News

Good Morning,

This coming week we will begin painting the remainder of our tee signs in the landscaping areas. We will also start removing plant materials and the river rock in these landscaping beds. Today's update will cover the month of August up to this weekend.

 

Precipitation

The rainfall totals year to date equal 29.50” at the golf course. Just for the month of July we had a total of 12.50” of rainfall which left the course completely saturated well into the second week of August. The high irrigation totals left staff focusing on daily maintenance activities for the majority of the summer. In comparison, the golf course had 31.1” of rainfall through the month of June in 2024. Our total rainfall was 39.2” for 2024.

Irrigation System

The irrigation system was used sparingly for most of the summer. We have started using it on a more regular basis as of the second week of August. Once the rainfall slowed down it was easy to determine where irrigation issues were occurring in different areas of the golf course. Staff has been working on some of these small repairs the past couple of weeks. 

Our irrigation heads in all areas of the golf course, other than the greens and green surrounds are 25 years in age. We rotated the majority of the old heads, during the irrigation renovation of the greens, in other areas of the golf course last season. We have continued to notice additional heads that are not performing at a high standard and need to be replaced.

In 2026, I plan to upgrade the majority of our irrigation on our tees to valve in head control. We still have inventory remaining from the golf green irrigation renovation that was completed last year. This update will give us higher performance levels on the tees as well as better water conversation. The rest of the irrigation heads will be addressed in our Capital Improvement Plan.

Golf Green Maintenance

Our golf greens historically have a lot of isolated dry spots that develop in the same areas each golf season. We have tried to improve this issue with additional aeration of the greens in these spots. This season we have also started using an Aqueduct product that is applied in a granular form followed by irrigation. It has made an incredible improvement in controlling these isolated dry areas. Once the isolated dry areas start to appear it is not possible to get the irrigation or rainfall to penetrate the greens in these spots. This new product has helped these areas recover very quickly. It’s now become a main part of our maintenance program.

Brushing greens has been going on for the past few seasons at The Muni. This process is done every Tuesday and Thursday morning. It helps stand the grass up then we follow it up with double mowing of the greens. It has improved the quality of ball roll on the greens, increased the efficacy of our fungicide applications as well as foliar fertilizer success. There is no University testing that recognizes these results but it has been common in other golf courses I have contacted. We are currently down to brushing greens once per week.

As I stated, our fungicide applications have seen longer residual effects since we started brushing greens. Normally a fungicide application is going to last a couple of weeks or less during times of such high humidity and warmer than normal nighttime temperatures. We are going almost three weeks between these applications. This helps save money spent on turfgrass products and also lessens the frequency of spraying which is important in environmental stewardship.

Golf Course Ponds

Granular application of copper sulphate has been incorporated into our pond maintenance program the past couple of years. The copper sulphate acts as an algaecide and disrupts the plant's cell membranes which inhibits photosynthesis. It must be applied in small quantities so it doesn’t affect fish and other aquatic organisms in the pond. Too much algae kill can dramatically lower oxygen levels in the water which can end up killing fish.

Maintenance staff started string trimming the majority of the streams and ponds this past week. The waterways had been so wet it was very difficult to complete all of our maintenance practices in these areas. We generally string trim all of these areas at least once per month. We will finish the remainder of the streams this coming week.

Derecho Cleanup

The high winds, at the end of July, caused a lot of devastation throughout our area. The golf course lost close to ten mature trees and damage to several others. We spent the first morning trying to get our trees onto the ground from a safety standpoint. Next, the small debris was removed from the golf course in order to open back up for play. In the next couple of weeks we completed the remaining clean up and had the debris stockpiled at the maintenance facility and south end of the golf course. This clean up process will be funded under the declaration by the State of Iowa in our area. 

Staff also went to the Country Club to help them get their golf course cleaned up in a timely manner prior to the start of the NW Amateur. We have always had a very strong working relationship with the Country Club. It is always very beneficial to help one another out during times of need. We were very proud to be a part of the many volunteers that helped get the Country Club cleaned up in a couple of days. It was shocking to see how far their course had come by the time the amateur started that Thursday morning.

Golf Course Staff

We have reached the time of year when many of our staff members have gone back to school to start another school season. I am very thankful we have such wonderful staff that come back each year to work at the golf course. With that, we have also had a couple other employees that had changes in work plans which has left us a little tight when it comes to staffing issues. We are currently working through those issues and hope to have all of the kinks worked out very soon. It’s been a learning process when staff moves from different shifts they normally haven’t worked. 

Clubhouse Software

We have dealt with quite a few software issues throughout the year and at times it has been very frustrating. Trying to work with the software company, credit card processor, and our own IT support has been more of a process than expected to find resolution. Last week we rotated the bar computer and the front desk computer to try and address some of the issues. The software company also did a brand new update to the software to resolve any Microsoft issues. So far everything has been working smoothly. I am almost afraid to even say it’s improved because I don’t want to jinx the system. We will continue to monitor it all moving forward.

Rental Carts/Green Damage

We had a rental cart that was damaged in early August. There was substantial damage to the front end of the golf cart and it was necessary to send it to Miller & Sons to complete the repairs. Fortunately I had the name of all the individuals involved and have been able to meet with all of them at least once. After hearing each individual’s story it was easy to see the situation could have been avoided. I have been in multiple discussions with Department Directors, HR, Police Chief, and our city manager to make sure I have taken the proper steps through the process. The individual driving the cart will be responsible for the repair costs.

Just when you think you have climbed one hurdle, the next one approaches faster than you expected. Sunday evening we had another complaint of four individuals driving rental carts through sand traps and across greens. Staff was able to talk to the individuals before they left the golf course that evening. Names were taken, pictures were documented of the 17th green, and I have shared everything with the police department. There was no monetary damage to the green other than visible tire tracks everywhere including through the sand traps. 
Another serious issue this season has been golfers taking divots out of the greens with their putter. This is generally a reaction after a short missed putt followed by the putter swing at the golf ball. Multiple divots alone just this week alone. This divot on #4 is the most severe one yet this season. I don’t understand how it is tolerated within a group of golfers unless the behavior is the same amongst the group golfing together. It's very frustrating to see any of this kind of behavior. 

Season Passes

Our annual season pass special started yesterday which allows for the purchase of a 2026 season pass to include no additional charge for playing the remainder of the 2025 season. There is also an option to visit our website and sign up for automatic bank withdrawal each month as an option to making one full payment. If golfers sign up for the automatic withdrawal option it would be ten monthly payments. If the individual signs up in the month of October it would be nine monthly payments and so on for each month that passes.

The Wrap Up

It’s been a great golf season and hopefully we still have plenty of Fall golf remaining for everyone that chooses to spend their recreational time with us at The Muni! The golf staff and I are very thankful for each and every one of you that visit us.