The Muni Update
Aug 31, 2025
Good Morning,
This is the first week we have not had any recorded precipitation for the majority of the golf season. The irrigation system has been running every night trying to provide adequate water to the golf course. We have not really used the irrigation system, on a regular basis, for most of the golf season. So, it's been a little bit of a process making some nozzle adjustments and making small repairs.
Overall, the irrigation system is performing much better than in past seasons but we still have small situations arising on a daily basis. Staff has been busy cleaning out diaphragms, replacing sprinkler heads, and repairing small leaks. The majority of our system is 26 years old and we are starting to see some of our irrigation heads not performing at a very high standard.
For the 2026 golf season we will be looking at upgrading the irrigation for our tee boxes. This was part of the renovation plan when we did our golf greens in the Spring of 2024. We have the materials on hand to complete this process and it will provide us with more adequate coverage on all of our tee boxes. Updating our irrigation heads on the fairways will be part of a future Capital Improvement Plan project.
Staff has again been busy, this week, with day to day maintenance items. A few days with low 40's as overnight lows has really helped slow the grass down a little bit. We are still spending a lot of hours operating mowers to complete our practices. This is an area that really has an impact on the budget and equipment life.
During a golf season with normal precipitation rates results in the non-irrigated grass becoming dormant during the summer. This season we have not experienced that weather pattern. When non-irrigated areas go dormant we run our rough mowers less frequently. When the grass never becomes dormant, we are constantly mowing rough. This can be the difference of 400 hours on a rough mower for the season in comparison to 800 hours on a rough mower for the season. This leaves us no time for other projects on the schedule.
Saturday was an extremely busy day at The Muni. There were only a few tee times available for the majority of the entire day. It's great to see our members out golfing each day as well as the new faces stopping by to visit our golf course. It's been a very busy golf season each and every day. We have a wide range of golfers from the everyday golfer way over to the beginning golfer. Every person that plays golf at The Muni is there for the same enjoyment factor as everyone else.
Staff does the best possible job trying to educate golfers and maintain a golfer friendly atmosphere each day. We will always have a small number of golfers that don't understand our rules and policies or simply don't care to adhere to them. The golf course is a recreational stop for people to enjoy themselves in a wonderful outdoor environment. When the golf course is packed from sun up until sun down it's going to take a little bit longer to play a round of golf.
This week I shared another maintenance video from our schedule. We started brushing our golf greens a few years ago and have seen some extremely positive results. Fungicide applications have decreased, fertilizer applications have been more effective, and overall health of the greens have improved. There is no university data to support these results but we have seen major benefits. This practice is completed twice a week during the season.
This upcoming week, I will be focusing on finishing the chemical treatments on our ash tree population at the golf course and other city properties. We will also be evaluating our landscaping renovation plan that has not yet started. There are various other projects that are still on the agenda and will hopefully be completed yet this season.
Enjoy the remainder of this beautiful Memorial Day weekend. The Muni would like to extend a huge thank you to all of our veterans who have served or are currently serving our country. The USA would not be the land of the free and home of the brave if it wasn't for our military heroes.
Brian C Mohr
Director of Golf Operations
City of Spencer
101 W 5th Street
Spencer Municipal Golf Course
Spencer, Iowa 51301
712-260-5370