8-29-2021

Good Morning,

This is the first time in 2021 that anyone has said, “It can stop raining for a little bit!”  Our irrigation pond overflowed into the stream for the first time this year.  The waterways were completely full when I arrived at work this morning.  Two inches of rain last night, plus two inches of rain on Friday morning, and the rainfall earlier in the week has left the golf course completely saturated with a lot of standing water.

It was a busy week trying to keep up with our normal maintenance practices each day.  Greens were sprayed on Monday morning with a fungicide, wetting agent, and a foliar fertilizer.  This was a scheduled application for the greens.  Fairway and tee fertilization was delayed until next week.  Herbicide applications for broadleaf weeds were also delayed until next week due to all the rain.  

Tuesday morning was the final fun day of golf for the morning ladies league.  The evening ladies league competed in their end of the year tournament in the late afternoon.  This upcoming Tuesday the ladies will be playing in their annual Two Gal Triple Treat event starting at 9:00 AM.

Thursday we hosted the Spencer High School cross country meet.  We made it through the morning rainfall and were lucky enough to get the varsity and junior varsity meets completed for the boys and girls.  The October district meet will possibly be run at The Muni.

We hosted the ServPro First Responder event Friday morning.  There were 88 first responders from NW Iowa participating in the sponsored event.  Sponsorships allowed these individuals to enjoy a day of golf at no charge to them.  Rainy skies eventually cleared away plenty of sunshine and everyone had a great time.

Today we will be preparing the golf course for the end of the season men’s league tournament.  Wednesday and Thursday golfers will be playing this morning with tee times off #1 and #10 starting at 9:00 AM.  Open golf will be available around 3:00 PM today.  Sunshine should fill the sky today and hopefully soak up some of the excess standing water everywhere.  

The high amounts of precipitation helped reduce the amount of irrigation for the month of August.  Fortunately our irrigation system has performed excellent during the high temperatures and dry conditions.  We have used 80% of our irrigation permit for the allotted time of April 1 through the month of October.   

Starting September 1 we will be offering our annual golf special.  Pay for your 2022 season pass now and play the remainder of 2021 and all of 2022.  There is still plenty of great golf weather left this season.

Enjoy the remainder of your weekend!  Please let me know if there are questions or further information necessary on a topic.

Brian C Mohr

Director of Golf Operations
City of Spencer

101 W 5th Street

Spencer Municipal Golf Course

Spencer, Iowa 51301

712-260-5370

www.spencermunigolf.com

8-22-21

Good Morning,

The rainfall, on Friday, was a welcome sight for the golf course and the rest of the community.  It delayed a golf outing for an hour or so, but they picked right back up where they left off once the sun returned.  The rainfall can never be replaced by the irrigation system.  It made an immediate impact on the golf course conditions.  The cooler morning temperatures will also help with the turf conditions.  

On Tuesday, the Street Division was on site to remove the remainder of the debris we removed from the irrigation pond last fall.  This material was hauled to south end of the golf course where it will be leveled in the near future.  This area will be seeded over the off season.  

This coming week we will fertilize fairways and tees with a granular product.  The fertilizer application will help reduce the amount of dollar spot present on the fairways and tees.  This application will be completed on Monday and Tuesday.  

I will also continue to spray broadleaf weeds throughout the golf course.  This application will help control weeds present and help reduce the amount of weeds present in the spring.  Greens will also be sprayed with a foliar fertilizer, fungicide, and wetting agent.

The SHS cross country team will be hosting a meet on Thursday at The Muni.  This has been an annual event each season for quite a few years.  The golf course will be closed around 3:00 PM that day.  The event will be over around 7:30 PM.  

Please contact me if you would like any additional information or have questions.  Enjoy the remainder of the weekend.  It’s a beautiful day!!

—
Brian C Mohr

Director of Golf Operations
City of Spencer

101 W 5th Street

Spencer Municipal Golf Course

Spencer, Iowa 51301

712-260-5370

www.spencermunigolf.com

8-15-2021

Good Morning,
We are quickly approaching the halfway point for the month of August.  School starts on Monday for the teachers and the following week for students.  I can’t believe the time has passed by so quickly.  We will be short staffed during times as we move forward but we will do our best to continue providing high customer service.  
The grounds crew has been busy keeping the golf course in great shape.  The high humidity and warm temperatures has the grass growing at a rapid rate once again.  The high humidity and rainfall has also produced a bumper crop of “dollar spot” around the golf course.  This is a fungus that appears in a silver dollar shape and generally thrives on bentgrass but it has currently appeared on our tees, fairways, and even in the rough.
I spray the greens every 7-14 days with a fungicide that helps prevent this fungus from appearing on the greens.  It’s not feasible to spray any other areas of the golf course due to cost.  The turf will eventually recover and nobody will be able to tell “dollar spot” visited the golf course.  We will be fertilizing fairways next week which will help with the recovery process.  I have attached a few pictures to show you what the fungus looks like on the course.
Next week I will start the fall herbicide application to the golf course.  This process will help control broadleaf weeds and clover present on the golf course.  This is a very time consuming process that takes about 20 hours of spray time.  I start early in the morning and spray until we start to get a lot of golfers out on the course.  This amounts to maybe four or five hours maximum per day.  
This morning we will be hosting a mixed couples event with open golf starting at 1:00 PM.  Tomorrow will be a Siouxland golf course superintendent meeting and golf in the afternoon.  Friday afternoon will be reserved for the Clay County Pork Producers on the front nine at 3:00 PM.  Add in our golf leagues and open golf and we have another busy week at The Muni.
Enjoy the remainder of your weekend.  Share a little sunshine and a smile with someone today!

