Golf-Cart Crackdown On Florida Golf Courses
In this mega-retirement community, the golf cart rules.
Garages are designed with carts in mind. Parking spots at the Publix are golf cart-sized. And Villagers have turned their carts into status symbols resembling Hummers and Lamborghinis and costing up to $15,000.
But the tricked-out, road-ready carts owned by more and more people are also heavier and less friendly to the terrain they were originally intended to ride on -- the Florida golf course.
So starting this month, The Villages is implementing a series of strict rules for golf carts whose owners want to drive on the community's eight championship Florida golf courses.
The restrictions -- thought to be the first for any golf community in Florida -- require that front tires must have rounded edges and horizontal treads to avoid tearing up the turf.
Not all Villages residents are thrilled, especially about the $80 to $150 price tag to replace the square-edged tires that came standard on their carts.
"We've been driving on these courses for years, and there's never been a problem before," said Mel Esposito, 79, who switched out his square-edged tires for a used, balding set that pass the new standards. Like others, he thinks being forced to change tires -- without a detailed explanation of the need -- is an affront to civil liberties.
"It's a joke," he said.
In this 60,000-resident retirement community, many people clock hundreds of miles a month in their carts. Paths weave between the 26 golf courses -- the tire requirement doesn't affect the other 18 developer-built courses -- and at least 140 neighborhoods. A golf-cart bridge arches over U.S. Highway 441. Homes have golf-cart garages, and the town square has golf-cart-sized parking spots.
Even standard carts may get subtle adjustments. Some have illegal, after-market gearboxes to boost the maximum speed to 25 mph. Others get bigger wheels for increased lift, or higher tire pressures for a smoother ride.
Florida golf course experts say those upgrades can wreak havoc on delicate grass. But the real problem appears to be where the tire tread meets the sidewall.
"See how these edges are square? That's bad," said Steve Kelley, owner of Steve's Golf Carts, inspecting a tower of tires now illegal on The Villages' most-prized courses.
Kelley's customers have been calling and demanding refunds for tires he sold them six years ago or asking him to file down the corners on their square tires. And service bays in golf-cart shops around The Villages were packed last week with carts needing a set of approved tires by the July 1 deadline.
The company that manages the Florida golf courses announced the tire change in March in The Villages Daily Sun, the developer-owned newspaper. The explanation: Square-edged front tires cut into sensitive fairways during turns.
Since then, store owners like Kelley and tire distributors like George Cotey have been sending tire samples to the course-management company for approval on a case-by-case basis.
But Cotey, a salesman for a Tampa tire distributor, was skeptical that tires were damaging the courses and launched an investigation after tires made by several major manufacturers were initially denied approval.
He said the real problem is the heavier custom carts.
"When you have Hummer replicas and roadsters and Model T's and all of these souped-up carts, it kind of opens a whole different can of worms," said Cotey, who has worked in Florida's golf course industry for 32 years.
Pat Bloomberg, a cart-driving resident who would not give his age, did a little private-eye work too. After surveying maintenance workers at several courses, he came to the same conclusion as Cotey and reported his findings in a resident-published newsletter.
Maintenance workers "agree that course damage is not from standard [square-edged] tires being used on the vast majority of carts," Bloomberg wrote.
"How come there's a problem now after these tires have been used for over 15 years on your courses?" he asked. "And why don't other Florida golf courses outside The Villages, which also get constant play, have the restrictions we do?"
The Villages and course superintendents directed all inquiries to country-club administration staff member Tony Simpson, who declined to explain how the tires damaged greens or why the regulations are necessary.
Jeff Bollig, spokesman for the Golf Course Superintendent Association of America, said the retirement community's new rules are unusual.
High traffic is a superintendent's biggest concern, he said. "The issue then becomes tread type, the weight of the golf cart itself, and whether people are doing sharp turns," Bollig said. "In a perfect world, you would not have golf carts."
Superintendents in large communities such as The Villages or Peach Tree City, Ga., have more troubles than your average country club, where most people rent carts. Residents in these communities drive 18 holes with the same vehicles they take across town to happy hour. Still, Peach Tree City has no tire restrictions on the several thousand carts rolling over its fairways, said Casey Smith, superintendent at the Planterra Ridge course there.
"They're not riding around in those souped-up jobs that are down there, " Smith explained.
The special features and stylish additions to Villages carts dramatically increase their weight, which studies by The Environmental Institute for Golf say causes significant damage to the courses.
"I understand it, I guess," said retiree Wes Jory, 75, after he grudgingly had Steve's Golf Carts come change his tires in his driveway. "I'm in favor of anything that makes the Florida golf courses better."
