Price of Golf in The Villages
 

Basic economics of supply and demand. The T-Times get filled up at those rates during the winter months.

My husband has a priority membership and that does lower the greens fee.

Not really, and it's even worse January 1st when the rates go even higher. The only teetimes that are filled up in the winter are the executives, that's where most are playing this time of year. Go by Arnold Palmer any afternoon from Jan thru April and there is hardly anybody out there. Most courses are dead in the afternoon, if they brought back the 11:00am summer discount they could make a lot more money. However, every winter this is brought up and discussed at length, just do a search.

Green fees
 

What's more, the courses outside of The Villages also hike their prices during the high season, and many of them are inferior. Golf outside The Villages in the winter was cheap when I fist came here, but not anymore.

OP said it is supply and demand. But, as far as I can tell, demand doesn't go down with the higher prices. As a Priority member, I feel the discount we get on winter prices is nice but illogical. Someone, please explain why Evans Prairie is cheaper than Bonifay and Belle Glade.

It's cheaper that the current winter rates in New Jersey. Did I mention that it is 15 degrees in New Jersey.

Golf here is so cheap when compared to where I lived in Virginia that I consider it a bargain even with winter rates. And here I can play year round. While they are doing the ice bowl back there. So I am glad you all think it's expensive. Just means more available tee times.

And you have a couple options to change it. Stop playing and if enough do that they will be forced to drop the price, or go off campus more and that could also impact price. Florida and in particular the Villages has some of the cheapest golf in the country. Very few places you could play golf at these rates. I am sure there are a few, but on average this is very affordable golf here.

Yup
 

Exactly what my husband says all of the time. Golf is a bargain in TV. No Country Club dues food minimums or constant tipping.

Excellent comment!

Based on the posts, one persons "obscene" is another persons bargain. We all have our tolerances and for the OP the outside courses will offer relief....even though combining taxes, shopping and eating at local stores was an interesting approach to make the case.....they aren't related.

Once when we visited my parents in Hilton Head (SC), my husband and my father played golf. They paid $85 each. It was definitely not in the winter.

This illustrates an excellent example why it is so important for those thinking of moving to TV to rent for a whole year.

TV golf is half the cost than Our CC up north and I don’t have to spend mandatory hundreds of dollars in the restaurant every month

One of the primary reasons we bought at the Villages is that you can go everywhere and do everything in a golf cart. Loading up the clubs in our garage and driving our cart to play golf is a dream come true. I would gladly pay a little extra to golf in the Villages versus going off campus in a car, which we often don't have here anyways when we fly down to our home. And there are six beautiful championship courses within 20 minutes of our house, two more within 30 minuets, and another four within 40 minutes, all via our golf cart. How good is that! :BigApplause:

So have you called GMS yet to find out the answer to your whining and complaining? Didn't think so.

Until you do that, continue to throw the clubs in your vehicle, use your time, gas and wear on your vehicle to drive to a course outside the bubble; by doing that, it will open up another tee time for those of us who will support our courses.

Bravo! Great response! :BigApplause::BigApplause:

I play often off site and I find prices 1/2 to 2/3 of the villages including a golf cart. And conditions at most off site courses are equal to or better than the villages.

Then go to courses outside the Villages. Free up tee times for people who enjoy the courses and convenience.

Championship golf is not cheap in The Villages, but many posters believe the convenience factors far outweigh the cost, and I agree. I play twice a week and between priority fees and green fees, it costs me over $4K per year to play. Well worth the cost to me.

Kind of reminds me of my mother in law who thought she was saving money to make a 50 mile round trip to save $.50 on a food store coupon.

Did I mention that is 85 (high) and 73(low) in Costa Rica

::clap2::clap2::clap2:

Three winters ago my neighbor and I decided to play the executives instead of paying $50 for a round of golf. However, in an 1-1/2 hours you were done and I felt like I was just getting started. So we played only the courses with two par 4's and I bought a clicgear cart and walked. By the end of the winter I was still not satisfied.

