5-19-2024

May 19, 2024
5-19-2024
Good Morning,
 
This past week at the golf course was spent trying to catch up on a lot of our daily maintenance practices. The high amounts of precipitation and warmer temperatures has the grass growing at a rapid rate. We were able to get everything mowed multiple times by the end of the week. The golf course is in pretty nice shape as we headed into the weekend.
On Thursday morning we applied a granular fertilizer to the greens. This product is an 18-9-19 fertilizer that was applied at a rate of one pound of nitrogen per thousand square feet. We apply a granular application in May and September each season. This product allows nutrients to be readily available to the turfgrass at the root system. During the season the greens are fertilized with a foliar application once every two weeks which is absorbed through the leaf tissue. 
 

 

Fairway mowing patterns have been changed for the 2024 golf season. In the past we have mowed fairways following the contour of the fairway in a straight away pattern. This year we are rotating mowing patterns from right to left and left to right at a 60 degree pattern. This will create a diamond shape appearance to our mowing patterns. It will limit the amount of grain from developing from our mowing patterns and allow for a consistent ball "lie" in the fairways.
 
The irrigation system has not been used very much yet this season due to the rainfall totals. I irrigated greens and tees early on Friday morning since the high winds had really started to dry out the golf course. Twenty minutes of irrigation for each station helped prepare the golf course for a busy weeknd of golf.

The irrigation renovation project is scheduled to start tomorrow morning unless we get more rain today. The plan is to work on one green from start to finish before we move to the next hole. We are asking golfers to move to the next hole when we are completing the install on that particular green. It's hard to estimate a timeline until we get a couple of holes completed. Hopefully everything goes smoothly and we can get the irrigation update completed in a timely manner.
 
We are starting to see a large amount of dandelions present on the golf course. This is a regular occurance every spring. Staff is behind schedule on a lot of spring projects including the herbicide application. I am the only licensed applicator at the golf course and it takes me about 36 hours to spray the whole golf course with favorable weather conditions. Winds have to be below 10 miles per hour and there is no threat of precipitation in the forecast. I will start working on these applications this week.
 
We have 88 senior golfers playing at The Muni tomorrow morning with a shotgun start at 8:00 am and they should be completed around noon. Open golf and league play will take up the rest of the week. It will be a very busy week with a lot of projects taking place each day.
 
We have sold seven advertisement spaces on the new beverage golf cart. I am working with SS Graphics to develop the advertising plan for the spaces on the beverage cart. Morton Buildings will have their advertisement on the hood of the cart and the other advertisers will be spaced around the bed of the vehicle. It will be a great addition to the golf course. Advertising dollars will be used on future projects at The Muni.

The golf course opened for play on March 2 following the driving range opening in February. The course has been very busy on a daily basis. It's been an abnormal start to a golf season but very positive in the overall scheme of operations.
 
Please reach out if you have questions or would like additional information about the golf operations. 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
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