3-26-2023

Good Morning,

The past week I arrived home, from vacation, with a sense of excitement.  The days were getting closer to my predicted opening date of March 9.  I toured the golf course on Wednesday morning and was very pleased with the condition of the golf course.  So much snow had melted by the time I was back and the water was making its way off the golf course into our streams and ponds.  There was minimal ice standing on greens or low areas of the course.  

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Thursday morning I was surprised to awake to 3″ of new snow cover on the ground.  It looked like another round of the magical winter wonderland we have seen so much of the past five months.  By the end of the day most of the snow had melted and turned into additional moisture for the ground.  All of the moisture is truly a blessing with dry conditions these past two years. 

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It has been a long winter with snow cover since the middle of November.  Our first winter storm dropped 3″ of snow on November 14.  We eventually had freezing rain that remained under the snow all winter.  It was an extended time to have ice cover on the greens without having concerns of possible turf damage.  

The putting green surfaces look great.  There is plenty of moisture throughout the soil profile and the turf plants look very stress free at this time.  The grass looks to be ready for spring golf weather.  Hopefully the weather continues to show no extreme temperature fluctuations.  That type of weather could cause a lot of turf issues at this time of the year.  Warmer nights will continue to push the frost level lower in the soil profile.

I’m hopeful the golf course will be open for play in the next couple of weeks.  The weather patterns can change and conditions can go from optimal to setting us back in a matter of days.  Once the course becomes ready for cart traffic the driving range will be open soon followed by the golf course.  

The golf simulator has been rented several times this past week.  I plan to have a set schedule to have the machine available during the off season.  I will schedule more time for part time staff to work in the clubhouse so it doesn’t limit the availability.  

This coming week some of the part time staff will return to work as we finish preparations for the season to begin.  Painting of amenity items needs to be completed along with some final equipment set up practices.  There are also branches around the golf course that need to be cleaned up.  Waterways need to be cleaned of debris.  Several ash trees, infected with EAB, need to be removed from the golf course.  The clubhouse hours will be more flexible as well.

Lastly, don’t forget about the 2023 Virtual Membership Drive deadline of April 15.  Pay your fees by this date and you will be enrolled in a gift certificate drawing.  Everyone can use a gift certificate now and again.  Payments can be made online, at city hall, or in the clubhouse.

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Enjoy the remainder of your day.  If there are any questions or the need for further information please get in touch with me.

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

3-19-2023

Good Morning,

I have been on vacation since Tuesday of this week.  I traveled to Tucson to volunteer at The Gallery Golf Club.  My father in law, Murray Hart, was a member at this golf course until the time of his passing in 2021.  He always volunteered at the PGA events held here in the 2000’s.  Tiffany and I were fortunate enough to be chosen to volunteer this week for the LIV golf league event.

Political views and stances will most likely play a huge part in where people stand with the development of the LIV golf league.  I don’t, in general, let politics affect the majority of my life decisions and I was personally honored to be chosen to follow in my father in law’s steps of volunteering at this beautiful golf course.

On Thursday morning everyone met in the maintenance facility at 4:00 am for the daily debriefing.  We started off raking debris from the island desert areas along the cart paths.  Once the sun was closer to popping up behind the mountains everyone started their mowers and headed to hole 18.   

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Tiffany and I mowed the intermediate cut of rough on the golf course Thursday thru Sunday mornings.  About 6:10 each morning there was just enough sunlight to see where you were mowing and off we went.  Hole 18 was completed then everyone moved to hole 1 and continued in progression through 17.  We were gathered on 18 waiting patiently to start the process each morning.

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The intermediate cut is also sometimes called the “first cut” of rough.  It is a single mower pass completed between the fairway cut and the primary rough.  At The Muni we use our 6″ outfront mower to complete this cut of rough.  It allows a smooth transition between the fairway and primary rough and gives the player a little better area of turf when they miss the fairway by a couple of feet.  

The cup changing process is quite intricate and time consuming when it’s a professional golf event.  A towel is laid on the green to eliminate any foot printing around the hole.  Multiple side views are taken once the cup cutter is started to ensure it is perfectly level.  Many golf balls are dropped and rolled around the area to visualize where a slightly missed shot will end up.  A lot of people provide a lot of information for something as simple as changing a cup in a time frame of about 20 minutes per hole.

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All sand traps are hand raked in the bottom of the trap and up the sides keeping perfect uniformity throughout the entire trap.  Motorized trap rakes are used to smooth the desert areas on each hole.  They never use anything but hand rakes on the course itself.

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Every hole has five separate tee boxes for players of all skill levels to enjoy the golf course.  Quite a few new tee boxes were constructed for the LIV event to lengthen the course to over 7500 yards playing to par of 71.  The 7th tee has a large Saguaro Cacti right off the side that has taken a lot of golf balls over the years.  Some are still embedded inside.

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The par three 8th hole is playing at 171 yards for the players this weekend.  I think it is a pretty neat looking view where you need to carry all of that yardage unless you want to be in a lot of trouble.

