Golf Course Conditions - Overseeding
 

Quote: As was already mentioned the issue is with watering restrictions due to low pond water levels. Therefore only greens and tee boxes will be overseeded and watered. Fairways will not be overseeded which could mean less grass on the fairways during the winter.

This may not be much of an issue on executive courses but I think this could be a problem on the championship courses if we continue to have a dry weather. End of Quote
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I think it was 2 or 3 years ago that they overseeded Cane Garden in the winter, as is the usual case, but there was a heavy rainstorm and the grass seed washed away, so the course was essentially not overseeded. It was just awful - like playing off of brown concrete. With our cool weather conditions in Central Florida the grass goes dormant (brown) and doesn't grow as fast. If it is true that they are not going to overseed the fairways, the golf course conditions will be crap, unless they have some other measure to try like extra fertilizing and/or watering.

I normally play 3-4 times/week in the winter, at a cost of $125 a week or so. If the courses are in poor condition, I won't spend my money here, I'll go outside The Villages. Oftentimes you can get decent rates at nearby courses and the conditions are much better. Spruce Creek is just down the road, and they tend to be in pretty good shape. I thnk last year they ran a special for around $35 that included golf and cart.

I will hope...
 

The news disappointing. I will hope conditions are playable. Does not sound like a cost issue, but rather a decision based on natural resources, so hard to be upset with golf course management. Hopefully as TV continues to grow this is not the norm.

The way I play the game, I am never in the fairway, so I should be OK.

Think positive, anyone who drives the ball 170 yards will be in Bubba Watson territory (300 yards) by February!

I think its all up to the individual as to whether the conditions are playable. Some people (like myself) tend to be more demanding of good conditions than others. For me, if its a question of paying $34 to play a course in poor condition, or drive 10 minutes from The Villages and pay $35 to play a course in really nice condition, there is no question about what I will do.

I also wonder about the decision to overseed the tee boxes. I mean, you're hitting off a tee, so what difference does it make if there is green grass or not? I wish they had used that money, seed, and water to overseed a landing area midway between the tees and greens. At least you'd have something decent to hit off of.

It will be fun to be in Bubba's shoes though!

I was about to send my check for priority membership. Guess I will wait for a while and see the conditions. I also have no issue driving 30 minutes for better conditions even if the cost is slightly more. Wonder how many others will do the same.

On the positive side I do commend the golf course management for coming out now and explaining this issue. To the negative this just made me think about Lopez last winter and how horrible some of the fairways and greens were at one point. I do play the championship courses twice a week in the winter and I am willing to be a little flexible in accepting issues with their condition but if it does get bad then I certainly will be heading outside of TV to play.

I am confused
 

Quote: As was already mentioned the issue is with watering restrictions due to low pond water levels. Therefore only greens and tee boxes will be overseeded and watered. Fairways will not be overseeded which could mean less grass on the fairways during the winter.

I am new to TV (July 2010) but since I have been here it has done nothing but rain daily; well until the last few weeks anyway. Everyone is saying this is the rainiest summer ever. :shrug: Yesterday I played Redfish Run and the pond was so high it was hard to get around. (Harder that usual.:cry:)
I am having trouble conceiving of why they would have water restrictions. When I first came the ponds were low, but IMHO not anymore. Yesterday there was also a lot of green residue particularly around the greens and sand traps. I wondered what that was. We also noticed that many of the fringes around the greens were very rough. I had just played there Tuesday and it seemed worse yesterday. :grumpy:
All that being said, I had a wonderful time both in the beautiful weather and with very nice partners. Lunch was good also. :BigApplause: I guess I wait and see.

I believe the green residue that you are speaking of is weed killer that they spray on select areas that need attention. Not all ponds are used for course watering. If you notice the levels on some of the championship courses they are coming down a bit and will continue to drop without added water.

We were gone for part of the summer, so I can't speak to the rain amount. I thought it rained pretty good while we were here though, so was suprised they said there wasn't enough water. I just checked the monthly totals for Leesburg online, and they showed us about the same amount of precipitation as last year for July, August and September, so I'm confused.

OMG now there is a water conspiracy.

And saving $600 on priority membership too if they are bad again

I was riding by Palmer today and noticed they are watering the fairways...they overseeded the last couple of days. Must be there is no water shortage there.

Not sure why they want to spend so much time and money on the fairways....the way I hit the ball I`m never in them...time to work on that rough

I recently asked the question on Golf the Villages website about the rumor that only the greens and T boxes would be overseeded this year due to low water levels. I just received a phone call from Tom Basso, Director of Golf Operations and he stated that the only course that the fairways will not be overseeded is Hacienda Hills and there is the possibility that it could be if we get some good heavy rains soon.

Thanks for the info! I enjoy Hacienda and hope they get it worked out.

Hacienda
 

Why not overseed Hacienda?....Why does rain requirement for that course differ from any of the other championship courses that will be overseeded....Hacienda seems to retain water, ex. Palms and Oaks have flooded but I would think, there I go again, thinking, that "that" would give them reason to overseed now....Go figure!

Schotzyb,

It's always great to read your posts. You are one of the most informed posters on TOTV. Thanks for the information.

The problem is where they get the water for the course. Not every retention pond you see is available for golf course use. I was told the water for Hacienda is the pond near Freedom Pointe (not the one they are working on, though). Since that pond is low, they have to ration the water to overseed the tees and greens. There is not enough water there to do the fairways. Also, the pond cannot be pumped dry. They have to leave a certain amount in the pond. If we get more rain, there may be enough to do the fairways. Other courses have different sources of water.

Thank you

The more of you who drive 30 minutes for marginally better conditions the easier for the rest of us to get Tee Times in the Winter. Go and good golfing somewhere else!

:agree:

Yeah, and (outside the villages) we can probably play in 3 1/2 -4 hours, instead of 5 hours too!...:)

Don't just talk about it, do it......we appreciate your tee times.

Bravo for going to the direct source for accurate information. Not only are we better informed, but the director of golf operations is better apprised about resident concerns. win-win. Thanks.

:clap2:

Hearsay and rumor is all I have, but maybe someone else knows....ADMINS, we need rumor tags, like the quote tags :icon_wink:

Talking to the starters and ambassadors at Tierra yesterday I learned they have a well for water instead of relying on retention ponds.

[RUMOR]According to an ambassador, early on they were going to use ponds for watering, but the residents protested and prevailed so Tierra dug a well(s).[/RUMOR]

It got me thinking about the water shortages we experience and wonder why other courses do not dig wells? As someone with no knowledge of this type of engineering wells seem logical as central FL sits on top of underground rivers and lakes....

It is my understanding that even underground water supplies are regulated. Commercial use of wells is strictly controlled. They are required to get a permit for water usage. It's not like a commercial well can be dug and there's free water forever. I also believe that commercial well users are required to have a retention pond where runoff from well water is stored for use the next time. I believe that some areas also charge for the the amount of water taken out of the aquifer. The last time I heard a figure (this could be wrong) was that a commercial well can cost in excess of $10 an inch to drill.

Absolutely there is a limit to how much they can pump from the aquifer. That is the main reason they are limited at Hacienda from my understanding. They cannot pump enough from the aquifer to augment the water in the retention pond to do more than tees and greens on that course. South of 466, they have a complicated water system that allows them to transfer water from several sources to keep the courses green. But even there, there are restrictions. One consideration is that homeowners have priority for the reclaimed water, so the more we water our landscaping, the less water is available for the golf courses.

course condition
 

After golfing in the Villages for 5 years and viewing the course conditions in the winter months and blaming the poor conditions on the lack of water I began to take notice of the practice of overseeding.
Last year in
Feb. I notice that there was 2 sizes of grass in the fairways, some grass was long (sprouting in the fall) and a lot of very small grass just starting to grow.
These 2 length of grass was the result of poor initial soil contact seed to ground (not water) when the frost came and killed the Bermuda the seed not germinated fell to the ground and sprouted.
I have spent a lot of time researching how to overseed fairways and the practice used in the Villages is not recommened for sucess.
There are several ways ---1 is to earate then put seed down--another is to drop seed and chain drag the fairway so seed falls thru the thick Bermuda both will help seed get good ground contact---they are still using the same practice so don't expect better fairways this winter.

Why don't you share this with TV golf course maintenance professionals? Country Club Administration at 352-753-3396

Gee and all this time I thought the Bermuda didn't die but went dormant in the winter to recover in the spring........live and learn ........I agree, you should share this with the golf courses.........