The USGA to the rescue?
 

Read in today's (3/29/24) Daily Sun the USGA cavalry is being called in to rescue The Villages executive golf courses devastated by El Nino's excess rain and cloud cover(!). It may be quicker and less expensive to check out who is doing the greens keeping at Continental Country Club or The Links of Spruce Creek South, both basically within The Villages, and ask them for advice.

Played The Links for the first time in several months yesterday and was shocked at the near-pristine conditions. The greens were magnificent and the fairways green and lush. A couple of tees could use some work but that's small potatoes compared to the conditions of a number of Villages courses, both Executive and Championship. And for $38.00 after 1:00 PM! Same El Nino. Same cloud cover.
The Villages should be ashamed!

Thevillages.net Tee Time System and Website
 

It's Good Friday March 29 at 10:10 and thevillages.net has been down since at least 5:30 AM. Does anyone know what is happened or when if it is coming back up today?

Still beating the el nino drum. Wonder how many believe that at this point?

Of course, everyone views things in their own way. The first paragraph of that story mentions el Nino and our "aging" executive golf courses. Two excuses for bad management in one fell swoop. The fact that you hire an Executive course superintendent, now being overseen by not one, but two supervisors (hardly turf management experienced), and top it off with the USGA coming as advisors is just incredible in my opinion.
And to top it off, our superintendent thinks aeration should be used four times a year. Knowledgeable superintendents that I have known aerate once a year in the summer, verticut twice a year with top dressing watered in, and over seed with winter rye in October. They manage weeds and disease during the cooler months, and fertilizer and nurture grass in the spring.
This el Nino narrative is a farce. In my humble opinion, of course.

they dont need the usga , they need god. ops i cant say that , can i ???

Not many, just as no one believes the aging golf course narrative. Golf courses around the world in all sorts of climates have been around a heck of a lot longer than the villages.

Very true but do you expect them to admit incompetence in taking care of the courses?

El Nino', that's a good one !

Blaming El Nino for the golf course conditions is like blaming it on the International Space Station orbiting the Earth. Totally, ridiculously insane.

There's no question we have harsh weather here in Central Florida, but as others have said, the other golf courses in the area maintain pristine conditions, much better than our courses. Maybe there were shortcuts when the courses were built i.e. underlying turf conditions are not as good? Or maybe it's just mediocre maintenance, who knows. But the problem has been going on for years and years. I've always wondered why the Villages didn't get into maintaining the courses themselves, instead of relying on these companies, where some are good and others are not.

The dog ate my homework....el nino made the golf courses bad.....i have a bridge in nyc to sell you....pick one!

So Steve, what is your solution? Does everyone honestly believe that every greens keeper in the villages from end to end all forgot how to maintain their respective courses all at the same time? Please start coming with positive suggestions instead of constant complaints. Be part of the solution. We appear to have thousands of "experts" but few come forward with ways to help improve the situation. First everyone must acknowledge that the golfing model in The Villages is unlike any other in the world from a pure usage perspective. We are not like " my club" back home. Start there and come up with suggestions.

:BigApplause:

Until moving to TV have never seen aerification done in the winter months(grass is mostly dormant) and have always seen aerification when greens and fairways are in good shape. Can' imagine why anyone would put holes in a green when grass is NOT growing. How is the non growing grass going to cover up the hole caused by the aerification.

Do enjoy playing on over seeded greens and partially understand why they do not do this any longer. Greens will be bad for two months due to the planting/dying of the winter grass. Hopefully smarter heads will prevail.

I believe that Steve offered a potentially less expensive solution. He suggested asking two other golf courses that have very good greens conditions and are in the same general vicinity for advice rather than the USGA. Those courses also receive a lot of play.

