Not that I've ever seen. I've seen several of these ponds go bone dry in the winter time and I've never seen a liner in them.

Probably because of the settlement on the bottom is several inches thick.......

How high is the water table? Paradise Pond is close to a million square feet. If it dredged out one more foot deep it would hold a tremendous amount more. Even six more inches down would prevent having that cart pat closed in an event like we just had. I honestly don't think the water table has anything to do with it.

As far as withdrawal from golf goes, we pay for golf in our amenity fees. If the golf courses are closed when they possibly could be open, we are paying for something that we're not getting. Can we expect to see a rebate in our amenity fees next month for two weeks that we were unable to take advantage of what we pay for?

Will The Villages pick up the green fees for any rounds that I play outside while these courses are closed?

We had a CAT 1 hurricane go through here which did some minor damage. It is certainly understandable that the golf courses would be closed during the storm and perhaps a day or two afterward for cleanup. But the fact that the ponds were not able to hold the amount of water we got tells me that they are not designed properly.

Hurricanes and heavy rainfall during the summer months should be expected here and should be planned for. It seems that in the five-plus years that I've been here I've seen the ponds overflowing during some summers and bone dry in some of the winters. What I'm asking is if dredging these water retention areas out by a foot or so would solve this problem. Would we be able to retain more of the water that we get in the summer so we have enough for the golf courses in the winter? How many times have we heard that the courses are in bad shape because we don't have enough water? When we do have water, we throw it away instead of saving it for the dry periods.

I have watched my own retention pond with much interest. It appears to have a liner. It also has a weir. Before Irma, the water was 4 feet below the weir. I watched the water level rise during Irma, with much interest, until the water level reached the level of the weir and then it stops as water flowed into the weir and then into another retention pond that was significantly lower. All of the houses were above this level. Several days later, I noticed a contractor standing on the edge of the weir with long pole. He was apparently opening up a valve at the bottom of the weir which allowed water to flow into the other retention pond until we were back to pre-storm levels - about 4 feet below the level of the weir. The valve appears to be closed now. Needless to say, I am pretty impressed by the infrastructure to manage water during what was essentially a 100 year event.

Agree. We had this up north. Even have it at a dog park with ponds in Inverness. Silt and sand filter to the bottom, and you don't see the liner.

I am not a gung-ho, Developer-is-never-wrong person, but I am so impressed with the way they designed the golf courses and how it protects our homes from flooding.

And so is my DIL, the Ph.D. in land management.

IMHO, we need to take a step back and appreciate all that they are doing in TV to protect our homes. If it means not golfing for a few weeks, that's a reasonable trade off. This was assessed as a 150 year event, so none of us are likely to be around for the next one like it. I played Ocala National yesterday, and couldn't help thinking how nice our courses are in comparison.

If you traveled outside of the villages you would have found course were flooded, cart path or should I say mud path, with mud all over the carts. Some courses just said they did not want anyone to play the course was in too bad of shape.

As far as our amenity fees they don't just pay for golf. There are many that live here the pay amenity fees and never touch a golf course. Apparently you're one of those ones that have serious withdrawal issues about not playing golf. I for one am so happy the villages designed this place that the water went in the ponds and the courses and not in my house. That pond that was over 10 feet up behind our house saved our house. I guess there are somethings but I am grateful for if I can't play a little golf just so I don't have to shovel mud out of my house I'm good with that.

You want a rebate be serious, what about all the people who don't play golf. You, I and everyone else signed and agreed to the rules. GET REAL

:oops: Wouldn't that be a novel idea?

The liner is under the earth. That's why you don't see it.......Ol Winston always starting drama!!!

Yes what a shame, I have read for about 4 years his postings, laughed, agreed and disagreed. But talk about stirring the pot and drama, I only hope the other people on here understand he is wrong when talking like he is. The villages has many issues, but I gned up for, Boogie, again GET REAL!!!

I'm cracking the heck up. :1rotfl:


A "rebate" for a couple of missed weeks of golf...due to 'force majeure?' :oops:


Particularly funny, if a person almost exclusively plays executive courses...which are basically free to begin with.


And has been noted, an awful lot of people don't even play golf yet happily/freely pay their amenity fees...which are used for a lot more than just golf.


Oh well, it made for a good belly laugh. :thumbup:

Thank you Gracie Girl.

You can't possibly actually believe that the executive courses are FREE, can you?

That is my point exactly. We are paying for something that we are not allowed to use.

I'm simply questioning whether or not the right decision has been made regarding closing these golf courses for two weeks after a storm.

I understand that a lot of people don't play golf but that is their choice. What if all of the rec centers and pools were closed for two weeks. How would every feel about that?

We pay a monthly fee and activity are promised for that fee. We all choose which activities that we want. When some activities are not available those people that use those activities are being made to pay for something that they don't get.

It is certainly understandable after a major storm such as we had that golf courses would be closed for a few days. All I'm saying is that over two week seems excessive. And I heard the excuse that they are not safe. How are they not safe? Are we a bunch of little kids that don't know how to avoid danger? Can we not decide for ourselves to take risks?

There is no reason that many of these courses couldn't have been opened with a cart path only policy a few days after the storm.

If the retention ponds have liners, then lift them up and dredge them out a foot or so. This is not just a golf course problem, but when these ponds go dry in the winter, they are unsightly and many stink.

It seems that we're constantly going from too much water to drought every year. Dredging the retention ponds and saving more of the water that we get in the summertime simply makes sense.

It is amazing, you don't want to listen to the facts, common sense or the truth. I have never met anyone who had all the answers until now. BTW cart path only... how do you get around the fallen trees and sink holes, knee deep water. OH I guess these issues are safe.