Golf Course Conditions
 

We played Hacienda Hills yesterday. Fairways ok but winter brown showed little green. Very dry in spite of rainfall. Lots of roll. The greens were green and ok. Played Palmer a few days ago. Fairways were green and good......not spectacular. Greens fast and in good condition. Any reports on Glenview, Lopez or Cane Garden?

Is there any interest in suggesting a Golf Course Conditions Forum to the TOTV administration? Like restaurants, course conditions fluctuate and I would find it useful to frequently pull up a forum that gives current playing conditions as noted by golfers who post regularly. Hopefully, there would be enough interest to keep the forum fresh and up to date. :shrug:

Your thoughts.

Threads seem to come and go on the golf forum.

Here is one that should help. schotzyb's and taj44's posts line up with how I feel.

https://www.talkofthevillages.com/fo...ad.php?t=34745

I like your idea of a Golf Courses Condition forum mainly because I rely alot on input here on TOTV on the conditions of the different golf courses both on campus and off. To me currently Havana is in the best shape of any of the courses here in the Villages excluding Palmer which I do not play in the winter even though I have a Priority Membership. I just cannot see the price difference in it and some of the other courses. Played Lopez Tuesday and felt it was also in good shape. Fairways a little sparse but not real bad. Greens and T boxes were good.

Thanks for the update on Havana. Haven't been there in a while. A golfing acquaintance today told me he thought Glenview was currently in good shape.
Played World Woods about 4 weeks ago. Pine Barrens and Rolling Oaks. Best shape I've seen including some Myrtle Beach courses. Greens were world class....four weeks ago. You can get good rates there if you call them and ask for specials.

Played Mallory today and due to last nights rain it was cart path only. Greens in very good shape but a little slow from not being cut. Fairways are starting to fill in some but some particular holes are really spotty.

Played Cane yesterday (1/21) (Jac to Alla) for the first time in weeks. Very disappointed with the greens. It did rain alot Thursday night, so I am not complaining of speed, but they do look healthy to me.

Winter conditions Cane Garden (Hibs. & Jacr.)
 

typical tight HARD fairways BUT always glad to be out in the sunshine.

I really like this thread. I hope more people comment on conditions of courses. It is very helpful and thanks. Be there Feb.1st for 2 months of golf!

Amen to the sunshine part, although I could have used a little more if it yesterday afternoon. No doubt lots of golfers would love to be complaining about conditions of golf courses instead of the condition of the roads for driving :cold:

Any reports on Glenview? Playing Havana on Monday. Played Palmer on Thursday. Fairways and greens in good shape. Pin placements were brutal. Pin setter must have had a bad morning.

Glenview report
 

Greens perfect, Fairways tight, overseeding this year not as good, difficult to get a good lie. Limited to cart path side rough Friday 1/21...When posting conditions we should probably include date of play....

Sweetie and his group stopped at nine today.

When he came in I said "omg, are you having chest pains?'

He said they had decided it was too windy and too cold. I think the others decided that because Sweetie has never abandoned a golf course at nine holes.

Played Lopez yesterday afternoon 1/23 :thumbup:

:thumbup: == no complaints

PS. Maybe this should be in the golf forum?

Havana CC
 

Played Havana this morning. Fairways in good shape. Greens were green and fast. Rough was winter brown but very playable. Fairways and rough were somewhat hard and gave up good rolls.

Got 17 holes in today at Orange Blossom before the rains came. Fairway in great shape. Nice and green and full. Some greens better than others but all very playable

Contacted Orange Blossom today(Wednesday) to find out conditions. No restrictions except for two holes where you had to exit at 150. Tomorrow(Thursday) expected to be no restrictions.

Cane Gardens
 

Played Cane Garden this AM (1/26) Greens fast despite the heavy rain last night. Favor Palmer's although I agree the additional cost irritates a fair amount of villagers but you have to agree Palmer's is usually in good shape.

Orange Blossom CC
 

Played Orange Blossom this morning. (Thursday). Schotzyb is exactly right. Fairways were very good. Green and thick. Most greens were in good shape. A few were not. All were playable. Rough is tough. Keep it in the green. No restrictions in spite of recent rain. Rubicon...I agree with you on Palmer. I was definately impressed with the condition of the Orange Blossom fairways. Hadn't played there in a couple of years until I read conditions posted here. Glad I did.

Glad that my assessment of Orange Blossom was accurate and to your lacking. Playing Hacienda Hills tomorrow but not by choice. We have a group of 16 players that play a different course every Friday. Just so happens that Hacienda was up next on the list. No big deal: where else can you play Golf in January in shorts?

Our group played Hacienda today and even though the fairways have not been overseeded and were brown, it was a very enjoyable round. Greens were in very good condition and the ambassadors were passing out questionaire forms to allow you to voice your opinion of the course.

Played Tierra Del Sol yesterday (Sunday) Fairways only fair. Greens - some OK many thin and bare in spots. Have seen it in better shape than its in right now.

Played Palmer this morning (Monday) Good condition all the way around - Cherry to Laurel. Greens were fast.

Palmer's greens are so good right now that even the practice green by the first tee at Riley Grove (The Himalayas) is good enough to practice on and alot of fun!

