8-28-2022

Good Morning,

The rainfall was definitely met with a lot of happiness by the golf course as well as the community.  There was very little standing water this morning and only a few small branches on the course.  This will really help some of the damaged areas on the greens from irrigation issues.  

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Several of these damaged areas were hand topdressed this past week.  We will continue to add topdressing to these areas until we are able to start plugging or seeding.  Bentgrass grows by spreading out laterally so the topdressing aids in the recovery process.  It helps level the area and give the bentgrass something to grow into and complete the healing process a lot more rapidly.  We will continue to work on these areas.

I spent quite a bit of time working on irrigation throughout the entire golf course.  I was able to go through every station over the course of several mornings.  I made repairs to 30+ stations around the golf course.  These repairs consisted of debris in irrigation heads, cleaning diaphragms, electrical issues corrected, and complete part replacement in some areas.  There are quite a few irrigation heads that are not performing to a high level and the worst ones will be replaced in the near future once parts arrive.

Our irrigation pond water level is still a little low and I will continue to monitor our nightly irrigation cycles.  The pond on #10 continues to see the water level drop on a weekly basis.  I have been filling the pond every 10 days and have now realized there is a leak in the pond liner.  We are still trying to locate this area and I apologize if the pond is not looking aesthetically pleasing.  We have to find the problem in order to create a solution to eliminate this issue.

We have started working on sand traps the past two weeks.  Edging around the trap, debris removal, and pushing sand to the face of each trap completes the process.  This is a very lengthy process and will take us some time to finish all of the traps.  Sand traps on the driving range, #7, #8, #9, #10, and #18 have been completed.  The plan is to still add additional sand to the traps during the month of September.   

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Ground staff was able to remove a dead tree in the Waterway Park area located near our #10 green.  This tree was near a neighboring house but located on park property.  Due to the focus on removing ash trees it was going to be a long wait before the tree could be addressed so we decided to remove the tree with golf course staff.  We will be looking at removing trees around the golf course in the month of October.

It has been a busy week with golf events along with a cross country meet.  We hosted C&B Operations on Monday afternoon as they celebrated all of their John Deere customers.  On Thursday evening we hosted the SHS cross country meet.  Friday we hosted the ServPro golf event honoring area first responders.  This event was the third annual and it was so nice to see so many area law enforcement, fire, communication center, and hospital staff enjoying the day.  Today we are hosting the men’s league end of the year tournament.

The month of August has absolutely flown by so quickly.  Our golf leagues are wrapping up but open golf continues to be very busy each and every day.  The clubhouse and maintenance have quite a few staff members returning to school.  I have been working shifts in the clubhouse every day of the week trying to make ends meet.  Please be patient with us if it takes a little longer to get to our customers.  We are short staffed and doing the absolute best we can each day.

 Please reach out if you have questions, comments, or would like more information on a topic.  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

8-21-2022

Good Morning,

The cooler temperatures have been a welcome feeling and the turfgrass sure can tell a difference.  We had a few rain showers this past week that brought the seven day total to about 1/2″ of precipitation.  The rainfall was not a lot but it also helped the golf course quite a bit.  There were definitely no water puddles standing on the golf course.

We started working on sand traps this past week.  The three practice traps were all cleaned up and edged.  There was quite a bit of crabgrass in some of these areas and that was all removed.  We string trimmed around the sand traps on the golf course and started removing small rocks and other debris.  We will start edging these sand traps and pushing sand to the face of each trap in the coming weeks.

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I still plan to add sand to each one of the traps at the golf course.  We lost all the new sand over the winter months last off season.  I think if we go with a little bit heavier material we can work it into the existing sand and have better luck keeping it in the traps.  This project will happen in the future as time allows.

Our Tuesday morning ladies league held their end of the year tournament.  We also hosted the YMCA fundraiser on Friday.  This coming week we will be hosting C&B Operations holding a customer appreciation golf event tomorrow afternoon.  Thursday evening is the high school cross country meet.  Friday will be the ServPro first responder event.  Lastly, the men’s league tournament will be held on Sunday.  

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School will be starting this week and quite a bit of our staff will no longer be available to work at The Muni.  A couple new employees have been hired for evenings and weekends.  However, we are still short on daytime clubhouse hours.  We will be covering these hours as best as we possibly can so please be patient with us if it’s busy.  Lots of golf events are still scheduled for the remainder of this month and September.

