Talk of The Villages Florida - Tired of bad greens

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- - Tired of bad greens (https://www.talkofthevillages.com/forums/golf-villages-216/tired-bad-greens-243339/)

Are you saying that because these are not Private courses, the condition of the greens don't matter. There are many many public courses in the are that have great greens., That is all the OP was saying. It doesn't matter if the OP posted 1 or 5000 postings, he made an accurate assessment of greens on TV courses.

I played Roosevelt the other day and the greens were in very good condition. Silver Lake also had very nice greens. While there are clearly some courses (both execs and championship) that have some issues, there are also courses in very good shape. Seek out the courses in better condition.

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Originally Posted by MrGolf (Post 1419107)

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Originally Posted by graciegirl (Post 1419030)

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The moderator works for the owner of this forum who is a private individual(s) and has no connection to The Villages, Inc.

I am a Kool-Aid drinker. Everybody knows that. BUT Not a soul forced you or me or anyone to move here. If the courses aren't up to snuff, find a private golf course/country club community. Then you have to pay for all the upgrades the folks who run the show who know not a thing about golf course maintenance decide on. AND you have to pay for food at the restaurant...THE ONLY one. Golf course grass isn't always greener on the other greens.

Think of Scotland. Play the course the way it lies, it isn't supposed to be easy.

:agree::agree::agree::bigbow::bigbow::bigbow::bigb ow::thumbup::thumbup::BigApplause::BigApplause::Bi gApplause:

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Originally Posted by stan the man (Post 1419001)

The only way to change the situation in my humble opinion is by hurting them in the pocketbook.. I for one take every chance I have I give a one star rating on the courses in the villages. Trip Advisor is one example. There are numerous golf sites and places for recommendations and reviews I will and continue to. belittle the conditions of the courses here in the villages. I know some of the people that drink the Kool-Aid will not agree with me and the moderator will probably delete this post

:BigApplause:

:agree:

I don't expect the courses here to match upscale resort courses, but I would expect them to be substantially above the average municipal...and they aren't. :ohdear:

Folks, it's that time of year. This occurs every year. In a couple of weeks the greens will be fine. Then in August they will rework them. By mid September things will be great so keep cool. For those who blame The Villages, keep playing off campus, better tee-times for us dummies !!!!!!

From what I've seen, cane garden was the only champ course not to overseed the greens last winter and have the best greens in the villages right now. Looks like cane is verticutting and grooming the right way. Best I've seen cane in a long time!

Tierra Del Sol used to be one of my favorite courses. Not now. Played there Wednesday and the greens are horrible. Black dead spots everywhere, and bumpier than heck. I'm afraid they're in trouble of losing them. It's off my play list.

What about morning work on the bunkers???? Very sad

There is a significant problem here with golf course maintenance. There are enough courses and revenue to hire the very best groundskeeper in the world. Think about things like last year when Palmer had to close for 2 months because they lost the greens. How much revenue did they lose?

Maintaining a golf course is more about turf knowledge and doing the right things at the right time. Budgets do matter, but knowledge is more important. You can go outside the bubble and play a dozen courses and it is very apparent where the good groundskeepers are. Here we could hire the very best and have them oversee all golf course maintenance. But instead they outsource it to the lowest bidder. And unless we all demand a better solution, it will not change.

I agree about being embarrassed to bring friends here for golf. And it doesn't have to be that way.

Did we get a new Operations Manager not too long ago. Maybe he lacks the experience he claimed he had when interviewing. I heard that happen before. These messages are noted by the Developer, it's monitored here.

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Originally Posted by Dwyane Johnson (Post 1419155)

:beer3::agree::agree::clap2::clap2:

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Originally Posted by perrjojo (Post 1418884)

I would love to fix the greens for you. If enough people complain to the correct department, perhaps it might help.

And how my I ask would you do that?

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Originally Posted by bbrizendine (Post 1418848)

Having slow and bumpy greens on our Country Club courses has become the norm here. It is apparent that the superintendent is not concerned. It could be more than likely that many people don't know the difference and don't mind it. I played Evans Prairie and Bonifay this week with some guests I have and it was embarrassing. The greens were something like you would find at a muni with no budget. I know we have been in a drought and that has hampered green care but so has everyone else in middle Florida. Visited Disney with my quest as well and the greens were perfect. The fact is that our greens are not cared for in the same professional manner. Our greens need to be verticut and groomed regularly and they are not. Both of these pieces of equipment attach to the greens mowers quickly and are used regularly at well maintained golf courses. Just asking, Is anybody else tired of poor maintenance here ?

What makes you think that verticutting is the answer?

Verticutting is a procedure that is usually done once or twice a year depending on the amount of thatch in the greens..

While I agree, the courses in TV are in less than desirable condition, I would be reluctant to talk specifically about what procedures are needed to improve them as that is not my area of expertise.

My feeing is that the problem stems from the fact that the maintenance is contracted out rather than having our own in-house GCSAA superintendents on staff.

When work like this is contracted out, the goal of the contractor is usually to maximize profits by doing the job with as little output as necessary.

I would also like to see the rates reduced to the extreme in the summer months. It makes not sense to not be taking in some money. These golf courses are empty for the most part. I would lower the rates until I saw that we had a group going off every nine minutes from 7:00 until 4:00 pm.

It also seems to me that we have an awful lot of staff in the shops. It's always amazing to me that I walk into a shop and there are two or three people standing behind the counter doing nothing, but waiting for someone to show up.

What I don't understand is that The Villages does everything so well except for golf course maintenance. The flowers in the common areas, the cleanliness, and maintenance of the rec centers and pools and everything else are pretty much first class. The golf course, IMHO range from mediocre to deplorable.

Again, I have to wonder if this is because the golf course maintenance is contracted out while everything is done in house.

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Originally Posted by Dr Winston O Boogie jr (Post 1419256)

Hope the golf powers are reading this- I don't think that golf course maintenance and low bidder contracts are compatible. Good post "Doc"

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Originally Posted by Bogie Shooter (Post 1419062)

Have you played any of the courses north of 466?

Played Belle Glade and Hacienda this week. Hacienda greens were a treat; Belle Glade greens were a trick. How can there be such a big difference?

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