1-29-2023

Good Morning,

Last night we hosted the retirement party for Julie Brehmer after 39 1/2 years as a dispatcher for the City of Spencer at our communications center.  Julie has served our community by operating the 911 system and helping protect the safety and well being of everyone.  What a blessing and a big thank you to Julie for all the years of dedicated service.  We enjoyed hosting your event!

The snow continues to pile up week by week.  This has to be one of the highest recorded snowfall winters in a long time.  Currently there is close to 6″ minimum of snow on the golf course greens.  It is much deeper in some areas.  There is approximately half an inch of ice underneath the snow due to multiple numbers of rain events this winter.  The snow and ice are always good for insulation to the turf but they also leave a lot of unknowns as we inch closer to spring.

 Practice Green 1-23-23.jpg

The University of Minnesota, along with quite a few other partners, started a winter turfgrass study several years ago.  The depth of their study has grown annually to help collect data from all over the United States and a few sites in Europe.  Spencer Municipal Golf Course has participated in this study the past three off seasons.  

This year turf sensors were placed underground on the practice green to help record a lot of vital information to relate weather conditions with turfgrass damage during the winter months.  I am able to track the sensors online with data updated every 30 minutes.  It’s extremely interesting to follow and I’m very curious to see the data at the completion of the winter months.

 winter turf.jpg

 winter turf 2.jpg

Trying to understand the effect of ice and snow on turfgrass has always been a very difficult process.  Information always varies depending on where the research was completed.   A common theme used to be 90 days of ice coverage would lead to turfgrass damage on a putting green surface.  Ice cover with snow cover on top is often thought to cause less issues because of the lack of sunlight hitting the ice.

At The Muni the majority of ice damage to turfgrass has been attributed to ice and air temperature.  We have not experienced turf loss from extended ice coverage during the winter in the 29 years I have been at the golf course.  We have experienced turf loss when the snow has melted and and formed large puddles on the green followed by severe temperature drop creating ice.  

The winter months in Iowa are always a difficult pattern to try and determine what is going to happen to our turf when the springtime arrives.  It is filled with personal stress along with stress on the turfgrass.  However, we are unable to control the different variables Mother Nature throws at us any time of the year.  This turfgrass study will hopefully provide us with a little better understanding as turfgrass professionals move forward each season.

It’s been a very long winter already.  One positive is the moisture is definitely needed by everyone in our community.  Enjoy the remainder of the weekend and think SPRING!

 April then May ’22.jpg

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

1-22-2023

Good Morning,

This past week I was on vacation but did return in time to host an event in the clubhouse yesterday.  I am glad I missed out on the snow and cold temperatures at least for a little bit of time.  I didn’t play any golf, but I did do a lot of hiking in the mountains which I always love so much.  I attached a few pictures of the last day of hiking if you want to see the scenery.

 Last Hike.jpg

 Last Hike 2.jpg

 Last Hike 3.jpg

 The Sunset.jpg

 The schedule for the upcoming week will be to discuss golf course budget items and also to work on the Capital Improvement Plan purchases.  The Capital Improvement Plan focuses on the 23/24 budget but also schedules consideration for the four years following.  

Some of these equipment purchases include turf equipment ordered last summer.  Since COVID hit everyone feels the effect of delayed ordering status for almost everything.  Turf equipment is no different with it being 12-18 months out at the time of ordering.  It makes it difficult to forecast what these costs will be moving forward.  In the past two years there has been about a 20% increase in most turf equipment.

I would like to thank Public Works, the street division, and Mark Lawson for assisting with snow removal and ice on the golf course parking lots and sidewalks.  They helped clear the snow and control the slippery surfaces for the safety of the people attending the event last night.  Thank you very much to you guys!

The snow cover is always a great security blanket for the turfgrass at the golf course.  It provides insulation to the turf and prevents winter turfgrass desiccation.  The past few years have been very stressful on the turfgrass with minimal precipitation during the season and little snowfall in the winter.  I think we can all agree we have had enough snowfall for this off season.  I’m ready for it to stop snowing.

I will continue to work on equipment repairs and planning 2023 weekly maintenance schedules for the upcoming season.  We will have a couple of new faces working on the grounds as well as in the clubhouse.  Spring is right around the corner even though the corner might seem a long way away.

Enjoy the remainder of your weekend and please contact me with any questions, comments, or further 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

1-15-2023

Good Morning,

The past week started off with a lot of snow removal around the clubhouse and maintenance shed properties.  The sidewalks and parking lots were cleared of snow to allow all the clubhouse exits to be used.  The parking lot and fire hydrant were cleared in case of an emergency so responders can access the property easily and effectively.

I worked with our beer distributors to have our inventory exchanged to eliminate the possibility of expiration dates coming into play.  The golf course closed in early November in comparison to mid December for the 2022 golf season.  This affected the total beer sales and left us with additional inventory this fall.  

We have events scheduled in the clubhouse for the next two weekends.  The golf simulator is also scheduled for a couple of dates this week.  I am currently trying to establish a set schedule for open dates in the clubhouse for simulator use.  This process involves part time staff as well as myself covering these shifts.

