Championship & exec greens in TV?
 

Of the courses you've played in the last 2-3 weeks, which greens were the best/worst ? Normal polls on this site only allow you one vote. That's why I didn't set up a poll. If you know how please start one for us.

Please rate them 0-5 (0=poor, 5=great). By each nine hole name on the championship courses if you recall. I'm trying to avoid anything like the Hacienda Hills, and Glen View conditions. G.V.'s practice greens are perfect that's very strange considering the real greens.

IMHO
Palmer = 4.0 Laurel & Cherry
Evans = 3.0 Killdeer & Osprey (Egret is closed)
Bonifay= 3.0
Cane = 3.5
Lopez = 2-2.5 (2 1/2 weeks ago)
Glen V = 0-1
H.Hills = 0-1 Palms & Oaks (Lakes closed until Oct.)

Heron = 1
Tarpon = 2.5
Truman = 3

I guess everyone on TOTV quit golfing, or is playing off campus these days?
Your ratings appreciated for those too.

For the life of me I just don't understand as to why.
a community created and marketed solely on golf have such poor conditions.
Go anywhere off site and greens and fairways are in much better shape.

Everyone says it's the amount of play.
Birds are long gone
Why is every inch of the fairways in poor condition and greens brown ?
Cost yes the less you spend the more you pocket

I heard that the irrigation water has a ph of 9.(salt water is 8.3)

been here for 17 years, The greens are always in poor shape after aeration. Takes a month or so to heal.
A friend played Bay Hill 2 weeks ago and said the greens were worse there than here.
Maybe it's just florida in the summer?

Whats the use of aerating the fairways if you don't top dress with a sand soil mix to soften the surface so grass can grow.
Would be like trying aerate Morris BVD

Aerating the fairways relieves compaction even if you don't top dress. Some courses leave the plugs on top where they are broken up by the mower and fill the holes a bit. But it still allows water and fertilizer better access into the root zone of the turf.

Heard?

Rating golf courses is like rating restaurants. Everybody's expectations are different.........so the rating's are ____________.

Maybe not scientific, but I would not say meaningless.

Recently played courses:

Heron - 1
Pelican: 2-3.5 (pretty wide variability for just one course)
Bacall: 2.5

I too am confident conditions will get better.

I am no expert on golf course maintenance, but, here are my recent experiences:



Bogart today 2.5 still pretty thin with a number of bad patches



Palmetto yesterday 3.5-4.0 they were decent, not bumpy, no real bare patches, rolled true



Evans/Osprey Monday -- hard to remember but seemed marginal, thin and bumpy.



I do agree that the courses, champ and exec, seem to be in worse shape this summer than I ever recall. Very thin fairways and many greens with numerous bare spots and very slow recovery from aeration.



Hopefully, maintenance, time, and weather will help them heal.

Really? Tasted ok to me!

The conditions on the champ courses are never exceptional. At times they are good. But much of the time they are horrible for any number of reasons or excuses offered. Ownership takes advantage of priority members and those that play these champ courses. We pay a premium to play. It is not cheap to play them. Ownership even though they are making lots of money has decided to go cheap in every way possible hence the conditions.

I thought it was a great OP and a nice way to think about it if I was making tee times currently. There are so many courses, it is hard to know which are good/bad and there are some good opinions on here (you get to know the posters over time).

I only post this to support this type of thread, because sadly I have nothing to offer as I have not played any courses in TV for that period...

It is the kind of thread I would enjoy contributing to when playing again in a couple of months.

They pay minimum wage and expect to get experienced and hard workers to work in the heat all day. Not going to happen!!!

Played Bonifay yesterday and it was decent with the exception of a few greens stil somewhat scarred.

Not true.

:BigApplause::BigApplause::BigApplause:

Palmer (Laurel to Riley Grove on Tuesday this week) - 4
Lopez (Ashley to Erin last Friday) - 1
Mallory (Amelia to Caroline the previous Tuesday) - 2

The Palmer greens were very nice - plenty of grass and the ball rolled really well. Best greens I've seen in The Villages since the Fall. Lopez was a disgrace. The aeration schedule showed there had been a couple of weeks to heal the greens, but they looked and played just terrible. You couldn't keep a putt on line. Mallory not great, but playable.

I really think we would enjoy the championship courses much more if they would just
let the fairways grow in a bit. I don't understand why they cut them so short.
They could save some money if they missed a mowing or two.

