Hilldale GC will open tomorrow-Friday 2/17

I was very skeptical earlier this morning as several greens still had snow and surface water present.  However, a good breeze and abundant sunshine warmed things up this afternoon and did a fairly good job of drying off the putting surfaces…so we’ll see you on the course tomorrow.  Carts will be restricted to paths as we’re getting close enough to the start of another season (3-4 weeks?) that it’s imperative to keep heavy traffic off of primary turf areas.  Thanks for your cooperation and business.

 

 

Fabulous Weather..frost delays..aerification update

The 2nd Hole on Sunday morning at Hilldale GC

We’re in the midst of a wonderful five day weather pattern.  It started on Friday-10/21 (albeit a rather windy Friday), and looks like it will continue right through Tuesday-10/25.  Actually, the next ten days look good from a moisture perspective…weather.com and accuweather are only predicting maybe .2″ of rain (30% chance of rain-Tues. evening, and 20% chance-Wed. a.m.) total through next Sunday-10/30. You know, since we’re on the topic of weather I’d like to pass on a little information regarding frost delays…especially considering we had approximately one hour delays on both Friday and Saturday morning. 

Frost blankets the 10th hole on Saturday morning (10/22/11)

Bear with me please as I share some points from Charles White (Regional Director-USGA Green Section)…”Everyone knows frost must clear off the grass before play can begin, but few people know why.  Frost on the grass blades tells us that the water inside the leaves is frozen.  Remember that water is the primary component of plant tissue.  When the water is frozen, traffic on the turf causes the ice crystals in the cells to puncture through the cell walls, killing the plant tissue.  Little damage is done to the crowns (growing points) or roots if only a light frost appears; however, when the frost is heavy, cell disruption may occur at the crown, thus killing the entire plant. Frost damage symptoms include white to light tan leaves where traffic has passed”. Couldn’t have said it better myself (insert a sarcastic cough).  No need to harp any further about frost delays..we appreciate your cooperation on those mornings when play is not allowed until frost has cleared…and obviously that includes the practice tee and practice green areas. 

Aerification to the back half of #1 Green at Hilldale

Greens aerification has been completed on one half of each green (excluding #15 and #16 which will be done early tomorrow morning).  Several members of the men’s club passed along very favorable comments this morning regarding the”half” greens aerification method (I appreciate the comments, it’s something I picked up earlier in my career at another golf course…and was a method of aerification that Hilldale’s General Manager-Bill Salzman was eager to institute here).  We will also be aerifying several tees/fairways at Hilldale this coming week, but as you know…every effort will be made to complete the clean-up work prior to play.  Each day’s agenda will be listed at the proshop first thing in the morning.  Hope everyone enjoys the great weather…thanks for coming out.   

 

 

 

 

State qualifying tournament at Hilldale and aerification update

9th Green-IL Class 3A Golf Sectional

 What a privilege it was to host the Palatine (Fremd) High School Golf Sectional yesterday.  The weather was fantastic (as it has been for nine straight days) and we had the pleasure of preparing the golf course for a lot of excellent young golfers.  Your’s truly played high school golf…way back in the day, but unfortunately I couldn’t hit a golf ball as far and straight as what I witnessed yesterday.  

 

 

 

 

Victor aerifying the 12th fairway

 

Greens aerification (The first half of each green) has been rescheduled for Monday, Oct.17.  As you can see in the picture to the left, fairway/tee aerification has already begun…the proshop will be updated every morning on aerification plans, so please feel free to call ahead (847-310-1100 ex.27) if you’d like to know the agenda prior to coming out.  Thanks for your patronage…see you on the course.     

  

 

9/23/11: #10 lakewall repair and updated aerification plans

                        

 

 

As you can see above…good progress has been made this week in restoring the lakewall on holes 10 and 18.  The first picture was taken on Monday (9/19), followed by the next two pictures which were taken late in the day on Thursday (9/22).   The area of wall closest to #10 fairway was in the worst condition and is now mostly complete; with only light touch-up work (final soil grading and grassing) remaining.  The part of wall on the other side (#18) had far less repair work needed and should be completed in the coming week.

