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I continue to track all the latest news and updates as it relates to coronavirus in The Villages.
You can read this week’s coronavirus updates here.
This week, The Villages released a terrific video highlighting the past, present, and future of golf in The Villages.
I must say, I think the future looks pretty bright:
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A few weeks ago, a reader wrote in with the suggestion that I attempt to chart the population growth vs. the number of golf holes over the years in The Villages.
This particular reader wrote that they got the feeling the amenities in general have not kept up with the growth but they weren't exactly sure.
I've often pondered this question too, particularly during the busy season when you hear some complaints about how busy the golf courses are and how challenging it can sometimes be to get your desired tee time.
I thought this sounded like an interesting challenge to take on, and here's what I've got so far:
Now, obviously I'm missing some data from the early years of The Villages, and I haven't seen 2020 population data come through yet.
But, going off of the information I do have, it appears that for about the last decade The Villages has held steady at approximately 0.005 holes of golf per person.
It will be interesting to see how they keep up in the years ahead, but judging by the video above, there are plenty more holes of golf in the pipeline.
Agree or disagree with my findings? Let me know in the comments down below!
Here's what else I'm reading this week:
A groundbreaking ceremony was (finally!) held for the First Responders Recreation Center, a project that's been in the works for years:
Construction begins on recreation center (The Villages Daily Sun)
Just what we need…another story about Villagers “horsing around” 😉 :
From Marion County to racing’s biggest stages (The Villages Daily Sun)
Last, but certainly not least, a Memorial Day Ceremony will be held at Veterans Memorial Park of The Villages on Monday, May 31 at 10 AM.
Here's the order of events if you plan to attend (Veterans Memorial Park of The Villages)
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That’s all for this week!
-Ryan
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barry m says
As a new owner in TV, I have played golf with about 20 different golfers. EVERY ONE of them has stated (generally emphatically) that it is much more difficult to get a tee time during the winter in recent years vs 10 years ago. Every golfer feels that TV is building far more houses than the infrastructure (particularly exec golf courses) to keep up with the demand for play.
John Wright says
When the Villages talks about golf slots not filled during the busy months they fail to consider many groups have 3 or 4 players. We try to book far in advance to play the Executive courses and not always successful. My thought is they are trying to in courage the use of the expensive Championship courses.
Gold Wingnut says
There is no connection between the Tee Times for Executive courses and the Championship courses. The Executive Golf division of the Rec Dept is completely separate from the developer owned Championship courses. They share the same reservation system as a matter of convenience to all golfers not as a means of manipulation of reservations.
Many people complain about not being able to get a reservation yet there are still openings. The big problem is that everyone wants to play at the same time and have little flexibility about the time and courses they want to play. Open your reservation time window up a few more hours and add additional courses and you’ll get reservations. I golf with a neighborhood group that has between 8 and 25 golfers depending on the time of the year that plays Saturday morning, and Tuesday and Thursday afternoons, and have only 3 times in the past year not been about to get a tee time and all 3 were with very large groups.
Besides the time window and course selection a big thing many don’t understand is the point system. Each time you make a reservation, golf, cancel, and/or don’t show points are assigned. When the reservation system evaluates requests, it looks at the time window, course, points, and availability. If there are 2 identical groups requesting the same course and time, the system looks at the points, the group with the least points will get the tee time. If you take the time to understand how the point system works (as our neighborhood reservation masters have) you will have little trouble getting a tee time.
Yes, this past year put a few kinks in the system when golf was one of the few social activities available. When news that you could still live and have some fun in The Villages during the pandemic leaked out our winter population increased for a longer period of time to help aggraviate the system.
It’s not a perfect system and there will always be some ebb and flow, but understanding the reservation process is key to being able to get a tee time.
Bill says
The population numbers are a lot more than that in snowbird season. We have seen rentals with 6-10 people in them.
John Campbell says
As a new golfer I’ve been thinking about just how difficult it is for a group of us to get tee times.
The population number is really just an estimate and I think this fluctuates between high and low season. Not sure how we could correct for that.
Another thing to think about is which percentage of people here in The Villages golf on a regular basis? You’d have to do some sort of survey of x number of people to find out this number.
Thanks for putting together these numbers.