Good Afternoon,
The past week we spent the majority of our time trying to stay on top of our mowing practices. It was non stop mowing all last week through the holiday weekend. To make matters worse one of the 11′ rough units had a hydraulic leak on Saturday. This really dropped us behind schedule trying to keep up with things.
All the rainfall and high humidity has kicked the fertilizer applications into high gear. We mowed through the rain trying to catch up as much as possible today. I spent multiple hours replacing the hydraulic line on the John Deere rough unit. I am thankful for Justin, at the Street Division to take a little time to educate me on these tightly positioned hydraulic lines. He was able to provide the necessary tools and some insight to assist me with a problem that never goes away with these units. In the future I will be able to go pick up the necessary wrenches and take care of the problem in a timely manner. I have a lot of respect for equipment engineers, but one thing is for certain, they never have to repair this stuff.
The high humidity and rainfall made it very difficult to mow today. The grass is clumping everywhere. Mowing tees and collars took us the entire day since we had to use the catch baskets to remove the clippings while mowing. The baskets were dumped on average five times for all 72 tee boxes. A lot of getting on and off but we kept the tees and collars looking pretty good.
We will continue to mow rough until the rain hits again this afternoon then go back at it in the morning. Fairways are still too wet to mow and the projected rainfall tonight will make it difficult tomorrow. We will try and concentrate on all the rough by the end of tomorrow then mow fairways multiple times on Thursday and Friday.
There is a lot of tall grass and scattered dandelions amongst the blades. The spraying will probably not happen this week unless things go really well the remainder of the week mowing. Broadleaf weeds will be addressed as soon as I get caught up and have some sunny days with no wind.
I have met with Amanda and Mark White to discuss some tile and drainage concerns the neighbors on the south side of Stoneybrook are feeling. We will be meeting with them this week to try and find a remedy.
A new pond maintenance program has been implemented for 2020. I have applied one application of copper sulphate to the south side of the irrigation pond and have several more scheduled. Hopefully this extra effort will help subside the algae blooms.
The part time clubhouse staff is working out pretty well. We have a couple new faces that have been trained and are falling right into the groove. Nice weather will hopefully bring out the golfers as leagues are slated to start this week.
Please contact me with any comments, questions, or concerns so they can be addressed in a timely manner.
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Brian C Mohr
Director of Golf Operations
City of Spencer
Spencer Municipal Golf Course
Spencer, Iowa 51301
712-260-5370
Spencer Municipal Golf Course 