Priority membership for 'snowbird' question
 

Hello

We visited TV for a week last year and we're coming down for 4 months this year (hoping the wife, who doesn't golf, likes it enough to make the move permanently from Mass)

I've found lots of helpful info here but couldn't find anything specific on this.

My question is, would it make sense for me to get the 6 month PM to assure myself the best chance to get a time? I hope to be playing at least every other day, would prefer playing on the championship courses and will be going out solo at least until I find a group that can tolerate me. :icon_wink:

Or will it make little difference in being able to get times as long as I book as a single.

I'm also wondering about getting in with a regular league/group for my time down there (we'll be staying in 2 different houses in different areas during our stay) do they have league sign up sheets or is it basically word of mouth?

Any and all help is appreciated.

I promise to rake, repair and play ready golf as I plan on playing these courses for a long time.

Thanks

1. As a single I don't think you will have any problem getting teetimes so don't get the PM for that reason alone.
2. But if you play every other day, thats a lot of golf so crunch the numbers to see if the PM for 6 months will pay for itself if you are only here 4 months. (look at the greens fees to determine how much less you pay per round if you are priority).
3. Most groups are word of mouth. Also many of the groups will only allow people who have Priority membership.

We used our home as a vacation home for a couple of years (a/k/a part-time). I golfed a lot as a single. I never had time jumping in and playing. I loved playing with so many different people.


I would say no to priority membership.


I would suggest you sign up for the online tee time service. It's $8 per month. The day before you want to play (or two days & three days prior) you can look at open tee times and join a group. The system will tell you how many openings there are for each tee time on each course.


Good Luck!!

We have a group called THE BANDITS we play all championship courses you must have a priority membership. We are scheduled to play Glenview Friday Between 7 and 8 if you want to come visit the groups leader and they will fill you on all the details. Come to Glenview restaurant we all sit accross from the bar....All the waitresses know us......or if thats not possible you can private message me with your phone number and I will fill out the details. We play 3 times a week. We have 20 guys scheduled for Friday to play.

Mens league is Tuesdays. Must ha a Villages GHIN handicap

Are you referring to Tuesday Men’s Day on champ courses? If so, you need Priority Membership, right?

If you're a single, you don't want priority in putting in for a teetime, you don't want to put in a request unless you want to keep playing by yourself. Once you join the teetime system, $8 a month on villages.net. You can grab an open teetime up to 3 days before play, this way you can put your name in with a threesome or twosome, that once you play 18 holes might lead to a playing group.

Here's an example. You want to play a championship on Friday. On Tue or Wed on the teetime website you scroll down to the course and times you want to play. Let's say you want to play Belle Glade about 1pm, scroll down the times and you see a threesome at 1:14, put your name in and now you're playing with that group.

I play in a foursome every Friday. It started in 2011 with just my neighbor and myself. In 2015 a retired Army sergeant played with us and we asked if he wanted to play every Friday with us, and he said yes. He is also in a group on Tuesday, my neighbor has played with that Tuesday group for the last couple of years. Two years ago a retired Navy Pilot who lives in LaBelle played with us, he is from Hawaii and my neighbor used to live in Hawaii, so I asked him if he wanted to play every Friday with us, and he said, yes. So now we have a foursome of the same 4 guys every Friday for the last two years. There's many ways to find groups, besides playing with other twosomes or threesomes. You might find a neighbor where you're living. When I first moved here I played softball, so before I met my neighbor I played with a couple of guys from the softball team.

I used 1pm for example, for a few reasons. From May through December after 11am championship golf is discounted. We pay $34 up until Dec 31st, before 11:00 you will pay $42, that's the resident rate without Priority. With PM you would save only $7. We generally play Palmer, Mallory, Havana, Cane Garden, Belle Glade, Bonifay and Evans Prairie and sometimes Glenview. I live in Tamarind Grove off St. Charles and can get to everyone of those courses in about 15 minutes in my golf cart, Glenview is about 25 minutes. I'm also not an early person, I don't like playing on wet grass or morning dew. I don't mind the heat, I grew up in Florida and never went to a school with air conditioning. Also in the winter when rates are much higher, we sometimes only play nine holes, you can't play just nine holes until 1:00 or later in the winter. So afternoon golf is perfect for us.

None of us are priority members, if you play in the morning when times are not so spread out, you mind find them asking you if you're a priority member if they consider having you join them. In the afternoon, no big deal. I generally put in a request for the following Friday when I come home on Friday from playing. I request 3 or 4 courses at 1:00 to 1:36 and 90% of the time we get our first choice of course and 1:00, just like this week. We're playing Mallory (Amelia) @ 1:00pm.