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About 9:45 each morning approximately 70 maintenance workers lined up and waited for a police escort down Dove Mountain Blvd back to the maintenance facility.  We went down the boulevard so there was no interference with the golfers and spectators and players around the clubhouse and practice facility.  Crazy enough, I ended up leading the pack on day two.

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So, I share a lot of this information because it is so difficult to comprehend the amount of staffing it takes to operate this golf course at such a high level.  Additionally to the staff, all the volunteers that showed up to make every maintenance practice able to be completed every single day.  The entire course was maintained every single day.

When you come to play at The Muni or any other area golf course we are operating with a handful or two of maintenance employees on a controlled budget.  Everything that is done on a golf course takes time and costs money.  We try to provide our golfing community with a high quality, cost effective, and entertaining place to spend their recreational time.  

I’m getting ready to go back out and take one more trip around The Gallery mowing some intermediate rough, hopefully watch some great golf, and continue to visit with local and nationwide turf professionals trying to provide a great playing field for this event.  When I get back home my staff and I will continue to do the same thing for you!  

Check out the event on CWTV if you want to watch a few minutes and get a glimpse of the course.  Enjoy the remainder of the weekend and I will see you in a couple of days. 

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

3-12-2023

Good Morning,

Weather conditions continue to remind us winter is not ready to change seasons in 2023.  On a positive note, we have a lot of snow that has melted off the golf course and the new 4″ of snow should not stick around very long.  All in all, the moisture is extremely beneficial to the golf course and our community.  Golf season will arrive very soon.

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This past week I attended the South Dakota Turf Conference in Sioux Falls.  It was a great event with some of the best speakers in the nation.  I was able to have some great conversations with a lot of vendors and fellow golf course professionals.  My dad was also the recipient of the Lifetime Achievement Award presented by the GCSA of SD.  It was a very proud moment for myself and my dad.

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I spent several hours with an irrigation specialist through the Toro Company.  We covered a lot of topics in regard to our irrigation needs at The Muni.  We plan to schedule an on site visit in April to further discuss the needs we face to get our irrigation system functioning efficiently.  

I also sat down with our Toro equipment salesman and discussed the difficulties we face with equipment purchases in this day and age.  I ordered a new rough unit and sprayer in the spring of 2022.  The rough unit is scheduled to arrive in late july 2023.  The sprayer is still now showing up on the delivery timeline.  It’s hard to comprehend how difficult it has become to purchase equipment no matter what the industry might be.  Crazy.

This upcoming week I will be going on vacation.  I will be available by cell phone or email as long as my phone has reception at the top of whatever mountain I’m climbing.  Enjoy the remainder of your weekend.

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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

3-5-2023

Good Morning,

The past week started off with .4″ of rainfall, lots of snow melting, and heavy surface drainage running throughout SW Spencer.  I very much appreciated everyone who reached out to me or city hall with concerns of flooding along 4th Ave SW and the Stoneybrook housing.  We were able to coordinate with Public Works to develop a game plan and proceed with controlling the situation very quickly.

Substantial winter snowfall leads to a lot of concerns once it starts melting.  When rainfall gets added to the equation it speeds the process up and creates a damming effect in all our waterways.  One of the biggest problem areas was all the snow pushed into the ditch along 4th Ave SW.  This created a giant cork that would not allow water to flow through the tiles and drains.  

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Three excavators were brought onto the property and the process of cleaning out the ditch was under way.  This allowed the tiles and surface drainage to flow freely through the area and standing water levels subsided.  It was a great job done by Public Works in an extremely timely manner.

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Warmer temperatures continue to lessen the amount of snowfall around the golf course.  This is always a very concerning time for me due to the heavy presence of ice throughout the grounds especially on the greens.  It’s so surprising as I look at pictures taken every three or four days to actually visualize the progress of the melting process through Mother Nature.

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I had golfers scheduled on the simulator Wednesday afternoon and Saturday night this past week.  For the future, I would like to set a schedule for clubhouse hours during the off season.  This will take some work to have part time staffing available to make this schedule work.  As for now I am trying to be available as much as possible for simulator reservations.

This upcoming week will be the completion of my Advanced EMT course through ILCC for the Spencer Fire Department.  It has been a very long course but so well worth every minute.  I was fortunate to be allowed to do clinical hours at Spencer Hospital the past several weeks.  Their staff was so amazing with offering advice and educating me.  I look forward to applying these skills within our community during times of need.

I will be attending the South Dakota Turf Conference for a couple of days.  This is another great opportunity to listen to some of the best speakers available in the turf industry and more importantly the networking opportunities are endless.  

I have moved the golf board meeting to Monday, March 13 since I will be gone to the conference on March 6, the regularly scheduled meeting time.  If we cannot get enough members together to make this meeting happen then I will send out an email update covering all agenda items and ask for individual feedback from the golf board.

Enjoy the remainder of the weekend.  Spring is inching closer day by day.  I’m still hopeful my opening date prediction of March 29 is possible.  If it doesn’t happen I will simply blame it on the weather!  Have a great 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