The Villages
Donald Jones, Director of Golf Course Maintenance
765 holes of golf. Nearly 3.5 million rounds of golf. Spread out across 13 championship courses and 42 executive courses, the Villages is like no other retirement golfing community in the world. Overseeing this impressive collection of courses is Donald Jones, director of golf course maintenance.
“I believe we are up to 170,000 residents, 80,000 homes, and growing every day,” says Jones. “We are looking at another 500 holes in the next five to ten years. A lot of rapid growth. And a lot of grass to take care of.”
It’s a daunting task. Which is why Jones is appreciating the annual Course Consulting Service visits from his regional USGA Green Section agronomist. “Working with Chris Neff has been awesome. The USGA is definitely helping us get the consistency going in the right direction,” he says.
Because the Villages membership measures in the tens of thousands, Jones is keenly aware of the importance of golfer satisfaction. “I think, here at the Villages, our golfers are not looking for the fastest greens in the United States,” he says. “Rather, I think they want to have more consistency from course to course.”
“They want to have good clean, healthy grass. We don't want to have weeds. We don't want to have dead spots. We just want to look clean from tee to green. And I think that's what the golfers expect here. That's what we're striving for: to give them that type of experience. And Chris helps us with that.”
The USGA presence is being felt in other ways at the Villages. Namely with the GS3 ball, the USGA Moisture Meter, and the DEACON management system. According to Greg Wiecorek, manager of maintenance for the Executive Courses, having all three tools working together has turned out to be a positive experience. “The nice thing is that it allows us to look at the data, which helps the consistency of our greens.”
“In the long run, it’s going to improve our cultural practices. We’re getting used to the data and building those trends. I can see that, in a year or so, it’s going to really help with our consistency. With the GS3, we want to achieve a certain smoothness with the greens, especially during the busy season.”
Rich Fioretto, a golf course superintendent at the Villages, having the Moisture Meter by his side has helped out with watering routines. “I have two Moisture Meters between myself and my assistant,” he says. “We check greens on each of the three courses we look after. We are looking for consistency with our numbers, looking for high moisture levels and low moisture levels. That helps us dictate what we’re doing with our moisture.”
“We try to make each green consistent, from one green to the next, with our irrigation. And the Moisture Meter helps us obtain that data where we can be consistent. It doesn't matter if you're on number nine on one course or number one on another course.”
Both Wiecorek and Fioretto agree that it helps to have a USGA agronomist visit on a regular basis. Says Fioretto “We look at good things, and bad things. Essentially, we look at everything. Chris has been very helpful. We usually come to a pretty good decision if we have an issue that I have to find an answer to.”
“We've learned a lot from Chris. And having him visit here, we've definitely have improved our agronomic practices and our overall appearance. And the residents are extremely happy to have Chris in town. It's been a very positive effect to have a USGA representative here in the Villages for us.”
