What do you mean by "can become members of the championship courses/country club"?
There is no such thing as a membership!

Back to the original question......
 

What the poster is saying, is exactly what we posted a few years ago. We were looking at different places and we were told by at least one sales person, that the property they were selling had use of The Villages. We could buy into the less expensive community and simply go to The Villages to use the amenities. When we shuffled through the smoke screen, we figured out we could go to the town square, eat at the restaurants, and shop in the shops. What was implied, a few years ago, was buy in our community and you are a "Villager". That's when we found this forum and figured out we were getting a sales pitch.

Make that 100% sure. We came back down, checked out several active retirement communities in north central Florida (including re-visiting TV) and decided against everyone else. We are in the process of buying a house now. Wish us luck!

Best of Luck and welcome!

You can take classes at The Villages Learning College if you are not an official resident, you pay a slightly higher fee I believe. The sport pools in The Villages don't seem to check swimmers who are lap swimming. They do check people attending classes at the pools and at the rec centers. I have a club meeting at a particular rec center once a month, and never have to show my ID card, but technically, you need to be a Villages resident.

Thats not exactly correct.... residents of other subdivisions can take classes at the college of learning knowledge. They just pay a little more than TV resident do.

What is a non-owner resident ID or where can I read up on it?

sorry not membership.....non resident price..... your correct......we gave up our priority when we became landlords.....my bad....

Have been Id every time at sport pools scheduled events. I think they random check Id's at combo/swim times, pickleball open, beginner, and advanced beginner. You are asked to leave it you don't have ID. IMO Very Random too non existent. Chula Lady take her job seriously and checks quit often IMO (she does good job) at least at beginner, and advance beginner times while I learning the game. I been Id'ed few time there and sparely at Saddlebrook. Mulberry, playing pickleball. Never on the tennis hard courts. Probably be less now that snowbird season dwindling down.

I also checked out few other retirement communities. None compared to Villages IMO for what I wanted out of Retirement Community. I am happy little Frog even though it don't sound like it some times?

Controlling use of The Villages resident amenities becomes a very complex issue. In the broad brush, each resident has an ID card which (in theory) can be checked at all recreation centers and facilities such as pickle ball, bocce, swimming pool, etc. In practice, it takes staff to do those checks, staff is expensive, so the checks are more “spot checks” than 100% checks so some people can (and do) slip through the holes.

Then there are lots of exceptions. For instance, classes at the Lifelong Learning Collage are open to the public, but Village residents get a discount. Many of the shows at regional recreation centers, especially The Savannah Center, are open to the public. Again, Villagers usually get a discount for the tickets upon showing their ID card. Many “free” events, especially at our regional recreation centers, are open to the public. Just recently (4-25-15) a local congressman sponsored a Veteran’s Benefit Fair at The Savannah Center. That was free and open to the public (as you would well expect it to be). Any person, Villager or not, can use the government offices within The Villages to renew drivers license, get new tags or a passport, pay property taxes, check out a library book, etc. They may be located in The Villages but they are government services, open to any taxpayer, as you would expect.

Then we have some “good neighbor” exceptions to using our facilities. As you may surmise, some of the towns and communities surrounding The Villages may not have the population to support certain medical support groups such as a COPD Support Group, or a Parkinson Disease Support Group, etc. The Villages often does have those medical-related support groups and, upon application, they can have a small percentage of their group members be non-Villagers (I think – not 100% sure – it is up to 10% of group members). This is just one community (The Villages) sharing scarce resources with their surrounding community neighbors. Non-Villagers attending support group meetings at our recreation centers can attend the meeting but not use the pool room, bocce court, or other amenities or facilities (OK – we do let them use the restrooms also) at our recreation centers. Again, this is not a perfect system but it works medium well and, IMHO, is the right thing to do for The Villages to be a good neighbor to surrounding communities. This exception does not apply to purley social or recreational activities such as cards, crafts, etc., - only medically-related support groups.

Sports can also have exceptions. How could we host a statewide horseshoe tournament or the Senior Games if no "outsiders" were allowed to use our sports facilities for that tournament? So yes, there are some exceptions for competitive events so that the "visiting" team can come in and play our "home" team.

Then there are some facilities that are just near-impossible to control. The use of our multi-modal trails by golf carts from “outside” The Villages is one example. This has been a source of considerable controversy and irritation in the past. It remains so to this day with no viable resolution in sight.

Some stuff, which some think belongs to The Villages, does not. All three town squares are open to the public. The merchants depend of “outsiders” using the squares to support their business. BUT our amenity fees do not pay for bands or entertainment at the town squares – the merchants do! Also every country club restaurant is open to the public. Anyone can walk in and eat a meal there (not swim or play golf, but eat at the restaurant). They are “for profit” businesses and depend on ‘the public’ for a substantial portion of their income.

Very thorough explanation, Bryan. Thanks

I do not believe you need to be a Village resident to play golf at the country clubs.


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Also every country club restaurant is open to the public. Anyone can walk in and eat a meal there (not swim or play golf, but eat at the restaurant). They are “for profit” businesses and depend on ‘the public’ for a substantial portion of their income.
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[quote=tuccillo;1052279]I do not believe you need to be a Village resident to play golf at the country clubs.


no, but you will pay about $15 more than residents.