Good Morning,
Another busy week is winding down at The Muni. We had a busy week of open golf along with our scheduled golf leagues. Yesterday we hosted the 2nd Annual Salute to Veterans golf event with 132 golfers followed by open golf. This morning we have a couple’s golf event with 88 registered players followed by open golf.
The rainfall has been a tremendous blessing for the golf course. Our irrigation pond was getting very low and our well is unable to pump enough water to replace what goes down for irrigation at night. The tiles emptying into the pond have been running all week and the water level is near full right now. With many 90 degree temperatures forecasted in the near future we will need irrigation.
With the high temperatures and dry conditions a lot of irrigation water goes down overnight. The greens have been watered quite a bit each night along with hand watering to help control the dry spots. With all of the irrigating and rainfall it has left a lot of our sand traps very saturated and some with standing water. Unfortunately when a lot of irrigation goes down on the greens it also hits the sand traps. They are slowly starting to dry out.
Staff has been working on day to day maintenance items while we work through the hot weather conditions. The rough was pretty much to a dormant state prior to all the rainfall. It is starting to turn a nice shade of green again and requires a lot more mowing. The maintenance staff has been doing a great job keeping the course groomed.
The most important task this past week was the application of an insecticide to help control the presence of grubs when we enter the month of August. I treated the tees, fairways, green surrounds, and some of the rough on Thursday evening. It was perfect weather conditions to spray….no wind and light rainfall to help water the product into the soil. I finished spraying at about 10:30 PM.
This application will help control the grubs developing in early August. The grubs feed on the roots of the turfgrass just below the surface. They are noticeable by the light brown lesions in the turf. Skunks, racoons, and other animals like to feed on the grubs. These animals can destroy a lot of turf overnight. There should be limited damage as we move into the month of August.
Our gas containment area was completed this past week. The street division poured a nice cement pad and walkway at our gas barrels filling area. The chain link fence was also set up around the area. A fire extinguisher and spill kit were added to the containment area per OSHA regulations. The doorway will be padlocked during non working hours. It’s been a long process that started last fall and we are happy to have it completed. Special thanks to Public Works for all their help.
Enjoy the remainder of your weekend. Please reach out if you have questions or would like additional information. I will see the golf board members Monday evening at 5:00 PM in the clubhouse.
Brian C Mohr
Director of Golf Operations
City of Spencer
101 W 5th Street
Spencer Municipal Golf Course
Spencer, Iowa 51301
712-260-5370
Spencer Municipal Golf Course 