Well, the hard ground with no grass cushioning helps my miserable game on the short courses. My poor tee shots keep moving along. I can't get any loft this week, but my putting is better than it has been for awhile.

Golf is not a matter of life and death, it is much more important than that.

(I have a sign on my wall that says that anyway)

Played Cane Garden today. Fairways really, really spotty. Not good at all. Both the rough and fairways are hard as concrete. Greens were overall in pretty decent shape, but the course still goes to the bottom of my list for ones to play.

Played Jacaranda to Alamanda Tuesday, 2/2. Schotzyb once again has it right. Fairway and rough hard, some thin green grass. Greens were just ok. I like Cane Garden but not now. Course conditions around the Villages are constantly changing. I keep hearing positive reports about Glenview. I hope to keep checking in to hear what posters have to say about what courses are and who is declining. Thanks for the input.

Article in todays Daily Sun 2/3 regarding course conditions, on Sports page.

I have heard unconfirmed reports that certain courses get a larger watering allotments. Allegedly, Palmer, Lopez and Glenview top the list. Further, I heard that Havana has now joined that elite list. Personally, I thought the fairways and most of the greens at OB were as good as any.

Any info or opinions floating around out there?

Don't know how true it is but in talking with an Ambassador at Orange Blossom, he stated that their watering restrictions were different because they are in Lake County instead of Sumter.Don't really see how that could be since they are so close together but that is what we were told during our round about a week ago.

The Ambassador is right, courses like Palmer have more water and money available than courses like Cane Garden and Mallory. TRUST ME, every superintendent wants the best looking course since his job is dependent on course ratings by the higher ups. But water restrictions and budgets hold these courses back and there is only so much they can do. Mallory and Cane actually have to share water from each other. One course will get more water on certain days while the other will be short and vice versa.

It also depends on where the water comes from. The southern courses have interconnections to several retention ponds and can share water. Others, like Hacienda, have limited resources. I believe Hacienda can draw only from the retention pond near #9 on the Palms course and from the aquifer, which is limited.

Palmer also gets less play than the other courses, primarily because of the greens fee difference. Less play usually begets better conditions, especially from cart traffic.

Schotzyb and Cabo35 - I agree with you on Cane. Played there a couple days ago, and the fairways were really spotty where the overseed hadn't fully come in. In addition the greens had been top-dressed and were painfully slow. Not impressed with that course. Played Havana a week or so ago and found it to be in beautiful shape. I played Lopez a couple days ago, and the course was in pretty nice shape as well. The greens were a tad on the slow side, but overall in nice condition. My one complaint about Lopez is that there is the occasional bunker that has a lot of little pebbles in it. Has anyone else encountered that? If you happen to catch one of the pebbles, it can throw your sand shot off. I know, I shouldn't be in there anyways, lol! Played OB last Sunday, and it was in nice shape. The fairways have a lot of grass and don't seem as hard and rolling as some of the other courses. AJBrown, I haven't played Palmer lately, but a friend did, and he agrees with your assessment. He called their greens "pristine".

Playing Lopez tomorrow, (Friday) morning. Glad to read that it is in pretty good shape. As for pet peeves on some conditions on golf courses that really irritate me are greens with standing water in them 3 days after the last rainfall. Surely this could be attended to in this amount of time.

Hearing the greens have been top dressed is a good sign to me. The greens looked stressed last time I was there on 1/21. They rolled OK, but they looked like there was an underlying issue. The fact that an action has been taken is a positive sign IMO. Time will tell.

Back to Palmer tomorrow :a040:

Tierra on Sunday, hoping it is better than I read as I love to play there especially on Sunday with no wave.

AJ, I spoke with the head of golf operations last year when Orange Blossom was so bad, and I really did get a sense that he was committed to getting and keeping the courses in good shape. My conversation with him was very reassuring. I know a lot of people complained to him about OB, and I think that helped as well to keep them on their toes. With the tremendous amount of people playing this time of year, I'm sure they need to do some periodic maintenance, and perhaps with rain in the forecast they decided to topdress.

Anyways, enjoy Palmer!

Played Lopez (Ashley, and Torri) and am happy to say that the course is very good condition, especially the greens, which were the best I have seen in The Villages or outside. No blotches on them and they rolled beautifully. Thumbs up to Lopez groundskeeper and crew.

Played Nancy Lopez today....really good shape

Played Orange Blossom today;not as good of shape as about a week ago.Greens were extremely slow from not being cut due to wet conditions Was just starting to cut the fairways at 12 noon. Water being pumped from other courses to areas off the fairways which meant if you were out of the fairway, you were in water. Should be fine once the greens are cut and the excess water is gone.

played Havana yesterday...in pretty good shape...greens got bumpy late in the day.Overall course is worth playing.

Played Hacienda today. The rain seems to have helped course conditions a little although fairways had soft spots. Should dry out shortly. Greener than I remember from last time I played there. Greens were generally good but a little slow. Played the Palms to Oaks. All in all, a pleasant round. Should be getting better each day.

Playing Cane Garden Friday. Hope the rain has helped soften the fairways and rough there.