Executive Courses
 

I am a full-timer. I belong to 3 different executive course golf groups - T, W, Th. I normally do not play three days a week but since I had been gone for three weeks, I decided to try to get some golf in. One group is a large singles group about 32 people. One group is a singles group about 16 people, and the third group is a foursome. All 3 groups received “not able to accommodate request” responses. And, yes they put in for several courses and 7 days ahead. Who else is seeing this?

How far ahead you put in the tee time request doesn't matter; they are all evaluated equally between midnight and 12:30AM 3 days in advance. The number of points matter; the less play in the last 7 days the greater the chances you will be assigned a tee time. Increasing the number of courses and the time window of play will also increase your chances. Adding courses that are less popular, such as Pelican, will also help. Adding the five courses south of 44 will help. There is less demand for the first 1 or 2 tee times and tee times after 4:00PM. The day of the week apparently matters; I think Sunday morning is more accessible.This time of year, if you have a group of 16, are requesting a tee time between 9:00AM and noon, and have an average of 3 points, there is a high probability that you will be denied. If your average number of points is 1 then you will probably get a tee time.

Typical for Winter.
Suggest you put in 10 or so courses. Also, in the Winter, you need to expand the test frame in which you would play, when you make your request.

Exactly! And at this time of year, I would think a group of 32 is fighting an uphill battle, the foursome not so much.

I am not at all surprised that your large groups got denied. Your foursome probably got denied because of a combination of accumulated points, and/or not enough latitude in time frame and courses.

There could be people in the group that has a lot of points. They add up all the points of everyone in the group.
So even though you may have zero points others having lots of points will spoil it for the whole group.

Whoever runs the group can be more mindful of people's points and those with more than 3 points should be left out.

I belong to golf clubs and we don't get tee times either so this time of year I usually just go out as a single which there is always something somewhere available.

Like today I playing Yankee Clipper as a single which is a hard course to get a tee time at this part of the year.

Nothing is going to stop me from feeding my golf addiction. lol.

Also, people circumvent the system by putting in people with no points and then switching the name to somebody with lots of points after they get a tee time.

The tee time system does catch up to those who abuse it but not immediately.

They could close this loophole by not allowing switching names during Jan-March.

As you stated, my understanding is that they track that type of behavior and will deal with it at some point. Some golfers also apparently purposely put in a fourth that they know is not going to play so they don't have to "play with a stranger". My wife's late spouse passed 7 years ago, yet she just found out last year that his number was still active and was being used to hold a place. She ended that post haste and hopefully the powers that be dealt with the offender.

This would not be a problem if the developer had built more courses south of 44.

It is true that anyone can play any course but if you live in Dabney and want to play at Briarwood, it is about 27 miles and will take well over 90 minutes by cart. It is a bit shorter by car but then you have to walk or rent a cart - which most people don’t do.

As far as I can tell, I think most people play within a 5 mile radius of their homes. That is unless you live south of warm springs. Then you have to travel.

I don't know how important group size is in the selection process. I suspect it is better to have smaller groups, all else being equal. However, a case could be made for selecting the larger groups first and then filling in with smaller groups, all else being equal. An analogy would be if you were trying to fit different sized objects into a box. One strategy would be to start with the largest objects first. Without seeing the actual code, it is hard to say. Regardless, if your group has a lot of points and you want to play in the morning then the probability of being denied goes up. For example, one of my groups is a foursome and an average of 3 points this time of year will get us a denial most of the time.

I believe, but not 100% sure, that the algorithm looks at average points in a group. The larger the group, the higher the chance that a few golfers have a high number of points that will bring the average up.

So, a large group would go to the front of the line and take up several prime tee times. I don't care for the sound of that.

I have been here since 2021. The only courses that have opened in those three years have been Southern Oaks and two pitch & putt courses. Not one executive course.

Does anyone know the last time they built a new executive course? I know Red and Gray Fox opened in October 2017. Were any other courses built after that?

Groundhog Day...................Must be January.

"Not enough courses"

Yeah, Loblolly, Longleaf, and Lowlands.

I was only speculating. Without knowing what they are trying to optimize, it is hard to say how the selection process works.

Don't forget, guests are the like the black sheep of the family

Program is veeeery old and probably cannot be changed.

Take it a step farther . South of 44 and east of the turnpike 11 newly built neighbor hoods , Start with Chitty Chatty , end with Dabney , no executive course

Mickey Lee, Marshview and Richmond are empty almost every day. That should be a hint to the dev that one or two of them should be converted to an executive.

It’s a mess trying to get tee times!!! There is a huge excess demand for the number of executive courses and championship courses are not far behind. Just look at the huge number of homes south of 44 compared to only 5 executive courses!!! The developers are way behind the curve. And the few new Eastport courses will do little to alleviate the current crunch. Those new courses are already spoken for. Just watch! The developers have misread the enormous demand for golf in The Villages…sad but true no matter how insiders try and spin it…they have underdeveloped the number of courses in proportion to the massive number of homes added south of 44.

