Cane Garden Championship Course
 

From time-to-time I'm going to Remove/Delete older message regarding course playing conditions. Hopefully this housekeeping will ensure users of this forum are reading about the most Current Course Playing Conditions.

Our group played Alamanda / Hibiscus today - Aug. 24th and were pleasantly surprised to find "real" rough. That said, it's deep enough to slow play somewhat while searching for errant golf balls. The greens were aerated on Aug. 5th but still have not fully recovered. All-in-all the course is in good shape and almost ready for the return of the "seasonal" golfers :sigh:

Almost ready until they overseed. Then we will go thru another adjustment till they can cut them down again. Just when they finally stop aerating they have to overseed. We get decent Bermuda greens maybe 6 weeks total the whole year. About 3 weeks of good conditions after each aeration. They should do us a favor and get it over with quicker - they drag out aeration for a month which is too long! It takes forever to get the rye and crab grass out of the greens because they are over seeded so heavily which is not good for Bremuda unless you don't really care about proper playing conditions for those that play golf here year round. Too heavy on overseeding impedes the spring spurt of the Bermuda which is the better putting surface. We'd all be happier if they over seeded very lightly and then we'd have good greens sooner and the management/owners would save money! That should be a great incentive! It's a win/win! You can apply this comment to every course in the Villages...

I agree. The greens throughout the Villages are crap more often than not.

I have found that recently the greens have been very good. The ones I've played have been decent, medium speed and smooth. I still can't figure out how to read the grain. I have way too many putts slide over the edge just as I am walking to pick the ball out of the hole.

I'd also like to opine that Bermuda rough doesn't have to get very long in order to effect play. This is especially true of the rough around the greens. It is difficult to make myself hit the ball hard enough when there is a short distance to go. An inch and a half of Bermuda rough can be very difficult.

I agree with Mickey. The greens are at best puttable.

When the greens are good and cut down its a beautiful thing. Just doesn't happen often enough.

I agree. The greens are not bad all the time, but it happens so frequently, it gets discouraging. For years Palmer was always the go to course for good conditions. No matter what the conditions were on the other courses, Palmer was always pristine. But no more - even Palmer went downhill for awhile. Haven't played it lately - hopefully they've gotten it back in good shape.

:bowdown:

Played Hibiscus to Alamanda this evening- greens have recovered fine but they haven't cut them for speed and they are slow. Both courses have way too much crab grass and the courses fairways are slowly being taken over by common Bermuda - it's not good. Why are all the courses not in the same condition? I think the layout of Palmer and Lopez and Glenview as designed by pros and that is what you should be paying for not general conditions. I'm sorry but even Palmer is fighting off weeds and patches of common Bermuda as well as some Zoysia. I understand areas of rough having some different grasses because of trees and shade on to the left of the path but they were all built with the same hybrid Bermuda grass. Over the years they've been allowed to go down hill due to "lack of interest" or not wanting to keep the grass pure for probably cost reasons. Now, however Glenview is actually better than Palmer - more pure hybrid grass almost totally with very small inconsistencies. They should all have the same condition - they should all be as pure as Glenview. It is very disappointing to see the level they have allowed Cane Garden to dwindle down to! Crab grass everywhere. It is a really beautiful course too. Personally I don't understand why any of our courses are being allowed to degrade further and further especially the executives cause they really aren't free now are they. They should all be maintained to the same condition standard. My two cents worth...

Are you sharing your concerns and solutions with golf management?

I would assume that golf management already realizes the golf courses are not in good shape. Why else would they hire an outside expert to oversee the operations. The big question I have is will they listen to him and if there needs to be more money spent will they allow it?

I played Jacaranda to Alamanda at Cane Garden last Monday and had no complaints. I thought overall the course was fine, the only difference I noticed from past visits over the last five years was they have decided to let the rough grow. It use to be no penalty to land in the rough, in fact sometimes a better lie. However now it's playing like real rough. We had 3 or 4 times to search for a ball because it was sunk down in the rough, that was something you never worried about in the past. It's a real penalty now if you miss the fairway.

Do you really think they might listen? I'll do that if you have seen any indication that they do.