Then summer came and back to the championships. Then two winters ago we decided let's play championships but only 9 holes, that's about $25 which is what we pay in the summer. This lasted a little longer, about 2+ hours and we can use our driver on about 7 of the holes. So for the past two winters this has been our plan, and it works. We're pretty content with nine holes and with the heat of summer, we've been down to nine holes year-round.

Golf
 

Life is short play what you want and can afford.

True words
 

Life is short at best. Do what you can afford and enjoy. “Life’s tragedy is we get old too soon and wise too late”. Benjamin Franklin

Yes, the cost of the supposed 'championship' courses here are generally over-priced...for what you get.

However, the convenience of not messing with loading the bag in a car, going to the bag drop, renting a cart without a sumbrella/doors and repeating the process in reverse, all the while having those helping you expecting a small tip...is still worth living and playing the courses here.

The convenience of leaving my driveway ready to play is worth a lot to me and the powers-to-be knows that sentiment applies to a lot of others...so they are simply guided by 'whatever the market will bear.'

You could say it that way. And you did.

Seems to work.

VERY WELL.

Golf
 

My husband plays the Championship courses 3=4 days a week. He thinks the conditions are fine Compared to the Club up North this is a bargain. I am so happy not to eat food just because we had a monthly minimum.

You make some good points.

I lived in an upscale golf course community in a previous life and was a member for a couple of years after moving there.

I soon realized though, that I became bored playing the same course all of the time (which you almost had to do, to justify the monthly dues/minimums...much less the initiation fee) and decided to drop my membership.

I still had plenty of friends & neighbors that I could play with if I wanted, but it also allowed my wife and I to make a lot of weekend trips and play different courses in the area.

IMHO, at least the number of choices here in TV mostly makes up for the so-so conditions and routings of the real courses. :shrug:

Since I don't play the executives I can't really speak of them, but since they're basically free...hard to gripe about that. :D

Agree. My husband never plays executives. He is happy with the multiple courses to choose and I am happy with zero food minimum.

OP is wrong, IMHO. We lived in South FL for years, and one of the things we love about it here is how much less golf costs, even in high season.

To keep things interesting , we started golfing 2 times a day on the executives. Playing Pelican in the morning and then Trueman in the afternoon keeps us on the challenging courses for a total of 4 hrs...all for no extra charge. We had guests during thanksgiving and they loved playing 2 different courses in 1 day. (of course theres wasnt free) This works great for us.

What you people are failing to recognize is they don't want all the tee times filled in the winter. Golf courses need time to heal and recover from the constant play they get in FL. Way too many rounds are played on our courses with year around play and that is exactly why the same people complaining about prices are the same ones complaining about the poor shape our courses are in most of the time. And they are in poor shape most of the year! Pls, all you complainers, go play the cheaper off site courses. We won't miss you and will get decent golf courses back for those of us that support them year around.

The real question is the priority membership fees which benefit two people living in the same household. If you get a break with two people, why cannot it not be ANY two people----lots of spouses do not play golf, and I think it is discrimination against the single golfer.

I'm confused. I thought one of the perks of living/owning here was free golf for residents. Isn't that one of the selling points? What are golfers being charged for? Is it just certain courses or are they charged for all of them? (I don't play golf.)

As we age, we find that we still enjoy golf but our body tells us to play a bit less. The executive courses and 9 holes on the Championship courses look better all the time. Golf is cheap in TV compared to south Florida or the FL Coasts.

In Illinois we paid much more at a private club and didn’t have the variety of courses to play. FORE!

Amen

I agree totally. To bad they didn’t have a yearly rate like a CC fee to play any course and not pay for golf at time of play. Sort of like the trail fee for executive courses you can pay up front. Or prior membership. Then to play it’s a flat rate of $5.00 or $10.00 (possibly)

Prioity golf
 

Please explain how priority golf fees benefit two people in the same household. Don't you have to buy a double membership in order for two people to get the benefit? And, so long as they reside at the same address, does it matter whether the two are spouses? Why couldn't it be an be an adult child, or anyone else with the same address?

"not pay for golf at time of play"
:then to play flat rate"

As it is the day after New Years Eve.....maybe that's why I cannot understand what you are saying.
Do you understand what the Priority Membership really is?