[melpetezrinski]

Originally Posted by MrChip72

They are currently building a whole bunch of golf courses south of the turnpike. Once those are complete, south of 466A will have more executive courses than north of 466A within a few years.

Doesn't make sense to have a 3-1 ratio of driving ranges that are generally busy north of 466A and only 2 south of 466A.

South of the turnpike has a lot of great amenities but there is NO WAY "south of 466A will have more executive courses than north of 466A within a few years". If I had to guess, I would say 10-12 years.

[UpNorth]

Originally Posted by Gpsma

See the post about golf being a dying sport. Is it a sport?

Depends who you ask. Is car racing a "sport"? How about horse racing, the "sport of kings"? Bowling? Curling? Archery? I guess if you can buy it in a sporting goods store, you can call it a "sport".

[Keefelane66]

We support the American Legion driving range on Rolling Acres $6 large bucket

[biker1]

Doubtful it could be in a few years. The last Executive was opened about 4 years ago, IIRC. There are currently 29 Executive courses north of 466a and 12 Executives below 466a. Given enough time, what you suggest will probably happen but doubtful it would be a "few years".

Originally Posted by MrChip72

They are currently building a whole bunch of golf courses south of the turnpike. Once those are complete, south of 466A will have more executive courses than north of 466A within a few years.

Doesn't make sense to have a 3-1 ratio of driving ranges that are generally busy north of 466A and only 2 south of 466A.

[MrChip72]

Originally Posted by biker1

Doubtful it could be in a few years. The last Executive was opened about 4 years ago, IIRC. There are currently 29 Executive courses north of 466a and 12 Executives below 466a. Given enough time, what you suggest will probably happen but doubtful it would be a "few years".

Of the 12 Executives below 466a, 5 of them are South of 44 and there's currently 3 Executive courses under construction South of 44. Which would put it at 8 in total.

[cjrjck]

Originally Posted by MrChip72

What's with the serious lack of driving ranges within TV? There are 4 on TV property that are well North of 466A plus the public one at Lady Lake and another public one in Oxford..

There can never bee too many driving ranges that is for sure. Still, currently there are two north of 466, one between 466 and 466a, one between 466a and 44, and one to be built south of 44. The closest one to me is about 15 minutes which anywhere else would be a dream situation but here that is a long way. We are spoiled.

[kcrazorbackfan]

Originally Posted by Robbb

I thought the ball machine was jammed until I realized you needed 2 to 3 tokens to fill a bucket. Yes that's absurd.

Only 2 tokens, Sport. 1 token approximately 45 balls; a lot of Senior citizens don’t have the stamina for anymore than that.

[kcrazorbackfan]

Originally Posted by Papa_lecki

In the Villages, they are not driving ranges, they are learning centers.

The teaching and equipment sales generates the revenue for that piece of real estate.
Bonus, that they can put a driving range next to the learning centers. And at a spot like Sarasota, it’s a lake. No homes.
In Eastport, the learning center takes the place of another amenity that would go in that space.

And there is not enough volume of lessons to sustain more teaching pros (i.e. learning centers) YEAR ROUND.

You can get some good teaching pros that split time between FLA and someplace north, but that is getting harder (pros are married, kids, etc).

“Not enough volume of lessons to support more teaching pros year round”? You really sure about that? Didn’t think so; I take lessons from one of the pros at Sarasota and he said they are full all of the time - year round….

[Rainger99]

Originally Posted by melpetezrinski

South of the turnpike has a lot of great amenities but there is NO WAY "south of 466A will have more executive courses than north of 466A within a few years". If I had to guess, I would say 10-12 years.

At the present time, north of 466 there are 27 Villages and 13 executive courses.

Between the sixes there are 31 Villages and 16 Executive Courses.

South of 466A and north of 44 there are 15 Villages and 7 executive courses.

South of 44, there are 17 Villages and 5 executive courses.

They are building more courses in Eastport but they are also adding a lot of new Villages in the area.

There are 14 new Villages planned in Eastport and four executives will be built.

So in a few years, there should be 31 Villages and 9 executives south of 44. And all of them are west of the turnpike.

[Papa_lecki]

Originally Posted by kcrazorbackfan

“Not enough volume of lessons to support more teaching pros year round”? You really sure about that? Didn’t think so; I take lessons from one of the pros at Sarasota and he said they are full all of the time - year round….

For the current number of teaching pros, yes. Do you think we could support 33% or 50% additional teaching pros year round?

[Laker14]

Originally Posted by kcrazorbackfan

Only 2 tokens, Sport. 1 token approximately 45 balls; a lot of Senior citizens don’t have the stamina for anymore than that.

I have the swipe card. I don't hit enough "shags" to use it up quickly, and unfortunately I am among the group of senior citizens who can't even get through a single, "one swipe" bucket. If I can, I bring a friend who can share the bucket with me.

Physically, my shoulder and elbow can't take the abuse. Mentally I can't stay focused on what I'm doing long enough to make a long shag session productive. Often it's counter-productive. I usually start off hitting the ball better than I hit the end of the bucket. From what I've observed on the range, this is not uncommon.

[PersonOfInterest]

It seems that all recreation continues to get more and more crowded every year. Golf tee times are harder and harder to obtain unless you are willing to take tee times that are outside the prime times. Sure, there are plenty of non-prime tee times, but that's not what it was like a few years ago. This extends beyond golf into a lot of other recreation as well. Everything is more crowded and less convenient than a few years ago and getting worse.

Either the Villages has learned that they don't have to provide the level of amenities that they used to in order to sell houses, or it will catch up to them at some point when word gets out that the Villages is too crowded. As long as they can build less amenities and still sell lots of houses and make more profit they will continue on that path. As a business they are profit motivated and if your customers are dissatisfied and complaining, but your profits are increasing why would you not continue along that path?

There is really no choice for us as residents unless we could find a way to link what we see as a problem to the volume of houses sold.

[Jdburns11]

Too much space required and not a big enough return on investment $$ wise in my opinion as others have alluded to….

[golfing eagles]

Originally Posted by PersonOfInterest

It seems that all recreation continues to get more and more crowded every year. Golf tee times are harder and harder to obtain unless you are willing to take tee times that are outside the prime times. Sure, there are plenty of non-prime tee times, but that's not what it was like a few years ago. This extends beyond golf into a lot of other recreation as well. Everything is more crowded and less convenient than a few years ago and getting worse.

Either the Villages has learned that they don't have to provide the level of amenities that they used to in order to sell houses, or it will catch up to them at some point when word gets out that the Villages is too crowded. As long as they can build less amenities and still sell lots of houses and make more profit they will continue on that path. As a business they are profit motivated and if your customers are dissatisfied and complaining, but your profits are increasing why would you not continue along that path?

There is really no choice for us as residents unless we could find a way to link what we see as a problem to the volume of houses sold.

And you know this 100% for sure because you sat in on the last Morse family board meeting?????

[jedalton]

Right on the money