Yes
 

:clap2::clap2:

An ambassador told us there are 2 companies currently who manage course maintenance. One in the north and south and one central. The ‘firm’ has fired the central company. Once they were told their contract would not be renewed other bad things began to happen. One thing they’re supposed to do and did NOT do, is clean their blades before going to the next course. Hence, the fungus problem we’ve seen. Word is, the ‘firm’ will be taking over the maintenance. Makes sense with the USGA visiting.

Sorry, but you don't need to be a master gardener to recognize that the "professionals" you hired have failed. You don't need to be a master mechanic to know that your car is running worse after it came out of the shop. In both scenarios you don't have to know what needs to be done to know the professionals have screwed up and didn't or couldn't maintain your investment in the manner they should have. Your job, is to hire professionals. And if the "pro" doesn't do what they were hired to do, fire them and interview the next applicants for the job.

Sounds like conspiracy to sabotage by central company. They were hired to do certain jobs and intentionally failed to do the jobs, but took the money. Fraud?

One glaring omission ... no mention of what's in store for Championship Courses!

I don't run The Villages golf courses. I am not a professional greenskeeper. I just play. But I have noticed that golf courses outside The Villages are in better condition than many of the golf courses inside The Villages. I don't have the answers. What I'm saying is apparently the people who are being paid to have the answers don't have the answers. If you're good with that...well, you are in the right place. Tee it up!

Don't even need to go to Continental or Spruce Creek.....we have proven experience at Glenview, Lopez, & Southern Oaks..(now at Hacienda & OB). I believe the TV would be better having it's own maintenance crews for all golf courses. The cross sharing of equiptment (core & veritcut aeration & rollers) and same direction and experience being sent to all crews. Having separte contracted crews is not working....so change that before any more damage is encured.

Golf Courses
 

Cudo's, Cudo's,Cudo's to whoever bit their pride and called in the USGA. They will get more definitive answers than El Nino, Sunspots, or the Eclipse.

The question is whether or not that report will be passed along to Villagers who are interested.

The troublesome part is whether or not greens were originally built to USGA Specifications. Loam sand mix, proper drainage, proper grass. If not, then these issue will persist over time. You can only polish a sneaker for so long.

Greens don't go bad in one day. They show early warning signs, UNLESS, no one is watching. Or doesn't know what to watch for.

Glad to see they called in the storm troopers. And they may learn that too few persons taking care of too many courses will not always work. Hopefully, its not a construction issue. :bowdown:

How come nobody is saying global warming is causing the deterioration of our courses?

April first in couple days:loco:

USGA, what does that stand for after you make a bad put on crappy greens? U suck, go again : )

WHY NOT:bigbow:

Because if you do that enough, this is what happens!

https://y.yarn.co/c56b591f-33e6-4939...1eeec_text.gif

Baltimore could use a new bridge

I am amazed that we have so many golf course experts in the villages. Most bring vast knowledge from ‘back home’. There is always a course nearby in pristine condition and every course should be that way. Kinda sounds like farmers complaining about poor crops.
Soils vary, conditions vary, personel vary, and agronomy varies.

The USGA apparently found that El Niño weather “is at least 50% responsible” for the conditions on 4 executive courses. But apparently not for the other golf courses around in our area which were found in good condition. Hmmm? I was here and I don’t remember cloud bursts, or cold, strictly on certain specific locations all winter?

I agree. I'm a gardening "expert" from "up north". The soils and growing conditions of almost everything in Florida is a different world from every other state. Maintaining courses on sandy soil can be more challenging and the weed pressure in Florida is greatly amplified due to the warm humid weather here and lack of a winter die-off for most weeds.

That being said, there's plenty of courses in Florida that have remained well maintained for decades, so I'm sure they just have the right people managing those and an appropriate budget to execute their maintenance program.

Coming from "farm country" (Iowa) farmers may complain about poor crops, but not because one section had too much rain and cloud cover and the adjacent one did not. It usually comes down to planting too early or too late, using the wrong fertilizer or fertilizing too soon or too late or failing to cultivate in a timely manner. In other words, operator error.