Played Cane Garden yesterday
 

Terrible conditions on the greens. Very little grass, mostly dirt with tire tracks all over the greens. Very bumpy almost not puttable. A disgrace that these conditions are allowed here. Bad part was it was our fifth choice Some went into the golf shop after to express our concerns. He acted surprised by our comments. I asked him if he ever left his office to look at the conditions. He just smiled said nothing and walked away. They know they have a captive audience and really do not care. Too bad so much pride taken in the buildings ,homes ,circles, and roads and so little on the golf courses.

Cane Gardens
 

Which 18 did you play? I played Hibiscus-Jacaranda last week at it those courses were okay. I guess conditions can change quickly.

Rain?

Irrigation who needs rain no excuse

Alamanda was Ok Jacaranda was horrible

Did it not rain on Alamanda which was pretty good? It's right across the street. I prefer ineptitude spiked by cheapness.

IMO, NONE of the Championship Courses here in The Villages are worth a $65 greens fee. To me, most are boring designs intended to speed up play. Not in the greatest shape either. Some of the executives are in worse shape, but at least you get what you pay for.

Yes. Played there yesterday. Greens on Allamanda fine. Hibiscus terrible.

Ohiobuckeye
 

Waynet, it’s winter in the south & 50,000 snowbirds are back & all the golf courses have tee times scheduled about every 10 min. all day long & from about 7:00am to 7:00pm. It wouldn’t be that way if you were a permanent resident. Plus grass is dormant, huh it’s winter there, remember, even if the weather isn’t below zero.

Why does anyone play the champion courses anyway. There are many beautiful, well maintained courses in the area, for 1/2
the price, with cart.

Outside courses
 

If you don’t have a priority, it’s really dumb to play in the villages. Del Webb, 36 holes on saturdays 33 bucks with lunch. Fairways have much more grass and greens no worse than villages. Harbor hills 45 bucks and great layout. Stone creek in Ocala 49 bucks with great lunch. Many more just chrck adds in sub:a040:

A few years ago The Villages stopped over seeding claiming it was better turf management. Cheaper to paint the fairways and "greens".
My Championship groups have all commented on the relatively poor fairway and green conditions this year. Palmer, which gets many "lifestyle" visits seems to be in overall better shape.
We do feel sorry for the seasonal residents who typically are not priority and pay $64 for brown hibernating grass roughs and painted fairways/greens. The courses are much prettier and in much better shape in the summer. By comparison, last years May-Dec rates were $34 for the afternoon wave for non-priority and $27 for priority.
Because of the number of seasonal rounds of play at the height of the season we will travel outside TV where rates and conditions are much better.

Championship Golf
 

We moved here specifically for the multiple 18 hole courses. My husband is priority and does not like to waste his time driving to off site courses. Why drive to Ocala to pay $2 more then Palmer?

There is little or no grass on the fairways. It’s like hitting off cement. I think the villages want to price themselves out and keep the courses crappy.
Then, they can close the courses and build more houses. More money in it with homes.

If they wanted to close a course, they would close a course. They don't have to chase away the golfers first.

Of course, they would not be able to build any houses on the land because it is part of the storm water control system

See the last two words of your post for the answer, it’s not your cart.

Cane Garden
 

I have lived in the Villages full time for 18 months. I am not a priority member and have played several Championship courses paying the necessary green fees. Being an avid golfer, I have taken numerous guys to a golf mecca in Myrtle Beach with over a 100 courses. Green fees with cart, including lunch and beer usually runs between $35 and $60 dollars. In over ten years of going to Myrtle Beach, we have never had an issue with bad conditions on any of the courses. Since most of us living here who play golf, we all have a sense of the seasonal conditions necessary to maintain the courses, including sanding, punching, fertilizing and maintenance. All you have to do is ask the question prior to paying your green fees, is the course in good shape? If the response is not, just say I do not desire to play a course not in decent shape. Most courses outside of the Villages even go so far as to discount green fees if certain conditions exist at time of play. I call that professional integrity. If we ask the question enough times and get the proper answer, I would think we would see a better set of conditions on the courses. Remember, there is power in numbers.

Not a captive.
 

There are people that think they are golfers that have no self respect and have no problem ruining a golf course for everyone else. The ambassadors can't do their job because one complaint will get them fired. That situation is the course manager's and the owner's fault and is unacceptable. That is why I never play a championship course while in season. I play other courses in the area which are in better condition and cheaper in cost.

Course maintenance information can be found here, very good source.
Golf The Villages

"One complaint will get them fired"?

Let me tell you what the Ambassadors do, and would take more than one complaint to get them fired

They "try" to keep pace of play, even though the elitist a holes think they are pros, and think pace of play is that the ones in front of them are playing too slow, even when they are shown that everyone is either ahead of, or on time.
They sand the freaking divots for the lazy asses that don't
They repair the freaking ball marks for the lazy asses that don't
They rake the bunkers for the lazy asses that don't.
They keep placing the rakes in the proper positions, which if people would attend "Good Golf School", would know the why and how.
They fill divots on the tee's for the lazy asses that don't
They police the tee's and pick up cigarette and cigar butts for the lazy asses that just toss them on the ground.
They pick up your garbage......there are garbage receptacles on every hole ya know.
They keep you hydrated
They fill your sand bottles
They get grief for pin placements beyond their control
They get grief for the course conditions
They try to make your day of golf as enjoyable as they can.
All this and more for minimum wage.....and a smile............. why?
Steve

Courses go thru cycles.