Garages are designed with carts in mind. Parking spots at the Publix are golf cart-sized. And Villagers have turned their carts into status symbols resembling Hummers and Lamborghinis and costing up to $15,000.
But the tricked-out, road-ready carts owned by more and more people are also heavier and less friendly to the terrain they were originally intended to ride on -- the Florida golf course.
So starting this month, The Villages is implementing a series of strict rules for golf carts whose owners want to drive on the community's eight championship Florida golf courses.
The restrictions -- thought to be the first for any golf community in Florida -- require that front tires must have rounded edges and horizontal treads to avoid tearing up the turf.
Not all Villages residents are thrilled, especially about the $80 to $150 price tag to replace the square-edged tires that came standard on their carts.
"We've been driving on these courses for years, and there's never been a problem before," said Mel Esposito, 79, who switched out his square-edged tires for a used, balding set that pass the new standards. Like others, he thinks being forced to change tires -- without a detailed explanation of the need -- is an affront to civil liberties.
"It's a joke," he said.
In this 60,000-resident retirement community, many people clock hundreds of miles a month in their carts. Paths weave between the 26 golf courses -- the tire requirement doesn't affect the other 18 developer-built courses -- and at least 140 neighborhoods. A golf-cart bridge arches over U.S. Highway 441. Homes have golf-cart garages, and the town square has golf-cart-sized parking spots.
Even standard carts may get subtle adjustments. Some have illegal, after-market gearboxes to boost the maximum speed to 25 mph. Others get bigger wheels for increased lift, or higher tire pressures for a smoother ride.
Florida golf course experts say those upgrades can wreak havoc on delicate grass. But the real problem appears to be where the tire tread meets the sidewall.
"See how these edges are square? That's bad," said Steve Kelley, owner of Steve's Golf Carts, inspecting a tower of tires now illegal on The Villages' most-prized courses.
Kelley's customers have been calling and demanding refunds for tires he sold them six years ago or asking him to file down the corners on their square tires. And service bays in golf-cart shops around The Villages were packed last week with carts needing a set of approved tires by the July 1 deadline.
The company that manages the Florida golf courses announced the tire change in March in The Villages Daily Sun, the developer-owned newspaper. The explanation: Square-edged front tires cut into sensitive fairways during turns.
Since then, store owners like Kelley and tire distributors like George Cotey have been sending tire samples to the course-management company for approval on a case-by-case basis.
But Cotey, a salesman for a Tampa tire distributor, was skeptical that tires were damaging the courses and launched an investigation after tires made by several major manufacturers were initially denied approval.
He said the real problem is the heavier custom carts.
"When you have Hummer replicas and roadsters and Model T's and all of these souped-up carts, it kind of opens a whole different can of worms," said Cotey, who has worked in Florida's golf course industry for 32 years.
Pat Bloomberg, a cart-driving resident who would not give his age, did a little private-eye work too. After surveying maintenance workers at several courses, he came to the same conclusion as Cotey and reported his findings in a resident-published newsletter.
Maintenance workers "agree that course damage is not from standard [square-edged] tires being used on the vast majority of carts," Bloomberg wrote.
"How come there's a problem now after these tires have been used for over 15 years on your courses?" he asked. "And why don't other Florida golf courses outside The Villages, which also get constant play, have the restrictions we do?"
The Villages and course superintendents directed all inquiries to country-club administration staff member Tony Simpson, who declined to explain how the tires damaged greens or why the regulations are necessary.
Jeff Bollig, spokesman for the Golf Course Superintendent Association of America, said the retirement community's new rules are unusual.
High traffic is a superintendent's biggest concern, he said. "The issue then becomes tread type, the weight of the golf cart itself, and whether people are doing sharp turns," Bollig said. "In a perfect world, you would not have golf carts."
Superintendents in large communities such as The Villages or Peach Tree City, Ga., have more troubles than your average country club, where most people rent carts. Residents in these communities drive 18 holes with the same vehicles they take across town to happy hour. Still, Peach Tree City has no tire restrictions on the several thousand carts rolling over its fairways, said Casey Smith, superintendent at the Planterra Ridge course there.
"They're not riding around in those souped-up jobs that are down there, " Smith explained.
The special features and stylish additions to Villages carts dramatically increase their weight, which studies by The Environmental Institute for Golf say causes significant damage to the courses.
"I understand it, I guess," said retiree Wes Jory, 75, after he grudgingly had Steve's Golf Carts come change his tires in his driveway. "I'm in favor of anything that makes the Florida golf courses better."
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