A Villager is fighting for permission to wear a T-shirt on the executive golf courses
“The executive courses in the northern and central portions of The Villages are owned and operated by the Village Center and Sumter Landing CDDs – governmental entities. Those courses are effectively the equivalent of municipal courses in other parts of the country, rather than snooty country clubs,” said James Foster, who lives in the Edgewater Bungalows at Lake Sumter Landing.
He has lodged a campaign to change the rule banning golfers on executive courses from wearing T-shirts.
He points out that he pays a monthly amenity fee of $187 that entitles him to use the executive courses.
“But after I moved here, I was told that I would not be allowed use of those courses in the summer because the shirts I wear when the temperatures exceed 90 degrees do not have collars,” he said
He said that T-shirts are deemed acceptable attire at the town squares, in many restaurants and in recreation centers in The Villages. He said the “collar mandate” is only enforced at the golf courses.
“In general, I do not think it is a proper role of the government to deny taxpayers access to facilities based on such marginal and arbitrary criteria. Within limits, individual sartorial choice should be respected. Particularly so in The Villages, where in the summer collarless shirts are ubiquitous and men wearing them are welcome everywhere – including all recreation centers and even the dining facilities that adjoin the championship courses,” Foster said.
He made his argument last week before the Amenity Authority Committee and earlier this week before the Project Wide Advisory Committee. He struck out both times.
Do you think it’s time to relax the collar mandate at the executive courses in The Villages? Share your thoughts in a Letter to the Editor at letters@villages-news.com.