:BigApplause::BigApplause:

June 16-21:
Palmer (Laurel Valley) 4*s, T-storms put a damper on playing Riley Grove

FYI Off Campus:
Juliette Falls, Stone Creek, & Grand Pines (Orlando) rate 5*s on everything from tee to greens IMHO.
Better play Grand Pines this year because Marriott has sold this property and the new owners are bulldozing it for more condos in Jan/Feb. What a shame!!!
From your report, Nancy wouldn't be thrilled if she saw it's condition. Surprised at a 2 for Mallory since they held the men's cup there this week.

I agree. We played Palmer recently and the greens were in decent shape. That course is usually pretty good, although it's obviously the most expensive. Lopez has not been great lately, in my experience.

I was complaining about Tarpon Boil last week and got my best score ever. Nice greens now. Let's face it if you are playing Executive golf , you should be there for the fun.

Played HH this afternoon - Oaks only. Greens are in such poor shape the course should be closed. This is not from areartion (sp.) but some such of fungus.

I've enjoyed seeing the "ratings" for this year/month/week.............to all the "seasoned" golfers..........how do the conditions of the courses today compare to the last five or ten years????

Just wondering the direction of conditions.

Thanks

Our neighborhood group played Cane Garden yesterday (Jacaranda to Hibiscus - Allamanda was closed). We were really pleased with the condition of the course. The greens were very nice, reasonably fast with no trace of topdressing and I don't recall seeing any fungus or damage. Fairways are thick and feel like walking on carpet. There was actually some rough - It's nice to play a course where they are trying to replace some of the hard pan with real grass. We are playing Mallory again on Friday, and I'm hoping to see some improvement from the mediocre conditions last week.

Thanks for the update. I live near Cane and I looks a lot better than most. Haven't played it for two weeks. Do you know how long Allamanda will be closed and why?

I didn't ask why Allamanda was closed. I noticed the flag was lying along the side of the first green, so I'm guessing the closure was short term.

The greens here on the Championship courses are so bad its not even funny for the amount of money these courses rake in during the year. GMS is a joke the top tier people making big money for what sitting in an office all day and low balling bids for course maintenance so their salaries are higher , The Facility managers aka head pros bigger jokes if they were top level pros which they aren't they are just "Yes Men" they would speak up and not put up with horrid conditions on their courses, don't get me started on the ranges here very poor grass at Sarasota they should have perfect grass with the amount of money they make daily might be the worst range I have ever stepped foot on. If The Villages keep letting these landscape companies with inexperienced workers take care of the courses here things are only going to get worse.

Glenview - 1
Mallory - 1
Cane Jacaranda 2
Cane Alamanda 1

Played Mallory yesterday (Amelia to Caroline). Happy to report the course was in very good condition, with greens nicely maintained with decent speed. I noticed right away that the fairways were better, and there is grass in the rough where there was only hard pan last year.

srixongolf 1197 is right on in his assessment of Village golf.

srixongolf doesn't have even the slightest clue.

Closed just for the one day due to routine maintenance activities.

mulligan,you might bewrong.

I think there are some times of year when particular courses are in decent condition, but looking at them year round, I'd rate them about a 2.5 out of 5. There are way too many days when the greens are not in good shape, and the fairways are are just so-so. I don't pretend to know why this is, but its pretty obvious it has something to do with money. Why is Palmer in good condition the majority of the time and coincidentally it costs a lot more $$ to play there. I guess you can't blame it on conditions if that course is almost always in good shape. Overall you can get better conditions outside The Villages for less money. They pretty much have a captive audience here, so they can charge whatever they want to. But to say the courses here are in good shape - I have to disagree.

well said Mickey

Different folks, different expectations??

We played Amelia Thursday and I agree the course was in good shape. It's been better, but it really showed improvement.

I'm not sure about the linking of revenue to course conditions. Certainly if revenue is down, conditions can suffer. But revenue by itself can't guarantee good conditions. Look at the condition of the greens at TPC Sawgrass for The Players. No lack of revenue there.

I looked back at some course reports for the executive courses given in July, 2013, and overall it seems the conditions were similar to what we are seeing now. Conditions varied from very good to disappointing, with a general trend toward that latter as we go south. Looking at the reports in October 2013, prior to overseeding, the courses were considered very good to outstanding. Hopefully, we will see that kind of improvement as the summer progresses.

I have felt that the courses are in poorer condition at this time of year than any time in the past, but the course reports I reviewed tell a different story.