A Saturday Morning at Hilldale

Definitely not the nicest (weather wise) Saturday morning we’re going to see this year (I sure hope not, anyway!), but nevertheless a routine Sat. a.m. for the grounds staff at Hilldale Golf Club. New cup locations were cut (schedule 2 was used), greens were single cut and rolled (Jim on the roller in picture below), bunkers raked, rough cut on several holes, and intermediate cut around the greens was completed. Greens were rolling at 10 ft. on the stimpmeter this morning; which is still about 1 ft. shy of the speed we target for a typical weekend day. Due to the crazy weather seen in the Chicago area this spring (85 deg. just three days ago; upper 40′s early this a.m.), greensmowers still haven’t been set to their regular height-of-cut yet…that most likely will occur next weekend. Collars, tees, fairways, and approaches are cut on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday of each week…along with the majority of rough areas.

Cup locations are changed six days per week with the only off day occuring on Tuesdays (although this is open to change depending on amount of traffic the golf course sees on Monday).

I’m extremely pleased with the condition of Hilldale’s greens early in the season, although turf color is generally lacking due to the cold spring weather. Myself and all members of the grounds dept. look forward to seeing you out on the course this season, and if there’s anything we can do to make your round more enjoyable, please let us know…obviously that’s our job!

Bryan Widmer, CGCS

Fall happenings at Hilldale

15th Green Surrounds

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            A  very busy and productive autumn is about the best way to sum up the work of Hilldale’s Grounds Dept. these past few months.  Together with several very dependable contractors we’ve been able to knock out some much-needed projects.  The 1st picture shows a cartpath addition/repair  along with two evergreen trees that were transplanted to a more favorable location on the other side of the cartpath (2nd picture).  And yes, in case any of you were wondering…we did use a lot of plywood to protect that new section of cartpath!  Moving these two trees (Colorado Spruce and Scotch Pine) will improve the health of the trees, add screening along the property line (also appreciated by our neighbors), and allow for better cart traffic options in the old location…the bare areas will be sodded next spring. The tree moving was handled by Gro Enterprises and the cartpath improvements were done by Lemont Paving. Additional cartpath improvements were made on holes 7 and 10 (both in areas near the tees).

Tree Transplanting

September Update

CDGA Rating Day-Aug. 30,2012

The last time the CDGA (Chicago District Golf Assoc.) Rating team visited Hilldale was in 2005. Well, they were here again last Thursday and it was a pleasure to have them. Not a lot has changed with the golf course since the 05 visit, so I don’t expect any dramatic changes to our course rating or slope this time around. Currently, Hilldale is rated/slope for Blue tees:71.6/135, White tees:69.4/130, Gray(Senior)tees:67.6/126, and Red(Ladies)tees:70.5/128. I will update you with any new information coming from this year’s CDGA rating when I receive it.

It’s shaping up to be a nice weekend around the Chicago area..albeit more like autumn. Hi temps are only supposed to be in the upper 60′s tomorrow (9/8), and lower 70′s on Sunday (9/9). We only received about .1″ of rain this morning after last night’s forecast predicted as much as 1.5″ for the northwest suburbs. We’re going to need some of those heavier rain totals before we can even think about putting an end to this drought. The 2x weekly irrigation cycles I mentioned in the last update will obviously continue for awhile.

We will begin some aerification (Oh no! That dreaded word) next week. The plan is to only work on tees/fairways..one or two per day, until the end of the month. At that point we’ll consider doing some greens, but remember, we only aerify half of each green at one time. The second half will not be done until the 1st half has had time to heal. We’ll give plenty of advance notice through the website and proshop (847-310-1100 ext.27) prior to any aerification work.

A Warm Weekend Ahead

Great View of the 2nd hole

Before I write about course conditions etc… please accept my apologies for the lack of new posts (updates) recently.  Needless to say, it’s been a pretty brutal summer weather wise.

The combination of heat/drought has made the past couple months very challenging with regard to maintaining a golf course…I’ll try to do a much better job keeping you updated now that the cooler days of late summer are in sight.

Don’t get me wrong, the last thing I want to do is come off as a weather winer…especially considering I’m only managing an area of land that’s used for leisure activity.  Farmers who have lost complete crops, landowners whose homes have been destroyed by wildfires, and firefighters trying to contain those wildfires…now those are the people who deserve pity for what they’ve gone through this summer.

Ok, now a little more about what’s happening at Hilldale GC.  I’m very pleased with the condition of the greens. All putting surfaces have come through the summer in good shape. In fact, now that we only need worry about brief hot periods (like this weekend); not week upon week of severe heat, we (Hilldale’s grounds dept.) can get on with the fun business of prepping the golf course  aggressively.  I’m referring to things like: double cutting and double rolling greens, lower mowing heights on greens, tees, and fairways, and other practices we have to be very careful with or simply not do during extreme hot periods.  FYI, greens now are cut daily with double-cutting used on weekends. They are rolled several times per week with the occasional double-roll employed when an extra .5 or 1 ft. is needed on the stimpmeter.  We’re back to mowing tees and fairways 3-4 times per week after mowing only 1-2 times per week from 6/15 thru 8/1.  There are thin areas on several tees and fairways that will need overseeding in the coming weeks (we hope to start next week).

