I agree. They can provide better conditions if they want. We need to start complaining to the administration that manages our exec courses. As far as championship, I go elsewhere until the conditions improve, their loss of my revenue.

The Palmer course was closed for a few weeks last April because of poor conditions.

You are such a reasonable man. You always manage to get directly to the bottom line.

Excellent post yet again.

Actually, it's a lot more complicated than that. You can't MAKE it rain. You can't MAKE the grass grow the way you would like. And you can't make every worker do a great job, some of them border on brain dead. All you CAN do is follow a time proven program of green maintenance and water within existing restrictions and cost. But you CAN also make golfers respect the course, drive where they should, fill divots and repair ball marks, and rake the traps. While the ambassadors are not the Gestapo, they should have enhanced authority to deal with those who disrespect the course and make the experience less enjoyable for everyone

The ball marks on the executive course greens drives me "nuts". I really don't mind fixing a couple of other ball marks (I know we have handicap playing golfers) but the need to fix 4 or 5 really is unacceptable behavior for golfers. Education is the answer but as they say "hard to teach ol' dogs new tricks".

I played Sarasota and Volusia this past weekend and I would say that the greens were in great shape. However Volusias fairways had been aerated recently. No problem however.

John

When you hire the lowest bidder what do you expect

That's my biggest complaint. In fact the maintenance of the golf courses should not be contracted out. Having our own people on board would give us much better results.

You can get a tee time any day of he week Dec-May.
That's not a lot of play....................

I agree it would, but it would also be a tremendous investment in specialized equipment either thru purchase or lease.

If it were up to me it would be a requirement to attend a 1/2 day seminar on basic rules and etiquette before being allowed to play on our golf courses.

Fixing ballmarks is a simple thing to do if you bend over. I always fix my ball.mark and those of others who can't be bothered. I do the same thing in the sand traps. I doubt a class would help.much but maybe if more of us would say something to others maybe we could shame some into doing what is right and polite. Ball marks and divots in teeboxes. drive me nuts. If you are good enough to use the execs as practice for your short game and not use a tee,then you are good enough to use a little sand to repair your divot.

Agree. Here's a subtle solution for sand traps----about 2 months ago I played with guy whom I noticed did not rake the fairway bunker that he marched thru on the first hole. (I didn't know him, he was in the other cart and on the opposite side of the fairway) So I patiently waited until he hit another trap (didn't take long, it was the second hole) and when he exited the trap I was right there and handed him a rake without saying a word. He thanked me and raked it, and every other trap after that

Amen to this! I can't tell you how many times in the last month I've watched people take large divots out of tee boxes and have actually seen them traipse through sand traps - they don't even give a thought to repairing their mess, or raking the trap. I try to repair MORE than just my divot or ball mark, each time - I figure it's a 2:10 ratio of people who do/people who don't (the 80/20 rule). And - I figure these are the folks who complain the loudest about the condition of the courses! So it goes in TV...I guess you just gotta roll with it!

He's probably the same jerk I was hooked up with a few months back. :oops:

Although I let him slide on the first trap he was in because it was only a few footprints and figured he was ticked off and just forgot, the next time he walked to the middle and back...then got in my cart.

I looked at him and said, "aren't you going to rake the trap?"

He said, "the ambassador will get it." :22yikes:

I then lit into him and said that I play by the rules and when my ball ends up in a footprint in a bunker, I always wished I could find the jerk who didn't think he needed to be bothered raking traps...thereby making my shot that much harder. :swear:

Although he got out, raked it and all of the other ones the rest of the round...it was pretty quiet in the cart after that. :ohdear: