“”free golf” ain’t so free
 

After paying the required Amenity Fee, add the Trail Fees of about $144 a year and the free golf ain’t so free. If you play two rounds every weekend the “free golf” costs you almost $24 per round on the Executive courses.

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True that!!

[QUOTE=Villages Kahuna;2096283]After paying the required Amenity Fee, add the Trail Fees of about $144 a year and the free golf ain’t so free. If you play two rounds every weekend the “free golf” costs you almost $24 per round on the Executive courses.[/QUO

The amenity fee covers a lot more than the exec courses. Pools, rec centers, pickleball and tennis courts are examples. You are not required to pay the trail fee. Walk it is healthier

That math sounds wrong.
$24 per round x 2 rounds/week x 52 weeks = $2500 per year

Perhaps this is better??

$144 per year divided by 52 weeks = $2.7692 per week

$2.7692 per week divided by 2x playing per week = $1.385 per round

The golf is free if you walk, if you choose to use a golf car you pay the trail fees but the golf is still free.

I’ve had 6 homes here ,I don’t golf , haven’t been in a pool here for at least 10 years , and only been in the rec centers to vote and some shows at Savannah, but mostly go to the Sharon , so I pay for all that stuff and don’t use any of it and I don’t complain . I live here because it’s a well run , very clean community with great biking and walking trails , a great developer and lots of restaurants , stores , a good doctor and fun at the squares

We need to call the esteemed developer about this.

He made the Villages to cater to complaining golfers...and they need to be served.

You'd better have good health insurance. Walking many of the execs., especially in the summer, is an invitation for a heart attack or heat stroke. The execs are not routed with older golfer in mind. Walk the championship courses? Maybe if you're a tri-athlete. I wonder if this was poor course design or marketing strategy.

You want free golf you walk. If you don't want to walk don't complain about the trail fees as it's your choice.

Villages Kahuna's math is correct
 

The Villages Kahuna's math is correct using an amenity fee of $172 a month, and a monthly fee of $12 (144 divided by 12).

The amenity fee covers a lot more then maintaining the exec courses. Think pools, rec centers, pickleball and tennis courts, softball complexes and more.

[QUOTE=JSR22;2096292]We always walk. push carts are two bucks apiece if you rent them at the executive course shack, or you can buy your own and eventually save money that way too. Some people forgo a push cart and just carry their (slimmed-down) bags.

We moved here for many reasons but the executive golf course opportunities was one of the major ones.

If you pay $164 a month for the amenities and you pay $12 a month for the trail fee, you are paying $176 a month. If you play 8 times a month, you would be paying $22 a round for golf. However, the amenity fee pays for more than golf so assume that 50% is for golf and the rest of it is goes to everything else - pools, rec centers, landscaping, walking trails, golf cart trails, you would be paying $11 a round. However, if you play more than twice a week, the cost per round goes down.

I’m thinking I might need the suicide hotline number after reading all this BS

You forgot to add the cost of your Home, Taxes, Insurance, etc. The free golf is a lot cheaper after deduct all these expenses on your income tax.

Move

Free golf if you walk. As for the amenities fee, golf is just one part of that, so many don’t play golf so you can’t put a price on a round of golf. You have to pay that to live here not to golf here.

Nothing really free…everything has price..

[QUOTE=ThirdOfFive;2096414]I have a push cart for sale!

Some people just can't add or subtract.

But, given that you are attributing 100% of your amenity fee to golf, then your water volleyball and other use of the rec centers, town squares, and such are 100% free, so you're making a choice on what you use for free and where you're applying your costs.

And, the simple solution to lower your per-round fee is simply to play more golf. :-)

The amenity fee is relatively cheap compared to comparable retirement communities. I rarely use any of the rec facilities and never golf.

Despite that I think of it as a great deal since it is great for property values and is a major reason why The Villages is considered the number one retirement community in the country.

You have 2 options
Don’t play golf or Move

You paid $300-500k for a house and you complain about a few bucks? Stop playing so much .

How about the third option that most Villagers take: Pay the amenity and trail fees and enjoy your golf.

Now for some remedial math:

Cost of maintaining a golf course, according to the CSGA, varies from $80,000 to close to $ 2 million/year depending on location and the course. The average is $500,000/year for a full 18 hole championship course in very good condition, or $250,000 for a 9 hole course. Our 9 hole exec courses are less than 1/2 of the length of nine holes on those courses, but the most expensive parts of a course to maintain are bunkers and greens, so let's go high and say it costs $200,000/ year to maintain each of our execs. So, 44 execs x $200,000/year = $8.8 million/year.

On the income side-----approx. 65,000 homes in TV paying about $170/MONTH amenity fees: 65,000 x 170 x 12 = $ 132.6 million/year. 8.8/132.6 = 6.6% of the amenity fee going to golf (far from 100%). We can debate these numbers a little, but they are certainly well in the ballpark, so I doubt more than 10% of the amenity fee goes for exec golf.

So.....$170/month x 6.6% = $11.22/month or $134.64/year, then add $144 trail fee (if using cart) for $278.86/year divided by 104 rounds = $2.68/round , or only $1.29/round if walking and playing twice a week-----this is the real cost of "free" golf, far from $24/round. Play 4x/ week and those costs go to $1.34 and $0.65 respectively.

(mike drop):1rotfl::1rotfl::1rotfl:

I walk many of the exec courses with a pull cart monthly. Easy walk in the parks. Your concerns MAYBE valid if someone decides to carry their bag in mid afternoon heat but those folks probably shouldn't be out in the heat anyway.
I think the OPs math is a bit off. Based on his calcs, his amenity fee is in excess of $200 per month. Mine are still quite a bit south of that number monthly.

and don't forget about salaries to be paid to the workers of the rec centers, starter shacks, and district offices

Don't quote me on this but I believe I recall that about 40% of the amenity fee goes to paying off the amenities bought from The Developer. I have seen the budget but I don't recall exactly where.

By your logic, those of us who never pick up a club are saving the $144 a year, but paying $175 a month to look at all the grass and flags. Oh, wait, there are pools, flowers, trash pickup, rec centers, community watch........

I’m 79, not in the best of health, but walk the execs in the Fall, Winter & Spring, even though I pay my trail fees. I haven’t seen anyone walk the championship courses, but many are laid out through neighborhoods to have as many “golf view” expensive lots available and sometimes there’s a very long walk from green to the next tee. Good planning by the developer.

Wow
 

You must have forgotten about:
The pools
The rec centers
Pickle ball and tennis courts
The upkeep of the squares and when your driving on the cart paths or roads…..do you think the flowers are donated to the villages each time they are replaced?

If you extrapolate, if you play once a year, the cost is $144 + 170x12 which equals over $2000 for that one round :)

Thank you. Maybe a class in the Enrichment Academy is needed for some. I'm amused by all of the "new math" that's been displayed.

Why do we pay a trail fee when the residents own the exec courses? Where does the trail fee really go or should I say "whose pocket".

For all the whiners: I am still waiting to meet the person whose sales agent held a gun to their head while signing their closing documents. If you walk around with a Virginia ham under each arm, would you complain that you have no bread?

I am an expert on posting crap, but this thread is a master class!:ho:

I think it was well thought out. It is all about pace of play. If they had even 20% of the people walking it would mean x% of tee times they would loose. On the championship courses that means revenue. So yes they want people riding.

What's the phone number for Mensa?

Are you using Common Core math???