4-28-19

Good Morning,

What a crazy end to the work week.  We had nice golf weather spread amongst the rainfall and then the snow hit us on Saturday.  The cold weather has delayed our tournament, scheduled for today, until next Sunday.  Hopefully the weather stays true to the 75 degree extended forecast.  The snow didn’t stop me from getting in some putting practice Saturday morning:

 Snow Putting

The golf course purchased trees from the Soil and Water Conservation District in mid April.  These trees were planted this past week.  We added 25 small Hackberry, 25 Red Oak, and 25 River Birch to the driving range nursery.  On the course there were 17 Spruce trees planted.  The Spruce trees have been placed in areas where we previously lost Pine trees.  It will take some years for these trees to make an impact but we are planning for the future.

I worked on the irrigation system each day of the week.  We built a new intake for our lead pump, assembled the pumphouse for start up, and worked on the repair punch list from last fall when I blew out the system.  There are still some areas that need to be addressed but we are ready to open the system.  I had planned on watering greens very early Thursday morning, but Mother Nature decided to take care of that for me.  The system will be opened early this coming week.

There are still some areas on several greens, mainly #17, that we continue to topdress every couple of days.  The topdressing is basically a sand mix that is hand spread in the thin areas of the greens and collars.  It gives the bentgrass something to grow into and will eventually completely fill in with grass.

I’m pleased with the progress of the greens from last year.  This year I have some concern with several greens that received some ice damage.  You can look at these greens and see where the water puddled and then froze (#3 & #8 green).  Also, where the water surface flowed to the center of greens and attempted to drain off the front (#13).  They are showing signs of improvement but there might be some turf loss in these areas.

I’m planning on overseeding areas of our fairways this coming week.  Some of these spots are where the skunks were digging for grubs last fall (#1, #2, & #18).  Other areas are damaged from the ice or surface water standing for extended periods of time.  There will also be areas over seeded on some of the greens.

During the times of rainfall, staff was able to go through the cart sheds and clean up garbage and address the list of cart storage spaces.  This list is updated multiple times during the season.  These inspections have alerted us to unpaid cart spaces or even where someone has parked there cart without checking into the clubhouse. I currently have a repeat offender of this act.  They owe for the past two years of cart storage for the second time in five years.

Each year we have golfers that are no longer able to play due to health reasons.  This is probably my number one concern each season.  Who is going to replace the senior golfers in our younger generation?  We have added quite a few pass holders that are new this year.  It’s always nice to see the familiar faces and is very exciting to meet the new ones.

I purchased two private carts this past week.  Both carts were owned by golfers no longer able to play the wonderful game.  These carts will be added to our rental fleet when we have large events.  We currently have the ability to rent out 27 carts without requesting help from our private carts we are allowed to use from time to time.   These 27 carts equate to our rental carts on hand and private carts that our staff allow us to use for no charge.

Lastly, you might have seen the news article, by Joe Hopper, in reference to Caddy our feral cat addition.  I’m happy to announce we had great support from our community and her vet bill has been paid in full from donations.  The remainder will be donated to the feral cat program at People for Pets.

Caddy hangs out in our maintenance facility and is free to come and go as she pleases.  Normally she chooses to stick around and hang out with us.  Now she will remain a friendly fur body but will not be able to reproduce.  She is up to date on her shots as well.  She is not around the general public unless it is somewhere in the outdoor setting.

This completes another week in the books at the ol’ golf course.  Our men’s leagues start this coming week.  This time of year starts off and everything seems to fly by all season.  This year I’m going to slow down a little bit and enjoy each day.  Enjoy your days as they come and go!

4-21-19

What a beautiful past couple of days at the golf course.  The golf course was packed on Friday and Saturday.  We rented out our entire fleet of rental carts during one stretch of Saturday.  The weather was perfect and the golfers were enjoying the warm weather.

Our Season pass revenues are 70% of what the entire calendar year 2018.  We are off to a much better start than the previous two seasons.  We still had snow on the ground last year at this time.

The warm weather really kicked in the green grass.  The course looks better than I could have expected this early in the season.  It normally takes a long time for our variety of bentgrass to come around.  There are some areas in the fairways, on tees, and greens that received some ice damage.

This occurred during the fast snowmelt during the rain storms.  The grass became exposed during the massive surface drainage creating standing water in the low areas all over the course.  The cold spells caused ice formation and stunted the grass in these areas.  I am optimistic with several spots on greens, but the fairways and tees will be seeded sometime in the next week.

Saturday evening we hosted a surprise 50th wedding anniversary party.  The event was for Ted and Jeri Wurth and the surprise was the pleasure of their children.  This was a great event where the best part was the actual surprise.

Most of the early week was poor weather but we still had a lot of revenue due to league meetings held Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday evenings.  I was able to speak to the leagues to address a few issues we have had in the past and answer questions.  I also directed everyone to enter their email address on our website to receive the same update I share each Sunday morning.

