Practice Center
(630)231-3160

The St. Andrews Practice Center has been voted "Best Practice Facility at a Course" by Chicagoland Golf Readers!

The St. Andrews Practice Center is a 32 acre on-site facility featuring:

• Over 80 grass tees
• 4 target greens with target fairways
• 2 chipping greens
• Putting green
• High quality range balls
• Lights (Mid-April - Mid-September)

St. Andrews Practice Center is annually rated in the top 3 for "Best Chicagoland
Practice Facility" by Chicagoland Golf readers. There is a fully stocked "hard goods"
Pro Shop along with a Professional, custom club fitting program. Currently there are
seven teaching professionals for private lessons or you can take advantage of the very
economical "No Embarrassment" Golf Schools for group lessons. It is recommended that
you make appointments for both club fittings and lessons.

Why are the grass tees at the Practice Center not open all the time?

This is a frequently asked question at the Practice Center. First of all, there are three times our customers may find that the artificial surfaces (mats) are in use.

1. After 7PM during our normal season (late April through late October).
2. During the colder months (early November through late April).
3. Extreme weather conditions such as frost or heavy rain.

Lets address each circumstance:

After 7PM

The main reason we move from grass to mats at this time is darkness. Our lights are fixed to shine on the mat areas. It would be very costly to light our whole grass tee since we move our grass tee area daily. Optimum lighting each evening would not be up to our standards. Secondly, a consistent time (7PM currently) provides our customers the ease of knowing and planning accordingly even though darkness arrives at different times thoughout the summer. We tell every customer verbally beginning at 6PM that we will move to mats at 7PM.

Also, safety is very important to St. Andrews. A higher percentage of our evening clientele are newer to the game of golf so we have installed quality, immovable dividers to keep our golfers at least 10 feet apart when using mats. These dividers have saved many an ankle from stray golf shots.

Finally, we open our Practice Center at dawn every morning (except Monday and Thursday at 8 AM for mowing) so the grass has been in use for over 12 hours. By 7PM the grass tee area is simply not up to our standards.

Colder Months

Why is the grass not open in early April when the snow is gone and the grass is greening up? Our Greens Superintendent John Lapp advises us that seed does not germinate until the soil temperature reaches 50 to 60 degrees. This usually occurs when nighttime lows stay above 57 degrees for three consecutive nights. We have found this usually occurs between April 18 - 30. We seed our range every other day. If seed will not germinate, we could run out of grass before the season even got going. Each divot made after October will still be there come Spring.

Extreme Weather

When there is a frost, just stepping on the turf will kill the grass. All grass areas, both golf course and range, do not open until the frost disappears. However, for your convenience, our mats are usually open during frost delays on the golf course. During or after heavy rainfall, our grass areas sometimes close temporarily. Walking through standing water and splashing yourself and others nearby once again does not meet our quality standards.

We have found that when our grass areas are closed and we utilize our mats, most other facilities are totally shut down. Every effort is made to get back out to the grass as soon as possible. Our chipping greens become excessively damaged from ball marks when they are too soft. Generally, if there is standing water on them they get closed temporarily.

St. Andrews Practice Center prides itself with maintaining quality grass hitting areas and practice greens.