Another week has passed us by and the golf course is officially closing on Monday for the 2017 golf season. Friday was a nice day and golfers were able to enjoy the course. The staff and I have almost completed all the preparations for putting the course to bed for the winter. The final step is to spray the greens with a fungicide to prevent snow mold.
Monday will be a free golf day to anyone signing up for a tee time. No green fees and 55 degrees to end the golf season at the muni. Our liquor license has expired and the revenue dollars are very minimal. Maybe we will pick up a couple cart rentals and hopefully there are individuals that come out to play.
The first topic is the completion of the new yardage books that were sponsored by many local businesses in our community. I am very thrilled with the finished product. We have received the first 250 books while another 500 are currently in print. I would happily provide anyone interested with a book. There are a couple in my city hall mailbox available for viewing. Very cool!
It has been a very busy week with the water quality project. DeLoss has been putting the final touches on their work plan. The area behind number five green has been completed with the addition of a new 24″ pond outlet tile. There is also a 36″ emergency overflow concrete structure in this area. Also an 8″ tile was added to the west of number five green draining to the same area as the other tiles.
The pond behind number 12 green has been transformed to a depth of five feet. There are four farm tiles that were repaired and now open into the pond. There is one 8″ tile outlet that exits on the NW corner of this small pond and runs underground to the irrigation pond.
The remainder of the stockpiled clay and topsoil has been spread in the area south of the golf course. DeLoss leveled the area with a bulldozer. I will dormant seed this area yet this fall.
DeLoss has finish graded the majority of their work areas. Two main haul roads still need to be addressed. Once these areas are cleaned up they will also be dormant seeded. I have chosen a summer fescue mix that does great in drought tolerant conditions.
We spent the majority of our work week laying sod in the construction areas. The area has been sodded from the edge of number five green to the edge of number eleven fairway. We also sodded the repaired tile area in front of 12 green. The tile outlet behind 12 green was sodded almost the entire way to the irrigation pond. In total, 35 pallets of sod were laid this week by Mark Lawson, Aaron Feeley, and me.
I focused on placing the sod in the highest traffic areas of the construction project. We have irrigated all of the newly laid sod a minimum of one time. The majority was covered twice. The remainder of the construction areas will be dormant seeded and/or sodded in the spring.
This has been a very stressful project. I am happy to say it went much smoother than I ever anticipated. DeLoss has been great during the entire process. They have treated the golf course with great care and done a fabulous job overall. I am very impressed with their professionalism.
This ends the final golf week at the ol’ course. Please feel free to contact me with any comments, questions, or concerns so they can be addressed. Remember to visit our website www.spencermunigolf.com and go to our blog. This area has all the golf updates listed and is perfect for the public to possibly find answers to questions.
Here are some photos of the water quality project at the golf course:
I like the green sod much more than the bare ground!
Spencer Municipal Golf Course 