To the Editor:
The pendulum has finally shifted and what was once is now never again to be. What began as a marketing of a healthy lifestyle, a golf centric community called The Villages has become a shell game. A bait and switch. You can travel in any direction and not very far and find courses outside of The Villages that have survived the excuses of the golf management in the Villages. Those courses have sowed winter grass, which The Villages used to do, replaced greens with more hardy greens grass which The Villages has sparingly done, and maintained a healthy percentage of people on the course, which was dropped when building below State Road 44 began.
This week a quote attributed to Deputy District Manager Carrie Duckett touched on the hot topic of course conditions in a column which was printed in The Villages Daily Sun. “We appreciate your continued support and patience as we work with our contractors diligently to ensure you have the best possible playing experience,” Duckett wrote.
“As we work with our contractors”, is a revealing and sad way to cut corners. Who is checking the poor way greens holes are cut and educating the person cutting the holes what a volcano hole is, its location on hills and proximity to frost damage? Pretty sad quality control from the contractors on grass length of fairways in cold weather, and the over painting of mistakes. Who is getting the feedback on the sad state of affairs of the courses? The staff and the pros of the courses, while the contractors continue to provide low cost service.
And who can forget all the villages that went in south of State Road 44, way ahead of new courses, so much so that before the cart bridges, residents were given a free cart when they drove to the existing courses, way over saturating the ability of the grass to recover. Nice short-term fix hiding the long-term problem. Too many golfers each month pounding the courses.
A pro told me last year as he lamented the state of his greens that the grass should have been replaced years ago but there was no relief on the horizon. Agronomy of the courses has been replaced by contractors who bid out the cheapest way to keep going, and over time after this pendulum has shifted and we the golfing Villagers have the long-term result everywhere, every day of poorly maintained, sad, tired, beat down and over played courses.
Ron Griffin
Village of Hadley
