[Kelsie52]

I am not living here --YET--- but as I stated before hopefully by the end of the year -so I have not seen any of the courses since last November.

The response came from Country Club operations

And by the way --they say they have never heard of Talkofthevillages web site !!!!

[waynet]

I will be there March 1st to see for myself. If the courses are in bad shape and I don't get an explaination that is reasonable I will not be puchasing a place there. My agent will also hear this. I do know that TV is a great place but I am a golfer,that's why I want to buy there. Without well kept golf courses it will lose alot of it's attraction.

[iaudit]

PLEASE - if you are dissatisfied with condition of the greens, stop making reservations at the executive courses, especially Yankee Clipper, Bogart, Bacall and Pelican, my favorites.

Thanks a bunch for the extra tee times.

[rockaway]

I agree that the greens on both the championship and exec's can

use better maintenance.

But as i see it if golfers would fix there ball marks and would pick up

there feet so there spikes don't wreck the grass around the holes the

conditions would be much better.

[Pturner]

Originally Posted by BB14616

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.

According to numerous sources (google search), frost can affect rye grass. Here in Atlanta, dh and I have a golf membership that includes privileges at 18 courses. All are over seeded with winter rye. All seemed affected by sustained periods of frost; some more than others. On individual courses, some holes are in terrible shape and some are in very good shape. Same course manager, same course.

When I spoke with logic, I thought she told me that weather was a significant factor. She also said that slope, amount and time of day of sunlight vs. shade and other factors conspire to affect different courses and different areas of the same course. She even confided that, in the worse economic downturn since the Big One, management has had to curtail expenses.

For some reason, she didn't tell me whether the "powers that be" are indifferent, whether they are balancing a host of challenges and priorities, or whether someone made an "untrue" statement about the relative amount of feedback he or she was aware of.

She did say, "PT, think about it. To whom would you rather open your door-- the bearer of honey or vinegar?"

If I understood logic correctly, I thought she made some good points.

[Bogie Shooter]

I received the letter today regarding the 2010 Villages Resident Survey.
This is the opportunity for you who have concerns for your voice to be heard.

[quill]

I just got off the phone with 2 of the championship courses and they were very nice and informative. They welcome feed back. Both negative and positive. The one common thing I have seen here in TV is that agencies want (in my experience) to make things better. Folks give feed back, feed back feed back. If the ball washers are empty tell someone, if the greens are sandy say something as I did. They can only fix something they know about. And I think the over seed is bad, but I was just told that the weather can play on how it grows in even when it is done correctly. One course gets the correct temp and rain while another does not, so poor over seed. I plan on calling and talking to the other course managers and getting more opinions. My old philosophy in the military was I did not believe anything I was told unless I got at least 2 out 3 people saying the same thing. For those thinking of moving here all I can say is that I believe that they are trying to do the right thing.

[quill]

I also said in an earlier post that I had heard that the holes were changed every two days on the execs. Well that is still to be determined. I have gotten different answers and still need to get it resolved. There are some greens it could stand to be changed twice a day.

[golfnut]

quill, just curious, why would you change the holes twice a day...gn

[BB14616]

Originally Posted by quill

I just got off the phone with 2 of the championship courses and they were very nice and informative. They welcome feed back. Both negative and positive. The one common thing I have seen here in TV is that agencies want (in my experience) to make things better. Folks give feed back, feed back feed back. If the ball washers are empty tell someone, if the greens are sandy say something as I did. They can only fix something they know about. And I think the over seed is bad, but I was just told that the weather can play on how it grows in even when it is done correctly. One course gets the correct temp and rain while another does not, so poor over seed. I plan on calling and talking to the other course managers and getting more opinions. My old philosophy in the military was I did not believe anything I was told unless I got at least 2 out 3 people saying the same thing. For those thinking of moving here all I can say is that I believe that they are trying to do the right thing.

Thanks for the info. I agree that the people working at the courses are great. I do wonder, at times, if they are just giving us the "vanilla version" as the Mallory pro that was mentioned in a previous post. But generally I think they want the conditions to be as good as they can be, and they will work to fix things within their control, such as ball washers, etc.

The overseeding is another ball of wax in my mind. It is my understanding that the maintenance company hired by the Developer controls the overseeding, and as Pturner implied, perhaps there is some cost cutting going on. I had heard from several sources that OneSource cut back on the amount of rye grass seed that was used on the overseeding of Orange blossom fr example. To me that sounds like a cost cutting maneuver. Did they do that at other courses? The fairways of most of the courses in the Villages right now are pretty ratty. Was it environmental conditions affecting growth or cost cutbacks in the amount of seed put down? With all the money the developer makes in greens fees, I have a hard time believing that there isn't enough money available to keep the courses in good condition. Then again, maybe they tried cutting costs not realizing the winter conditions would be so bad, and have learned from their experience and will do things differently next year, by allocating more money into their golf course maintenance fund.

