[JGVillages]

I am a single digit handicap and I agree the greens are not unplayable but try the greens at: World Woods, Red Tail, Juliette Falls, Deer Island, Mission Inn, just to name a few. Also try the fairways because it is fun to hit off actual fairway grass. Summer rates at these courses is usually $40 or less and sometimes lunch is included. I don't plan to ever leave TV because of all the other great activities it offers, but because of yearly cost increases to play championship golf and the yearly decrease in championship course conditions I find pickle Ball a great distraction, with great court conditions!

[srixongolf1197]

You see how bad the courses are in The Villages when you go to a proper good track. Today I played Golden Ocala they airified their greens at the beginning of the week and today they were better than any putting surface here in The Villages amazing what having a knowledgeable Super and staff can do...and don't reply private course vs public course, they get less play than the Village Courses, water restrictions, different grass growing seasons, have to be patient for the greens to come back people need to stop making excuses...Course conditions here are Substandard its just that simple somebody is not doing their job but they know that everyday the tee times will be filled because people just don't know any better so why change.

[nitehawk]

Originally Posted by Barefoot

It's only when we return to our northern home that I realize how great we have it in The Villages.

A choice of over 30 free golf courses, wow.

only when i return from up north that i realize how bad the courses in tv are

[Cisco Kid]

Originally Posted by graciegirl

...

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[nitehawk]

Originally Posted by graciegirl

I find that the better a golfer is, the less he complains about course conditions. Your playing partners are playing that course at that time and have equal challenges.

Now why this is happening is very curious. And may be due to stinginess and may be due to lack of skill in caring for a golf course, and it may be due to overplaying. But I read with interest all that is said.

We knew when we moved here we were leaving the private country club life.

You now have 9 cc

[RErmer]

Originally Posted by marting163

I guess I should have been more clear when I posted " Why are the greens so bad " I meant why are they not given the care we deserve as villagers! To be "playable" a green needs to roll at an 8 on a meter, and they need rolled to be true. I guess the answer I'm going to be given is that Eric and the other greens keepers either don't know how to do their job or won't do it or aren't given the funds to do it. At least my money gets me new flowers every month at the turnabouts, what a joke golf is in TV.

Sounds like you're very unhappy with The Villages. I for one love the flowers and greatly enjoy my golf here. The courses here (IMHO) are in as good or better condition than the courses I was playing in South Florida before moving here - at half or less the cost!

[mickey100]

Many of us have experienced better courses up north and outside the Villages. Why the greens and conditions here are so poor, to the point of being an embarrassment, is anyone's guess. We keep getting the same excuses year after year. It becomes a game of trying to keep track of which courses are decent at any given time and trying to get a tee time there.

[graciegirl]

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[Baboon]

I have noticed a dramatic decline in the golf course conditions over the past few years that most people here have apparently observed while prices continue to climb.

I have also noticed that the area has gone through consecutive drought years. The drought reduces the water levels which results in water with higher concentrations of sulfur and other elements or compounds that lead to acidic water which is not good for lush fairways and greens.

Also exacerbating this situation was the build-out south of 466a. Courses such as Bonifay were opened without the necessary water resources, which lead to, among other things, the near death of Bonifay fairways and greens within months of opening; and also to the diversion of water from Cane Garden, Mallory, and others to aid Bonifay.

We have had a very wet month so far this July, but we need a lot more. We need a low-wind, tropical system to sit on us for a while.

[mickey100]

How do you know they divert water from one course to another?

[mulligan]

There is a well/pump house between Palmetto and Evans Prarie adjacent to 466A. This deep artesian well was drilled to supplement the stormwater/runoff/ grey water used for course and common area irrigation. Seems to work quite well.

[waynet]

I will continue to blame management for the poor conditions. Water or lack of it will always be an issue,so why do es management continue to plant grass that needs lots of water and needs aeration twice a year when almost all other golf courses are going to the new champions bermuda for their greens. Tierra Del Sol would have been a perfect place to at least try something new. Instead it closes for 8 months and nothing changes. I just don't think they know what they are doing and the things that they di do only are short term fixes otherwise there would not be 4 different threads dealing with the poor conditions of the golf courses.

[JGVillages]

Management stated to a friend of mine that because some of the new (and obviously superior) strains of grass requiring different maintenance it would be to confusing for the maintenance staff to handle. DA!!!!! Personally I would not hire these maintenance people to do my lawn unless I was trying to kill it!

[dbussone]

Originally Posted by waynet

I will continue to blame management for the poor conditions. Water or lack of it will always be an issue,so why do es management continue to plant grass that needs lots of water and needs aeration twice a year when almost all other golf courses are going to the new champions bermuda for their greens. Tierra Del Sol would have been a perfect place to at least try something new. Instead it closes for 8 months and nothing changes. I just don't think they know what they are doing and the things that they di do only are short term fixes otherwise there would not be 4 different threads dealing with the poor conditions of the golf courses.

In the case of Tierra del Sol, an ambassador told me staff were told by the people that put in the new greens that the new greens should not be over seeded this past winter. Golf management overruled that instruction and the poor status of the current greens is the result. Apparently the grass of the new greens had difficulty competing with the grass used for over seeding.

I can speculate that the decision to override the recommendation not to overseed may have been made to present more colorful greens during Season.

[The Mountaineer]

I know I'm an outsider, but I plan to play golf in The Villages for three months when Paula and I rent a home on Rainbow Drive (off Silver Lake's No. 5 green) for three months in January-March 2015, so maybe I qualify to comment.

When I played the greens in December 2014 during our two-week test drive of The Villages, my ball bounced more than any green that I play in Ohio -- or West Virginia, for that matter.

Greens should be smooth so that the line is true. If the golfer putts accurately the ball should go in or be close to the hole, and not be bounced off track to the right or left, or even toward the sky.

The Villages' greens that I experienced need a lot of improvement. I don't expect country club greens, but certainly greens that match the public courses in Ohio. But I do think The Villages' management should take enough pride in what is a fabulous collection of villages to make the greens smooth enough to roll true. I don't know what the problem is, and that's the greenkeeper's job to figure out whether it's the way the grass grows, or doesn't, or how the greens are rolled when they are mowed, to keep everything as flat as possible

But there's one truism in golf. A putt should NOT be kicked off course by the way the green is kept up, or not kept up, any more than a putt should be detoured by an inconsiderate golfer not fixing his ball-landing pockmarks. We'll all in this to enjoy the golf, and each other's company.

The folks who are worth $2.5 billion running The Villages should pay attention to this problem. It's the ONLY area I found wanting during my admittedly short visit. Everything else is first class in The Villages. So why can't the greens be first classs? Excuses don't fix greens. Time, money and expertise do.