9-25-2022

Good Morning,

The past week went from a record setting 101 degrees on Tuesday dropping to the low 40’s for several mornings.  Once again the slim chance of rain in the forecast amounted to a slight drizzle.  The cooler temperatures will help make our irrigation issues a little more manageable.

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On Wednesday the fairways, tees, and driving range were fertilized.  This application will help the turfgrass through the winter months and provide adequate nutrition until the first past of June.  Light irrigation cycles will be completed on the fairways to help move the fertilizer down to the crown of the plant and work into the soil profile.

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The pond on #10 has drained down to a minimal amount of water.  This upcoming week I will get in there to try and figure out where the leak is happening.  Quite a few years ago we had the same issue happen with an old tile line rubbing against the rubber pond liner.  The pond was emptied overnight.  I am going to try and locate that area as a starting point.  The liner will be patched and water will be added to fill the pond.

 #10 pond 9-24-22.jpg

Saturday night we hosted the Kiwanis After 5 glow ball event.  There were 66 golfers registering at 6:00 PM.  The front nine was lined with lights outlining the fairways, sand traps, and greens.  There was glow in the dark flagsticks along with solar powered lighting around the greens.  Tee time started at 7:15 PM.  It was an excellent event filled with a lot of neon golf balls flying through the sky!

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In the next couple of weeks we will start to remove half a dozen large ash trees on the golf course.  These trees have the signs of Emerald Ash Borer infestations.  We will ask our golfers to please be respectful of the contractors by not hitting into an area where they will be working.  The areas will be posted in the clubhouse each day to make everyone aware of the contractor.  There will also be a couple other trees removed due to safety concerns.

Another large project will be done through Milford Well Service.  They will be pulling the pump from our well and removing the well casing to repair the damaged area.  I have met with the well contractor and discussed what we think the problems are with the well but we won’t know anything for sure until we complete the first step.  Our well will be out of operation for the remainder of the year.

The well’s operation has decreased substantially over the past few months.  It is currently operating close to 10% of pumping volume.  The irrigation pond is low and we will continue to limit the amount of irrigation on the fairways.  We cannot afford to run the pond too low and not have enough water to properly irrigate greens and tees.

This concludes another week at The Muni.  Please reach out if you have questions or concerns.  Enjoy the remainder of the weekend and, “swing easy when it’s breezy!”

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

9-18-2022

Good Morning from The Muni,

Our daily maintenance practices consumed the majority of the work schedule on the grounds.  We have limited irrigation to our fairways due to issues with our well casing and pump.  The main focus has been to irrigate our greens, tees, and approaches.  Once we get into the month of October we will remove the well casing and pump to see what our next step will be in the repair process.  In the meantime, the golf course is hanging in there pretty well.

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The past week started off with a broken intake on our lead pump in the pumphouse.  These two suction units pull water from the irrigation pond, through the pumps, and lastly out to the golf course.  If the intake is damaged or loses prime it will not pull water out of the pond.  This leaves the system at 50% operational in hand mode operation only.

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I was able to come in the early AM hours for a couple days to irrigate the greens with the lag pump in hand mode.  The pumps absolutely have to be monitored if operated in hand mode in order to prevent damage to the system.  If there is an issue the pump will not shut off while in hand mode.  In automatic mode the system has several safety switches that shut everything down if there is an issue.

Staff completed the repair process on Tuesday afternoon.  After waiting 24 hours for the glue to completely harden we returned the intake into the wet well.  The system was filled and pressure tested.  Irrigation operations went back into automatic mode on Wednesday night.  

For the past couple of weeks there has been a lot of damage around the golf course as well as on the grounds of Waterway Park.  The Iowa DNR was contacted so we could handle the problem properly.  We then hired All Seasons Animal Removal to assist us with the problem.  First, a fox was captured and safely relocated to another area away from the golf course.  However, the damage still continued and actually worsened.

Early in the week we captured a badger on a trail cam setup on the property.  Each morning we hoped to safely capture this animal and relocate him somewhere far away from the golf course.  This morning it finally happened.  The badger has been safely captured and taken to a more suitable environment.  Thank you to Eric Ring for his professional help.  We will be repairing damaged areas the next couple of days.

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We have open golf all day at The Muni today.  Monday we start our fall golf special $30 for all day golf with cart included.  You can still purchase your 2023 season pass or pay cart storage fees now which covers the remainder of 2022 and all of next season.  

Enjoy the remainder of the weekend.  It looks like a beautiful day to play some golf.  Please contact me with any questions or further information on topics.

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

9-11-2022

Good Morning,

The past week consisted of trying to maintain our daily operations in the clubhouse and on the grounds.  We have a lot of projects planned, several golf outings scheduled, and busy open golf on a daily basis.  We are working to keep the golf course maintained each day and provide enough staff in the clubhouse to accommodate golfers each day.

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On the maintenance side of things, we were able to move a tree out of a residence at Stonybrook onto the dogleg portion of #15.  Locates were called in and after waiting several days we used the city tree spade to move this tree on Wednesday.  It’s a beautiful small spruce tree but we have big expectations for its future.  It will help as a safety barrier protecting homes from stray golf balls on this hole.  

