I wonder how many people called in sick today. Ernie Palladino didn’t. He just checked in from Maple Moor with this:

Joe Rafferty, the general manager at Maple Moor said the course was full and noon and expected 150-175 golfers for the day.

“For a weekday in March, that’s great,” Rafferty said.

There weren’t a lot of changes on the course.

“We’ve got some capital projects scheduled for later in the season,” Rafferty said, noting the list of specifics has not been compiled yet.

If you played at Maple Moor today, leave a comment.

There was a crowd of regulars at Mohansic this morning, but there’s room for walk-ups now.

Frost delayed the morning rounds until 8:15, but there’s no backup on the course. The flags are bending quite a bit right now and it doesn’t feel like 55 degrees. Nobody is complaining, though.

“I didn’t know the courses were open,” said Robert Marranzio, a retired Yonkers firefighter. “My friend called me and said he had a Thursday tee time. It seems they opened earlier than last year. I wait all year for this.”

Bring a soft touch if you’re playing, the greens are rolling hard and fast.

Again, let us know if you played at Mohansic today and give us a review of how things went.

Ernie Palladino is down at Saxon Woods and filed this report:

Business was brisk at Saxon Woods, almost double the traffic they had on the first day last year, according to assistant pro Matt Kreye.

“Last year was very slow, but we’re really busy today,” he said. “We’re actually backed up.”

Part of the problem was a hone-hour delay on the first tee due to frost. The first foursome was not able to go until 9 a.m.

Helping to ease the congestion was an experiment in which the front and back nines were reversed. There’s no par 3 on what is now the front nine until No. 8. With the previous layout, golfers were slowed because the second hole was a par 3, which created a bottle neck.

I’m at Mohansic now and will file an update from here shortly.

Go ahead and post a thought or two if you played at Saxon today. Let me know how the course plays with the nines being reversed.

Do you even keep score this time of year?

I’m not going to ask to see a scorecard, just let us know how you hit ‘em out there. This is the place to share any thoughts about the first round of a new season.

Where did you play? Dunwoodie? Mohansic? Hudson Hills? Rotella? Putnam National?

Tell me what kind of shape the course was is, but let’s not get carried away. It’s always fun to needle the powers that be. Still, it’s only March and it’s not right to complain about conditions until clouds of pollen are making us all nuts.

How many balls did you lose? Did anybody in the group break 80?

Post a thought, please. I’m living vicariously through all of those lucky enough to enjoy the day with clubs in hand.

Are your clubs shined up and waiting by the door? Is every ball in the bag new? Did you remember to buy tees?

Let’s go!

All of the Westchester County Courses are open for business in the morning. Ernie Paladino and I will be out talking with golfers, checking in to see how things went. Check back to see what people are saying about the first round of a new season.

I also checked around to see what other daily-fee courses are up and running.

Pound Ridge Golf Club opened for play on Saturday. Doral Arrowood is scheduled to open April 1.

Blue Hill and Patriot Hill in Rockland have been open all week. Rotella opened today and Spook Rock is opening tomorrow on a first-come, first-served basis. The reservation system is accepting tee times for the weekend.

Putnam National is open for play, but is using four temporary greens until the weekend. Carts will not be allowed out until Friday or Saturday. entennial and Garrison are both scheduled to open March 27.

Don’t forget, check back during the day tomorrow.

Golfers might notice a couple of changes when Hudson Hills welcomes everybody back tomorrow for a new season.

Richard Belizze, who is the golf program director for Westchester County, says they removed a waste area on the 15th hole that’s drawn a lot of criticism, and reshaped the hole. It was impossible for most golfers to use a driver off the tee before the makeover.

Improvements were also made to the seventh hole, another par 5, where the average player wound up lying three in a ravine. A number of trees were removed from the right side of the eighth hole, as well. The big tree guarding the 17th green was also taken down, putting more of the fairway in play.

I haven’t played Hudson Hills since before it opened in 2004, so if anybody out there is playing the course tomorrow, leave us a comment. Let us know how the course is playing and whether the changes make the round more enjoyable.

The plan is to get out and see the local courses when possible. I’ll post a couple of remarks, lie about my score, and open the floor to reviews from anybody who’s visited the facility to get other opinions.

Despite the wonders of modern e-mail filters, I always seem to get a request for help from a deposed leader of a third-world country. Maybe you know the guy. He offers a share of his tremendous wealth in exchange for a savings account number.

How else is the money going to be transferred?

So this afternoon, I’m sorting through my electronic correspondence and I noticed another generous offer. It seems you can get free tickets for the Sybase Classic by texting”LPGA” to “SYBASE”.

If you’re using a BlackBerry, that’s 792273.

The response will include a promotional code that can be redeemed on the tournament website for two free daily tickets. Really. I just confirmed it with the organizers. Tickets can be used any day of the event, which is now across the state line at Upper Montclair Country Club.

It runs May 14-17, and defending champion Lorena Ochoa is expected to be in the field. You might also consider following Port Chester native Meaghan Francella.

Want a swing lesson that’ll only set you back 20 or 30 minutes?

There wasn’t a lot of traffic at the Lower Hudson Golf Show this morning, so nobody had to wait long to handle the new clubs or get free instruction from the area pros. Blame the economy. There probably won’t be as many people on the course this season, either.

Most of the visitors were signing up to win giveaways left and right. The odds have to be good unless there’s a flood of people tomorrow. Most of the club manufacturers on the Weschester County Center stage were busy, spending at least five minutes with everyone that stopped by to check out the new technology.

The pro shop was also moving a lot of shoes and drivers.

So did anybody visit the show? Leave us an impression, tell us what you found useful or what you would like to see improved.

It seems the one thing I always forget to do after the last round of the season is clean my golf shoes. My clubs practically get a spa treatment, but my spikes always seem to linger in some dark corner of the basement until spring. There’s nothing worse than starting the year off with dirty shoes.

There is an easy remedy.

In a back corner of the Lower Hudson Golf Show is a stash of merchandise leftover from Westchester’s six public courses. How does 60 percent off a pair of FootJoys sound?

Sure, you have to add on the $9 price of admission, but that entitles you to a bucket of balls at Fairview Golf Center. And there will be a number of local professionals on hand giving out free advice. The show runs from 10 a.m.-5 p.m. tomorrow and Sunday at the Westchester County Center.

There will also be area reps from Titleist, Cobra, Cleveland, Sirixon, Mizuno, Nike and Bridgestone on hand with new clubs to demo.

Yes, the economy is affecting the size of the show. Here’s a link to my story in The Journal News should you require more details. If you go, leave a review in the comments.

Did you clean your clubs after last season? Have you picked up a dozen balls and a new glove? Do you have a tee time set up?

The six Westchester County golf courses are scheduled to open next Wednesday.

Of course, you might want to wear last year’s shoes. Unless we get a couple of warm and windy afternoons, the properties are likely to be a little soft.

Hey, mud is always better than snow.

If you are planning to play at Dunwoodie, Hudson Hills, Maple Moor, Mohansic, Saxon Woods or Sprain Lake, check here after you get cleaned up. A team of reporters from The Journal News and LoHud.com will be stopping by some of the courses to get early impressions, and we’ll have a post up for each site where golfers can leave their observations and tell us about the first round of the season.

Click here to reserve a tee time.

Let us know how the course is playing. Tell us about the conditions. Describe any changes made in recent seasons. Just remember, it’s early. Golf balls plug in fairways in these parts until May or June.

Stay tuned.