[chuckster]

I agree, instead of complaining here call t-time office at 750-4558 and find out who will listen to your issues..............Go to the source.

[schotzyb]

I have recently voiced my concerns about the conditions of the Championship courses via golfthevillages.com but have yet to receive a response. But on the other hand, is this not a discussion forum where both the pros and cons on a subject can be discussed? It appears that if you do not agree with some members opinions then you are labeled a complainer or worse yet told to "get out now". How friendly is that?

[tony]

Please continue to post your discussion points here. This is a forum for that.

I don't think anybody is tell you to get out of the forum.

[beartrack]

There are some of us that are a little thin skinned and I do place myself in that category. That is why I do not often post. I love an intelligent mannerly debate of issues that affect all of us but, unfortunately, some folks can not respond without sarcasm or anger when they disagree with someone over an issue. Passion is good, rudeness is not.

As you can tell from some of the responses here, the exec. greens could certainly be better maintained. Why don't all of us that agree, email the CIC and the powers that be in the golf office. I already have and an waiting for their responce.

Thank you Tony

[Allen]

Originally Posted by schotzyb

I have recently voiced my concerns about the conditions of the Championship courses via golfthevillages.com but have yet to receive a response. But on the other hand, is this not a discussion forum where both the pros and cons on a subject can be discussed? It appears that if you do not agree with some members opinions then you are labeled a complainer or worse...

As one who has yet to buy in TV, I can say that the conditions of the golf courses as well as other amenities is very important to our decision to locate there. I agree that this forum is very important in terms of raising valid issues that are of concern and it provides very valuable insight. It is an excellent place to exchange ideas and information. Sometimes, however, the written word can be misinterpreted, or the writer may not concisely communicate what they really mean to say due to the limitations of putting things in writing quickly. Writing is just cumbersome and there is no nuance in terms of voice inflection or body language, etc. I myself have looked back at some of my posts and see how they may not really communicate what I meant, or could easily be misunderstood. So, I am hoping we can all try to "cut each other a little slack" and keep our focus on helping TV to be such a great place to live... that includes raising issues at times that may ruffle a few feathers.

Finally, with all the golfers in TV this thread seems to have generated a lot of interest and I hope we will all be motivated to voice our concerns directly to those who can and should fix whatever issue is at hand as well as continuing to post here. With that in mind, I am wondering why a Topic Category such as "All About Golf" is not on the Forum. It would not necessarily be just for "complaints and issues"... I can see it being like most other topics where people comment, complement, complain, ask questions, give advice, etc. From there, other real world associations might develop ranging from groups organized to play golf to those interested in keeping the pressure on in terms of course quality. Who knows someone might even organize something and call it the TEE Party Movement!

Don't let this change the subject, but how does one request that a topic be added to the forum such as "All About Golf"? Do we just ask the moderators, or would it be best to start a thread to see if the is enough interest? If this has been done before, please accept my apology... I'm relatively new to this.

[golfnut]

lots of great ideas here, bear and allen and others, once again i did not intend to be angry or sarcastic, this subject comes up over and over, i will tell you again I have played no less than 25 courses outside TV in the last 6 months and i find our courses overall are in better condition, that does no mean we don't have some courses that need attention here or there, i have been here five years and have not seen any degredation in the courses, IMHO they are probably a little better now, there will always be issues with one course or another, it's the same in TV and outside TV, now just don't ask me to explain it....gn

[beartrack]

Allen, Great post. Thank you. I am eager to sign up for the TEE PARTY

[Bogie Shooter]

Originally Posted by chuckster

I agree, instead of complaining here call t-time office at 750-4558 and find out who will listen to your issues..............Go to the source.

You will get closer to the source by calling Country Club Administration 750-4558, for the championship. They in turn can direct you to someone for the execs.

[Pturner]

It might also be helpful to provide feedback to the Amenity Authority Committee (AAC). Here's a link:

http://www.districtgov.org/aac/aac.aspx

The top link on from that page provides a link to "email all ACC Members". (Links are also provided to email individual ACC members separately.)

The Village Center Community Development District (CDD) '09-'10 budget includes approx. $1 million for Golf Management Services, while the Sumpter Landing CDD includes approx. $817K for same. District 1-10 budgets include various line items for utilities, irrigation, landscaping maintenance, etc. These line items do not specify whether they include golf course expenses.

Here's a link to the annual CDD budgets:
http://www.districtgov.org/departmen...albudgets.aspx

[zcaveman]

Just my opinion but if you consider the amount of play that the executive courses get and the weather conditions in the past month, I think you can understand why the greens are in such bad shapes.

Some of the greens are in better shape than others and I would expect that it is because of the different weather conditions. I understand that there is only an 11 mile difference from end to end but some areas get more rain, frost, and wind then the other areas. If you check the frost delays on channel 2 in the morning there is a one to three hour frost delay between the different championship courses and their executive counterparts. I would have figured that they would all have the same delay but Lopez will open at 8 and Palmer will open at 9 and Tierra Del Sol at 9:30. This means that the executive courses governed by Lopez course will get walked on earlier and damage the greens more.