I will be away on vacation for the majority of this coming week.  I will be back to work for the event on Saturday.  My time away will involve a lot of hiking and zero snow.  Below is a picture of a weather comparison and a start to the hiking sessions:

 Iowa to Az..JPG

 Hiking Time.jpg

I have updated the weekly winter turfgrass survey information for the University of Minnesota study.  This includes our weekly weather conditions along with data collection from the weather sensors underground on the practice green.

Enjoy the day everyone and let me know if there is further information I might be able to provide. 

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

1-8-2023

Good Morning,

The past week introduced us to .5″ of rain, .25″ of ice, and several inches of snow.  This was on top of quite a bit of snow accumulation from the past couple of months.  The precipitation is hugely beneficial for the golf course and will definitely provide insulation to help protect the grasses during the winter months.  Currently there is a low level of stress on the turfgrass, but nature can change quickly.

 winter icing.jpg

 sunset past #12.jpg

I submitted my final budget proposal for the fiscal period 23/24.  These figures will soon be discussed with finance, the city manager, and department directors.  After these discussions the budget for each department will be presented to the finance committee and finally go to the city council for final approval.  There was an increase of roughly 5% in the golf course proposed budget which should be offset by the small increases in some of our revenue accounts.  More information to come on the budget as we proceed through the process.

The Capital Improvement Plan will be next on the agenda to start planning for major equipment and projects for 23/24.  We will be conducting this process a little bit differently than in years past.  Previously we planned five years out for this plan.  The high rising cost of equipment and projects makes it extremely difficult to plan these figures.  We will work on the current plan in order to have more definitive figures.

I have continued to work on equipment maintenance in the shop.  Every year the hour meters are documented to register the amount of hours each piece of equipment is used each season.  This past season we accumulated 1949.2 hours mowing turf in all areas of the golf course.  We have multiple mowing heights throughout the golf course that require certain playing conditions with different mowers.  That comes down to almost 40 hours of mowing per week, year round.  That’s a lot of hours considering we limited our fairway, tee, and rough mowing due to irrigation issues.

These playing heights and many other characteristics are established in our 

 Quality Standards and Operations Manual

 which is updated every couple of years.  This manual defines how we care for all different areas of turf from mowing height, frequency of mowing, fertilizer standards, etc.  The key to this manual is totally in correlation with the appropriate number of employees on staff.  When we are short handed some of these areas are affected.  The bottom line, it’s our guide to provide great golfing conditions for our customers.

Cleaning beer coolers and organizing beer according to expiration dates has been a priority this week, along with a lot of snow removal.  I will be swapping out beer that expires in March with beer with the distributors this coming week.  This will allow us to minimize the loss of beer reaching expiration dates.  The coolers are also being cleaned from bottom to top.

The golf simulator software has been downloaded and the machine is available to use by appointment only.  I am trying to establish some part time staff hours where we can establish set hours to have the clubhouse open for simulator use.  I am also in the process of setting up a permanent PC to run the simulator software so it is available all the time.

The Winter Turfgrass Survey through the University of Minnesota has been going quite well.  The node reads and transmits information every half an hour all day long to record moisture levels, CO2  and H2O levels, and temperatures.  It’s pretty fascinating to look at the graphs that change each day based on weather.  Here are a couple of those graphs taken off the live online recording site.

 Soil readings.jpg

 soil moisture.jpg

This coming week I will continue to work on equipment repairs, complete the reel sharpening, organize the clubhouse for two upcoming events, and work on the new TPAR software which will hopefully be utilized in the clubhouse for 2023.  

January 14, I will be out of town for vacation returning on the 21st just in time for a big event in the clubhouse.  I will be available through email and possibly text during that time.  There will be no update next Sunday unless you want to see some pictures of sunshine and mountains!

I will see the golf board members tomorrow evening for our monthly meeting.  Check your email for the agenda, claims, and budget information.

Enjoy the remainder of the weekend, do something fun today, and share some laughter with your family!  My kids don’t read this email but their laughter makes my whole day better because there is no better medicine!

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

1-1-2023

Good Morning,

We closed out the 2022 calendar year with a couple of events held in the clubhouse.  There was a nice group of people in to play the golf simulator on Friday and attend a retirement party.  It was a great crowd and nice to see everyone having a good time.

I have continued to work on the off season equipment program completing small repairs as well as continuing to sharpen reels and bedknives.  I had hoped to finish the sharpening process before the end of the year but I still have a couple of days left to sharpen.

The 2023/24 budget proposal has been submitted to the finance department.  We will have discussions during the month of January before we move into the Capital Improvement Plan. 

I’m still having issues with the availability of online credit card payment for the golf course fees.  I was hoping the situation would be resolved after closing the 2022 season but there still appears to be a glitch that does not make payments available on the City of Spencer website.  I will continue to work on this issue.  

Happy New Year wishes to you and your families!  I hope 2023 is a great year for beautiful golf weather for everyone to enjoy.  Cheers everyone!

 2022 pics.JPG

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