HSV Golf Utilization & Pricing

First, I categorically agree with Tom that the flex pricing model is broken. In the summer time the “prime” tee times are those between golf course opening (around 7:00 am) and before 11:00 am – after that the heat begins to get too great for most people. Yet “Tier 1 prices run until 1:00pm and those tee times after 11:00am go largely unused. Tier 2 pricing begins at 1:00pm and offers reduced rates but not really significantly so. Especially when compared to the old “Twilight Golf” model which allowed one to play as many holes as one could starting about 4 hours before sunset. Of course that meant the start time varied throughout the year but most people could cope with that.
So maybe one solution is to go back to the three-tier model. Maybe something like Prime Time before 11:00am. A significantly reduced (maybe 2/3 Prime?) Midday Rate for 11:00 – 4:00 and a “really cheap” Twilight Rate after 4:00pm (Adjust times based on current usage patterns).
Second, All courses run on the same pricing times irrespective of the actual usage patterns. I am not sure that I could accurately predict the differences between, say, Ponce De Leon and Granada but I bet there are differences. One size fits all is rarely a good model for anything other than socks!
Third, I also think that the tee time spacing is too close. All courses run on 8 minutes between tee times. For a foursome the “expected” pace of play is 4 hours – or just over 13 minutes per hole. In other words, on a par four hole. With 8 minutes between tee times it is inevitable that there will be significant wait times on the tees because there are guaranteed to be at least two groups on any hole at any time. All it takes is one lost ball (even with the newly reduced time allowed for searching) and you are immediately starting to back the course up.
I don’t claim to have all the answers but certainly something needs to be done and has needed doing for a couple of years now. Just raising rates (whether green fees or cart rates) on members isn’t going to cut it. However, it seems it will need more than good luck to get some common sense applied to this, or any other, problem around here.

According to Forbes, developers built course after course across the USA as a successful tactic to sell houses at elevated premiums. They were in the business of building, not operating, golf courses, so they sold or gave away their interest (and LIABILITY) in the clubs. Often, developers pulled out shortly after selling all of the homes in a community and moving on to another location and another new course. Bob Turner of Beaufort SC, in his paper, Sustainability Through Design, had predicted that this spreading of too many golf courses over too few paying homeowners would create an unsustainable burden. Now, as the public becomes wiser to the issue, many homeowners ARE experiencing a decline in value as a course begins to show signs of its death spiral. We each have a responsibility to one another to prevent property values from declining. This is especially true in golf course communities.” This is why I put serious consideration into coming up with suggestions of expanded back yards, parks, and gardens rather than just letting nature reclaim courses. I could not find those ideas anywhere but in my God-fearing heart. I also agree with marketing Hot Springs Village in general to baby boomers. And we could choose to be thankful for subsidies from the POA and stop complaining about them.

I would like to see the golf rates reduced also. Lower the rates and you will have as much revenue or even more coming in when the use of the courses will go up. Also the revenue of the restaurants will go up as more and more people are at the golf courses. Raising rates doesn’t spell more revenue from the golf courses. Since the number of players is down, why do we need so many golf carts at each course.

i agree the FLEX price is broken.. what most golfers don’t want to hear is that the ALL YOU CAN EAT.. Annual Pricing .. which call book the premium slots … is broken too.

Look at the usage of the Annual Users and it is (as expected) VERY high… (to make it worth their while) … but should that (DEEP) discount all them to book prime slots in the am ?

Just asking

I live in Bryant and have owned a lot for years in the Village.
Plans were to retire there.
I at one time would play 1 to 2 times a week mostly late afternoon to take advantage of the reduced cost. As the prices crept up I saw my playing time decrease. It been 2 years now and I just have walked away. Still own the lot and pay my dues.
I don’t understand why it’s better to have the prices higher and turn away so many people. I was part of a group of 8 to 12 guys that regularly made the trip to the village. I only know of 2 of the guys that even bother any more. It was people like me that was willing to be out there in 100 degree weather playing away. Oh well.

I have been a property owner since 1994. Only get a chance to play golf in the Village 4 -6 times a year, keep thinking I will get the chance to play more, but still working and living in Texarkana, Tx, about a 2 hr 15 min trip , one way. However, I have participated in all the Member-Guests Tournaments, a 3 day event held every September, since the beginning in 2001. That week my partner and I will rent either a condo or a house, usually in the $120-$160 per night rates, and in the past those were really nice houses. This year we got a shocking surprise! Apparently the rental businesses have gone to using VRBO for advertising. In the past the listed rate was what you paid, plus tax, and they would temporarily charge a damage fee, but would return that fee a few days later if there was no damage. ( No tournament last year due to COVID). In 2018 & 2019 we stayed in a very nice condo on Lake Balboa , near the spillway for $148/night for three nights plus tax = around $480. This year still listed at $148/night, but with VRBO fees =$669 or $223/night. On all the houses we looked at the pricing was similar, with the actual nightly rate no where close to listed rate. also found a condo listed for $85/night x 3 nights =$255, BUT !!! the actual price $255 + tax $25-50, plus required fees $658.20 = $938.70for a 1.5 bathroom, 2 bedroom, 1025 sq ft. That’s $312/ night. I called the rental business about this and their response was they had no idea it was listed that way! The poor people who own that property probably wonder why they never get any renters. Needless to say we are staying in a motel outside the Village. And people are trying to figure out why there are fewer golfers playing and fewer rentals.