When talking about the country's most popular golf destinations, Kentucky rarely, if ever, comes up in the conversation.
Kent Dornbrock, superintendent of one of the state's top municipal courses, would like to see that change.
"We're not there yet," said Dornbrock, superintendent at Kearney Hill Golf Links in Lexington. "But we have a lot of good superintendents in this state doing some good work."
Dornbrock has been doing some good work at Kearney Hill for nearly a decade, and his predecessors did the same for another 25 years since Pete and P.B. Dye built the course in 1989.
A former PGA Champions Tour site, Kearney Hill in 2018 was the site of the Girls Junior PGA Championship, a nationwide championship for golfers 18 and under. In July, Kearney will host the same event for boys, while the girls will be playing 50 miles away at Valhalla Golf Club in Louisville.
"What does that say? It says come play golf in Kentucky," Dornbrock said. "It says come play in Lexington. We're ready for you."
Despite its municipal status, Kearney Hill has been one of Lexington's golf hotspots since it was carved out of the rolling central Kentucky landscape 32 years ago. Ranked No. 3 in Kentucky on Golfweek's "Best Public Courses You Can Play" list, Kearney Hill was home to the PGA Champions Tour Bank One Classic from 1990-97, the USGA Men's Public Links Championship in 1997 and the Women's Public Links Championship in 2007. Tour pro Jim Dent held the course record - 62 - for nine years.
Kearney Hill, like most places, has had plenty of golfers but not enough workers during the pandemic.
At least 100 golfers per day on weekdays and 300 on Saturdays and Sundays are playing Kearney Hill. Until recently, Dornbrock's crew has been operating at about 50 percent of normal.
"We get a lot of tournaments. We have a page-and-a-half of events on the books this year," Dornbrock said.
"We're just trying to keep our head above water. We're finally getting workers back, but it has been hard during the pandemic. It has been easier for people to stay home and make more money. We finally have some college kids coming in, but we just couldn't get people out here."
A labor shortage has meant cutting back on detail work - at least until Dornbrock's staff is back up to full capacity.
"Little things were not getting done, things like edging bunkers, raking bunkers and cutting back on how much we mowed the short grass," he said. "We want to mow the greens six days a week, but we can't. We've had to cut back on everything we do by 10 to 20 percent of what we normally would do."
We get a lot of tournaments. We have a page-and-a-half of events on the books this year.
Dornbrock recently hired an irrigation tech, filling a void that has been open for two years. His new hire is transferring in from another department within the city's maintenance operation and has no golf experience.
"We can teach that," Dornbrock said. "Just having him will allow me to do superintendent duties again, like walking greens and fairways every morning, so I can be on top of all those issues. In short, it's going to help me be a superintendent again, so then I don't have to be an irrigation tech."
With some of the country's best junior golfers due at Kearney Hill in July, , more help could not have come at a better time.
"A little more intense maintenance, more PGR use - we're working on getting this place into shape," he said. "My philosophy is to have this course in the best shape possible every day, and we do a very good job of that. Now, with more staff, we will be very good by mid-June. By July, we will be great.
"We're going to produce and maintain a great golf course, not just for the boys, but for our public golfers, because we need them to continue to come back."
