Golf course discussion for week of May 11, 2020
I play the Championship Golf Courses three times a week. I am going to discuss the course condition on a weekly basis. For the week of May 11th:
Played Tierra Del Sol Monday. The course is in terrible condition. Recently punched with large holes and lots of sand still on the greens. The greens were very bumpy. Same for the tee boxes which had very little to no grass on them. I have been playing golf for over 50 years in the state of Florida, and I have never seen this bad a job done. Played Havana Tuesday. Course was in very good good condition just coming off of aerification. Good grass on the greens and fairways, although the par 3 tee boxes, (white tees), need more grass. The new style cups were cut mostly correct. There were a few that were not cut deep enough. Played Cane Thursday: Course was in very good good condition just coming off of aerification. Good grass on the greens and fairways, although the par 3 tee boxes, (white tees), need more grass. The cups on the Jacaranda holes were ALL cut incorrectly, that is not cut deep enough. Some of the holes had the new plastic cup only a 1/4 inch deep. Conclusions. If Tierra Del Sol was a real Country Club its members would have the ground crew and greenkeeper fired. Whoever did the aerification has no clue how to do the job correctly. Or worse, they don't care. The golf course admin teams needs to get grass on the tee boxes, and teach someone how to change the tees on a regular basis, especially the par 3's. The golf course admin teams needs to teach the cup cutters how to cut a holle correctly and teach them were no to put cups. I don't think it is to much to ask for grass on the course and cups cut correctly. This is a management problem and needs to be corrected by management. |
Country Club Administration 352-753-3396 1030 Lake Sumter Landing 32162
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Those who play already know. |
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:1rotfl: |
The Villages should invest in these. Charge every on on the champ courses 50 cents extra for one week and they would be paid for.
Golf Ball E-Z Lyft |
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https://www.talkofthevillages.com/fo...37/index2.html Post # 23 :popcorn: Won't that apply here too? |
I agree with some of the others. Reporting course conditions as a way to help others choose a course is a kind thing to do. But the commentary at the end will get old fast. Maybe the OP could drop the commentary on his TOTV posts, and include it in his emails to the golf administration.
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if ya don't speak up, management will think that everything is hunky dory...go for it
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For the most part, The Villages golf courses are not maintained very well. On one hand, many players do not fill their divots, fix their ball marks and even before Covid-19, they didn't rake the sand traps. If an ambassador says something, a complaint is filed and they lose the job. On the other hand, the courses are treated as a money making operation where costs are cut to the bone and prices increase every year, about 18% this year. IMHO The premium prices simply aren't worth it due to substandard course conditions. That's why I play later in the day or outside of the bubble. Sooner or later, it won't be worth the expense to live here.
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OP, thanks for the report on the Championship courses. You obviously care about course conditions and I assume you will send your report to the proper managers. Although I don’t play the championship courses as often as I use to, your report is appreciated.
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It is what it is, we all have choices.
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Good to know. I played Evan's Prairie on Thursday. Greens were "fair" and fairways were awful. Lopez yesterday. Greens were magnificent but a tad firm. Fairways and tee boxes were very poor. According to David Williams, Director of Golf, the mowers are set to cut fairways at 5/8" but that is a joke. More like 1/8". I realize it has been dry but they are watering everyday and we have been blessed with cool nights and warm days - ideal grass growing conditions. They should just quit mowing altogether for a couple of weeks and let the grass grow.
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Cups
Have the raised cups been replaced by normal, in the ground cups? This from a Snowbird that left April 29.
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Our group played off-site yesterday at Spruce Creek South. Talk about a golf course not in good shape. Fairways were all brown. It was like hitting off hardpan. Every green had some sand on it. Putting was like being on pavement.
I don't think that any of The Villages courses are as bad. But as I say not many of us are PRO GOLFERS. Our time has come and gone. Why are we concerned about a great score. Although we do feel good when we do have one. I say being able to play golf anytime we want (or do anything else) BEATS THE ALTERNATIVE. Lets all be happy we have a place like The Villages. |
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I am curious about all the holes in one when there are no holes for the balls to fall into.
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No rain, restricted watering, thousands of rounds of golf (more than any off site course), increased cart usage, no enforcement of rules, inconsiderate players both of others and the courses....not sure we will see much improvement. As an aside, I heard from the third cousin to a server at a club who knew a guy in the pro shop that they cut so short so the average golfer gets more roll and is easier to find which keeps play moving. :)
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Limited Collar Cups
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Sorry, but there are more important things right now that are being taken care of in our hometown (roads, upkeep of recreation centers, landscaping, etc.) Golf is not everyone's top priority.
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Not Really a Hole-in-One
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Knit pickey? Yeah, maybe I am. |
Thanks for letting us know of the poor conditions. Have you complained or get a reduction in fees. Why do people complain fees will continue to go up and up will you still support or boycott?
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I called the Golf Course admin office (because I did not want to call every pro shop to check when they aerated) and was told each country club is only aerating the nine hole course not closed. (this was 2 weeks ago when there were only 18 holes open per club). And that the 9 hole course would be given time to recover before reopening. This is BS. Didn't happen that way. |
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Great post, thanks for doing this.
