News

Good Morning,

 

This past week the grounds staff spent the majority of their time on daily maintenance tasks. We have cut back on our mowing frequency on tees and fairways to twice per week. Normally we are mowing these areas three times a week but the growing conditions have slowed down quite a bit with the lack of precipitation. We completed a lot of string trimming and out front mowing around the golf course as well. By the end of the week everything was in very nice condition.

Irrigation repairs continue to be at the top of the list each week. The majority of these repairs don't have an impact on the operation of the irrigation system. They generally consist of a leaking valve or crack in a lateral irrigation line which both cause standing water around valve boxes. This will be a continuous item on our list when time permits.

 

The flood caused us quite a few issues in the pumphouse and the majority of those issues will be corrected during the off season. The irrigation consultant will be putting together a proposal for pumphouse changes that will eliminate future problems during flooding conditions. This process will be submitted to the City of Spencer for FEMA by the end of next week. 

 

In past weeks I have discussed some of the damaged areas on several greens due to isolated dry spots and irrigation issues early in the summer. We have spent quite a bit of time working on these areas the past two weeks. Approximately 250 plugs have been moved from the practice green to repair areas on #3, #5, #6, #9, #10, #16, and #18 greens. There are still a few decent sized areas on #10 and #18 greens that will be repaired with the sod cutter. We hope to have these areas completed in the next two weeks. Hand topdressing will be a regular procedure on these spots until they are fully recovered.

Staff also worked on our cart path areas and parking lots. We used a box blade from the Park Department to drag the parking lots and the majority of the crushed asphalt portions of our cart paths. Other areas were leveled with the loader bucket on the tractor. We will start to get these areas on a regular maintenance schedule. 

 

Late this fall we will remove several damaged cart path areas around the golf course and replace them with crushed asphalt. So many of our cart paths have standing water on them every morning from the irrigation system. The water puddles followed by cart traffic cause the asphalt paths to deteriorate in these areas. We have many miles of cart paths around the golf course and replacing them with new asphalt or concrete is definitely not an affordable option. We will continue to replace these areas each fall and also perform more maintenance upkeep moving forward.

 

We had four more trees donated to the golf course this past week. The family of LaVonne Peterson donated these trees in her memory. LaVonne served on the golf board for almost thirty years. She was a big part of the golf course expansion to 18 holes as well as the development of the new clubhouse. There is a beautiful Redbud planted by the cart path on the way to number one tee and three maples planted on the west side of #18. Thank you to the family for this memorial to LaVonne who was more than a golf board member, she was a friend.