Our parking lot has been a mess the entire Spring.  The warm weather on Friday and Saturday definitely helped to an extent.  I also had a couple of friends, Bo Woodall and Kris Lindsey, come out with a drag and skid loader to help smooth the parking lot as much as possible.  By mid afternoon the difference was huge.  We still have a long way to go but there is progress.

I spent a lot of time working on the irrigation system late in the week.  I ran electrical tests and started the set up in the pumphouse for the season.  I will start filling the main irrigation lines on Monday and then run through station by station to address any issues.

Equipment repair was also a priority.  I had quite a few electrical issues that needed attention.  One John Deere green mower had a reel motor replaced and some electrical connections addressed.  One Toro tee mower had electrical issues with the raise/lower switches that were addressed.

It was much easier to work on the electrical end of equipment after getting some education from the Street Division mechanics.  Tom and Justin spent some time with me to run through schematic diagrams and they ordered some additional materials to make the process easier.  It was definitely invaluable and much appreciated.

It was a late night in the clubhouse last night and an early morning today.  I wish each of you a very Happy Easter and hope your day is filled with joy and laughter.  Stop on out to the golf course for some sunshine or a drink if you’re looking for something to do.  Keep on smilin’!

4-14-19

It looks like we might have survived the cold stretch from Mother Nature.  The coming week is returning to great golf temperatures.  Bring on the golfers!

The parking lot is still a mess.  We have set up a safe route for people to come in and then leave through the north maintenance parking lot.  It’s working well.  Mark White and street division staff have all agreed any attempt to grade it will only make it worse.  We have to be patient and wait for the frost to leave.  Then hopefully somebody comes up with some magic money to pave have if it this fall. And the other half next year.

This past week allowed us to get a lot of indoor work accomplished.  We did a ton of spring cleaning in the clubhouse and redecorating.  We added a ceiling net to the simulator and opened up a lot of space in that room.  Most of the plants have been moved around the building to bring out a little touch on indoor nature.

The coolest thing I am excited to showcase is a couple pieces of old tile from the old golf course. One piece is concrete and 6″ while the other is 4″ clay tile.  These are both old pieces of farm tile that run through the golf course and were salvaged during repair processes.  I thought it would be cool to build a shelf and add some literature in the clubhouse.

We also cleaned and organized the office area and started hanging wall art and advertising pieces.  The pool cue holder has been hung next to the table and looks great.  I am still waiting on a few more signs but the clubhouse looks a lot more welcoming to the eye.

We hosted our first private event last night in the clubhouse.  It was a birthday party and it went very well.  I think I was finished with cleaning by 1:00 AM.  Today we’re back to normal and ready for some golfers.  I’m trying to open and close a little bit more to save some labor hours.

The maintenance facility has received the same level of TLC.  All of our scrap metal was rounded up and hauled to the bin at the Street Division.  We tore apart all of our old reels and salvaged all the useable parts.  The rest was sent for recycling.

Next, all of our garbage was hauled out and sent to sanitation.  Things really accumulate over the years and this year we are cleaning house.  I always stress to my guys that the appearance of the maintenance building is the first impression that a new visitor takes away from that stop.  Let’s it clean and organized leaving a great impression on how we run our ship at Spencer Muni.

Equipment repairs were also a big part of the week.  I repaired at least a dozen rollers for different reels.  It’s a lengthy process but goes pretty smooth once you get in the flow.  For $40 a roller can be rebuilt and almost as good as new.  A new roller is in the range of $200-$300.  We still have a few new rollers in our inventory but will also have quite a few rebuilt spares.

Our first tournament was on April 7.  This tournament is scheduled every year and weather allows us to have it about every four years.  There were 80 golfers for the day and everyone had a good time.  It was nice to get that first tournament under our belt.  The next event is April 28th.  It will be a four person best shot with two holes on every green.

Every year we get stray cats that have babies in our maintenance facility.  Normally they run off soon after birth an we never see them again.  Last fall we had one kitten that stuck around and we kind of took her under our wing by feeding her and giving her warmth through the winter.  She is free to come and go in the maintenance facility.  I took her to the vet and had them give her a rabies shot just to be safe.  Her name is Caddy and I have no idea how long she will stick around before she moves on down the road.

 IMG_0481.JPG

Lastly, I hope everyone knows how passionate I am about my job.  It started at a very young age chasing my dad around the Country Club as early as I can remember.  I always knew I wanted to be in the golf industry.  Here is a picture from August 1976 that hopefully lets you know about my love of this golf course:

 Brian and Mark on a ride with Choogie.jpg

This is my brother Mark and I going to work with Dad to help get some work done.

Everyone have a great remainder to the weekend and keep smiling.  It’s a beautiful world out there if you look at it the right way!

4-8-19

The past two weeks have been pretty crazy and I have not sent out a weekly email update.  So, I thought I would drop you a line right now.