Last Wednesday, Walnut Grove, Amberwood, Briarwood and Oakley were on a 8:30 delay but the Ladies day was still scheduled for 7:45 at Briarwood. Go figure.

Also, not to defend the executive courses but I do not think the championship courses get as much play as the executive courses anyway so they should be more pristine.

There should be consistency between all courses and if that is not happening then there is a communication and management problem. We use to say that in the north it is "weather" and in the south it is "critters". That may have changed a little and brought some "weather" into the mix this year. Having said this if the staff on hand cannot handle the problems then Golf Management should bring in better professionals to consult on the problems.
And if they can't handle it they should communicate that to the players.
(At one time I managed a Pro Shop for one of the golf courses of the Mariott Corporation and if we had a problem with greens or fairway the greens Superintendent called in help to understand why and what it would take to fix the problem.)
Because of the number of complaints I don't understand why Golf Mgt. does not communicate better with the players. If the green superintendents of the various courses do not understand "why" then an expert should be called in for help and the players should be told of the actions in place or the reason it cannot be corrected.

[quill]

I recently spoke to someone responsible for maintenance and asked how often the holes were changed on the execs. He stated every 2 days. I have played on execs that were nothing but sand around the hole because of all the play. While the rest of the green was fine. I said I thought they needed to be changed daily, fell on deaf ears. Also I have been told by several people including a supervisor at Cain that each Championship is responsible for three execs. That is why there should be no difference, between the quality of the courses. The big selling point for us as we just moved here in Dec. was the fact that while driving around we were unable to tell the difference in the courses, exec vs championship. Generally execs are cheesy at best, not here. We had friends down from Atlanta 3 weeks ago and the over seed on the Champion was an embarrassment. I do not believe it was the weather because what was there was growing. It was a poor over seed. I have always thought that it is the little things that make a difference in a golf course. Filling ball washers, grooming around sand traps, you name it, it is the small stuff and if that is not getting done the big stuff never does. There is a palm tree that is still alive lying on it's side on the back of Jackaranda. All it needs is to be righted for it to live. I mentioned it to the Marshall and he said he would tell them. I am rambling but the point is, without feed back nothing ever changes. Politely suggest that things are not up to par... For those of you that have been here before with the snowbirds are these the conditions we should expect? Also unverified I heard that the courses here get 17000 rounds of golf a day, Any ideas of the validity of that. Anyway regardless of who is paying, in some form the golf courses are a major key to this place. The more feedback both positive and negative will make this place better.

[BB14616]

I've sent an email to golfthevillages.com and have not yet received a reply. This morning I also sent one to the amenities committee at AACboard@districtgov.org <AACboard@districtgov.org>

We'll see what happens. If we can find a good source to send our complaints to, and enough people follow through and voice their concerns, at least we know the problem is out there, in the open, and we can see how responsive they will be. At the very least, there obviously needs to be better communication as REH7380 said.

If anyone finds the person or committee who will respond, please let the rest of us know..Thanks!

[Kelsie52]

I did send an e-mail to golfthevillages and stated that I was about to purchase a home but was alarmed about some complaints I have been hearing about the state of the greens and that --to me was a reflection on the possible reduction in care taken to the entire property and received this reply today "

"we haven’t received much negative feedback from our players. I will tell you that I’ve been here 10 years, and this by far has been our worst winter, weather wise! We’ve had 16 days of frost, and probably a couple more coming this week. As you can imagine this is not conducive to growing grass, it’s affected everything from landscape to the residents yards themselves. Couple this with the amount of play we get in the winter and it does present some challenges. Consequently the greens may not be as good as they normally are, but I assure you this has nothing to do with any “decline in care of the community”. What makes The Villages so unique is via the amenities fees, it is set-up to ensure the community will always have proper funding to be maintained to a high standard."

Seems to me to be a fair response ....

[BB14616]

Originally Posted by Kelsie52

I did send an e-mail to golfthevillages and stated that I was about to purchase a home but was alarmed about some complaints I have been hearing about the state of the greens and that --to me was a reflection on the possible reduction in care taken to the entire property and received this reply today "

"we haven’t received much negative feedback from our players. I will tell you that I’ve been here 10 years, and this by far has been our worst winter, weather wise! We’ve had 16 days of frost, and probably a couple more coming this week. As you can imagine this is not conducive to growing grass, ....Seems to me to be a fair response ....

I respectfully disagree. True, we've had a lot of frost, but rye grass is not affected by frost, and had they overseeded properly, the frost shouldn't have been an issue. We've had plenty of frosts other years as well, and nowhere near the poor conditions on fairways and greens. Also, look at the greens where there aren't any problems - for example the putting green at Sarasota, and greens at nearby golf courses such as Del Webb. They all experienced the bad winter weather and heavy play, and those greens are excellent. Logic tells me that the weather was not the problem. I could see if you want to blame a few bare spots on some of the greens on the weather, but using Orange Blossom as an example, there is more going on than the weather. And to say they haven't received much negative feedback from the players, is just untrue. Must be they're not listening to the players.