A short golf cart ride?
 

I have seen ads for homes that say that they are just a short golfcart ride from various things. I want to move to the villages but I don't feel comfortable driving a golf cart very far. My husband will have to drive it most of the time. How far are grocery stores from the different neighborhoods. How far are the local and big activity centers from neighborhoods. I hope we can find a place that is close to stuff and is in our price range. we really want to become villagers.

You can use your car as much as you want. Many people do not even own a golf cart.

In fact, when you're new here and don't know your way around, using the car is probably better from a safety standpoint. It has more safety features to protect you in an accident, and you don't have to think about how to operate the car and where to find the tunnels, routes and other unfamiliar things about traveling with the cart. Once you've been here a few weeks you'll know what to do with the cart.

Have you come to TV to check it out in person, and to stay awhile? The lifestyle preview plan is great for seeing the various areas, homes, etc.

Once a person decides to buy, it's nice to be fairly close to one of the 3 town squares or one of the major shopping centers that include Publix on all four sides of TV with more being built. There are also SweetBay, Winn Dixie supermarkets, Super WalMarts, Aldi, Sams Club and Target. All the villages have numerous adult neighborhood pools, family neighborhood pools, and a regional rec center for several villages.

Even with the attached grocery carrier a golf cart cannot accommodate the amount of purchases my wife makes per trip. and since she shops far and wide temperature because any issue. Its why I own an SUV for all that stuff

We very seldom use our car now unless for doctor appointments or to visit. We take the cart for just about everything else. We have a second vehicle I've thought of selling.

Figure a couple of minutes to get to your mailbox & adult pool, five minutes to get to the closest clubhouse, 10-15 minutes to the closest squuare. Add 15 minutes to get to each farther square.

That's about right.

In six years we have only used the golf cart for grocery shopping twice.

If you can't drive a car, you need to think twice about living here. It is golf cart friendly but not all places are golf cart easy or accessible if it's off campus and not promised to be so.

anything i can get to in under 20minutes by cart or car..that's a short ride for me...At home it takes me 30 minutes to get to get to the grocery store by car thats not counting that the traffic jam to get there..

Defeats the purpose of a Golf Cart Community.

Not exactly sure what Gracie meant but in two years of living here we go many weeks without using our car (We sold the second car). We work ON campus (TVRH and Publix), we grocery shop, go to restaurants, bank, golf, bike ride, walk, entertainment, doctors etc. etc. all on campus.

Do we go off campus? Sure but most of that is by choice not need.

It is golf cart friendly, but I have a little problem with people who move here and have something come up like the gate closing and then complain they have only a golf cart and they think it unfair when something that is off campus cannot be accessed by golf cart.

We are adults and need to realistic about what we need to get to and how we need to get there.

A wannabe was complaining that there is not public transportation available here just like where she is moving from. All that needs to be known and thought about before you make the decision to move here.

Everyone is different on how they wish to travel here (car or cart). We use our carts for practically everything!!! Maybe get the car out once a week or even less sometimes. We do, do our grocery shopping via golf-cart! This is with a cooler AND that big mesh bag one can attach. Very do-able, but you have to know how to pack the groceries in.

As one said here, come for a "Life-styles" visit if you haven't been here yet. You could also rent a place for a few months too, to get a feel for which area pleases you.

Wouldn't want public transportation like we have here in STMMD, 1 mile walk to/from bus stop

I don't think the "purpose" of TV lies in having only one, spartan mode of transportation.

Being a "golf cart community" does not mean people are supposed to only use a golf cart!!! It means the community is user-friendly and accommodating of golf carts.

The hundreds of miles of 2-lane and 4-lane streets, county/state highways, and 2-lane roundabouts are a pretty obvious indicator that automobiles are the primary mode of transportation here.

That's also indicated by the 15-mile plus distance from one end of it to another.

Also, especially for newbies not yet acclimated to the heat, the car is often needed for the air conditioning when you're going someplace where you don't want to be all hot and sweaty with clean clothes soaked and drooping from riding in the cart when it's 90 degrees and 80% humidity!!

Rent for a couple of weeks and use a golf cart. The place is big. Very big.

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We are members of the generation that moved to the suburbs and made the automobile the preferred mode of transportation. Entire modes of transportation were destroyed because of us.

I don't have any problem with using a golf cart to get from here to there, but I'll never give up my pick-up truck or automobile as long as I'm able to drive.

Everyone is different. I agree with the suggestion that it is best to buy where you are somewhere near a square and shopping. We live near Sumter, and its about a 4 minute ride in my golf cart to Sweetbay. I go there 2 or 3 times a week for shopping so it is very handy. I could just as easily go by car, but that really doesn't save me much time. And in the high season there is a tremendous amount of traffic both on the roads and on the recreational trails. Sometimes its just "easier" to go by golf cart. The Sumter area also has lots of doctors offices, and of course, all the restuaurants, shops, movie theater, etc at the square. I find it easier to get golf cart parking rather than car parking, especially if we're going to see a movie. I personally would not buy a house that is so far away from things that you have to take a car everywhere. I prefer to have options. The golf cart can be much more convenient to go certain places at certain times of the year, and additionally I think a centralized location has better resale value.

about a tank a month
 

is what we put in our car when we are here, as compared to about 5-6 tanks a month when in Ohio for the summer.

We have 2 golf carts and use them for almost everything, except at night when we are going to a rec center that is quite a distance away. It's quite possible to use the cart then, but it doesn't feel as safe (because I don't trust night-time senior drivers around here, to be honest). The paths and roadways are not brightly lit - it's kind of like "they" think you should be in bed by 9 (which we used to joke about when visiting - now that we live here, we're mostly tired by 9 pm from all our active living :).

I do a Sam's Club/Aldi's/Lowe's run about every 2 weeks in the car (although once I took the cart to Aldi's/Lowe's - was a long cart ride from south of Sumter Landing). I use the cart to go to Publix, Sweet Bay, Winn Dixie and the Farmers' Market and for golf, tennis, pickleball, and inside Rec Center activities. We eat in more than many here, only go out for dinner maybe once or twice a week.

Make a point of learning to drive the cart - and pay the bills, understand your finances, etc. Odds are you will need to know this stuff some day.

I like using the carts. Easy to get around, park and I never go but so far.

Not sure how a gas cart would be tough to use. Gas (every 200 miles) and go. You may not like it due to noise or smell but certainly not tough to use.

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