Putt an Play
 

From the post I see, the putt an play in Fenney is popular. More of them need to be built in the older section of the Villages to make more access for more people. It will cut down on driving, wait times, parking issues. More is better in this case. Folks need to start pushing to get more built.

WHERE would they be placed? There would be a lot of hollering if the Executive courses were taken away for that purpose ...in my opinion only.

Can someone who has been to Put and Play describe what it's like to use it?

Apparently it is intended to discourage "main land" Villagers from using it. Official parking for cars is a1/2 mile walk down the road unless you park on nearby empty lots under development. On-site parking is only for golf carts, and so far I haven't heard of any special cart trails leading from " the main land".

I don't play golf myself. I was asking because family is coming to visit this summer and they do golf so I wanted to be able to describe it to them.

Seriously? Why assume the worst?

Trails have been announced.....in time they will be built.

It’s not golf. It’s putting, much like a miniature golf, but on real grass without the windmills and such. There are strangely shaped holes and you try and put your ball into the 6” hole in as little puts as possible. Yes, the holes are larger than regulation golf cups. In the grandchildren visiting season it will be wildly popular with the younger set that is not ready for an executive course. Right now it is popular because it is new. I’m not sure it will be bringing in cars in a year or so.

I can think of two places where a putt and play could be built in the older sections. One is the open area off 466 near Bealls/Home Goods. The other is the open space in Pinellas Plaza.

466
That would be fun....right in the middle of a commercial area.:eek:

Do Fenney residents resent "outsiders" coming to play? Hmmm.

Obviously, you forgot about this thread: https://www.talkofthevillages.com/fo...church-248547/
This is the first post:
"Was at the "Where does your money go" talk last night at Savannah Center. It lasted about two hours, and was very informative.
During the presentation, the new land purchase of 20 acres and the old church building was discussed. They are looking to make this a very special recreation area. With the strong possibility of adding another Putt & Play like they have in the new Fenney location. The new pool will be much different then what most of the other recreation centers currently have. They figure it will take about 20 months before everything is in place.
The current building at this site use to be the former church and is in excellent condition. It will be turned into a recreation center. They said the building will probably only need minimal changes. The outside area is what they want to really concentrate on."

There ya go ... another might be on the way - and in the northern parts of TV.

I don’t it’s nice to see that others are driving down to enjoy our amenities. There are plenty of times that no one uses the course same goes for the zero entry pool and rec center bar and grill. Now if we can just get some commercial development down here all would be good.

I agree with you to one point. “Down to enjoy our amenities”, did you mean your or the collective “our”. I think I know your answer from your previous posts.😎

I find this hilarious after all the gnashing of teeth etc when Fenney was announced and so many people on this site complained that Fenney residents would be using their golf courses and other amenities north of 44.

“Our”

Good to hear. I asked my question because someone had two posts pushing for Putt and Play courses to be built in other areas.

Where do you pick up a putter? Rec center or is there something like a starter shack?

I would like to see a nice practice area like Sarasota's putting, pitching, and bunker area built north of 466.

Great observation! Food, shopping and parking, all nearby. And very easy access. :thumbup:

Don

Last year TV bought the old First Baptist church and 18 acres in the north part of TV. Jennifer Parr stated that this would be site of new Rec Center, resort style pool, and putting course to be completed sometime in 2019

Bring your own putter (and ball) or pick one up at the Rec Center near the Fenney entrance.

We the people do not direct development here.

Which overall, I think to be a good thing.

The pond around the putting course has some nice size bass as well, if you like to fish.

How many strokes would it take to putt from 441 down to the Feeney putting green? Your choice of route. Morse, 468 or Buena Vista through the proposed extn. Hint there is no wrong answer

There is a little shed there with the door in the back. You will find different length putters and different color balls. The score cards and pencils are by the first hole. There are two different courses. Both were fun and plenty of benches to sit on if you have to wait for the group to finish the hole in front of you.

There are several putting greens north of 44 that a “golfer” can practice their putting and there is no cost. If you have been down to Fenney, you get the idea that it is a bit different than the rest of The Villages. I can’t imagine a serious golfer driving that far to practice their putting. Now to go there for fun, sure why not in about a year when the crowds die down and the “new” wears off.

And who would pay for such a place? The Developer? I think not, they own only the commercial properties and the championship golf courses north of SR44. The amenities north of SR44 are owned by either VCCDD or SLCDD, our local governments that own and manage them for us using our monthly amenities fees.

