6-9-2024
The Muni Update
Jun 9, 2024
Good Morning,
The past week consisted of wrapping up the 2023/24 irrigation renovation project at The Muni. The contractor was on site Tuesday and Wednesday to complete the installation of irrigation heads and wire on the last ten greens. Our last green to finish was the practice green and that was completed late in the afternoon on Wednesday.
Maintenance staff worked on cleaning up the irrigation areas once the contractor had the new heads installed around each green. This was a time consuming process to level the areas with fresh black soil followed by adding sod to finish the clean up process. So much of the soil on the golf course is a very heavy clay so we tried to use better soil to fill in these areas.
Staff finished cleaning up the majority of these areas by Friday evening. We also finished repairing a bad valve on Saturday morning located east of the practice green. The practice green was partially cleaned up on Saturday morning and will be completed on Monday. Staff will go around to each hole this coming week to adjust soil levels that settled lower than the irrigation heads.
On Thursday I went through each of the irrigation stations to note the necessary changes needed for each irrigation head. I also updated all of the information into the irrigation control programs and on the irrigation renovation map I created. The wind gusts were over 50 mph that day so it was difficult to set each irrigation pattern but I was very impressed with the quality of the new irrigation heads.
The new irrigation system design involves two new part circle irrigation heads that replace one old full rotation head. The new part circle heads have been hard wired to the system so each one can be individually controlled. The old system did not allow me to individually control each head around the golf green.
This new system will allow us to use our irrigation water in a more efficient manner and use less water to provide a better playing surface for our golfers. One of the part circle heads will irrigate the golf green. The part circle head right next to it will irrigate the green surrounds. I ran the green irrigation heads early Friday morning so I could get an idea of how they were operating.
On Friday I went through each individual head and adjusted the flow pattern. This pattern is set in a manner of how many degrees does each head need to cover in the area of the green it is placed. Patterns varied from 90 to 120 degrees. The degree of each irrigation head will determine how many minutes I will set for each station. The lower the degree pattern the less time frame of irrigation since the head covers the area in less time and more frequently.
I left the irrigation system pressurized on Friday and started irrigation cycles for the greens, green surrounds, approaches, and tees at 10:00 PM. I was awakened to a thunderstorm at 3:00 AM which should not have come as a surprise in regard to how this spring has been going. This left the sand traps a little wet on Saturday morning. Overall, the new system worked amazing.
This upcoming week staff will finish the fine details of the irrigation renovation project. We will be fertilizing tees and fairways early in the week. Broadleaf applications will also continue to the 164 acres of turfgrass on the property. Landscaping areas will be cleaned up and prepped for annual flowers arriving soon. The waterfall will be installed on #10 and the landscaping will be cleaned up. Daily maintenance practices will also occur according to plan.
I hope everyone enjoys the remainder of this beautiful Flagfest weekend. The weather has been beautiful. Please reach out with any questions or the need for additional information.
Brian C Mohr
Director of Golf Operations
City of Spencer
101 W 5th Street
Spencer Municipal Golf Course
Spencer, Iowa 51301
712-260-5370