Are you putting in 20 courses with an 8 hour window? Who is checking the points of all players? Is the group leader controlling who many points players are getting? Do some players have no show cancellation points?

With all the growth south of 44 are there enough Executive Courses? If not, follow up with the higher powers.

Is it just me, I don't get the point of a 32 person group. A 16 person group maybe - even that seems a bit much. 32? Why? There aren't even enough golf cart parking spaces at starter boxes for most of the executive courses.

Sounds like that many in a "group" should be a Villages Entertainment planned "special event". 32 people seems a little all consuming of courses that are already making it difficult for people to share with the mass flood of tourists we now have flocking to the ABnB's in T V.

What do 32 people do on the course that makes it necessary to have consecutive tee times (aside from everyone welcome to play advertised events like you see occassionally out at the executive course in DeLuna) on a weekly basis ?

Does everyone wear matching club shirts or do they put a certain colored loofa on their golf bags? Does a 32 person group use blow horns to chit chat across the farways?

I get getting together socially like at a clubhouse or Beef O'Bradys to have a beer and share golf accomplishments etc but why on the course each week.

What am I missing here?

Me personally, I don't feel sorry for a group of 32 not being able to find a tee time everyweek. I am just positive a group of 32 is welcoming and friendly to lone parties of golfers out on the course.

points
 

I run a singles golf group and have been running it for going on 6 years. I tell all in my group that if you are sitting at 1 or 2 points when I put in the request you are safe if you have 3 points you are on the fence, if you have 4 points a big maybe, after that pretty much forget it. I use excel and make sure each team (4) has no more than 8 points total preferably only 7. I use a 2 and a half hour time frame and use 14 courses. In all the time I have been doing this my group has only been shut out 3 times. One of those was because I forgot to recheck point before I but the request in and a few had golfed the day before which will not show till the next day. Yes I hear there are those that cheat and I have heard they do get caught, GOOD! Note if I have a group of 3 I keep them a 6 points max or below. Should average out to 2 point per person per group. Average for all playing at about 1.75 points

3 others you didn’t mention and 5 more executives being built now south of turnpike

You will have better luck on championship courses. And 9 holes before 8 am tee time is permitted

It’s the snowbirds. If they were year round residents, it be like this all year.

Be sure there are no guests in the request. I found this will be denied for sure.

I think Loblolly and Longleaf opened in 2018 and Lowlands opened in 2019 so it appears that it has been more than four years since they opened a new executive.

According to Wikipedia, the population was about 80,000 in 2020 and is now 145,000.

This is correct...average group points are what the computer uses to place groups/people who requested tee times. You can have a large group and if your group's average points are low (in the 2.0-2.5 range) you'll likely get your tee time. The system is set up to allow players who haven't played as much as others to get a slot. It's a fair system IMHO...although antiquated and a bit cumbersome to use...same system has been around for some 15-20 years.

I don't golf----but have heard the time of day also matters.

Originally Posted by Marathon Man View Post
So, a large group would go to the front of the line and take up several prime tee times. I don't care for the sound of that.

A large group does not automatically go to the front of the line. It all depends on the group's average points compared to all the other requests average points. But yes, a large group with low points could go ahead of a small group with more points. The key is to keep your players points low so the group average is low...like 2.5 or less average group points. You have to remember a group is really a bunch of individual players put together in one request...no different than a foursome requesting a tee time. A smaller group may have a slightly better chance of getting a slot if a time is available in their group's average point scale, but larger groups have just as much right to tee times as small groups...since it all depends on points which reflect how many times the group's players have golfed in the last 7 days.

Try playing championship courses. No, they're not free, but part of the reason exec is so full is because it's free. My group plays only championship and have noticed a significant decrease in being busy/full this year on championships.

I disagree. They don’t put in enough courses to account for peak usage—only average usage. If every villager lived here year round, they would have to build more infrastructure (including golf courses) to accommodate the total population. I suspect that if it were this bad year round then this would not be as attractive of a community and sales would suffer.

Very smart, thanks for the tips!

/// duplicate post...

I run a ladies group on T/F with about 20 people. I put in a 9-hr time range with the 5 courses south of 44. So far this season, we haven't been shut out. Can't wait for the 4 new execs coming south of 44!! My husband is in a men's group on Tuesdays with about 80 guys. It's a "registered" group (over 30 people) and they always get tee times. Might be in a couple of different courses, but they never get shut out. And yes, points do matter, especially cancellation/no-show points.

Could it be the new pitch and putt courses are not desirable?
Why else would Villagers who live way south of 466a drive more than 40 minutes in a golf course to play here?

There are 3 more executive as well as 3 championship course all planned for the area around Eastport. I know that doesn't help today but at least in the future more will be available south of 44.

When there was 85,000 people here, ( Before south of 44) We had 56 executive courses. Now we have 135,000 people here and have adding 5 Executive courses. Think about that, And when you were buying your home they sold you on “FREE GOLF”. What a bag of horse **** that is. Remember, This is not the “Same people” who started the Villages. This is the greedy kids.. Their Father, and Grandfather are rolling in their graves.