 #4 collar dollar spot.jpg
 dollar spot.jpg
 #4 dollar spot on green surrounds.jpg

—
Brian C Mohr

Director of Golf Operations
City of Spencer

101 W 5th Street

Spencer Municipal Golf Course

Spencer, Iowa 51301

712-260-5370

www.spencermunigolf.com

8-8-2021

Good Morning,

The golf course has completed another busy week.  Our open golf has been very busy each and every day.  We love to see new faces along with our familiar ones visiting the golf course.  We are very thankful for our golfing community choosing to spend their time at The Muni.

Our biggest project of the week was trimming the red twig dogwoods and cotoneaster bushes around the golf course.  These bushes were pruned to a height of two to three feet from the ground.  They are now more aesthetically pleasing to the landscape and will be easier to complete maintenance around in these areas.  The homeowners will also have a better view of the golf course.  I have attached a couple of photos.

Daily maintenance practices have consumed the majority of our work schedule on a daily basis.  The new rough unit has been wonderful for keeping 120 acres of turf under control each day.  And the new fairway units have made a huge difference on the quality of cut on our fairways.  They look beautiful.  

Today we are hosting the annual Unified Golf Event.  This is one of the most amazing events we host each year.  The Special Olympics of Iowa chose our golf course to host this event for NW Iowa many years ago.  It’s a blessing to have them come back year after year and spend the morning with us.  The front nine will be closed from 9:00 AM until 11:30 AM.  Athletes and sponsors will have a meal together following golf.

We have been fortunate to have some precipitation again this past week.  The measurable rainfall gives the irrigation system a few days off and saves us water usage on our permit with the Iowa DNR.  As of the end of July we have used 67% of our water permit for 2021.  The permit allows irrigation from April 1 through the month of October.  

This upcoming week is the last one we will be fully staffed for the season.  We have teachers and students starting inservice or classes on August 16.  This will have a slight impact on some of our daytime hours.  The evening and weekend shifts will not be affected.

Please contact me for additional information on any topic at the golf course.  Enjoy the remainder of the beautiful weekend.  

Brian C Mohr

Director of Golf Operations
City of Spencer

101 W 5th Street

Spencer Municipal Golf Course

Spencer, Iowa

51301

712-260-5370

www.spencermunigolf.com

8-1-2021

Good Morning,

The month of July was another busy one at The Muni.  Our rounds played and revenues were higher than average.  We hosted six different golf events as well as our weekly golf leagues.  Open golf has been busy every day of the week.  It’s great to see so many people enjoying the game of golf and choosing to visit our golf course.  The forecast for August looks great!

The maintenance staff has been very busy manicuring the golf course and keeping it in great shape.  Our greens are rolling very nicely and the course looks beautiful.  The rainfall on Friday gave us a nice break from running the irrigation system every night.  The cooler morning temperatures have also helped lessen the stress the high temperatures place on our turfgrass.

Two new fairway units arrived on Friday.  These units came to us from the U.S. Senior Open held at Omaha Country Club.  Both units were used for maintenance during this event and sold at a discounted rate following the tournament.  I’m excited to add them to our equipment inventory.  They are Toro lightweight units and will be used to mow our fairways and tees.

This upcoming week we will begin pruning the redtwig dogwood bushes on holes #14 and #15.  The remainder of the bushes on the golf course will be trimmed after these two holes are completed.  The pruning will leave the plants approximately two feet off the ground.  Staff will also trim the grass and remove any debris in these areas.  In the end it will provide an attractive appearance while still providing a barrier to the out of play areas of the course.

Next Sunday we will be hosting the Unified Golf Tournament.  This is a Special Olympics event that is held annually at The Muni.  It’s a great opportunity for volunteers to play a round of golf with some of our area athletes.  I have played in this event almost every year and it is definitely one of my favorites.  We are happy to have this event back on the schedule after COVID caused it’s cancellation last season.

This concludes another week from the ol’ golf course.  Please contact me if you have any questions or would like further information on a topic.  Enjoy the remainder of the beautiful weekend!  I will see the golf board members tomorrow evening at our scheduled meeting.
—
Brian C Mohr

Director of Golf Operations
City of Spencer

101 W 5th Street

Spencer Municipal Golf Course

Spencer, Iowa 51301

712-260-5370

www.spencermunigolf.com