Good Morning,
A week that started off with a high of 89, followed by cold temperatures, lots of rain and high winds has finally come to a close. The clubhouse closed early a couple of days and the Glow Ball tournament had a lot of cancellations Saturday night. But in between all of it we had some die hard golfers.
Last night the After 5 Kiwanis held their first glow ball tournament. The weather was not very nice to start off the evening but soon after dark the wind died down and it was pretty decent outside. There were only 24 golfers participating but they all had a great time. The course was lit up very nicely outlining the tees, fairways, hazards, and greens. We plan to meet and evaluate the plan for the event in 2020.
On Thursday the staff and I completed the aerification of the greens. We partner with the Country Club on this project. They use our tractor and their machine to do their greens and then we complete the same process at the muni. The greens were aerified to a depth of approximately 9″. This helps with the elimination of compaction, better water penetration, and deeper root growth. The greens were double mowed after the aerification was finished.
Root depth is a very important part of turfgrass maintenance. This year has been very difficult to achieve much root depth due to the heavy rainfall in the spring. The heavy rainfall makes it unnecessary for the turf roots to grow in search of water since it is so available right at the surface. Lack of root depth develops a weaker turf plant that becomes susceptible to high temperatures and disease pressure. You could see some of this evident on our collars and a couple spots on some greens this year.
There was also a lot of equipment repair and scheduled maintenance tasks completed. We serviced a handful of mowers by changing oil and filters, flushing the radiators, and greasing each machine. Also, small repairs were completed at the same time.
I have spent a lot of time working on the irrigation system the past couple of months. We have definitely not needed the system much as of late, but it is working the best it has in a couple of years. The majority of electrical issues have been addressed, damaged valves replaced, and other PVC issues addressed. There will still be a few small issues to deal with but overall it is night and day compared to earlier in the year.
The tile project was scheduled to be completed this week. For two plus years this has been an ongoing problem and the rain never seems to give us a break when it is finally set up and ready to happen. I am hoping to have Matt Hagedorn on site sometime in the next two weeks to add more tile around #16 green and make some repairs in upper Waterway Park. Stay tuned.
Mowing has been a never ending process the past month at the golf course. The grass has been growing at a rapid rate. It was extremely challenging getting the course mowed by the time the weekend arrived. Thankfully the staff and I were able to work some longer shifts to get everything under control just in time for the storm on Saturday morning. The course is looking very nice outside of all the additional water features.
Next week I plan to start the Fall herbicide application. This will be more of a spot treatment as compared to the Spring application covering the course wall to wall. I will also treat Waterway Park with herbicide. This will help control the weed population when the 2020 season arrives. We will still battle dandelions that show up from all the surface drainage on the course but it will be better than if no application was made this time of year.
We will also be fertilizing greens, tees, and fairways with a granular application. This will help take the turfgrass into the winter months with some health and hopefully make it less prone to stress. The past few winters the biggest issue has been ice damage in the low areas of greens and around the golf course.
Also the removal of dead Pine trees and tree pruning will be conducted in the upcoming weeks. There are about 15 trees that need to be removed from the golf course. If time allows we will also removed the stumps left behind.
This concludes another week at the Muni. Please contact me with any comments, questions, or concerns. I will see each of you at the Golf Board or City Council meetings on Monday evening.
Spencer Municipal Golf Course 