[Eric Strulowitz]

Will be near this large adult community next week, and I noticed a number of championship courses there.

Thinking about spending a day or two there day there, giving the golf a try, the pictures look great..  Which courses are recommended?  Are there other courses in the area that are worthwhile, so many to choose from.

Thanks in advance for the feedback!

[Ben Kodadek]

Eric,

Is this post in jest?

[Ed Brzezowski]

Alex I will take STD's for $200

The Villages.

What is " the city with the highest STD rate in Florida?

Correct.

[ChipRoyce]

They even have their own golf cart drill team

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iqXpKbiqWgE

[Eric Smith]

Ace McBride at the 2025 Dixie Cup!

click on image for cool theme song

[Howard Riefs]

You definitely need to skip The Villages.  World Woods is 1 hour away in Brooksville.  Streamsong is 2 hours away, just west of Fort Meade. 

[Bill_McBride]

Ace McBride at the 2025 Dixie Cup!

click on image for cool theme song

Easy there grasshopper!

[Eric Smith]

  You know I love you! The emotion when this guy drains his putt reminded me of our match at Chechessee. Of course it was me letting out the call of the wild when it went in, but you get the point..

[Brad Wilbur]

Ed, I think I have a solution to the problem you mentioned:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=75QTkf4L4do

[John McCarthy]

They even have their own golf cart drill team

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iqXpKbiqWgE

I have not been to the Grand Canyon. 

I have never seen the migration of Wildebeests on the Serengeti. 

Nor have I been to Stonehenge or the Great Wall of China. 



I have seen the Villages Golf Cart Drill Team now. 


That is enough for me. 

[Steve_ Shaffer]

Laugh if you must but golf is thriving at The Villages. 2 new courses just opened:

http://articles.orlandosentinel.com/2013-03-08/news/os-villages-golf-courses-20130308_1_golf-courses-golf-fanatics-golf-bags


http://www.golfclubatlas.com/forum/index.php/topic,52239.0.html

[Eric Strulowitz]

Eric,

Is this post in jest?

Hi Ben

No, this post is not in jest at all.  

I will be in that area for 9 days, starting the end of this month.  I have played all the "biggies" that way, like World Woods, TPC Tampa, etc plus a few of the more exclusive private venues.  Just looking to try something different, there seems to be a lot of really good golf at the Villages, and why not spend a day or two?

Good fun relaxed golf with my wife and maybe a few friends, that is all I want.  It does not always have to be about high profile designers, mind blowing architecture, and exclusivity.  I have played  many top tier private and resort courses ,  getting tired of being ripped off and having to  deal with forecaddies, $12 hot dogs, etc.  I could easily get access to just about any private club down there, but I am at the point where it just does not interest me anymore to pay $100 + when I can pay less than $50 and have an equally good time.  

So yes, this is a very serious post and if anyone has suggestions, be happy to hear them.  And if anyone wants to join me for a round, send me a PM and we can set it up!  Always enjoy meeting folks from this incredible forum.

[Bill_McBride]

You know I love you! The emotion when this guy drains his putt reminded me of our match at Chechessee. Of course it was me letting out the call of the wild when it went in, but you get the point..

Our first win together, thanks to you!  Well played sir!   

[Ed Brzezowski]

Ed, I think I have a solution to the problem you mentioned:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=75QTkf4L4do

Oh My God. I won't ask how you know this.

[Howard Riefs]

Ed, I think I have a solution to the problem you mentioned:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=75QTkf4L4do

Oh My God. I won't ask how you know this.

It's true:

"Across the nation, and especially in communities that attract a lot of older Americans, the free-love generation is continuing to enjoy an active — if not always healthy — sex life. ... At a stage in life when many would expect sexually transmitted diseases to be waning, aging baby boomers are once again busting stereotypes, setting records and breaking rules. ... In Central Florida, where The Villages and other retirement communities sprawl across several counties, reported cases of syphilis and chlamydia increased 71 percent among those 55 and older (from 2005 to 2009)."

http://articles.orlandosentinel.com/2011-05-16/health/os-seniors-stds-national-20110516_1_std-cases-syphilis-and-chlamydia-older-adults

Last year, my parents looked into moving to The Villages. Thankfully, it's no longer on the table.

[Steve_ Shaffer]

Eric,

I hear you.

My wife is an avid golfer. Paying for two at high end courses is not for us except if we're on  a special vacation- Hawaii or Cabo for example.

We played Redtail GC a few years ago and enjoyed the course. It has a different look for a Florida course and its on golfnow.com

http://www.redtailclub.com/redtail_golf_club.html

http://www.golfnow.com/daytona-space-coast/tee-times/golf-courses/fl---orlando-northwest/redtail-golf-club/search

[Bill_McBride]

 

Ed, I think I have a solution to the problem you mentioned:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=75QTkf4L4do

Oh My God. I won't ask how you know this.