The starting date for greens aerification has been changed to Tuesday (10/11).  Obviously when I say starting date, I’m referring to aerifying the first half of each green (explained in the previous blog post).  Thanks.  

 

Fall happenings at Hilldale

7th hole being prepped on Sunday morning

Autumn is such a magical time to be around a golf course.  Other than a few cottonwoods, most trees have yet to change colors and drop leaves nor has the first frost of the season come our way.  The cruel summer heat is a thing of the past and we’re still several months away (I hope!) from that first snowfall.  It really is a perfect time to play golf and we don’t even have to miss the football game…thanks to mobile TV. 

Ok, here’s what the grounds department is up to in early September and beyond.  Because many of our regular players and guests have been asking about greens aerification; we’re planning to start aerifying the first half of each green on Monday-September 26th. This will be the fourth year in a row we’ve used the “half green” practice, and because so many players have commented favorably..there is no need to discontinue now!  By only aerifying half of each green we’re able to keep the cup location on the good (smooth) half for 2-3 weeks (the approximate time it takes for aerification holes to heal), at which time we’ll turn around and aerify the second half of each green and thus locate the cup/pin position on the healed up half.  Again…because comments have been very favorable and because aerification is such a necessary evil to produce healthy turfgrass..well, you get the point.  Please bear with us through the process and we’ll do everything as quickly and thoroughly as possible with your satisfaction the driving influence.  We will aerify a few tees and fairways on the back nine in the coming days, so please feel free to contact the Pro Shop (847-310-1100 ex. 27) if you’d like to know that day’s agenda. During any tee/fairway aerification it will always be a priority to clean up as much area as possible prior to any golfers playing those holes. 

 

The only other significant work to comment on at this time involves the repair/replacement to several sections of the retaining wall surrounding the lake on holes 10 and 18.  We haven’t received a firm starting date from the contracting company, but will keep you informed when we do.  Thanks for coming out to Hilldale, and enjoy the nice fall weather. 

Shaping Up To Be A Great Weekend

All cart restrictions lifted; 80 degrees and sunny with a light breeze; quick greens and very receptive.  Hope you can all make it out to Hilldale.  Below is the maintenance schedule for Fri.-Sun.:

Greens-Double-cut and double-roll all three days.  Depending on stimpmeter readings, greens could also be mowed on Sat. evening.  Goal is to be at 11.5 ft. in the morning, which normally would indicate about a 10-10.5 ft. speed in early afternoon.  I know many players would like to see speeds in the 12 ft. range, but past experience has shown the amount of time for an 18 hole round increases significantly when greens are rolling that quick.

Tees & Fairways-Mow on Friday and Sunday.  Both areas have firmed up nicely and with no rain in the forecast, should play to your liking throughout the weekend.

Rough-All rough areas will be cut at a 2″ height on Thursday and Friday, with the primary rough (20-30 ft. around greens and fairways) mowed one additional time over the weekend.

Bunkers-Will be raked with a mechanical rake on Friday and Sunday, and hand raked on Saturday.  As I’ve written in earlier posts, the unusual number of heavy rain events over the last 4-6 weeks have caused an excessive amount of washouts in the sandtraps.  Because of this, we’re using the cultivation tool on our mechanical rake to “loosen” the sand and attempt to minimize the number of “hard lies” in Hilldale’s bunkers.

Hope everyone has a great weekend and good luck to all those playing in the Hilldale Men’s Club event on Saturday and Sunday.

 

Rain, Rain…Go Away

10 days ago we were begging for rain, and now, 10.5″ later…please make it stop!  We had 1.25″ of rain yesterday, and another .5″ last night…of course with the ground now being very saturated, the water has no place to go.  Fortunately, the golf course is open for play and it sounds like we might actually have several dry days in a row coming up.  We will require all golf carts to stay on paths today, and if I had to guess…probably tomorrow (7/30) also.  Check back here for a weekend update, and thanks as always for playing Hilldale.