Morning teetimes are more condensed because teetimes end at 9:28 and don't resume until 11:56 except on two 18 hole courses, Orange Blossom and Tierra Del Sol. All the courses we play are 27 holes and have a starter and exact same teetimes at each nine. So you can play a different 18 holes at the same course for three days. Because of this overlap of nines, they have the time between 9:28 and 11:56 as no teetimes, because players are making their turn to the back nine, they call it the wave, morning, afternoon and evening waves. Playing golf here is fun, you get to go to the course in your cart, you don't have to travel far, and the courses aren't that tough for the most part, we don't have hills, and very seldom blind shots. There is a lot of water and sand, but that's the tropical aspect which is nice.

Thanks guys, some great info here.

I'm renting down there this winter so I won't be down until Dec. Anyone know if I would be considered Resident Member or Resident Guest when it comes to the green fee? I ran the numbers as guest and it seemed to make sense going with the priority and something like the Bandits sounds good. With the priority I assume getting the full set of courses is the way to go rather than only 3 or 4.

I was wondering what the "wave" was all about, makes sense. I do prefer getting out early.

Now, if I did go without the priority and got into a group, would I need to have priority if they have it or does just one person need it in order to reserve a time for a foursome?

Good advice! As a single you can find many courses available three days out at a time you favor. I also like to join other people who were not my friends until I played with them - almost never have found anyone who is unpleasant on the courses. As far as playing in groups, many villages or neighborhoods have regular groups and most will welcome a snowbird to join the group while here. I am in Sanibel in Megan Villas, and we have a Tuesday group which I play in when there, and there are renters who join us. Great opportunity to make new friends and hone your game.

All of our players have a priority membership. Once in a while a member brings a guest in to play with us. Under the priority if even one guy is not a priority member it knocks the whole group out of there requested tee times. Our group normally plays 3 times a week and we always are looking for tee times start at least 7:30 AM

If I were you I would call the Golf Office to get the official information from them on how the priority system works. Get it from the horses mouth so there is not any confusion. I think you can rech them at 352 750-4558.

And when you get here attend the Good Golf School, then ask them.
Steve

We used to play a lot of golf when we first came here. Our experience was that it was extremely rare to find a group that didn't require a priority membership. As others have mentioned, if one person in the group is not priority, the computer puts the whole group in the lowest tier and the group gets whatever the leftover tee times are.. and in the high season, the group won't get a tee time at all. Occasionally, even with everyone being a priority member, the group might not get a tee time in the high season. So if you are hoping to be in a group, you better get the membership. We played as singles for awhile, but really enjoyed the social aspect of playing with the same people (in a group) once we started doing that. Men's and Ladies day are a wonderful opportunity to meet people, and often groups are formed based on these new friendships, or you might be invited to join a group. Enjoy!

The following link takes you to the document that explains the system. The points for the four players are averaged, not taken to the lowest.

https://www.golfthevillages.com/golf...heVillages.pdf

Thanks for the number I'll call them tomorrow.

I was laughing at that Good Golf School post until I clicked the link above. No one told me I'd have to study to make a tee time.

I'm thinking priority is probably the way to go as I don't want to be the guy to hurt the group score. Plus I can tell the wife I need to get out as often as possible in order to make it worth it.

OK, made the call and I was told we'll be considered resident members, so it looks like the priority will only save about 8 bucks a round (unless fees change come Jan 1st) but as I'm hoping to get in 50+ rounds over the 4 months excluding the exec courses, it seems to make sense getting the priority, especially with the shorter days leaving less tee times available.

Hope this info helps any other snowbirds wondering what's up down there.

I'm sure I'll end up going out on my own more than a few times but I do plan on getting in contact with the Bandits when I get there.

Thanks again all

I believe you did not consider the priority membership fee as part of the eight dollar savings. Here are the approx numbers
$600 for a 6 mos priority membership minus $90 for a 6 mos trailpass which comes with the membership is = $510. $510 divided by $8 savings per round is 63.75 rounds before reaching the breakeven point. You had it right in tn the beginning IE if you are a single you will be better off financially and degrees of freedom of choice without the membership since you can almost always find a slot as a single. The downside is if you do find that group of guys to hook up with as a regular that won't want you without the membership so they get first choice tee times. If it were my decision I would not get the membership the first year while you learn the lay of the land. For all you know at this point you may meet a bunch of guys that play championship 1-2 times per week and execs 1-2 week. Very common for this to take place here.

Bandits
 

Do the Bandits also play the championship courses south of 466A?

Thanks, yeah, I realize it'll be a little short but in a perfect world I get the 60+ rounds to actually break even and if not it'll help with the groups that require priority.

Although now I'm wondering if I can reserve a time as a single or are they only given out in 4somes?