Our golf course is looking great right now.  We have mowed greens several times and they came through the winter very nice.  I’m very happy we removed the majority of the snow as soon as we were able to get our loader on the course.  This helped eliminate a lot of snow mold on our greens.  You can still see some snow mold around the collars and mounds where the snow last left the course.

When you spray greens for snow mold, a fungus that comes to life when the snow starts melting, you only have so many days of coverage.  It is a constant worry as to whether or not you will become victim to this disease.  With the massive amount of snow we received I felt it was necessary to remove it manually instead of waiting.

The course is still very wet in some areas.  Not nearly as bad as I would have expected.  There is still frost in some of our low lying areas which does not allow the water to leave the area.  The parking lot included.  Once the frost is gone these areas will all be attended to and rectified.

Our course has been very busy on most days, especially the nice days.  I’m pleased with the amount of fees that are being paid on a daily basis.  We are making progress.

The grounds staff is operating one man less this year and the clubhouse staff has been a little short handed as well.  I’m trying to work shifts in the evenings in the clubhouse as well as all day on the grounds.  Anything that can be done to help our budget is my current goal.

The next few days do not look favorable at all.  This will give us some time to work on some more of our shop items.  I have finished sharpening the reels and bedknives and started repairing damaged rollers.  Roller damage is a constant battle each year.  This year we are going to daily clean our mowers with compressed air in an attempt to prolong the life of our bearings.

There have been new ball washers ordered for the blue tees on the course.  The stands have been painted and the installation of these ball washers has begun.  There will be no water added until the threat of frost is gone.

Warm weather has started to show a lot of green grass all over the golf course.  It is the most beautiful part of spring.  Mother Nature comes back to life in a beautiful form.  The staff and I are all excited.

Irrigation was a huge battle last year.  Hundreds of electrical issues presented themselves all year long.  I was able to replace close to 300 connections and install them in new tubing.  I ran an electrical test today of every station on the course.  There were two stations that failed the test.  Both of these areas were problematic late last fall.  I’m beyond thrilled the hard work last year has paid off.

I’m calling it quits for the day and will touch base again this Sunday.  I have attached the final copy of the History of SMGC if you care to do some reading:

 SMGC History (Final Copy)

4-6-19

This past winter was one to never forget.  With all the snowfall up to our ears, March thunderstorms, and tons of flooding will not soon be forgotten.  Unfortunately the troubles are not finished at the golf course.

The main parking lot has experienced frost boils the past several springs, but this year it is the absolute cake topper.  The entire parking lot seems to be a frost boil.  Sioux Central buried their van trying to leave after practice last night.  Not a good feeling all across the building.

A frost boil happens when you have the wet fall season, then cold temperatures, then warm temperatures, finally followed by cold temperatures again.  This creates a stratus of frost down deep, moisture above the frost, and finally more frost above this moisture.  Come into Spring and we have rainfall that thaws the top part of the soil profile.  The top layer of frost leaves the ground and exposes the middle layer of moisture to the surface but the lower frost level is still present and does not allow the moisture to leach through the soil profile.

Our parking lot has been worse each Spring over the past four years.  Mark White is working with me to get project estimate from Kruse, Cate, and Nelson to pave the parking lot.  With us being open year round and also trying to provide parking to our golfing public, I think it is a great idea.  Not gonna be cheap….right Mr. Weuve?

Anyway, Mark and I are meeting this morning to try and find a temporary fix for the parking lot so we don’t miss out on our scheduled tournament tomorrow.  I appreciate his time and professional advice he is always willing to share.

The bottom line is……the parking lot is out of our control, but we are still trying to control it.

4-6-19

This past winter was one to never forget.  With all the snowfall up to our ears, March thunderstorms, and tons of flooding will not soon be forgotten.  Unfortunately the troubles are not finished at the golf course.

The main parking lot has experienced frost boils the past several springs, but this year it is the absolute cake topper.  The entire parking lot seems to be a frost boil.  Sioux Central buried their van trying to leave after practice last night.  Not a good feeling all across the building.

A frost boil happens when you have the wet fall season, then cold temperatures, then warm temperatures, finally followed by cold temperatures again.  This creates a stratus of frost down deep, moisture above the frost, and finally more frost above this moisture.  Come into Spring and we have rainfall that thaws the top part of the soil profile.  The top layer of frost leaves the ground and exposes the middle layer of moisture to the surface but the lower frost level is still present and does not allow the moisture to leach through the soil profile.

Our parking lot has been worse each Spring over the past four years.  Mark White is working with me to get project estimate from Kruse, Cate, and Nelson to pave the parking lot.  With us being open year round and also trying to provide parking to our golfing public, I think it is a great idea.  Not gonna be cheap….right Mr. Weuve?

Anyway, Mark and I are meeting this morning to try and find a temporary fix for the parking lot so we don’t miss out on our scheduled tournament tomorrow.  I appreciate his time and professional advice he is always willing to share.

The bottom line is……the parking lot is out of our control, but we are still trying to control it.