Silver Lake Golf Course
 

Have any of you all heard any rumors or speculation of the Silver Lake golf course being converted into a pitch and putt facility? Just looking for more information as I've only over heard. Silver lake is the oldest executive course in the villages.:shocked:

Would make sense as the only other P&P is down South in the new area. Nice upgrade idea for the North.

It was in the paper that it's being considered.

There is one planned for at the new First Responders recreation center. I'm not for removing Silver Lake. It's nice for all levels of golfers, has no bunkers, some waste area bunkers. It almost never floods out due to heavy rains. Tee times are getting harder to get with our growing population. I would much rather see El Santiago or Hawke's Bay be converted to a pitch and putt since they would be more central to villages north of 466.

Took 4 whole posts before someone "didn't agree" with it.

Those who took the 3 on the over/under bet wins.

If I had seen this post earlier I would have been the first to disagree with converting to a pitch and putt. Silver Lake is a nice layout that needs an updating. Per the article in the paper the cost of converting to a pitch and putt was $1 million plus. The cost of the update was $500k. The executive courses are getting more play. We do not need to be reducing the number of courses available. As mentioned, a pitch and putt is planned for the new recreation center. Although the new recreation center is going to be at the north end of TV, it will be more accessible than Silver Lake.

There is a group on the Nextdoor Neighbors that is starting a petition drive to present to the AAC to keep Silver Lake as an Executive course with updates.

Is there really a need for a pitch and putt to replace that course?
My wife and I regularly walked the Hogeye Preserve Pathway and the Pitch and Putt has always seemed most under supported.
Some days the place has hardly a player out there.
Yet I have never seen an executive course less than full, unless raining, or very cold, and then there are hardy souls still playing.
JMTP

We heard that last week when we golfed at Silver Lake. There is a petition circulating and an upcoming meeting for residents to voice their opinion.

Would prefer if they reconfigured some holes to make it less of a shooting gallery.

Make it an 18 hole pitch and putt and there will be no carts allowed, which means that will leave a lot of local residents that will not be able to use it. You have to realize that most of the residents here don't play anything else but Silver Lake and it is always packed, even in the condition it's in. I would like to see the course refurbished. A pitch and putt on this side will never fly. Chula Vista would be a better place for the pitch and putt in my opinion.
There's an AAC meeting about this at the Savannah Center on June 10th at 9AM if anyone wants to attend, I'll be there
Steve

I would hope to see it refurbished to include an improvement between the fairways of holes 2 and 8 getting rid if the waste sand patch. I plan to attend the meeting as well.

This is why the other argument that The Villages ignores the north side is weak. No matter if they do or do not do something that matches the newer area, half of the people hate it, and the other half like it. No wonder The Villages don't solicit votes. It would be worse than Congress.

From a quick survey of the post here, only one appears to be in favor of a pitch and putt. The others prefer to leave as an executive course with updating. That is 6 against versus 1 for. Not quite “half”.

From what I hear and read, the pitch and putt in Fenney is underutilized. Not many seniors are going to be out walking the course when is hot. There is already a pitch and putt planned for the new rec center. There is no need for two north of 466.

I am making the assumption that you are using “The Villages” as a generic term. It will be the AAC that will make any decisions regarding Silver Lake. They very much listen to the input of the residents.

Lastly, I live in Santiago and Silver Lake is long cart ride. I can’t see someone from Buttonwood saying “Honey, let’s drive 45 minutes up to Silver Lake to walk a pitch and putt”. Just me...

Very disappointed that the powers that be would even consider converting Silver Lake to anything but a renovated 9 hole executive course. It is our go to executive golf course. Living North of 466 has very many advantages over other areas of the Villages, but executive golf is not one of them. The courses are few and far between and not nearly as nice as the courses south of 466. Not the fault of the developers, Championship Golf was the selling point when that part of the Villages was developed.

During our home search in the Villages, we rented a beautiful manufactured home on Paradise Lake, very close to Silver Lake, and it quickly became my wife's favorite course. It is the original executive course in the bubble. We still play both Silver Lake and Hill Top (both in the Historic Section) frequently. Converting it to a glorified miniature golf course would be nothing short of a major sin. Why in the world they would even consider converting the golf course into a glorified miniature golf course, for a cost of over a million dollars, is beyond me. The other option is to upgrade Siver Lake and keep it as an executive course, for around a half a million. Is it even worth considering the million dollar plus option? Please keep Silver Lake as an executive golf corse : )

The more people that swamp the Savannah Center on the 10th for the AAC meeting the better
Steve

I agree Silver Lake should be updated rather than converted to a pitch and putt. There are only 2 executive courses on the historic side and conversion would leave only one. I can’t see enough value in a pitch and putt to make it worth more than double updating the existing course.

Where is the new rec center going? I’m a little out of touch.

Silver Lake
 

Yes there is a petition on tee box #6 and a very important meeting at the Savannah Center June 10th 9am to meet with the committee planning.
you would like to make your wishes known. The person representing our area is Lowell Barker. The Chairmans name is Ann Forrester and the Vice Chairman is John Wilcox.

