The Muni Update
The Muni Update
Good Morning,   Last weekend I started to experience some extreme pain in my left ankle. I had surgery on this left toe in early October. On Monday I went to the Emergency Department at the hospital and discovered I had an infection present. I spent the week trying to figure out how to get...
View Article
The Muni Update
The Muni Update
Good Morning,   This past week the 2024 golf season came to an end. We had a dozen or so golfers out playing one last time on Sunday, November 24. It was a pretty nice day to play golf considering it is the end of November. On Monday we removed the flagsticks and cups from the greens,...
View Article
The Muni Update
The Muni Update
Good Morning,   This past week we were able to complete the winterization of the irrigation system. On Monday we used a 250 CFM air compressor to blow out the irrigation lines. We start blowing out the main lines of the irrigation first then go through each individual station to remove all...
View Article
The Muni Update
The Muni Update
The golf course maintenance staff has been working on quite a few projects as we near the close of the 2024 golf season. Here is a list of some of those items:
Pumphouse - the flood caused quite a bit of damage in the irrigation pumphouse. The three pumps have multiple issues but we were...
View Article
The Muni Update
The Muni Update
Good Morning,   Staff have been very busy working on the irrigation system the past several weeks. The majority of the repairs have been on the lateral line side of the valve and also cleaning out diaphragms. The most obvious sign of leaking lateral lines is a saturated valve box and green...
View Article
The Muni Update
The Muni Update
Good Morning,   It was nice to finally see some precipitation this past week. We received .15" of rainfall on Tuesday afternoon and another .8" on Thursday. It was nice to be able to shut the irrigation system down for a few days. We received 31.1" of rain, for the year, as of June 22. We...
View Article
The Muni Update
The Muni Update
Good Morning,   The Spencer Municipal Golf Course is happy to announce we will be partnering with Upper Des Moines Outreach to host a music bingo night on November 21. This event will help raise funds for UDMO of Clay County to help citizens of our community with a lot of great support. We...
View Article
The Muni Update
The Muni Update
Good Morning,   This past Monday we fertilized the golf greens with an 18-9-18 foliar fertilizer which was irrigated for eight minutes after application. The product will provide nutrients to the bentgrass green for the remainder of 2024 and be "plant ready" in the spring of 2025. This will...
View Article
The Muni Update
The Muni Update
Good Morning,   The past couple weeks the weather has been above normal temperatures and no precipitation. The non irrigated areas of the golf course have turned completely dormant. The irrigated areas continue to receive as much water as possible. They are hanging in there pretty well...
View Article
The Muni Update
The Muni Update
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...
View Article
The Muni Update
The Muni Update
Good Morning,   On Monday morning we brushed our greens in the same format as we've done the past couple of years. The greens were double mowed following the brushing of the greens. We collected grass clippings from #18 green after the first mowing and after the second mowing.
 #18 Green...
View Article
The Muni Update
The Muni Update
Good Morning,   At the beginning of the week we started refurbishing our existing tee signs around the course. These signs were installed when the golf course expansion project was completed in 2000. We use a special lithichrome paint on these signs to update all the painted areas including...
View Article
The Muni Update
The Muni Update
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...
View Article
9-1-2024
9-1-2024
Good Morning,   This past week we received 1.1" of rainfall on Thursday afternoon. The precipitation was definitely needed by the turfgrass and also helped give the irrigation system a break in operations for a couple of days. The unfortunate part of the thunderstorms is it caused the...
View Article
The Muni Update
The Muni Update
Good Morning,   This past week we hosted the Jasen Petersen Memorial golf outing and our golf leagues inched closer to the end of their season. There were 148 golfers for the JP Memorial event on Saturday. Tuesday we hosted the morning ladies league end of the year tournament. This morning we...
View Article
The Muni Update
The Muni Update
Good Morning,   This past week our maintenance staff focused on our daily maintenance practices. Our mowing frequency had decreased with the lack of precipitation the past few weeks. Non irrigated areas had become fully dormant and even irrigated areas of the golf course required as much mowing...
View Article
The Muni Update
The Muni Update
Good Morning,   Our maintenance staff has been busy with daily maintenance practices on the grounds along with planning fall projects. Clubhouse staff has been busy with golf leagues, daily golf, and events. Several of our employees will be leaving soon to go back to teaching school. I...
View Article
The Muni Update
The Muni Update
Good Morning,   This morning we hosted the annual Special Olympics golf outing. There were 27 athletes participating with their sponsors playing two person alternate shot for either six or nine holes. It is such a great event that really brings a lot of smiles to every face on the golf course....
View Article
The Muni Update
The Muni Update
Good Morning,   The warm weather and lack of precipitation has started to really dry things out at the golf course. The non irrigated areas are starting to turn dormant at a rapid rate. The warmer temperatures have started to cause a lot of stress to the turfgrass and also shows where we...
View Article
The Muni Update
The Muni Update
Good Morning,   This past week at the golf course staff was busy with daily maintenance practices getting the golf course in as nice of shape as possible heading into the weekend. Our fairways are looking great and so are the putting greens. Every area of the golf course has been finely...
View Article
The Muni Update
The Muni Update
Good Morning,   This past week I was able to complete a lot of spraying to control clover and other broadleaf weeds. The only areas left to spray are the rough on holes 1, 2, 8, 9, 10, 17, and 18. I hope to complete these areas this coming week. The majority of clover has been eliminated in the...
