Good,
This past week there were multiple days of rain or thunderstorms resulting in over three inches of rain which was preceded by more than two inches of rain the week before. The golf course held up very well throughout all of the rainfall until we reached maximum capacity on Wednesday night.
Thursday morning the golf course was covered with more water than turfgrass. The driving range was 90% underwater and more than a handful of golf holes were flooded. By early afternoon most of the water had subsided and a trail of debris was left behind. The golf course was closed on Thursday due to the flooding.
We opened the golf course on Friday morning with plenty of sunshine in the air. The storms had passed and brought us a beautiful day to play golf. Staff spent the morning cleaning up the debris from the course and hauled it to the tree site. The driving range still remained closed due to standing water. Hole #10 was converted to a par three due to the extremely wet fairway conditions. The remainder of the golf course was very wet but definitely playable.
More rainfall totalling over half an inch hit the golf course early Saturday morning. The driving range remained closed due to standing water. The golf course had some surface water draining down the fairways but it was not even close to Thursday morning. The course was extremely wet but golfers were allowed to play with golf carts.
The majority of the golfers were very respectful to the wet conditions of the golf course this week. We did have a few carts driven through some areas causing damage to new sod but overall most everyone did a nice job staying out of the worst areas of the course. I never want to close the golf course to cart traffic but sometimes it must be done. Thank you to the people that operate their golf carts in a courteous manner.
During the past week I sprayed fairways, tees, tee surrounds, green surrounds, and a few holes of rough with a pre-emergent to eliminate the germination of crabgrass. I still have to finish spraying the fairways on holes #13, #14, and #15. This product needs to be irrigated after application and will form a barrier at the top of the soil to prevent the crabgrass seeds from germinating. I will finish the remainder of the fairways early in the coming week and also try to cover a few additional areas of rough.
Very soon I will start treating dandelions and other broadleaf weeds with a herbicide. It takes me at least 36 hours to treat the entire golf course to control the presence of these weeds. Conditions need to be winds less than 10 mph and no chance of precipitation. This herbicide kills the weed after being foliarly absorbed by the plant. Irrigation counteracts the application. I will cover the golf course as quickly and efficiently as I can during the remainder of the month.
Our golf course irrigation renovation was put on hold for yet another week due to the weather conditions. This project will hopefully start this week and be completed in a couple of weeks. We will be working with the contractor on a daily basis in order to get this complete in a timely manner. When we are working on a green it will be closed to the golfers so please move on to the next hole. The clubhouse will have updates on a daily basis for our golfers.
Please reach out to me if you have any questions about the golf course or would like additional information on a topic. It looks like today is going to be dry with sunshine which is great for golf. Enjoy the remainder of your 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 