6-27-2020

Good Morning,

Another week has come and gone at The Muni.  Some of the cooler temperatures, a lot of hand watering along with wetting agent applications, and a lot less wind has allowed the turfgrass to be a little less stressed out.  The only green that is still showing some signs of isolated dry spotting in #7.  I have experienced some issues with one of the stations on this hole.   We will continue to hand water this area on a frequent basis.

The wetting agents help hold the moisture in the upper portion of the soil profile and make it ready available for the plant.  It also eliminates the drying out of the soil leaving the spotty light brown areas.  It’s always a challenge and requires a lot of manual labor to stay on top of it.

I also sprayed greens on Wednesday applying a fungicide, foliar fertilizer, and wetting agent applications.  These applications are scheduled between 10-14 days.  The warmer temperatures have made the disease pressure lessen a little but have required more fertilizer and a lot more wetting agent.

Some of our Tuesday Ladies League members have been kind enough to adapt some of our flower beds on the golf course.  This past week they tackled the waterfall behind #10 green.  Their amazing work has helped bring this area back to life.  We were also able to get the waterfall running by the end of the week.

There is an issue with the drainage line we are trying to repair this morning.  We have a lot of debris stuck in the line.  After that the waterfall will be up and running regularly and the new flowers will brighten up the area.  Thank you ladies!

Tile work has continued in the area of #15 tees.  The contractor was able to install the new tile line going across the road on 4th Ave SW.  The remainder of the work will consist of installing new tile from this area and moving east.  We will tie in the four existing tile lines and eliminate the saturated soil conditions on the golf course and in the Stoneybrook neighborhood.  This project will be complete this coming week and then work will begin in Upper Waterway Park.

I attended a training session Wednesday morning for new city employees.  This training covers employee right to know, bloodborne pathogens, and a whole lot of other safety topics.  Since the majority of our part time staff have full time jobs it is not easy or convenient for them to make it to a training session during city hall hours.  With this training I will be able to train each employee individually as it fits their schedule.   It is mandatory for all new employees.  I will be working on this the next couple of weeks.

The clubhouse is down several staff members at the conclusion of this week.  I have worked a couple of closing shifts at night and will continue to work more in the clubhouse in the next couple of weeks until more staff can be added.  I spent most of yesterday revising the current schedule and trying to piece together a schedule for the next pay period.

I very much appreciate the hard work and dedication being shown by the handful of part time staff we have working in the clubhouse.  Everyone is trying to adapt to new policies and change.  It’s not always easy and some days we get a little frustrated but everyone keeps persevering and trying to provide great customer service.  I’m very thankful for them and quite proud of them as people.

The maintenance staff has been doing an amazing job on the golf course.  We’re definitely short handed when it comes to outdoors as well.  But, the staff is really showing how much pride they have in our golf course.  Some of these guys have worked here for more than 25 years.  I definitely am thankful for their dedication, attention to detail, and strong commitment to providing a beautiful golf course.

 The golf course has been very busy this past week.  Our season pass totals are down but we still see a lot of golfers out enjoying themselves every day.  That’s a great feeling inside.  It’s an even better feeling when I hear someone tell a staff member the golf course looks nice.  It does look nice because we’re fortunate to have a few people who take care of the golf course like it is their own.

—

Brian C Mohr

Director of Golf Operations

City of Spencer

Spencer Municipal Golf Course

Spencer, Iowa 51301

712-260-5370

www.spencermunigolf.com

 

6-21-2020

Good Morning,

The past week brought us some much needed rainfall and a decrease in the hot temperatures and high winds.  When the wind blows at high speeds during the day everything dries out rapidly.  Night time winds can wreak havoc on the irritation system blowing the water from the sprinklers.   It has been next to impossible trying to keep up with enough irrigation on the golf course.  There were dry areas showing up on collars and on parts of greens.  Staff and I spent a lot of time hand watering and adding extra run time to irrigation in these areas.

I was able to aerify the greens with needle tines early in the week.  This aerification process gave us about 5-6″ of depth and helped move the water down into the soil profile.  The majority of the isolated dry areas have recovered very nicely as the week has moved along.  Early the coming week I will be applying a foliar fertilizer and wetting agent to the greens.  The wetting agent helps keep the moisture toward the top of the soil profile and helps control isolated dry areas.  Lots of water, wetting agents, and more water are the only way to combat isolated dry areas.

During these extreme conditions I reduced some of our mowing practices to help with stress on the turfgrass.  For example, we might not have mowed greens on a day when the wind was forecast at 35 mph or skipped a fairway mowing schedule to give the grass a break.  Mostly small changes trying to protect the grass as much as possible without changing the day to day playing conditions.

The tile issues continue to move in the right direction at Stoneybrook and Upper Waterway Park.  Public Works officials and I met with the tile contractor Thursday morning to discuss moving forward with repairs.  The road will be opened up, near the 15th tees on 4th ave SW, to install tile across the road into the waterway.  The road repairs will then be completed and tile will be installed moving east.  We will tie in the four existing tiles south of the waterway on the golf course.  This repair should eliminate any more standing water on the golf course or in the neighbor’s yards at Stoneybrook.

