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.
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.
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
Spencer Municipal Golf Course 