If anyone thinks the developer owes any of us anything you are mistaken. The developer develops land and builds houses to sell them, in order to sell the houses they need to have something to encourage people to buy here instead of someplace else. That something here in The Villages is the landscaping, golf courses, commercial areas, and the rest of the amenities that we now all enjoy. All of these thinks have to in some way not only bring value to the residents but also to the developer. The value it must bring to the development company is profit (and profit is not a dirty word), if they can't produce a justifiable revenue stream from something they don't build it. They're not going to build something new like a put-and-play if it doesn't help them sell more houses.

For many years now the developer owned the amenities we enjoy and we all paid for them on a monthly basis through our amenities fees. Over time the developer has decided to sell the amenities. I can thank of many reasons why they might do this; allow them to refocus on their core business of building homes, profitability no meeting expectations, raise cash to fund further development, or perhaps just tied of the constant grabbing at their pockets for more, more, more by the residents. My guess it probably all of these and a few more reasons. Whatever the reasons VCCDD and SLCDD now own that amenities.

The bottom line is that if we, the residents, want something new build, something changed, or anything else, we will have to pay for it. If you want another put-and-play in the developed areas go before the AAC or PWAC and make that request, if the need is perceived to be great enough these are the bodies that can make it happen, but it won't be free, we the residents will have to pay for them, expect either maintenance fees or amenity fees to go up to cover the cost.

I say OUR neighborhood pool. When speaking to those who have never visited TV I mention OUR amenities, are endless. And OUR amenity fee is only $$$ for all of this. Guess I need to rethink my comment to be more politically correct.

My wife and I often drive to Fenny to practice putting.

Putting is the weakest part of my game, so I love to practice it. I do not like the putting greens at the country clubs because they are too flat (Bonifay and Belle Glade), too steep (Havana), or simply a bad design (Evans Prarie).

Even thought we do not like the Red Fox course at Fenny, we love the putting green. It has just the right amount of speed and slope to be very interesting.

We also like the Fenny Grill and the walk around the spring. They have done a great job there.

It's just like minature golf but no cute obstacles in the way to shoot around or under. You just putt, around curves that have a little elevation or slope to each hole. Good putting practice for nine holes or play both courses for 18.

I was shocked to find that out. They've built a village five miles from The Villages. We're all supposed to have equal access to all the amenities but you'd have to live in Fenney in order to use this unless you want to take a long walk to get there.

It's at least a half mile from the parking area. Then you're on your feet all the time that you're playing and then another half mile back to your car. This seems to be unfair to the rest of us Villagers.

I also have a complaint about when we go to play Red Fox and Grey Fox. When residents of Fenney come to the mainland to play golf, they are given a cart free of charge. But when those of us that live north of Rte 44 go down there to play, we have to pay for a cart. I realize that they're trying to sell houses in Fenney, but it wouldn't hurt them to be fair to the rest of us.

There is a strong possibility a new Putt & Play will be included in the area purchased last year. This is behind the yellow Baptist Church on route 42. I was at meeting about this and this is one thing they are looking into. Also a beach entry type of pool like the one down in Fenney. We should learn the exact details later this year.

Neither my wife or I play golf. We went to Fenny with our neighbors who do play golf. All four of us were able to enjoy putting our way around the two courses.

Putting around a putting course such as this is not really practicing putting. Serious golfers would do different putting drills depending on exactly what part of putting they need work on.

That's not to say that it would be bad to go and putt around this course. It's just not really serious putting practice.

Nothing wrong with "Putt and Play", but it is a poor substitute anemnity for a real golf course (Executive or Championship). I'm sure the developers would love to substitute these small golf areas for the real thing, and put houses on the extra land. There is a big lack of golf development in the new areas, which started when going south to Brownwood. The new areas don't have the amount of executive courses available in the Lake Sumter and Spanish Springs areas.

You really haven't been paying attention to what is going on down in CDD-12 have you? There are more courses going in in that area, three executive courses are under construction in the Desoto/McClure area, championship courses have been shown on the plans for the area north of 468 west of the turnpike and south of 468 east of the turnpike. What little they are showing is enough to keep things going without tipping their hand too much as to what is to come. It doubtful that they'll change too much from a plan that has been one of the most successful development plans in the country.

With what they are showing and how they are growing The Villages, we'll all be looking back and saying "Remember when there were only 648 holes, how did we get by with less than 1000?"

I've found if I want to work on bunker shots or flop shots over bunkers I have to go down to Sarasota which I think is the best and largest short game area in the villages.

I don't know if the 2 places you mention are private properties or belong to The Villages. If private, it would be up to the developers of those areas to decide to go with recreation or commercial--and it would cost to play, just like a private miniature golf area, and open to the public. One thought is to request via the Recreation Dept (John Rohan) for consideration on the church property near Mulberry. I don't think decisions have been made on that area yet.