9-26-2021

Good Morning,
The past week was focused on daily maintenance practices on the grounds.  We had a rainy day on Monday which put us behind schedule.  This left us with four days to get caught up on our mowing practices.  The weather was cooler which slowed the growth of the turfgrass.  The staff did a great job of keeping everything manicured at a high level and the golf course looks great.

With the warmer temperatures upcoming the irrigation system will be running more frequently.  Irrigation totals were done for the month of September which should leave us in good shape with our Iowa DNR irrigation permit.  This permit allows us to irrigate from April 1 through the month of October.  Our season totals are very high but will remain below the allotted amount by the end of next month.  I will most likely file for an extension to irrigate in the month of November.

Starting on Monday our fall green fee special will be in place for the remainder of the golf season.  For $30 golfers will get a rental cart and unlimited golf for the day.  This is usually a popular price attraction for people to stop out and play some fall golf.  Also, our season pass special is still in place until the end of the season.

Last night we hosted the Kiwanis After 5 “Shot in the Dark” glow ball event.  There were 66 golfers teeing off at 7:30 PM.  The event consisted of nine holes of golf and a long drive contest afterwards.  It was a great event to help Kiwanis After 5 raise money for community projects.  This was the third year we hosted this event.  It has increased numbers each year.

There will be open golf every day until Sunday, October 3.  We will be hosting our annual chili open on that date.  This is a four person best shot with 8″ cups on every hole.  The remainder of the fall event schedule is listed on our website.

Please contact me with any questions or inquiries for further information.  Enjoy the beautiful day that lies ahead!
—
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

9-19-21

Good Morning,
The past week was a little slower with our golf leagues completed for the season and no golf events scheduled.  It was cold and wet early in the week, beautiful on Wednesday, and the blower was over 40 mph on Thursday.  Overall our golf numbers remain pretty consistent with last year. 

Greens were sprayed early Thursday morning with a fungicide to help prevent fungal damage, a wetting agent to help with water movement in the soil profile, and a foliar fertilizer.  This application will keep the greens healthy and stress free for about 14 days.  A granular fertilizer application will be made on the greens in the near future.

I made a handful of irrigation repairs around the golf course to eliminate some of the leaking valves.  The practice green, #11 fairway, #12 fairway, and #13 fairway were several of the worst valve problems.  The irrigation system was drained and the diaphragms were replaced in these valves.  Periodically small rocks get into the valves and won’t allow the diaphragm to close when the station is done running.  This causes large dents in the rubber and allows the water to continuously flow through and leak.  Here is an attachment below:

General course maintenance was the main focus of our work week.  The fertilizer application to the fairways and tees has really improved the quality of the turf and increased mowing time.  The staff was able to put in extra hours to maintain everything at a high level.  

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

9-12-2021

Good Morning,

The past week started off with the golf course extremely saturated and the maintenance staff way behind schedule.  We mowed most of the day Monday, late in the day Tuesday, and finally had the entire golf course covered by late Wednesday morning.  Heavy winds started drying things out rapidly.  

The tile on hole #13 had not been functioning properly during the heavy rainfall days.  This caused extremely wet conditions on holes #5 and #13.  Tim Hamrick, from the cemetery, came out on Tuesday and exposed the tile with their mini excavator.   The tile ran full bore for several hours.  After 24 hours the majority of the turf had dried out and the tile was functioning.  

This tile was plugged with tree roots which created a giant cork in the tile.  This is the same problem we encountered last year.  We plan to replace the perforated tile with a solid tile in this area to eliminate this issue in the future.  We will also add a tile clean out so we can access the tile from ground level. 

On Wednesday morning I fertilized the fairways and tees.  This granular application will provide nutrition to the turfgrass until the month of May 2022.  It will also help the turf recover quickly from the fungal issues we experienced.  The course has been irrigated multiple times to push the fertilizer prills into the turf canopy.   There is already a nice green tint appearing throughout the golf course.

This coming week will focus on normal course maintenance schedules.  String trimming and clean up will also be happening around the golf course.  Herbicide applications, tree removal, and hand top dressing will be some of the other practices started.  

Please contact me if you have questions or concerns.  Enjoy the remainder of the 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

9-6-21

Good Morning, 

It’s been another wet week at The Muni.  The precipitation has definitely been needed after the long hot summer.  Our sand traps have been repaired multiple times and several still have a lot of standing water.  We’re busy trying to get caught up with our daily mowing practices with additional mowing being completed over the weekend.  We should be caught back up by tomorrow afternoon.  Sunshine and green grass go good together.

With all of the rainfall the fairway and tee fertilizer application was placed on hold.  The fertilizer needs to be watered in after application but it also is a risk to apply it with all the projected thunderstorms.  This can end up with fertilizer washing away and piling up in low areas.  We will get these areas fertilized this week.  

Also, the herbicide applications were placed on hold for at least another week.  There is a lot of golf course that still needs to be sprayed to control broadleaf weeds on the property.  We will eventually get this process completed.
The greens were sprayed Wednesday with a foliar fertilizer, fungicide, and a wetting agent.  The wetting agent helps moving water through the soil profile and holding moisture in the top several inches where the plant roots are located.  The foliar fertilizer is sprayed to provide nutrients to the turf.  The fungicide helps prevent the pressure of “dollar spot” on the greens.  This fungus is currently present in the fairways and tees but will start to decline after fertilization.

All of the rainfall has presented us with a tile issue on hole #13.  This tile is damaged or plugged with debris SW of the retention pond behind #12 green.  I have met with Public Works and we plan to excavate the area so the tile can drain into the retention pond.  We will clean and repair the tile after it has drained.  This repair will eliminate the saturated soil conditions on #5 and #13 fairways.  

It’s going to be a busy week with daily maintenance practices and also a couple of golf events.  We host the Police Outing on Thursday and the Carl Spackler this weekend.  It should be another busy week at the golf course.  We are also promoting our annual season pass special.  If you purchase your 2022 season pass now you can play the remainder of this season and all of 2022.

I will see the golf board members on Tuesday evening for our monthly meeting.  If there are any questions please contact me for more information.  Enjoy the 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