The city of Spencer has been making plans to help control the presence of Emerald Ash Borer in our community.  Several trees have already been removed in parks and along our city street.  The golf course is ordering the equipment and materials to treat some of the trees on the golf course.  I will be training with this equipment in the next couple of weeks.  Select trees will be treated as we move forward.  Hopefully this will limit the loss of trees outlining our golf course.

Please contact me with any questions or if more information is needed on a topic.  Enjoy the beautiful weather remaining this 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

8-14-2022

Good Morning,

This past week at the golf course several staff members from the grounds and clubhouse were on vacation enjoying the summer weather.  Several members of our team will be heading back to school next week.  They have truly been wonderful to have at the golf course for another season.  Their availability will be less once the school year starts.  Special thanks to each one of them for their commitment to making the golf course a great place!

Two new clubhouse employees have been hired to work in the evenings and some weekend hours moving forward.  I also have a couple more people that I am looking to hire for daytime hours during the week.  As long as everything works out we should have adequate staffing in the clubhouse.  

I spent time most days working on irrigation around the course.  Several valves that had been leaking were repaired, irrigation heads were cleaned out so they rotate properly, and some adjustments were made to the computer software.  In the near future we will be repairing irrigation pipes in approximately 20 valve boxes.

Sometimes it feels like I spend too much time working in the pump house, but the view is pretty awesome dawn or at dusk!

The cooler temperatures will definitely make a big difference in the turfgrass.  Some of the irrigation problems have caused areas of the collars and parts of the greens to dry out and show some damage.  We will continue to hand water these areas until we get later into September and we will start overseeding some areas.  Quite a few areas have recovered fairly well but we still have some repairs to complete.

This coming week we will be going through the sand traps and removing small rocks and other debris present.  The rocks work through the clay soil and eventually end up in the sand mix of the trap.  We also plan to add some more sand to the traps before we get too far into the fall season.  Hopefully that will give us some time to work it into the traps and limit the amount that is blown away.

We will also be hand topdressing some of the areas on the greens and collars.  The sand topdressing gives the bentgrass something to grow into and helps speed the recovery process.  Some of the worst areas will be plugged and overseeded.

The fall herbicide treatment is still planned for the golf course.  Areas that have not been sprayed will be completed as well as other areas where the clover was dense.  This process will occur on a weekly basis, as conditions allow, until the entire course has been treated.  This will also give us pretty good control when the 2023 season begins.

Please check the website for our upcoming events.  We will still have open golf following the completion of larger events.  The couple’s tournament scheduled for today has been canceled and open golf is available all 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

8-7-2022

Good Morning,

With the NW Amateur in town it’s probably not the best weekend for some precipitation but we definitely need the rain.  Prior to the rain showers this morning we received close to an inch of rain on this end of town.  The irrigation system can run day in and day out but nothing beats some precipitation from Mother Nature.

I have continued to work on the irrigation system most days of the week.  Our computer failed early in the week and our greens program did not run that night.  I was able to come in early in the morning and run these stations prior to starting our maintenance practices for the day.  When it’s this hot and dry it doesn’t take too long to see where the irrigation problems are on the golf course.

The weather conditions have created a very difficult environment to grow and maintain grass.  We also lose a lot of irrigation water and moisture due to evapotranspiration.  The pond level goes down more and more each day due to this effect.  I have been opening the valve behind #5 green to try and keep the pond filled on #10.  Also, the well pump has been running frequently to keep our irrigation pond level high.

This morning we are almost ready to start our annual Unified Golf tournament.  This is one of my favorite events at the golf course.  The Special Olympics and sponsors team up to play in a nine hole golf format.  We will finish golf then have a meal and award ceremony with everyone.  Hopefully the weather cooperates.

Staff has been busy with maintenance on the grounds as well as taking care of our golfers in the clubhouse.  We only have a few more weeks of golf league remaining then we will enter the month of September.  It’s been a great golf season so far and we thank everyone that supports The Muni!

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The golf board will meet tomorrow evening at 5:00 PM for our monthly meeting.  Please contact me if you have questions or would like more information 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