The Latest In Season I’ve Ever Golfed In Wisconsin Started With A Frost Delay + Finished With 4 PM Sunset
I got a text message from a golfing buddy on November 14th, saying he had a tee time for tomorrow and an open spot for me. This was a pretty strange moment. I just got back from deer hunting in Minnesota, and now I'm considering going golfing. This was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity!
I had assumed golf courses were already closed, but Hidden Greens North in Solon Springs stays open as late as possible. From what I gathered, they stay open as long as the weather cooperates all the way until Wisconsin's firearm deer season opens.
We had a 10:07 tee time on Wednesday. When I pulled up to the clubhouse it looked like a golf tournament was going to start. There were over 20 golf carts lined up down the road for the first tee box.
I went inside to check in and that's when they informed me there was a frost delay.
I've been golfing for years and I've never had a frost delay before. Basically what it means is that it got below freezing last night, and the greens needed to thaw out. If a ball lands hard on the green, it will damage it if it's frozen. The frost delay lasted about 90 minutes, so the first tee time of the day scheduled at 8:45 am, actually started at around 10:15 am. Everyone on the course cheered when he hit his ball. It was pretty funny.
I had to hand it to Hidden Greens, they got the groups out as fast as they could and in an orderly fashion. It's a beautiful course, and they take the condition of it very seriously. I couldn't believe what great shape it was in November.
We were able to tee off at about 11:30 and had a blast. It was definitely a bonus day of golf. It was a little bit of a slower round because it's so hard to find your golf ball in the leaves. Better players will have more luck if they keep it on the fairway.
The greens were in good shape, but boy they were slow. I found myself having to putt with twice as much power as I normally do, and still ended up short a few times.
It was bittersweet as I looked back on hole 18 and saw the sunset on a beautiful day and a great season of golf. This photo was taken at 4:02 pm. It was very strange to be finishing up 18 holes in the afternoon with the sun going down.