Ann Forrester (District 2) Chair ann.forrester@districtgov.org 352-259-3339

John Wilcox (District 3) Vice Chair john.wilcox@districtgov.org 352-259-1716

IV Chandler (VCCDD) iv.chandler@districtgov.org 352-753-6790

Carl Bell (District 1) carl.bell@districtgov.org 352-750-1251

Don Deakin (District 4) don.deakin@districtgov.org 352-750-5395

Lowell Barker (Lady Lake/Lake County) lowell.barker@districtgov.org 352-205-8140

Agree....and add a bathroom facility at a half way point

I personally would love to see Silver Lake become a pitch and putt. Putting is my favorite part of golfing, and I think a lot of people on this thread are underestimating the usefulness of putting practice.

Put me down for a refurb!

I can see why they would consider Silver Lake for a pitch and putt, it has the acreage for 18 short holes. For beginners the lack of sand is a plus, the length is a minus.

Even our household is divided on this one. I like Silver Lake as an executive course, my husband would love to walk it as a pitch and putt. He loves playing Marshview but doesn’t like the drive.

I’m wondering if a pitch and putt on the north side will be any more popular than Marshview. It seems to be the last course to fill up.

The new First Responders Recreation Center is getting an 18 hole Putt and Play, not a Pitch and Putt. Putters only, no pitching or chipping.

Survey of the residents coming up
 

I was at the Amenity Authority Committee where this was first raised. As the oldest executive course, it is (over)due for a renovation. Options presented to the committee were for a renovation as an executive course (around $500K), conversion to a pitch and play (a little under a million), or a conversion to a pitch and play plus adding a putt and play (something over a million).
Members of the committee were sensitive to the fact that there is only one other executive course on the historic side and it is taxed. The did not want to even consider anything other than a renovation without some sort of survey of the residents in the area. I don't recall what the nature of the survey would be. In any event, there will be further discussion at the next AAC meeting (second Wednesday in June, 9 AM, at the Savannah Center).
Note that given the current condition of the course at a minimum a reno will happen. Any of the options will require the course to be closed for (as recall them saying) 4 months.

Silver Lake does have a bathroom adjacent to holes 4 and 5. I've seldom had to go in the bushes.:duck:

Thanks for the information:coolsmiley:

Thanks for posting this information, I can’t be at the meeting, but I am going to send an e-mail to the contacts listed urging them to keep Silver Lake an executive course.

I'd like to see the whole thing buried and a new 9 hole executive course built.
Silver Lake is horribly designed and never is decent condition. I will say that at times the greens at Silver Lake have been some of the best in The Village. However, the rest of the golf course is deplorable.

Instead of whoever the inside person is that designs these courses, The Villages should hire a good golf course architect to design a nice exec course on that site.

It's not just the routing that is a problem, which it is. A course designed by a professional architect will be easier to maintain.

Most people don't realize that about 70% of a golf course is underground. That is the part that allows it to be in god condition. Irrigation, drainage and soil composition are very important to a golf course. That is one of the reasons that some many of the older courses are in terrible condition. They simply were not built correctly.

The Villages just spent a lot of money redoing the second fairway at Silver Lake and it is still horrendous. It needs to be torn up and rebuilt from two feet down. The same with the ninth green at Hilltop. The hole is not only poorly designed from a playing standpoint, but tens of thousands of dollars have been spent over the year resurfacing that green. The problem is not with the surface. It's what below.

What is surprising to me is that The Villages does such a wonderful job with everything else. The beautiful flowers everywhere, the town squares are immaculate, most of the road and golf cart paths are beautiful, and the grass everywhere looks perfect. But it is incompetent at building and maintaining golf courses. You would think that a company that advertises "Free Golf for Life" it would be more interested in maintaining those courses like it maintains everything else.

Upgrade? A pitch and put would be an upgrade, I think not!

And will all be a show and a waste of time.

When they redid the Silver Lake Rec center petitions were passed around, letters were written, a meeting was held and they did just the opposite of what the majority wanted.

These people have their own ideas and don't care about input from the residents.

I read somewhere Hilltop started as a practice facility before it became Hilltop prior to around 1975, maybe? I've been seeking pictures of it for my own curious nature.

I hate the Pitch and Putt in the south! No shade you can use 3 clubs the whole round. I had a miserable time. We quit after 9!

If I remember right you have to walk to it regardless if you take golf cart or car because there is no parking.

No. It is the Putting Course that you have a short walk too.
Pitch and Putt has plenty of parking by the food trailers.

I thought El Santiago Excitative Golf Course was already "Pitch and Putt" why would we need another one north of 466… :D
I guarantee those in favor of Silver Lake converting into a Pitch and Putt are South of 441…. :boxing2:
I’m in for the renovation of the golf course with a few can't putt out of bunkers included on most of the holes...
OK then if they want to change Silver Lake how about changing Bacall Executive Golf Course into Driving Range or Arnold Palmer Championship Golf Course into a Sand Bunker practice hitting field, even better how about The Yankee Clipper into a Frisbee throwing golf course, where does it stop!

It is being considered and I think they should do it. There is a lot of call for a Pitch & Play and/or a Putt & Play or both but there is no room north of Hwy 466. Besides that, Silver Lake Golf Course is a very dangerous course, as is Hill Top. The holes are too close to each other for those many many, people who really don't know how to play a par 3 course and can't hit every green. There are too many cases where you can get hit in the head by errant golfers from other holes coming and going. This would be a much better use of that land.

It is a nice course.

hogwash

Hopefully this will NOT happen.

Ah, Ok. thanks.