Across the Fence

Q. I am interested in moving to a golf course community so I can play more frequently. There are so many different communities and courses, what's the best way for me to figure out which golf community is right for me?

A. Contributed by J. Cookman "Cookie" Boyd of Keller Williams in Naples, FL.
In many places throughout the United States, there are only a few choices for people looking to play at a golf club. However, in areas like Naples, FL, where I live, this is not the case. We have 136 gated golf communities giving a prospective buyer more choices, and I'm not talking about the home. When working with someone looking for a home in a golf community, one of the most important things I recommend is that they look for a home in a community with a course that matches their skill level. How do you do that? There are a few important things to take into account:

1. Your individual game: I’ve found it absolutely critical to play with a client to determine how he/she plays and what kind of course they will be happy on. As a former teaching professional, I can analyze their game after only 9 holes, although 18 is really best.
2. The course design and level of difficulty: For the most part, our courses are relatively flat down here, so taking that part out of the equation, we look at the difficulty of the course from a design angle. If you look at the back of a scorecard, you will see the length of the course associated with a tee box. The back tees are the longest and the forward tees the shortest. Looking to the right you will see two numbers by the length and it might say 71.1/141 which is the rating and slope, respectively. If you have a par 72 course, which means if you par every hole that is what you shoot, than a 71.1 rating is not too difficult but harder than if it said 69. The more difficult the course, the higher the rating.
3. A golfer’s handicap: Every golfer’s game is different, which is why the handicap system was invented. It helps equalize a golfer’s game when playing with others or in a tournament.

After I’ve considered these factors, we then discuss what they want in a club, amenities, what type of membership they prefer, etc. The last thing we talk about usually has to do with the home itself: what kind of home (single family, townhouse, duplex), size, number of bedrooms, and budget. By focusing on the golf game, I can usually shrink an initial pool of 136 potential golf communities to fewer than 10. No one has time to visit 136 communities, which makes filtering out ones that are not a good fit necessary. It is a fun process and produces happy clients, but again, I was a teaching professional so I can see how someone plays from different eyes.

If you don’t have access to a real estate professional with deep golf expertise, ask to be referred to someone specializing in golf communities. You can also talk to golf pros in the area to get their read on your game and their course recommendations. Matching the course you choose to your skill level will ultimately result in many rewarding and enjoyable golf games in your future.