View Article
The Muni Update
The Muni Update
Good Morning,   This past week the golf course operations were back to as close to normal as we could expect considering the devastation our community experienced two weeks ago. We still have staff members that are dealing with the loss or damage to their homes and I am giving them as much time...
View Article
The Muni Update
The Muni Update
Good Morning,   The golf course opened for play once again on Saturday, June 29. It was nice to see some of the folks come out to play golf and express their relief to "just get away from it all." We didn't have a lot of golfers, but it was a successful day for everyone that had a chance to...
View Article
The Muni Update
The Muni Update
Good Morning,   It’s been a devastating week for the citizens and business owners of our community. Quite a few employees at the golf course were also affected.     The golf course came through everything with no flooding issues to any buildings or sheds. Our only problems were from the...
View Article
6-24-24
6-24-24
Good Afternoon,   The Spencer Municipal Golf Course will be closed until further notice. There is currently power in the clubhouse but no internet or phone service.    The golf course was not really affected by the flooding. There was a lot of surface drainage that covered the course after we...
View Article
6-16-2024
6-16-2024
Good Morning,   Monday morning started off with a bang at the golf course. Literally, there was a loud bang and a hydraulic valve blew on one of the Toro green mowers. Hydraulic leaks are usually a rarity but when they happen it is not good for the turf. We used oil dry to try and soak up as...
View Article
6-9-2024
6-9-2024
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...
View Article
6-2-2024
6-2-2024
Good Morning,   The golf course irrigation renovation started this past week. The contractors were on site Wednesday to get the project started on #18 green. We used a small track hoe to expose the old irrigation heads and remove them from the system. Two new irrigation heads were installed in...
View Article
5-26-2024
5-26-2024
Good Morning,   The past week was spent on clean up after multiple storms passed through the area. There was a total of 4.5" of rainfall that arrived Monday night through Tuesday another .8" of precipitation overnight on Thursday. It was definitely a challenge for staff and volunteers to get...
View Article
5-19-2024
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...
View Article
5-12-2024
5-12-2024
Good Morning,   The past week was filled with rain and more rain causing the golf course to become completely saturated with multiple days of surface drainage causing flooding. The irrigation pond was overflowing into the large flood drain but it could still not contain the water. The water...
View Article
5-5-2024
5-5-2024
Good,   This past week there were multiple days of rain or thunderstorms resulting in over three inches of rain which was preceded by more than two inches of rain the week before. The golf course held up very well throughout all of the rainfall until we reached maximum capacity on Wednesday...
View Article
4-28-2024
4-28-2024
Good Morning,   Last Sunday we hosted our first golf event of the 2024 season. This was a four person best shot with 144 golfers participating. This is the first event in a long time where all 36 teams that registered actually showed up for the tournament. It was a little breezy but everyone...
View Article
4-21-2024
4-21-2024
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...
View Article
4-14-2024
4-14-2024
Good Morning,   The maintenance staff has spent the past couple weeks working on course preparation. There were a couple of trees removed and lots of branches and small sticks cleaned up throughout. We also went through all the streams and waterways to remove garbage and other debris impeding...
View Article
3-31-2024
3-31-2024
Good Morning,   The past week we pushed through the snow and rainfall to have a little bit of golf at the end of the week. We had close to 3" of rain and about the same amount of snow. The precipitation was great for the golf course and it all soaked in pretty quickly.    Thursday staff spent...
View Article
3-24-2024
3-24-2024
Good Morning,    The weather has changed and reminded us Winter might not quite be over yet. With the uncertain snow amounts in the forecast I felt it was best to spray the greens with a fungicide. This treatment protects the bentgrass greens from the threat of "snow mold." This is a fungus...
View Article
3-17-2024
3-17-2024
Good Morning,   This past week we completed our first mowing of the 2024 golf season. The tees and fairways were mowed on Monday and Tuesday. Lots of dormant grass was removed with a dense green grass present underneath. The soil still had plenty of surface moisture creating a lot of soil...
View Article
3-10-2024
3-10-2024
Good Morning,   Another week is winding down at the golf course. We started the season with the earliest opening date in The Muni history. It has continued to be busy on the days the golf course is open. The online tee times are starting to fill up for the next few days. Beautiful golf...
View Article
3-3-2024
3-3-2024
Good Morning, Our driving range opened last week and we had a lot of golfers take advantage of the warm February weather. This led to a lot of phone calls and text messages wondering about the opening date for the golf course. Every year I open the golf course as soon as the course is ready for...
View Article
2-18-24 Update
2-18-24 Update
Good Morning, 
The weather continues to be quite abnormal and leaves us all anxious for spring to arrive. The start of the golf season is always on everyone's mind that owns a set of golf clubs. Weather patterns definitely play the biggest part in that each year. Here...
View Article
2024 Golf Season
2024 Golf Season
Welcome to the website for the Spencer Municipal Golf Course. Please take the time to enter your email address if you wish to receive event notices or seasonal specials. Your email address will only be used by our facility as a way to better serve you the public. Visit the rate page, of our...
View Article
2-11-24 Update
2-11-24 Update
Good Morning,
This past week I attended a seminar at Lake Creek Country Club, in Storm Lake, to learn about the updates to the World Handicap System. There are new changes for the 2024 season that will affect how a golfer’s Handicap Index will be adjusted for rounds of golf more than nine holes...
View Article
2-4-24 Update
2-4-24 Update
Good Morning,
Golf season is only a couple months away. The warm temperatures have melted the majority of the snow which helps provide moisture to the golf course but also leaves it unprotected from the winter weather conditions. Severe drop in temperature, high winds, and now snow cover can cause...
View Article