The week was pretty nice for golfers to enjoy the sunshine and warmer weather. The amount of play was decent, for this time of year. It was also a nice work week for our outdoor projects.
We removed all our perennial plant debris from landscaping areas around the golf course. This is the growth that bites the dust once the heavy frosts hit the area. The landscaping grasses were left alone and will not be trimmed back. This will allow them to go to seed and also provide some visual effect during the off season.
Trees have continued to be at the top of our list. We still have all the stump work to grind from over a dozen trees removed this fall. Tree pruning has also begun around the course. We also removed several dead trees from the Public Works property SW of #15 tees. This debris was hauled to the golf course. The Street Division will eventually haul the debris to the tree site.
Drier weather allowed us to finally get back into the green surrounds on #16. Previously we hauled 76 loads of fill material into these two sand traps. This past week another 35 loads were added to these areas. I used the loader to level and shape both mounds. Lastly, eight loads of black topsoil was hand raked into the uneven areas in preparation for sod early next week.
The tiling project has still not been completed in the area of #16 green surrounds. Eliminating the sand traps will help with the majority of the problem around the green. I plan on adding more tile to the north of the green and tying into the tile that is present between #17 tees. This should eliminate the majority of the issues.
Much of Wednesday was spent working on the simulator. Solutions was on site to help install all the software and get everything working through the WiFi. I was able to download a 30 day demo golf course in order to get the feel for the operations. New software will be purchased to install close to 20 golf courses on the simulator.
This golf simulator will be open for play in the next week or two. The cost will be $20 per hour and the machine can be reserved through normal tee times in the clubhouse. We will be open around 11:00 AM on weekdays and 9:00 AM on weekends. This will be a trial basis to see what kind of demand there is for the simulator.
Spencer Municipal Golf Course 