Most other courses don't provide a free cart. It's an added expense and a moneymaker for the course...

Where is this land of $35 green fees (including a cart)?

In MD, I pay over $50, PLUS $20 for the cart at my local public course...

Go online (GolfNow, TeeOff, TeeItUp, etc). Lower prices, discount specials.

Easy to find $35 green fees, including cart, up north in more rural areas during weekdays, but not on weekends or in urban areas. We rarely pay more than $35 to play beautiful golf courses mid-week with the senior citizen discount, while the younger folks are working (you just have to get out in time to make the turn before the late afternoon leagues take over the courses). Also, being retired and having a flexible schedule, same day open t times during weekdays are often there for the taking through “Golf Now” for $20 or less. I easily have spent more on green fees in the Villages since early January than I will spend during the entire 6 month prime golf season up north. That being said, I will spend a small fortune on gas and spend lots of time up north having to drive my truck to the different golf courses.

Once again, WHERE "Up North"? It's a pretty big area...

I know what prices are in MY area "Up North"... Pretty much double your $35 fee when you add in the cart...

Western Massachusetts (mostly west of I91 and the Connecticut River), southern Vermont, and south western New Hampshire.

Ok, so basically, the middle of nowhere...

Also, what are the playing seasons that far North? I can't imagine they're very long.

How can they possibly stay in business charging so little for a short season?

Just got back from a long weekend playing golf in Phoenix, we played 3 rounds and all were under $100 including cart. We could have spent a lot more money, but we played on a budget. Out of the 3 courses, there was only 1 I'd never play again, 6 hour round, so it got a lot of traffic but it was in terrible shape. The rest were in nice shape and I'd happily play them again.

In comparison, I have not had any issues playing the Championship courses here, although I've only played at two, Southern Oaks and Belle Glade. Both were nice courses and seemed fairly priced. On the other hand I've played at Continental Country Club and paid $40/w cart and that was a nice course as well.

It seems to be seasonal, so I mainly stick to the Executive courses on the weekends since I work during the week....

What, exactly, was promised, and by whom?

Compare oranges to tangerines:

Juliette Falls is a really nice course, $67 before 9am and that includes a cart. Conditions are superior to Villages championship courses.
Harbor Hills is around $45 and that includes cart, similar conditions to Villages championship courses.
Mission Inn El Campeon is superior to the villages and the Villagers special is around $75 and that includes cart.

Travel a little farther to Orlando and you've got quite a few courses with superior conditioning to what you get in the Villages for about the same price.

In the Villages you're paying for the convenience of using your own cart. Personally I would take the better conditions over the convenience.

That's a very reasonable preference on your part. My group played Juliet a couple of years ago. It was in better shape than the Championship Courses here, generally. Not spectacularly so, but it was a nice experience. It was also a hassle getting back and forth, thanks to the Florida winter traffic. The general feeling of the group was positive. However, we have not been back, due to the inconvenience of travel.

This year we did make a trip to El Campeon. Also generally favorable response. Conditions were OK, not great. If better than TV Championship, not wildly so. Much tougher course though. Not as convenient as most of the courses in TV to get to, but not bad. Much easier than Juliet.
My preference, and evidently the preference of our group of 12-20 guys, seems to be convenience. We haven't been back to either place yet, but I'm sure we will at some point. But never on a regular basis to replace the TV courses.

Before renting and eventually buying here in the Villages, our group did a golf trip to Orlando for 6 or 7 years straight in March or April, peak times. We didn't go crazy getting tee times at ridiculously expensive courses but we would look for value, like the buy one tee time and get a replay round for $39 at Disney for our 36 hole day. There are some really nice courses in the Orlando area that we would get deals on through GolfNow, like Celebration Golf Club or Orange County National. Those types of deals are still available and the courses are well worth the drive.

I know if you have a large group it's not practical, but something to consider.

Those courses up north are still in business so I assume that they are making money even with a short season and a lower price. If they can make money up north, the real question is why do the Championship courses charge so much for courses that are open the entire year. They should be raking in the money.

Comparing TV championship courses to Orlando specials weekday deals isn't quite fair, as the Orlando courses are also bringing in 200$+ on weekends. So they are making plenty of money. So unless you do the calculations for the average price per round all month, you aren't getting a comparable price. TV courses prices are flat no matter what day of the week you play. . (I may be incorrect, but the difference is not like weekday / weekend in Orlando) So everyone is kind of like comparing where and when they golf occasionally to where they want to play daily. .

stupid human brain biases. . . .

I wouldn’t label the area we call home up north the middle of nowhere, but yes, it’s rural and relatively uncrowned, just the way we like it. The playing season is generally early to mid April through late November, unless there is an early and heavy snow. And in my opinion, the bent grass greens found on most courses are far superior to the Bermuda commonly found in Florida. The courses stay in business because many are older, debt free courses, that are built on inexpensive land not found in urban areas. Also, there are many very good older municipal courses with little to no cost basis that are not operated to maximize profit. It’s a great area to play golf (except for the dam ticks which can transmit some very nasty diseases), just not in the winter, but that’s what Florida is for.