I would just like to hear managment say "yes, there is a problem, this is what caused it, this is what we will do to make things better next year." At ths point we are just guessing. Of course, temperature, watering, etc. will affect certain holes and certain courses up to a point. But the conditions have been fairly similiar this winter in the Villages/Lady Lake area. I could see that few holes here and there would be bad, but with so many courses bad in The Villages, and courses good outside the Villages, it makes one wonder why there are such drastic differences.

Of course, with March just around the corner, and the temperatures warming up, along with the rain, in a few weeks the courses should be looking a lot better. They can improve pretty quickly with certain conditions in place. Let's keep our fingers crossed.

[quill]

Golfnut if the green is getting so much play that the area around the hole literally has no grass left around it then it is probably time to move the hole. It is no fun to golf on that and probably not good for the green. It has happened more than once to me in the last few weeks. The same applies to tee boxes. It is not any fun to tee off in an area that no longer has grass. Although there is some leeway as to where one places there ball on the tee box. As to whether they are trying to save money with the over seed, I can see no benefit from that and so far have no indication from anyone I have talked about that this occurred. Think about it the short term potential gain ($) versus the long term loss of sales and house value loss. Does not make much sense at all. I would prefer to think we had a very bad year with the fairways. I do, however as I have said before, think there can be something done about the greens, including moving the hole more often. Slamming the courses in a place(The Villages) that seems to go out of their way to please is a little harsh in my opinion. Everyone is welcome to their opinion but if you want something fixed then give feed back and not always negative. This is not intended as a lecture or a slam on anyone here. I just think we owe it to ourselves to give feedback if we want something fixed.

[Bogie Shooter]

Originally Posted by quill

I just got off the phone with 2 of the championship courses and they were very nice and informative. They welcome feed back. Both negative and positive. The one common thing I have seen here in TV is that agencies want (in my experience) to make things better. Folks give feed back, feed back feed back. If the ball washers are empty tell someone, if the greens are sandy say something as I did. They can only fix something they know about. And I think the over seed is bad, but I was just told that the weather can play on how it grows in even when it is done correctly. One course gets the correct temp and rain while another does not, so poor over seed. I plan on calling and talking to the other course managers and getting more opinions. My old philosophy in the military was I did not believe anything I was told unless I got at least 2 out 3 people saying the same thing. For those thinking of moving here all I can say is that I believe that they are trying to do the right thing.

You have done well. You got off your duff and actually made some phone calls rather than just rant on this thread. Giving course management the opportunity to respond to your concerns......and then verifying the information is a good idea. I commend you for your effort......

[Pturner]

Originally Posted by BB14616

Thanks for the info. I agree that the people working at the courses are great. I do wonder, at times, if they are just giving us the "vanilla version" as the Mallory pro that was mentioned in a previous post. But generally I think they want the conditions to be as good as they can be, and they will work to fix things within their control, such as ball washers, etc.

The overseeding is another ball of wax in my mind. It is my understanding that the maintenance company hired by the Developer controls the overseeding, and as Pturner implied, perhaps there is some cost cutting going on. I had heard from several sources that OneSource cut back on the amount of rye grass seed that was used on the overseeding of Orange blossom fr example. To me that sounds like a cost cutting maneuver. Did they do that at other courses? The fairways of most of the courses in the Villages right now are pretty ratty. Was it environmental conditions affecting growth or cost cutbacks in the amount of seed put down? With all the money the developer makes in greens fees, I have a hard time believing that there isn't enough money available to keep the courses in good condition. Then again, maybe they tried cutting costs not realizing the winter conditions would be so bad, and have learned from their experience and will do things differently next year, by allocating more money into their golf course maintenance fund.

I would just like to hear managment say "yes, there is a problem, this is what caused it, this is what we will do to make things better next year." At ths point we are just guessing. Of course, temperature, watering, etc. will affect certain holes and certain courses up to a point. But the conditions have been fairly similiar this winter in the Villages/Lady Lake area. I could see that few holes here and there would be bad, but with so many courses bad in The Villages, and courses good outside the Villages, it makes one wonder why there are such drastic differences.

Of course, with March just around the corner, and the temperatures warming up, along with the rain, in a few weeks the courses should be looking a lot better. They can improve pretty quickly with certain conditions in place. Let's keep our fingers crossed.

Oops, you are right, BB. I did imply that, but didn't mean to. I have no such information.

[golfnut]

i was going to post a long response but here is the abbreviated version, i love TV courses and they are as good if not better than any courses around, just my .02...gn

[Pturner]

Originally Posted by golfnut

i was going to post a long respone but here is the abbreviated version, i love TV courses and they are as good if not better than any courses around, just my .02...gn

I guess your long version would have been your dime.