I guess there really is a legit reason for that Golf School.

Yes you can reserve (which I believe you are asking request not reserve) tee times as a single. Before we go further (and I will to help you) do you know the difference between a request and a reservation ?

Oops, my bad, yes request is 7 days and reservations is 2-3 days, correct? I would think it would be easier to request as a group but I guess with the system they have in place they can probably hook up singles who request a time too

Without having a clue, I'm thinking I'l probably go the reserve route for the exec courses when I don't have champ times. Does that make sense or do the exec courses fill up too?

I'm just tossing out thoughts here now, so feel free to tell be to shut up if it's too much.

Correct. A "request" can be put in up to 7 days before the desired day for a tee time. It remains a request until midnight 3 days before the desired playdate at which time it becomes a "reservation". Nothing happens to the "request" until that 3 day prior to midnight point. In other words you can cancel or change it without penalty points until that midnight deadline. Once it is a reservation you are now subject to penalty points if you cancel out. If you cancel out of the "reservation" prior to the day of play you get nailed with two points (one as a penalty and one as if you played the round). If you do a no show or call in a cancel the day of your tee time you get nailed with three points.

OK why all that explanation? Most groups put in foursomes as a request. That becomes a reservation thus you as a single would not be considered per the tee time system into that group because it is full. Now prior to midnight the day before playdate is when golfer cancels to accumulate a two point penalty Vs three. That is visible on the system immediately when the golfer hits the send button and becomes an open tee time in the "reservation" section. The long way home but you will find as a single many open spots in the reservations due to cancellations especially the day before.

Group?
 

Very good info, thanks. Question when there is an adjusted tee time from foursome to three the day before would the tee time office or pro shop, if called, tell you that that tee time is actually part of a group?

As a single you will find numerous opportunities to get a tee time on the execs through the reservation system, especially if you go to system the morning of the third day out. The execs do fill up, especially in the winter, but by going on early you will find plenty of opportunities at times and courses you are interested in. Also note that points are irrelevant when using the reservation system, as opposed to the request system.

I doubt that they will give you that info IE did one person put in the request all four golfers or was it 3-4 individuals making their own requests. I do know that on the play date the starter knows that info but I have no idea if they are obligated to release that info. From the "reservation" opening you can tell the makeup of the foursome (or should I say threesome since there is an opening). Believe it or not it discloses gender makeup. Example 2 males one female. That info could be of some help if you are trying to break into a group that plays together on a regular basis.

Another small tip for you is many groups that play together on a regular basis frequently play a captain and crew format or something similar. It is a way of evening the field of different caliber of golfers. Quite often there might be a small wager of a few bucks per man going on. If you end up in one of these groups as a fourth man and would like to have a chance of "busting in" don't be afraid to participate in the game if invited. If they like you it would be common for them to invite you to be a sub. Bingo you are on your way to being one of the gang. It's not hard at all.

Thanks again guys.

One more question, does the Priority Membership cover the "online tee time service?"

How would one go about requesting/reserving times without it?

Or is that just another added expense that 'The Man' is using to get at our life savings?

Online is $8 per month.

You can turn it off and on if you are a snow.
It's well worth it............You can check for opening for the next three days.


Otherwise..............."the damn phone reservation system"

Do they allow calling the individual courses to check for tee times or is it all done through the phone system.

I'll be doing the phone service anyway, just wondering how bad you get bent over if you don't 'pay to play'

You would be a good candidate for "Good Golf School" held once a month at Colony Cottage. The info for a class reservation is in the sports section, you need to call because they'll have about 80 people in a class. The 2-1/2 hour class is probably about one hour spent just on using the phone system and I still didn't understand it. The $8 a month is a life-saver. For one, if you plan on grabbing a open teetime with another twosome or threesome, how will you even they exist. It's all laid out on the computer system, by course, nine holes, time, number of players and sex of players. The phone system is good for requests but not much else. Callling the course proshop for a teetime the day of play is OK but not before the day of play. The executive courses this is common for singles to call the starter shack the day of play, my neighbor does it all the time. Championship, not so much.

Someone else mentioned that class too, I plan on taking it.

:ho: Good Golf School

I can always tell if a player has taken Good Golf School by the way they leave the rake after playing out of a sand trap, or in the case of some, how they don't even touch the rake.

Seriously, $8 a month is easily worth the avoidance of the phone system. When I first came her in 2010 I told a volunteer as I was signing up that I would use the phone system. He looked at me like I was crazy and said "it's up to you, but you're not going to like it!" He was right, it is a nightmare. The vilages.net has a lot of good stuff besides the tee time system and is well worth the cost.

yes the bandits play all the championship courses, regardless of location.