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.

 

Saturday-July 23 Update

Good Morning…Unfortunately, it has been a very stormy morning!  I don’t have an official rain total as of this writing…but after viewing several areas of the golf course it looks like Hoffman Estates probably received 3-4″ of rain overnight.  The course is not playable right now with several cartpath areas covered with water.  The flooded areas are receding at a fairly quick pace…so although the course will be closed this morning, I am hopeful that barring additional heavy rainfall…the Mad Dog Outing will go as scheduled this afternoon.  I’ll post an additional update later this morning and as always, you can call the Pro Shop @ 847-310-1100  ex.27  for information.   Thank you.

View from the 17th Green