Sandhill closed until further notice
 

http://www.golfthevillages.com/ is reporting that Sandhill is closed until further notice. No explanation. Does anyone know why. My guess is with no rain and as hilly as it is it may be to dry. That is only a guess. If anyone knows for sure let us know.

When I made a tee time earlier today I noticed that you could not put Sandhill in as an option.

Re: Sandhill closed until further notice
 

We had a reservation for Tues at Sandhill. This morning, it was changed to Turtle Mound. Very "last minute" decision and closing, makes me think it's something other than drying out.

Re: Sandhill closed until further notice
 

Probably right I have not played Sandhill for a couple of weeks. Perhaps someone who has played it recently can let us know what the condition was when they played.

Re: Sandhill closed until further notice
 

http://i294.photobucket.com/albums/m...IMG_0171-3.jpg

Smalldog sez when I last played there the greens were brown and bumpy
the starter told us the irrigation pump was down and awaiting parts :dontknow:
guess they are still waiting ::) ............ pray for rain( and/or parts :read:)

Re: Sandhill closed until further notice
 

http://i294.photobucket.com/albums/m...IMG_0171-3.jpg


Smalldog sez drove past Sandhill this AM( 6.3.08) and it appeared
to be much improved on the fly by :dontknow:
maybe much needed maintainance is being done also since it still appeared to be closed ???

Re: Sandhill closed until further notice
 

I played Truman this morning and the starter said that the main pump that takes care of Roosevelt, Truman, Turtlemound & Sandhill was down for two or three days and it took its toll on all 4 courses. After the down time Sandhill was in by far the worst shape and will probably be closed for 2 weeks or so.

The greens on Truman are is bad shape very brown. We need rain!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Re: Sandhill closed until further notice
 

Played both FDR and HST last week. Greens were terrible -- actually looked worse than they played. Nothing held but they putted truer than the splotchy ones. The greens grass(?) looked and felt more like the material they make heavy welcome mats from that regular grass. Greens on Turtle Mound today were really splotchy.

Re: Sandhill closed until further notice
 

We played Sandhill two days ago (sunday). The greens were in the worst shape of any course I had ever played. We could not decide if it was lack of water or a disease. The grass looked to be dead on about 80% of the greens. Rest of the course was poor but the greens were terrible. It does not surprise me they closed the course.

/
jeffy

Re: Sandhill closed until further notice
 

Sand Hill is indeed closed. The correct answers are in the threads above. A pump failed that supplies water to the greens and they have now received the part and are watering again. We played SH last sunday morning and the greens, or perhaps more accurately, the browns were disasterous. I suspect it will take a little time for them to recover.

Re: Sandhill closed until further notice
 

From an outsiders perspective this all seems like good news:

Golf management saw a problem - automatically moved booked times to other courses - ordered the proper repairs - water the greens until they come back before allowing play.

It just seems that some people read 'conspiracy' into anything that goes wrong in TV - even if it is a temporary thing like this. After all there are only 29 other executives to choose from!

Re: Sandhill closed until further notice
 

http://i294.photobucket.com/albums/m...IMG_0171-3.jpg

Smalldog sez tried to make a tee time reservation as of Tuesday(6/10) and no tee times are available .............. my question is why is this secret :dontknow:
I don't see it explained anywhere ??? Ya know, OK do what you have to do but tell us about it ~ eh ::)

Re: Sandhill closed until further notice
 

If I were in charge of 4 golf courses that had one pump breakdown, I would believe that my boss would expect me to rent a replacement ASAP and not impact the courses. When the repair parts arrive and are installed, the rental pump can be returned.

Re: Sandhill closed until further notice
 

Sigh..and under normal conditions, you would get an A+++...but apparently these pumps are unique pumps which the tooth fairy just can't get in five minutes....so like anything else they have to order a new one instead of keeping a spare (since it is unique)..or so I am told. I guess they think it is better to irritate the Villagers with crappy greens, or actrually, browns, while they order their unique pump ??? :'( :dontknow:Go figure

Re: Sandhill closed until further notice
 

I heard that the folks living south of 466 were not flushing enough. They were saving water. There was not enough reclaimed water to cover the golf courses.