The bad will come back to good.

Would be nice if golfers wouldn't drag feet on the greens. At least now by the rules golfers can repair "spike" marks.

Min wage and reduced green fees...

:agree:

Another thing I've noticed with the new rules, is that a lot of people are jerking the flag out of the hole...to get their ball.

At least previously when the flag had to be removed, the really lazy could use those little suction cups at the end of their grips...to retrieve their balls.

Now, they're damaging the edge of the cups while jerking up on the flag...because of their laziness. :mad:

As to course conditions, rumor has it that Tierra's greens...are in excellent shape. :thumbup:

This post is dead on. I see people jerking the flag out to remove balls from the cup all the time. I've mentioned it to playing partners, but obviously you don't want to alienate the people you play golf with, so you have to be careful. And I agree about Tierra. It is the best golf course in The Villages now. Conditions are beautiful right now, with smooth, medium fast greens.

Belle Glade and Lopez in good shape.

Ohio Buckeye, the conditions of the greena have nothing to do with the amount of play. THey are black in places with no grass. THey are bumpy as crazy{maybe a roller would help} and the Champ courses are rarely totally full anymore. Conditions and prices? Played Glenview Monday THe greens were healthy but very slow. I just do not think the people who run these courses know what they are doing.

We played Cane Garden yesterday, Allamanda to Hibiscus, and I mostly agree with the OP. Allamanda was OK, with decent greens and fairways, but Hibiscus was disappointing. Fairways were fine, with plenty of grass, but the greens are very patchy and bumpy. The turf management on these greens is lacking. But overall, I wouldn't say either course was in terrible shape. But neither was in as good condition as Tierra or Orange Blossom. And the $47.00 I paid as a priority member is not a bargain by any stretch. I paid $48.00 on Saturday at Juliette Falls, and that is a bargain. What a nice golf course.

Are you taking into account the cost of the priority membership, the cost of your golf cart, and wear and tear on the golf cart? And depending on where you live in The Villages, it may take the same amount of time to drive to Palmer in a golf cart as it does to drive to Ocala in a car.

Course conditions
 

Played Bonifay Destin-Ft. Walton Tuesday. Every green on both nines had been treated with some kind of black dust that made putting almost impossible, ruined your golf towel by wiping all the black residue off of your ball, and made your golf shoes look like you had walked through a coal mine. For this, I paid $47-- the Priority rate. I must admit, the Ambassador had empathy and handed out good golfer coupons to my group. My partner joked with him about whether the reward could be used to pay for dry cleaning.

Okay, courses must be maintained. But is it fair to charge full price to play a course that's getting a face lift? If I had wanted to putt on mud, I might have played Lake Miona for half the price.

Golf
 

Palmer is at most 20 min by cart. We are very close ot Havana, Mallory, Cane and the courses South of 466a. Ocala is about an hour. Our cart is only used for golf. Wear and tear is minimal. More wear and tear driving the car back and forth to Ocala. Priority membership is worth it if you play 3 times a week. My husbanbd likes the convenience of taking the cart to a course.

Maybe after a couple of holes you could have requested a raincheck to come back when the dust settles. I could be mistaken, but I think Miona Lake golf course closed last year.

Played Alamanda today 2/20, there were one or two tee boxes not in great shape but overall very, very good. One of the guys in our group is an ambassadore at another course and he thought the greens were as good as any he has played in a long while, and I agree.

:bigbow::bigbow: Bravo!! Props to your response!! The privileged/entitled/elitist that are doing all the complaining are probably all high handicappers that are blaming the course conditions for their 25 handicaps.

They all want to drive to all these off campus courses (minimum time spent to do this 6hrs. +/-); pay the fuel and wear/tear on their vehicles, probably eat a fattening hamburger/fries that probably cost $.50 to make, use a course cart that sucks and has no protection from the elements - all for the belief that a better course will help their game.

I played Lopez Ashley/Torii today; we made the turn and OMG! the greens on Torii had been sanded; decisions, decisions - do I let this ruin the game I had going or focus on finishing my game? I shot a 74.

Would you people like any cheese with all the whining you're doing about course conditions?

Winter growing season is no excuse. I have played many courses in the winter from SC to Fl, and all were in better shape than our courses.

I agree.

:bigbow:

I wish people would recognize that there is power in numbers. As long as everyone keeps going along with the "excuses", nothing will change. We pay a lot of money for golf, considering we have to buy a priority membership plus provide our own cart. We deserve better, and we see better conditions at courses outside The Villages. There just isn't an excuse.

Wonder what the "black" was. Played there this week as well, no black stuff.



Any body know what the black could be???

Kcraz, must disagree with many of your assumptions. But first this is not about ambassadors, god bless them. It is however your feelings toward those of us who do complain about course conditions. We are not hackers, some of us are the best in the Villages. But that should not make any difference. A scratch and a 20 are playing under the same bad conditions,both have eyes to see the lack of grass etc,etc. I take it kind of personal when without knowing me you assume I'm and others are spoiled brats because we are looking for better conditions. Just the opposite, we re trying to get you better conditions. A question for you. Would you travel 45 minutes to play these courses? Be honest. It's all about convevience plain and simple, and they know it.