A week ago there had been a few talks of an iguana on the golf course.  Last Sunday evening I received a photo of the iguana in a birch tree on hole #9.  Prior to sunrise, on Labor Day morning, I found the chilly reptile grasping onto a limb.  Fortunately he did not put up much of a fight and easily fell into a cardboard box.  Our Facebook post reached over 26,000 people but nobody came forward as the owner.  An area reptile rescue was willing to come rehabilitate the iguana.  A great ending to an odd story.

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As I started off this early morning iguana rescue I came across several large holes along the rough on the 9th hole.  It wasn’t until afterwards I was able to spend a little more time looking into this issue.  We found holes along #1, #9, and across the driving range.  I contacted the Iowa DNR who in turn put me in touch with somebody local they use to relocate problem animals. 

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After a couple of days we were able to safely trap this beautiful looking fox and relocate him quite a few miles away from the golf course.  The individual contracted by the golf course is licensed and trained in this type of work.  It was fascinating to watch his high level of skill result in the safe capture and relocation of this fox.  We will continue to monitor the area to make sure there are no other friends hanging around.

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Irrigation issues have continued to compile throughout the 2022 golf season.  Our well pump has gradually decreased in productivity.  It should be operating at 300 gallons per minute.  This amount of water will equal the amount of irrigation spread over the entire course in one night of irrigation.  The well is currently operating at 15%.  That will take over six days to replace one night of irrigation.

I contacted Milford Well to schedule a meeting and try to formalize a game plan moving forward.  The initial thought is the well casing has a hole in it and/or the pump is in need of repair.  We will continue to operate the well pump because it’s better than zero water pumped from the well.  In the meantime the fairways will not be irrigated.  The main focus will be on tees, greens, and approaches.  The well will be repaired early in the month of October.

I have attached a Google Document that contains golf course topics covered with the golf board and city council.  It will provide you with some information of August activities and what the weeks ahead have in store.  Enjoy the remainder of your weekend.  Please reach out if you have questions or would like further information on a topic.

 9-7-2022 Golf Board

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

9-4-2022

Good Morning,

The past week at The Muni was filled with sunshine and a lot of golfers.  Tuesday morning we hosted our annual ladies triple treat golf event.  It was a beautiful day filled with sunshine and 80+ ladies enjoying golf followed by a luncheon in the clubhouse.  Our Thursday evening men’s league is the only group on the schedule for next week.  Our open golf has been very busy each day all the way ’til sunset.

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The Muni is currently offering a season pass special where you pay half your 2023 payment now and the other half in April.  This allows open golf the remainder of this season and all of 2023.  We are also in the process of updating our online form for automatic bank withdrawal.  This option allows for a monthly bank payment to attain your season pass in multiple payments.

In the past few weeks we have seen a lot of reckless use of our rental golf carts as well as young golfers sneaking onto the golf course without paying or registering.  Staff has been able to catch up with most of the nonpayment individuals.  The general excuse is, “I was going to pay when I was done.”  That response does not make me feel very confident that it will happen.

I have spoken with several parents as well as the police chief and I’ve decided we will proceed with a zero tolerance in these areas.  Anyone abusing our rental carts or the grounds of the golf course will be asked to leave immediately.  Further abuse will result in the individual no longer permitted on the property.  It’s unfortunate it comes down to this but the golf course is for everyone to enjoy, not a playground for horseplay.

We ask our golfing community to help us out by reporting abuse on the golf course at the moment.  Please don’t wait a day or two to report an incident.  A picture from your phone would be an excellent identification tool.  We are all tired of the poor etiquette on the golf course and want it to stop prior to someone being seriously hurt while on a golf cart.

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We are still short staffed and doing the best we can each day to meet the needs of our customers.  It is very much appreciated seeing the patrons be so understanding.  Staff has still been able to accommodate our daily golfers as well as provide a quality experience for golf events and outings.  Hopefully we can fill some of these staffing issues as we move forward.

Irrigation repairs have continued to be a weekly part of operations.  We have continued to hand water several of the greens to help turf recover in some of the damaged areas due to irrigation issues.  A wetting agent is added to the water to help with water penetration.  The hand watering of greens is being done early in the morning and again in the evening each day.

Our well pump will need to be pulled and repairs completed once we get toward the end of the season.  It is pumping at about 25% right now.  This is having a serious effect on our irrigation supply.  The pond level is fairly low right now and there is no rain in the forecast.  The amount of irrigation water supplied to fairways will be limited this coming week.  The greens and tees will receive adequate irrigation each day.

The pond on #10 has an issue with the liner.  The water slowly leaks out over the course of a week.  I have not been able to determine where the leak is located.  With the high temperatures there was an odor developing so I decided to fill the pond on Friday.  This project will be evaluated at a future time frame.

I hope each and every one of you enjoys the remainder of the holiday weekend.  City council will be meeting on Tuesday evening and the golf board meets on Wednesday evening.  Please get in touch if you have questions or concerns.
—

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