4-21-2024
Apr 21, 2024
Good Morning,
This past week the weather was beautiful at the start of the week and slowly dropped in temperatures as the days passed. We did receive 2.5" of rain at the golf course which helped provide precipitation for the golf course as well as the new trees we planted last season. The grass has really started to "green up" but still is a little slow growing due to soil temperatures.
The greens were mowed a couple of times this past week. Tees, fairways and some of the rough were mowed once. We are still a few weeks away from our regular daily maintenance practices as far as mowing goes. It won't be long and we will be back in the full swing of our daily mowing practices.
The irrigation system was opened up for the season on Monday. Greens were irrigated for 10-15 minutes per station. I made a few small adjustments on several heads but overall there were no issues. We had planned to go through the rest of the system but rain showers put a halt to that plan. This upcoming week we will go through each station individually to document how well each station is functioning.
Our 2023/24 Capital Improvement Plan involves an irrigation renovation to our greens. This will allow individual head control on every green. Also, we will have individual head control for our green surround on every hole. A major improvement with this renovation will be limited irrigation hitting our sand traps every night which will help keep the traps in better condition.
Currently the contractor is planning to arrive at the golf course toward the end of this coming week. We will complete the renovation one hole at a time. During this process we ask the golfing publice to please refrain from completing the hole that is under renovation. Maintenance staff will assist this process by performing as much prep work as possible to each hole prior to the contractor.
Our greenside valve boxes will be dug up as will each irrigation head surrounding the green. New wire will be pulled from the valve box and connected to each new sprinkler. The exact time frame is not known until we complete a couple of holes and figure out the smoothest way to complete the process. I will make sure the updates are posted daily in the clubhouse.
Another high priority maintenance item is the application of a herbicide on all tees, fairways, green surrounds, and some of the rough to prevent the germination of crabgrass. This application needs to be completed once our soil temperatures remain consistently above 50 degrees. Spraying conditions need to be less than 10 mph winds. Once I start the application I will continue until all areas have been treated.
This morning we are hosting our first golf tournament of the season. We have 36 four person teams signed up for today. This is the maximum number of teams we are allowing for this event. There will be eight players on each tee box. The event starts at 11:00 AM with a shotgun start. Hopefully everything is completed by 5:30 PM.
Additional apparel has been added in the clubhouse for the 2024 season. We now have muni golf caps and light jackets added to our inventory. There is also the addition of new ball markers 1.5" in diameter with a nickel finish. We are offering a wide variety of brand new Srixon and Callaway golf balls at different pricing. Golf shirts will be added in the near future.
Please reach out with any questions or inquiries for further information on a topic. Enjoy the remainder of the 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