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Big applause!! |
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are going to drop substantially. Real golf has began again. And 3, 2, 1 go..... |
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The airification takes 10 to 14 days to recover. So unless you know when, and what type, airification they did, you should be careful on that. I do agree however, that the conditions overall should be a little better.
Core airation are large holes that are filled with sand that is treated with chemicals that get under the surface. Deep tine airation is a very small hole an usually does not need top dressing. |
You sir are 1,000% correct
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would love to see 5/8. if that's 5/8, i vote for two inches |
Championship
Appreciate the update on champ courses will play the ones that are in better condition from your posts. Would think with all the villagers paying monthly dues the budget for maintaining and hiring qualified personnel would not be an issue.
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Please, please, please let the flippin bermuda grass grow in the fairways. Why is there a need to have short burlap on concrete. Not mowing so frequently will save a few bucks as well. It would also be nice if greenside bunkers were groomed once in awhile. I'm really wondering if the people in charge of these courses know what they are doing. I played Evans Prairie and one of the tee boxes were nothing but dirt where the markers were. They clearly had not been moved for weeks as the rest of the tee had grass on it. I mean really.
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A major cause of the no-grass problem is that the fairways and tee boxes are cut too short. The fairways on some courses look like the greens.
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With a greens aerifier you might be able to do five to nine greens in a day. With a fairway aerifier they can do 18 greens in less than eight hours. I'm not saying that this is what's happening because I haven't seen it myself. I'm simply speculating on what might be the cause. Unfortunately, when owners of a golf course contract out the maintenance the company is going to try to do the job as inexpensively as possible. What is surprising to me is that The Villages does everything so well except golf. The pools, tennis and pickleball courts, rec centers, cart paths, flowers and everything else seem perfect until you get onto a golf course. What many here call excellent conditions are simply mediocre public course conditions. I've played golf all over this country and in some other countries and I've never seen conditions as bad as I see here then they are bad. I've also heard he excuse that these courses get so much play in the winter. I've worked and played at many courses in Florida and guess what? They all get a huge amount of play in the winter. Yet most of the places that I've worked and played have been able to maintain decent conditions year round. I think that part of the problem is that some of the courses were poorly designed. Most people don't understand that 75% of a golf course is underground. If what's under the grass isn't done correctly to begin with you never have a chance of maintaining it properly. This is especially true of the older courses north of 466. They can keep sodding over problem areas, but unless they correct what's underground the new sod will always fail. The problem is, I'm afraid they simply don't care. They're not making any profit from the executive courses to they no motivation whatsoever to keep them maintained. The so called championship courses have an almost captive audience so there is little to motivate them to attract golfers with excellent conditions. I realize that some people play off campus, but most do not. For most, it is simply too convenient to get into your golf cart, drive to your nearest 18-27 hole course, pay you fee and play. As long as the courses are full, they have no reason to improve conditions. |
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That was the one thing that I loved when I first came to Florida from the northeast. I played a lot of bluegrass fairways where you never knew what you were going to get. You could hit a pitching wedge 120 on one shot and 150 on the next. That was the main reason that Jack Nicklaus refused to play in many events in in New England. I came to Florida and the ball was sitting like it was on a table top with not grass growing up around it. Now that's not to say that is was sitting on dirt like so many of the lies that you get in The Villages. There was a bit of a cushion under it. But, you could catch it cleanly. And you knew how far it was going to fly every time. Higher handicap golfers from areas where fairways are cut higher have learned to scoop the ball with their irons and have a lot of trouble learning how to hit a ball properly. I often hear them comment that they didn't get "under it". That's the problem. You are not supposed to get under the ball. You are supposed to hit it with a slight descending blow and allow the loft of the club to get the ball in the air. I've seen players hit wedges off of concrete. They were not getting the club under that ball. I recall the correct fairway height as being 3/4" but that was for bluegrass, fescue and bent fairways. I think that Bermuda needs to be cut shorter. But it's not just the height of cut. The quality of the lie has to do with a lot of other things. For people that are saying that they'd like to see 2", believe me, you'd never want to see your ball in 2" of Bermuda. |
:ohdear:Remind me to skip your critiques.
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https://www.usga.org/course-care/201...474858685.html
"Summer months bring warm, humid conditions that cause the turf to grow at an accelerated pace. Some golf facilities maintain slightly lower mowing heights during the summer months to improve aesthetics and playability. Fairways can be mowed from 0.38 to 0.45 inches while roughs are maintained between 1.0 to 1.25 inches in summer. Mowing heights are raised slightly in the fall, as soil temperatures decrease and the turf thins from peak season cart traffic. Mowing height can be increased to as high as 0.7 inches in fairways and up to 2.0 inches in roughs to improve conditions for the peak golfing season." "Fairways are generally maintained at 0.5 inch throughout most of the year. Lower mowing increases shoot tillering which increases leaf density, and this provides a “tighter” playing surface as the golf ball sits higher in the turf canopy. Conversely, higher mowing provides a more cushioned ball lie where the ball nestles down further into the turf canopy." Steve |
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