summer, and until then, I will probably decrease my championship golf from twice to one time a week. And I'll probably stop altogether after that. I think that for many people, golf is an enjoyable sideline, but not a necessity by any means. There are myriad ways to spend quality recreation time in The Villages, including lots of executive golf.

[Rapscallion St Croix]

There is a difference between "too expensive" and "it really ****es me off to pay this much". We will find out if it is too expensive over time. If patronage does not drop off, then management must have priced appropriately. My guess is that there are more than enough people willing to pay the higher fees.

[ColdNoMore]

It really all boils down to the fact, that we pay a premium (compared to the conditions/cost of a lot of the out-of-the-bubble courses)...for being able to drive our golf carts straight to the courses.

"They" are obviously of the mindset, that the greens fees should be based on..."whatever the market will bear."

While I'm not necessarily happy about it, the cost is still fairly minor...in the big scheme of things.

Although the one year increases seem steep, the convenience of using my own cart still wins out for me...and obviously for a whole lot of others.

And for those who play the executives (of which I don't)...the cost/value can't be matched anywhere else.

[Polar Bear]

Originally Posted by ColdNoMore

..."They" are obviously of the mindset, that the greens fees should be based on..."whatever the market will bear."...

You mean like most goods and services in every free-market society in the universe?

[ColdNoMore]

Originally Posted by Polar Bear

You mean like most goods and services in every free-market society in the universe?

YEP...exactly like that.

[Bay Kid]

Originally Posted by Fastskiguy

Wait a second...again, help the out-of-towners here. Championship golf at TV is nice, isn't it?

I should have added in TVs. So many nice choices to choose from here.