Overall, I’ve been pleased with conditions on all the fine turf areas…considering the summer weather.  Obviously, the rough at Hilldale is very weak/thin heading into autumn.  The combination of heat/drought/cart traffic has been very hard on the Kentucky bluegrass rough. KBG is a great turfgrass (as many of you know from home lawncare), so I definitely expect our rough to come back strong with the aid of fertilizer, fall rains (I hope), and again, cooler  temps. Our irrigation system only covers small areas of rough therefore most of it went dormant many weeks ago.  Speaking of irrigation water..at Hilldale our water supply comes from a well on the property.  The well water is pumped into the small lake on hole #10 and subsequently pumped into the irrigation system throughout the golf course’s greens, tees, and fairways.  Every attempt is made to conserve our natural resources so even during severe droughts like this we try to limit irrigation cycles to 2 nights per week.

Thank you for helping make this a successful summer at Hilldale, I hope to see you out on the course this fall. Sorry again for the low number of course condition updates lately… I’ll definitely do better going forward.  Sincerely, B.W.

July 24, 2012…An early morning rainstorm (Yea!)

A very welcome rain!

And best of all it looks like it’ll move out of here in time to allow plenty of golf today. We received about .5″ of rain this morning at 6 a.m. and although it’s raining lightly at the moment, the radar indicates we should see clearing off by mid morning. Boy did we need this rain..maybe we can start putting a dent in the drought of 2012. Hope everyone has a great day…thanks for playing Hilldale.

July 4th Update

Well, it would be very easy about now to start griping and complaining about the weather (intense heat and drought)..right? I mean we’re all doing it, aren’t we? But, as a wise person (not me, my father) once said, what good will it do? So that’s it for the complaining. More importantly, what are we doing at Hilldale to help the greens, tees, and fairways through this severe heat spell? Besides the obvious watering which is being done at all hours…night/early morning with sprinkler system; and during the heat of the day with our staff  cooling down hot spots with handwatering. We definitely limit the amount of mowing during hot weather also. Practices such as double-cutting and mowing during the heat of the day (after 11 a.m.) are eliminated. After all, when temps. are this hot the grass is growing much slower than normal so it’s easy to skip a day here and there w/o noticeable playability effects. Alternating mowing and rolling on a daily basis has become very popular the past few years and is another practice I like to employ during stressful weather. 

Last week, a new irrigation pipe was installed that runs from the 16th green to the 17th fairway.  Most of the project is complete with only the bridge crossing near the 16th green remaining (will be completed early next week). This new section of irrigation pipe is replacing an old section of pipe where the original 17th hole (old par 3) used to be…approx. 75 yds. straight west of the current 17th fairway.  The old irrigation pipe had deteriorated beyond repair and thus forced us to install the new line. 

Another very important task  just completed on the golf course was the injection of insecticide to approximately 90 ash trees to combat the Emerald Ash Borer. I’m sure by now that most everyone has at least some knowledge of the severe destruction caused by this invasive insect which is native to Asia.  The Emerald Ash Borer was first discovered in 2002 in southeast Michigan and Windsor Ontario.  Tens of millions of ash trees have been killed in urban, rural, and forested settings.  As of June 2009, emerald ash borer (EAB) infestations were known to be present in 12 states and two Canadian provinces.  Even though this pest has been discovered in many areas of northern Illinois, we’re extremely fortunate to  have several treatment options available to combat EAB. Research has shown these treatments can be effective. If you have any questions or concerns relating to the treatment of EAB at Hilldale Golf Club, please contact the Grounds Dept. (847-884-6868) for further information.

I apologize for being unable to post pictures today further detailing the topics discussed above (technical problems). I will post these pics asap.

Thanks to all for playing Hilldale thus far in 2012. Hopefully, as “tournament season” draws near the weather will cool down and the 2nd half of the season will be as good as the 1st.

Happy Memorial Day

Thank you to all who serve and protect this great country, you are truly honorable!

The 18th at Hilldale GC

I’m sure it won’t be breaking news to say the golf course needs water…yes, the picture below shows a sprinkler running on the 17th hole at Hilldale. Unfortunately, Hilldale’s irrigation system has been running a lot the last couple weeks.  Hopefully, if Tom Skilling’s latest forecast is accurate then it sounds like significant rainfall could hit the Chicago area by week’s end (Oh no, I just jinxed it didn’t I?).  Well, even with a significant lack of rainfall lately, it sure beats the alternative of the wet/hot summers of 2010 and 11. The effect on business is obvious…but the primary turf areas also perform poorly when soil conditions are constantly saturated and overheated. Turfgrass roots need oxygen to thrive, and O2 is in short supply when soils are too wet. I have received several comments regarding “overly” hard greens recently. When setting up our nightly irrigation schedule at Hilldale, I try to keep the main playing surfaces on the firm side, just not to the point where greens won’t accept a good golf shot. One last point about watering strategies…I do try to keep the greens on several of the more difficult holes (7, 10, 11, 17) slightly wetter than the other greens…especially 11 and 17 which are overly long holes with small/narrow greens.

Thanks very much to all who played Hilldale this holiday weekend. We appreciate your business and look forward to seeing you on the course again.

17th hole-sprinkler running (poor timing-whoops!) 5/25/12