News

Good Morning,

 

The street division was on site to continue working on the shelter behind #2 green. The concrete was poured and the framework of the shelter was started this past week. The high winds limited the amount of work we could complete later in the week and the project will continue this coming week. The goal is to provide a shelter that safely protects our golfers during a severe weather situation. Golf carts are not intended to be inside the shelters.

This past week I started applying herbicide applications to the grounds as well as a crabgrass pre-emergent to the tees, fairways, green surrounds, and around the sand traps. The pre-emergent applications are done annually to control the presence of crabgrass in the high play areas of the golf course. This helps eliminate the germination of crabgrass in these areas and provides a higher quality of turf on the golf course. The total treated area was 42 acres of golf course turfgrass.

I completed herbicide applications on all of the tees, fairways, green surrounds, around sand traps, and the practice facilities of the golf course. The herbicide applications are an annual treatment that is completed in the spring followed by spot spraying in the fall. These treatments control the presence of dandelions and other broadleaf weeds on the golf course. I completed 58 acres of turfgrass with these applications. 

There is a total of 164 acres of turfgrass that will be treated with herbicide to control the presence of all broadleaf weeds. I am able to treat six acres of turf with one tank load of product and it takes approximately one hour to spray one tank load. Weather conditions must be favorable with wind speeds of less than ten miles per hour and no threat of rainfall. It is a time consuming process and I hope to have it completed over the next couple weeks.

 

There was a lateral irrigation line issue running from the blue tee to the black tee on hole #15. We used a trencher to run a new irrigation line in this area. The repair process was completed on Tuesday morning and the area was filled back in with grass seed applied to the area. Irrigation was up and running that evening for this area. 

I went around the golf course and documented ash trees that need to be removed due to the Emerald Ash Borer. Two years ago the majority of our ash trees were treated with an insecticide to control the presence of EAB in our area. Some of the trees treated were on the border of having a successful treatment but were already infested to a higher level than the treatment could control. These trees will be removed on the next tree removal contract sent out by the City of Spencer.

There are also seven pine and spruce trees that need to be removed from the golf course. The pine trees are an annual process to remove these trees that were planted in the late 70's and are coming to the end of life due to stress from not being a native tree in Iowa. They will also be included on the next tree removal contract.

Maintenance staff has been busy with daily practices to keep the golf course manicured according to our Standards of Operation during the playing season. Our greens are still a little bit slow coming out of the winter months but are improving. There will be small areas that will need addressing where bentgrass has been lost due to the winter desiccation. This will include hand topdressing or plug replacement in these areas.

Weather conditions are forecasted to be cold the next few days and this will delay any progress we are seeing in these areas. They will continue to be monitored and proper maintenance will occur on a daily basis as we move forward.

 

It's graduation weekend in Spencer and I wish all the 2025 graduates nothing but the best as they move forward with the next phase in their lives. Congratulations on your graduation from high school

Please reach out if there are any questions or the need for additional information on a topic. Enjoy the remainder of your weekend.