Golf question
 

I have only played a handful of the courses in The Villages.

Do any of the courses have any pot bunkers like they do at the British Open? It looks like it would be fun to have a couple of them in The Villages.

No actual pot bunkers. There is a very deep one on Riley Grove 9. 2nd hole on Oakleigh is deep.

Be careful what you wish for. Most amatuer golfers have a hard time getting out of normal bunkers.

No, those bunkers are a feature of links style courses. They would not be fun to play in TV.

And would lead to 6 hour rounds here

Modify rules and if you do not get out with one shot, you get a free drop. 5 hours 45 minutes.

I don't play golf, but your reference to "pot bunkers" got my attention - it was not what I thought it meant! LOL!

It would be cool to see them design a link’s style course. We have a very similar topography sans the ocean. But rolling fairways and pot bunkers would be fun.

We already have "rolling fairways" in two respects:

1) the unfilled divots create a moonscape
2) the "golfers" who roll their ball in the fairway to get a better lie

The Villages golf courses are designed to speed up play, not slow it down.

If they have 711 holes and about 100 more being built, they should be able to build one pot bunker.

If they don’t want to put one on the courses because it would slow down play, they should put one at some of the practice ranges like Sarasota.

They are building several championship courses in the Eastport development and a driving range and a teaching academy. Surely they have room for a pot bunker (or two).

If they had pot bunkers, there would probably be daily ambulance calls for villagers falling in…

I was thinking the same thing.

Southern Oaks had the potential to be a faux links course, but as many mentioned, Villagers wouldn't want to play there, if they had fescue and pot bunkers.

Wide open, susceptible to wind variations, featureless terrain ... it had it all, other than an ocean. Instead, they built a golf course that plays like an airport with flags.

Myopia Hunt Club in Massachusetts has several steep sided bunkers. The have wooden steps to get in and out. But the comment the The Villages courses are made to speed up play looks to be true to me. TV is not interested in building difficult courses. They want to move people along and make them feel good by shooting low scores. And they have succeeded in that. Most of the players I’ve played with feel the same way. They move the ball in bunkers and in the rough. They take putts inside of five feet. They don’t care about rules. They are just there to have fun. And that’s OK.

I prefer to play golf.