Re: Sandhill closed until further notice
 

Take out the broke one

install temporary plastic pipe connections to make rental pump match the existing pipe connections

plug in the rental (to a rental generator if needed)

turn on the rental pump - water! (in about a 4 hour change over)

reverse when the unique replacement parts arrive.

order spare unique parts

Re: Sandhill closed until further notice
 

Once again Russ is the voice of reason.
I do not see a conspiracy here. I see golf course management that wasn't on there "game." If the pump parts were on hand and didn't need to be ordered things might have gone more smoothly. Or as someone else said, they could have rented a pump in the interum.
If that was your favorite course to play I can see being agrivated but to slam the developer for shoddy practices is a bit much. How about playing another course. S... happens and we have to be patient..... look at where we live and how, in general, the services here are plentiful and well run. Nothings perfect....... ::) ::) This is not paradise even though it sure feels like it.

Re: Sandhill closed until further notice
 

Well said Beady! :agree: :agree:

Re: Sandhill closed until further notice
 

Thanks for the vote of confidence Beady. But Chuck does think a lot like I do...they should be able to fix it without much delay if they thought out of the box a little. But still there are plenty of other choices when it comes to Execs.

Re: Sandhill closed until further notice
 

I think the pump is just an excuse. It is very expensive to maintain an executive course and if the developer is not selling as many homes, they have to cut costs somewhere. Closing an executive course over the summer will reduce their overhead without a significant adverse affect on the villagers lifestyle.

Re: Sandhill closed until further notice
 

Poromo - Just my opinion but that would be really sloppy business practice. Especially if sales are slow. Usually in business the opposite would happen. If sales were grim you would do everything you could do to put a happy face on it and make it look like business as usual. And seriously, do the math, 1 exec closed for 1 summer? Peanuts.

Re: Sandhill closed until further notice
 

OMG! A "Conspiracy Theory" for the closing of Sandhill. Really people? I wonder what was really going on when they closed Kane Garden for 2 weeks for new flooring? Maybe the developers were hiding money under the floor! :dontknow:
1rnfl

Closed it like they close roads when then need a repair. It's that simple. Thanks Russ, Beady, Chuck, for level heads prevailing. :bigthumbsup:

Re: Sandhill closed until further notice
 

Developers are going bellyup all over Florida. What makes anyone think TV developers are immune to this unbelievable economic downturn? Not saying they will fold but larger companies than TV are no longer around....RCA, Eastern Airlines to name only two.

Re: Sandhill closed until further notice
 

No one is untouchable, true. But the basic economics of TV would make it very hard for the current developers to walk away from. First, from all reports, current sales are not that bad in TV at 7.5 sales per day average. Second, the future revenue from controlling most of the retail space in a city of 100,000 residents (plus nearby communities) is undeniably lucrative. Third, they still have a whole section of homes, Brownwood area, to develop and with the largest batch of baby boomers yet to come (like yours truly) there should be no shortage of buyers for a community like TV. Fourth, from what I have read, the developers are not too heavily leveraged which has been the downturn of most companies when hard times and tight money exist.

Just my 2 cents but I always see the glass as 7/8 full!

Re: Sandhill closed until further notice
 

I want you to be right, Russ. Like you, I'm about 5 years away from becoming a villager and I'd like to see TV grow and get even better than than it is today.

Re: Sandhill closed until further notice
 

http://i294.photobucket.com/albums/m...IMG_0171-3.jpg

Smalldog Sez here is the very latest scuttlebutt :dontknow: ( 6/20) the greens at Sand Hill had just been treated with a fertilizer which needed to be watered in shortly after the application and that is when the pump failed so all the greens (??) were burnt off ::) .............. today the situation was supposed to be evaluated ;D ...........
if it is judged playable then I suggest turtle hill be taken out of service next ....those greens were also very poor today( like putting on a waffle iron) :joke: rumor also has the chief groundskeeper for the executive courses looking for a new position :o
that's the latest ;D

Re: Sandhill closed until further notice
 

Sounds like a new greenskeeper might be the ticket that is needed. It's not easy keeping courses playable in drought conditions and bad luck can play a part but eventually someone has to take the fall if it is human error.