They used to build executive courses a lot faster
 

I have been trying to find out when the executive courses were opened for play. I believe the following information is accurate.

From 1987 until 2019, the biggest gap between opening a new executive course was three years - which was between 1990 and 1993. There were several two year gaps between openings. As things now stand, the Villages has not opened an executive (with the exception of two Pitch & Putts) since 2019 which is a five year gap. The fewest courses built in a five year period was three courses - and the most that were built in any five year period was thirteen courses. I am aware that more courses are being built near Eastport but that doesn't explain the five year gap.

Silver Lake 1987
Hill Top 1988
Chula Vista 1990
Mira Mesa 1993
De La Vista 1995
El Diablo 1997
El Santiago 1998
Hawkes Bay 1999
Saddlebrook 1999
Briarwood 2001
Walnut Grove 2001
Churchill 2003
Oakleigh 2003
Pimlico 2003
Belmont 2004
Heron 2004
Pelican 2004
Amberwood 2005
Bacall 2005
Bogart 2005
Roosevelt 2007
Sandhill 2007
Truman 2007
Turtle Mound 2007
Bonita Pass 2009
Redfish Run 2009
Yankee Clipper 2009
Tarpon Boil 2010
Southern Star 2011
Palmetto 2012
Mangrove 2013
Sweetgum 2013
Escambia 2015
Okeechobee 2015
Sarasota 2015
Volusia 2015
Gray Fox 2017
Red Fox 2017
Loblolly 2018
Longleaf 2018
Lowlands 2019

I’m going to start looking for somewhere that is more focused on golf than the worlds largest golf community that is currently working on 3 more championships and 5 more executives as we speak, simultaneously with a few other world class projects.

What would an explanation do for you?

Really, more that 25% of the land currently in work is golf courses, why build all those stupid houses.

Good information, it goes a long way towards explaining why it’s way more difficult to get t times currently than when we bought our Villages home in 2015. The amount of executive holes per rooftop has gotten seriously diluted over the last few years. The current executives being built aren’t going to fix the problem, just slow down the rate of dilution.

IMO villages has plenty of golf, what happens when you advertise for free some expect to be able to play from daylight to dark everyday. When they can’t they whine.

Did something happen in early 2020 that might have impeded planning and construction?

No matter what, COVID impacted supply chains and labor costs. TV did a great job of pivoting, but it took time and effort.
A large number of golf courses (both exec and champ) will be online within the year.

If something happened in early 2020, it didn't affect building houses! The supply chain seemed to work ok for houses.

If you have any information that there were plans to build a number of courses in 2020-2023 but that they couldn't, please post it. I have looked at old videos and archived Continuing the Dream inserts and I did not see anything about golf courses that were planned but weren't built because of something that happened in early 2020.

Not really agents were calling their customers asking if they would like to sell their houses, because there wasn’t an inventory. Building didn’t come to a standstill, but home’s couldn’t be finished because appliances weren’t available. Yes that really was an issue our house up north and in TV both refrigerators died. 18 months using a dorm fridge.

Houses had mixed appliances certain finished work couldn’t be completed. So yep houses were being built, but if you were good with closing an unfinished house it was yours. If you were custom build you had choice of A or B sometimes just B.

Even entry doors weren’t available. Shingles were narrowed to less than 6 . During this time we put one of our investment homes on the market. Sold before it went fully live. Interest rates were so low the second a house went on the market it was sold.

Rec centers, rec centers, and common amenities were on the bottom of the list.

One would know this if you were in the housing market. Bidding wars were common, and houses that you wouldn’t even walk in the door were being sold because there wasn’t anything else. During 2020-2021 it was the lowest inventory of new or preowned on hand in TV. Lots of dirt being pushed, but end completed product was few and far between.

New home sales
2018 2134
2019 2429
2020 2452
2021 4004
2022 3923
2023 3029

The last executive course was built in 2019. Since that time, 13,408 new homes were sold.

From 2003 to 2006, the Villages sold 15,510 new homes but also built 9 executive courses.

Data
 

Fascinating data! Thanks for sharing.

I'm thinking that five new executives "might" open up a significant number of tee times to the north during busy season. Don't think I'd heard that "five" number before. Encouraging.

Executive Golf Courses
 

I suspect that there are more factors in the design and location of golf courses than just "gee, put one there". The shape of some of the newer Villages seem to be too narrow e.g. St Johns, Richmond, "new" De Luna, Newell, Lake Denham and Dabney.

However, the area south of Monarch Grove, down to Eastport, is substantially wider and can accommodate more. Even wider, still, is the area from 470, south to CR 48, between 471 and the Turnpike. I wonder how many golf courses are on the drawing board for that area...

You left out 54 holes of Pitch and Putt.

That's a lot of tee times that divert a significant number of golfers away from the Exec's.

In some cases, the casual golfers you don't want to play behind :)

Does anyone actually use the Pitch and Putts?

True 2452 new homes in 2020, the 45 plus we looked at didn’t have all the appliances, some no microwave or dishwasher, if there was a stove it wasn’t the same brand as the fridge. I am sure you noticed the same when you were looking at new houses during 2020-2022.

Cabinets, interior and exterior doors, as well as windows, came from different manufacturers, were definitely not like previous homes. Lots of people were desperate to buy during the pandemic, and bought those homes waiting for items, or a mix match of appliances. Many were literally fleeing closed states.

Golf course dirt was being moved, because it is done before homes, opening probably not top on the list.

So golf was in place of the courses that developer chose to built just not opened. Was that due to lack of staff, or holding off because developers can.

So is your complaint about should have been more courses built because of number of homes, or delay of opening day dates, for the course to be played. Either way, not going to change the developers decision or outcome