Upper Waterway Park will have tile exposed on the far east end where repairs were completed last year.  The tile will be evaluated moving west through the park.  We are hopeful tile repairs will take care of the issue but also prepared to install new tile through the park onto the golf course property and tie it into the drain by the 9th green.

Happy Father’s Day to each of you!  Hopefully you have some family time in your plans for the day.  Please contact me with any comments, questions, or concerns.

Brian C Mohr

Director of Golf Operations

City of Spencer

Spencer Municipal Golf Course

Spencer, Iowa 51301

712-260-5370

www.spencermunigolf.com

 

6-14-2020

 

Good Morning,

Another week is coming to a close and it looks like the heavy winds are going to blow in the 90 degree temperatures again next week.  Last weekend the foot valve went out in one of the itake lines of the pumphouse.  That was repaired on Monday and we were back to full strength on Tuesday just in time for the downpours.  The course definitely needed the rain and a break in temperatures.

Toward the end of the week I tripped a circuit breaker in the pumphouse two nights in a row.  This really limited the amount of irrigation time the past two nights.  Last night I only irrigated the greens, tees, and approaches on high schedules.  I could not diagnose the electrical problem yesterday.  I could not take a chance of the system shutting down again overnight.  I will explore repair options tomorrow.

Irrigation issues have not helped some of the dry areas on our practice green and a couple others on the course.  These areas experienced some valve problems and have since been fixed.  Day to day hand watering is helping the turfgrass slowly work back to normal.  Also the application of wetting agents aids in holding moisture in the upper part of the soil profile.

Tomorrow I will be aerifying many of the greens with needle tines.  This will help open up the greens and allow water to penetrate deeper into the soil.  I will spray some wetting agents on the greens tomorrow evening followed by heavy nighttime irritation.  Daily hand watering will help us get through the heated days next week.

The staff did a very nice job staying on top of our daily maintenance procedures keeping the golf course looking nice.  Everyone has put their best foot forward, battled through the weather conditions, and kept the golf course in pretty nice shape.  It’s been a difficult year with all our provisions and being short staffed along with fighting the great Mother Nature.

This past week we have changed some of our clubhouse policies as far as staffing relates.  There will now be a cash change out during the daily shift change in the clubhouse.  The drawer will have two employees count the money down, record all daily receipts, complete documentation, and return the register to starting totals.  The same process will take place at closing.  I will then compare all the figures from staff and complete the deposit.  Everything will have a receipt for verification by more than one individual.

Beer carts will have an inventory list made of all products leaving the clubhouse and a record of all transactions made on the golf course.  Returned excess inventory will be recorded on the sheet.  Another employee will verify the totals and enter the cash amounts into the register with a receipt.  The beer cart will no longer function in a manner that some of our league members are used to seeing.  It will be cash payment on the course at the time of purchase.

The tile issues at Stoneybrook South and Upper Waterway Park continue to be part of conversations.  The four tiles were exposed on the south side of Stoneybrook last week.  Elevation readings and other estimates are being put together for discussion.  Tile measurements have been made along with cost estimates in Upper Waterway.  We will continue to move forward with these areas.

It’s been another busy week and COVID 19 continues to remind us to be safe and sanitize.  Please be safe friends and enjoy the remainder of the weekend!

—

Brian C Mohr

Director of Golf Operations

City of Spencer

Spencer Municipal Golf Course

Spencer, Iowa 51301

712-260-5370

www.spencermunigolf.com

6-7-20

Good Morning,

It has definitely been another busy week at The Muni.  The maintenance staff has spent a lot of time trying to stay on top of mowing schedules.  It never seems to end. We finish mowing one day and start back over again the next.

The high temperatures and wind have taken a toll on the turfgrass.  I sprayed a wetting agent, foliar fertilizer, and fungicide application on the greens Saturday morning.  The wetting agent will help hold the moisture in the top of the soil profile.  A lot of drying out is occurring on the collars and some greens.  I plan to aerify the greens very soon with needle tines to help move the water into the soil profile through the surface.

Last night I had issues in the pumphouse with the lag pump intake.  I worked on it for close to two hours but could not get the line to stay primed.  This forced me to operate the system at 50% overnight.  I irrigated the greens and tees heavily and made it through the cycle for the approaches as well.  I’m still running some irrigation now and plan to remove the intake shortly to check on the foot valve.  The problem most likely will only be resolved with a new foot valve.

We hosted the first day of the Carl Spacklar golf event yesterday.  We are hosting day two this morning.  This event was moved to a tee time format over two days because of operating provision.  This is not a muni event.  It is a private event that generates a lot of revenue each year.  We look forward to another smooth day with staff and golfers.

We have dealt with some equipment issues this past week.  One of the rough units was transported to the Street Division on Friday.  They have not yet resolved the issue.  I was able to make some necessary repairs to the sprayer yesterday.  All of our equipment has been overheating with the extreme temperatures.  We have to blow the radiators out frequently and sometimes pull to the side and let them cool down in the shade.  It’s been a battle but we are pushing forward.

I hope each of you enjoy the remainder of your weekend.  Please let me know if there are any comments or questions?  “Swing easy today ’cause it’s gonna be breezy!”

—

Brian C Mohr

Director of Golf Operations

City of Spencer

Spencer Municipal Golf Course

Spencer, Iowa 51301

712-260-5370

www.spencermunigolf.com