The Mad Dog Outing Is On

Outing participants on the 17th hole

 

After receiving 5.25″ of rain overnight, it was great to see our afternoon outing (The Mad Dog Group) playing the golf course today.  Thanks for hanging in there with us this morning as to whether the course would be ready on time.  But as you can see in the picture above, the outing went off as scheduled and on time. 

 

Carts are restricted to paths and will remain so through the weekend.  Sunday play should go off without a hitch…as long as heavy storms don’t hit our area again tonight.  See you on the course and thanks for your patronage. 

 

4th of July Weekend

Hard to believe it’s here already…other than a slight chance of rain on Sat. evening, the forecast looks great all three days…hope you can join us at Hilldale GC over the holiday weekend.  I’m very pleased with the condition/health of the primary turf areas (greens, tees, and fairways), as the heart of the golf season is upon us.  After double-cutting and double-rolling the greens this morning, stimpmeter speed is 10’6″ and should remain in that range (perhaps slightly quicker) right on through the 4th.  The grounds staff has worked extremely hard prepping the course this week, and I can’t thank them enough!

Rosa...looking after the annual flower gardens

   Hope everyone has a happy and safe holiday and look forward to seeing you out on the course…I’ll leave you with a couple more pics of Hilldale GC.

Tuning up at the Practice Green

 

Heading up the finishing hole

Autumn Course Conditions, aerification progress, and tee projects

What a difference a year makes!  In 2009, we had a very cool summer followed by a cold/wet October.  Now in 2010, after an extremely hot/wet summer we have one of the driest October’s on record with very mild temps.  The rough is very dry and begging for rain, but conditions have been terrific to complete the amount of overseeding work that was necessary.  I’ve had to use our irrigation system constantly this month to ensure good seed germination and subsequent growth.  I’m sure those who’ve played Hilldale lately can attest to seeing sprinklers running at some point during their round of golf. Hopefully, we didn’t aggravate any players as the watering was carefully done to avoid interruption.  All told, six fairways were overseeded to some extent.  #2, #11, and #18 needed the most attention as #5, #7, and #9 also received new seed in spots.  All fairways have grown-in well as overseeding efforts this fall couldn’t have gone better.

Greens aerification began on October 4, as half of each green was done.  I explained this procedure in the September update, but if anyone has questions or concerns, please let me know. Thus far, comments have been very favorable and I do appreciate your patience as this work is completed.  We started aerifying the 2nd half of each green this past Monday (10/18) which gave us that two week period to allow the first half to heal.  Business considerations and staff size don’t allow for completing the process quickly (four to five halves are done each day), and I do understand the problems this creates with consistency.  The recently aerified parts of each green are receiving extra attention: brushing, rolling, hand watering, etc…to quicken up the healing process and deliver a smoother surface. 

Leaf blowing and mulching work is at a peak level right now, but should begin easing up as we near Halloween and the majority of trees have lost their leaves.  Grounds personnel are devoting much of their time keeping the “playable areas” cleaned off.  We typically have leaf blowers on greens, tees, and fairways every day this time of year.  The real windy days obviously produce a challenge, but we’ll keep at it until the trees are bare.

Work on tees 11 and 13 is progressing nicely.  The ladies tee on #11 was elevated by 2 ft. and enlarged slightly to the back.  Obviously the goal was to give you a better look at the fairway and add some surface area to tee off from.  As you know, that tee is in a very shaded area which makes divot recovery slow and limits the amount of marker locations when setting up the course.  The reason for work on #13 tee was fairly straightforward…the need for more surface area on a par three tee.  Again, this will give us more diversity when setting up the tee marker locations… for ladies and gentlemen on this hole.  Both tees will be sodded early this coming week, and although will not be playable the remainder of this season, should be in good condition to open the 2011 season.

I’d like to take this time to say thanks to all our regulars and guests for coming out and playing Hilldale this season.  The weather might just cooperate and remain pleasant right on into November (so please don’t think I’m trying to chase you away!), but you don’t know what you’re going to get this time of year.  I’ll update you again as we wrap up aerification soon, and also give you an idea how we operate during the winter…we are open to play in the wintertime, it’s just very necessary to monitor the greens closely as damage can occur quickly when freezing temperatures persist.