9-10-17

The fairways and tees were fertilized a little over a week ago and they are really growing.  The thick grass has made it very difficult to mow when it is wet.  So, afternoon and evening mowing has been necessary.  The lower temperatures, high dew point, and being very humid all adds to the difficulty of mowing grass.

​The cooler days have aided in using less irrigation water during the nights.  ​I think our irrigation totals will easily fall below the amount allowed by the IDNR on our water permit. ​

​I​t seems a little early to have the morning temperatures hovering around 40 and you can see your breath.​  Even the trees are reacting to the lower temperatures with leaves starting to turn to fall colors.  Fall golf is a great time of the season and hopefully it sticks around for a long time.​

The fairways and tees look about as nice as they have since the golf course construction in 1999.  We have some little areas that need sod attention and other lightly damaged areas due to irrigation issues.  But, overall everything looks beautiful.

We hosted the police outing on Tuesday and are preparing for the Spackler tournament this morning.  Each event we host plays a big part in the overall success of our budget.

​The police outing was a lot of fun with close to 50 players.  The Spackler is always around 150 very enthusiastic players.​

The yardage books have been completed and ordered.  We will be receiving 250 books in the next couple of weeks.  I think they turned out great and will be a nice addition to the golf course.

I have spoken with some of the elected officials in regards to the ILCC fundraiser November 2.  I have heard no negative feedback and plan on giving them the go ahead on Monday.  I think it will be a great opportunity for the muni and the college.

I keep saying it each week, so I might as well mention it again.  Being short staffed has made it difficult to complete some of our scheduled projects but we will eventually get them finished.  They are still scheduled to be completed as soon as possible.

The clubhouse staff is short but everyone has stepped up to make sure we are covering each shift.  Overall things are going very smoothly and our customers are being accommodated at a high level.

9-4-17

We have entered the month of September and we continue to operate short handed with staff.  I am proud to say that everyone keeps stepping up and making sure we get the maintenance end done to a high level.  Also, the clubhouse staff continues to rise to the occasion each and every day to provide great customer service.

I was able to fertilize fairways and tees last Friday.  This eliminated a couple of fairway mowings in order to move the fertilizer prills down to the crown of the plant.  Light rain and heavy irrigation cycles helped with that process.  Lawson and I mowed the majority of the fairways Sunday evening.  They were so long that mowing them dry would really improve the quality of cut.  We are finishing the last five holes this morning.  They will most likely need to be mowed again this evening.

The greens were sprayed with a foliar fungicide and foliar fertilizer on Saturday morning.  This was a scheduled spraying that happens about every 14 days.  The fungicide eliminates the pressure of dollar spot disease and other patch type diseases.  The foliar fertilizer gives the bentgrass the necessary nutrients to provide a high quality putting surface under stressful conditions.

Earlier this week, I shared the rough draft of the yardage book for the muni.  This should be going to print by the middle of this week.  I am excited to have this available to our golfing customers and I thank the area businesses that sponsored the book.

The tile area final repair process has taken a slow halt due to the dry clutch needing to be replaced on the machine.  The part has been ordered and after arrival will be replace the damaged clutch.  Then we will start cleaning these tile areas following with grass seed.  I will also be repairing an area on West 7th street with some assistance from the street division.

The final drawing is completed for the new shelter by five tee area.  I will start making the proper cuts to bring the existing trusses to the dimensions of the new shelter.  I know this has been a long process but the money we save by using old materials is going to be substantial.  Total materials is estimated at $1500 to complete this project.  I think that is pretty darn good.

We will also be working on the water quality improvement plan in the upcoming weeks.  This will be the addition of a berm on five fairway and a berm on hole eleven.  This will allow the irrigation pond to retain more water for a longer period of time helping ease the flooding process on the south end of town.  The past 3″ rain was nowhere near as problematic as in past years.  That is a good sign.

We had the Clay County Pork Producers hold a golf outing last week.  Also, Noteboom Implement had an outing on Thursday.  Both of these events went great and everyone appeared to have a great time.  These type of outings are very important for the success of the muni.  We have a few more upcoming this week.