News

Good Afternoon,

 

The golf update is being sent out a couple days earlier than normal due to a scheduled vacation I have planned with my wife. I will be unavailable for phone calls but will still check my email periodically. I have my maintenance and clubhouse staff organized for the daily operations while I am gone.

 

This past week maintenance staff worked on repairing several of the damaged areas on #10 fairway from flood water on June 22. This process consists of leveling these areas with black soil and setting new sod to eliminate the damaged areas and reduce the possibility of future damage. Each piece of sod was cut into the perimeter of the existing turf to create a finished playing surface. We are using turf from the front of the practice tee area. We still have quite a few smaller areas around the course to repair but the majority of the most severe damage has been fixed.

We brushed our greens on Tuesday for the final time of the 2024 golf season. This has really been a beneficial part of our maintenance program. In past updates I have included pictures and also shared the reduced amount of chemical applications on our golf course greens. The remainder of the season we will focus on hand topdressing some of the greens where turf plugs or sod have been added to eliminate damaged areas on the greens.

Mid October the majority of the new sod and plugs should be fully established on the golf course greens. At this time we will complete our annual aerification process on the greens. This project will take us one or two days and the visual aspect of aerification will be minimal. We will not be topdressing the greens after aerification. Rolling the greens followed by double mowing will create a smooth putting surface. The open space from the tines will help with water movement through the soil profile and help control isolated dry areas.

We have dealt with isolated dry areas, on the greens, for a few years now. I am looking at purchasing a different type of aerifier that will allow us to complete monthly aerification on our golf greens starting in 2025. This maintenance practice will help eliminate the problem as we move forward. The new machine will meet all of our maintenance needs while leaving the putting surface with very minimal disruption to play.

We finished our most recent fertilizer applications around the greenside fairway turfgrass and just into the rough. The greens were also treated with a foliar fertilizer application this morning. Overall, the turf is in a very healthy condition throughout the golf course.

I have met with Bob Fullhart, Parks Director, to create a landscape plan at the golf course. We will focus on getting new perennials as well as annuals incorporated into our landscaping areas for the 2025 golf season. Poor soil quality and inadequate drainage have created a difficult planting environment over the years. We will use appropriate plantings that can better adapt to these conditions as well as potted materials to ensure we can provide more attractive landscaping areas at the golf course. It will be a long process that will take quite a bit of time for everything to become established.

The past few weeks I have been working with a company out of Des Moines to make repairs and upgrades in the pumphouse. Our pumps were all damaged from the flooding on June 22. The pumphouse upgrade will eliminate the potential for pump damage in the future. We are currently on their list for completion in 2024. 

 

Enjoy the beautiful weekend and hopefully you have some time to spend at The Muni if you're a golf fan. We still have several tournament dates on our event calendar located on our website. We are also offering discounted green fee rates and a 2025 season pass special for the remainder of the golf season.

 

There will not be a golf update next weekend since I will be on vacation. Please reach out if you have questions or would like further information. I will get back in touch as soon as I am able to check emails.