It's true:

"Across the nation, and especially in communities that attract a lot of older Americans, the free-love generation is continuing to enjoy an active — if not always healthy — sex life. ... At a stage in life when many would expect sexually transmitted diseases to be waning, aging baby boomers are once again busting stereotypes, setting records and breaking rules. ... In Central Florida, where The Villages and other retirement communities sprawl across several counties, reported cases of syphilis and chlamydia increased 71 percent among those 55 and older (from 2005 to 2009)."

http://articles.orlandosentinel.com/2011-05-16/health/os-seniors-stds-national-20110516_1_std-cases-syphilis-and-chlamydia-older-adults

Last year, my parents looked into moving to The Villages. Thankfully, it's no longer on the table.

I hear Viagra and Cyalis sales are also up and rising.   

[Ed Brzezowski]

Ed, I think I have a solution to the problem you mentioned:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=75QTkf4L4do

Oh My God. I won't ask how you know this.

It's true:

"Across the nation, and especially in communities that attract a lot of older Americans, the free-love generation is continuing to enjoy an active — if not always healthy — sex life. ... At a stage in life when many would expect sexually transmitted diseases to be waning, aging baby boomers are once again busting stereotypes, setting records and breaking rules. ... In Central Florida, where The Villages and other retirement communities sprawl across several counties, reported cases of syphilis and chlamydia increased 71 percent among those 55 and older (from 2005 to 2009)."

http://articles.orlandosentinel.com/2011-05-16/health/os-seniors-stds-national-20110516_1_std-cases-syphilis-and-chlamydia-older-adults

Last year, my parents looked into moving to The Villages. Thankfully, it's no longer on the table.

I hear Viagra and Cyalis sales are also up and rising.   

Good Lord they are probably doing it on the table. I hope there isn't alot of night putting!!

[Carl Nichols]

Just looking to try something different, there seems to be a lot of really good golf at the Villages

Is this true?  

[Jim_Kennedy]

Try Harbor Hills, only 15 minutes from The Villages. The view from #10 tee is worth the price of admission.

[Jay Flemma]

To call TPC Tampa bay a "biggie" is ludicrous...it's way overpriced and under-designed.  That's one of the two reasons I became a golf writer - to warn people off courses like that.

Skip the Villages...your first choices for public options in Fla are World Woods, Streamsong, Sawgrass, and PGA Golf Club (Dye Course)...after that everything is a step down architecturally, but in the area in which you're talking about you can still have a nice day at Victoria or Southern Dunes.  But the Villages?  I've heard nothing positive about the golf course architecture there. It seems like a wasted opportunity to play somewhere better...

[David Harshbarger]

They even have their own golf cart drill team

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iqXpKbiqWgE

Busby Berkley, where art thou?

[Eric Strulowitz]

a

[Carl Johnson]

Thanks for all the suggestions.  . . .  Will definitely book a few tee times at the Villages. Tierra Del Sol looks interesting, and may give the Lopez and Palmer courses a try.  Will report back.  Maybe they are not architectural masterpieces , does not mean they will not be fun.  Every golf course has something redeeming from an architecturall  standpoint, and the most interesting characteristic of Florida courses to me is the routing around wetlands and the incredible nature, and in many cases how that nature was preserved for all to enjoy.  

Eric, I have no experience with the Villages courses.  Having said that, I would assume that they are designed (or should be) with the target demographic in mind.  Thus, I would expect them to be on easier side.  Still, I would hope that there is such a thing as "good architecture" to provide interest and some challenge for older folks, although not likely to overwhelm the expert golfers on this site.  So, when you return from you trip, I'd enjoy your comments, insights and so on regarding how the courses seem to stack up, in light of the demographic for whom they were (or should have been) designed.  I assume that folks this age group (which is my age) just want to get out and do something physical and interesting and have fun doing it.

My personal experience on retirement community courses is limited.  Many years ago, before I considered myself a serious golfer (which is not the same thing as talented), I tagged around after my late father-in-law on several of the courses in the original Del Webb Sun City, AZ retirement community.  My recollection of those courses was one straight, flat, boring hole after another - easy to play, but no real interest.  By way of contrast, but still not good design in my opinion, is Carolina Lakes, a course at a Del Webb company retirement community in my neck of the woods (NC/SC).  That course is by no means flat or easy.  I do not think it is a good design because it's way too tough for a retirement community course.  So, my interest in the Villages courses is how they work for the community (academic interest, not personal -- I'm not moving there).

Carl

[JeffTodd]

To call TPC Tampa bay a "biggie" is ludicrous...it's way overpriced and under-designed.  That's one of the two reasons I became a golf writer - to warn people off courses like that.

What is the other reason?

[Tags:]

Tags:

[Tags:]

Tags:

Call to undefined function theme_linktree()