Staff Profile: Victor Refalo

Victor Refalo, or Vic as we all call him, was hired on to Juniper Hill Golf Course in July of 1997. But as many of you know, has been with the club a lot longer. Vic was the very first JHGA Presidents back in 1961, and as been apart of the men's association ever since. Vic's primary duty on the golf course is mowing the greens, although he is usually not seen because he is the first out of the maintenance area and done before most of the golfers arrive. When needed, he has mowed tees, collars and approaches, some fairways, and as of this past summer, has stepped up and mowed a lot of green and tee banks. Vic has a lot of passion and desire for Juniper Hill Golf Course and takes a lot of pride in what he does as this golf course has become a second home to him. He has been a blessing to have of my staff, as he is very dependable, hardly ever misses a day, and can be counted on to get a job done, no matter the task. Vic has and will always be an assest to this course.

Staff Profile: Adam Curry

Born and raised in the City of Frankfort, Adam Curry has been with Juniper Hill Golf Course since August of 2003. He started out repairing the irrigation system, doing nightly watering cycles, and and filling in where needed. When I started in Feburary of 2008, Adam and I immediately began a great working realtionship and both had the same vision for Juniper Hill Golf Course. During the summer of 2009 Adam was given the title of Irrigaiton Technician even though it has become his baby since day one. With working on the irrigation system being a full time job, Adam wanted to learn more, so we squeezed in time to help him learn how to operate every piece of equipment we had and he has excelled at every turn. And during all of this (2003-2009), working a night time job. This proved to me how devoted Adam was to this golf course. In the spring of 2010, thru hard work and a passion for his job, Adam was given full time status thru teh City of Frankfort and I promoted him to Assistant Superintendent. Since then Adam has begun learning how to maintain the turf, learning all facets of the chemical side of golf course maintenance, and how to manage a crew. As I look at it, Adam will only keep succeding and is the greatest asset to Juniper Hill Golf Course.

1st Annual Greens Keeper Revenge

Last Friday we held our first annual 'Greens Keeper Revenge Scramble'. 22 teams showed up in support for Juniper Hill Golf Course and had a great time. All the money collected ($3027.00) went straight to the golf course to help continue the improvements that have been made over the past 3 years. PGA Professional Kirk Schooley happily donated the golf course in support of the cause. I personally would like to thank everyone that came out to support the golf course and I also would like to thank Bill Bell and his staff of helpers for putting this event together, as it has been a months in the making. To those who didn't play, I hope you can make it out next year and to those who couldn't play but still donated money, I thank you and we missed you on the course. I hope this will become an annual event because this golf course is a big part of City of Frankfort and it's community. Without you all, this course would not exist.

Aerification/Seeding Finished

Finally, finally, finally. Aerification and seeding of all the fairways and tees are offically done. Now we are irrigating them so we can get some germination for green grass on the tees and fairways to play off of for you winter golfers. It was a long process, the crew worked hard on it, and thanks for everyone to had patience during all of it. We now we can start working on some winter projects like adding some more irrigation, putting some drainage in, touching up the tees and fairways markers, and working on some equipment. On a different note, the new blog posts this winter will be dedicated to the grounds crew who worked all summer long and tried to give everyone the best playing conditions possible in one of the driest summers in history. You see them everyday on a machine, running the irrigation, etc. I will post a picture of them and a brief history so you can get to know my staff better, and know who is taking care of your course. I appreciate everyone's understanding and patience during our maintenance programs this season. So in turn, this will be my last post concerning the golf course until sometime next year. And as always, we'll see you on the course.

Aerification Finished

We offically finished up the aerification process yesterday with #16 & 18 fairways. We still have to seed and topdress #8 - 18 fairways and slit seed #8 - 18 tees. Due to waiting on the seed to arrive, it put us behind on being totally finished. I was hoping to get the tees done as we closed the holes down during aerification, but with the high demand of seed this fall from everyone, it put us behind. So hopefully we can come back in and do this without disrupting any play. Though I ask you to please be aware of anyone working in the fairways and let them get out of your way before you hit your ball. It is easier for us to finish out the path on the fairway rather than stopping mid way through it. As for the tees, we will try our best to accomodate the players and alternate the tee locations. We are overseeding the tees at a heavy rate this fall due to the stress of the season and the amount of play we got this summer. Again, I thank you all for the patience you showed during this process.

Aeration: A breath of fresh air for greens

Aeration: A breath of fresh air for your greens
9/28/2010
Aeration is a common practice on golf course greens, and although it has benefits, it can also disrupt golf play. In this video, Dr. Larry Stowell explains to golfers what aeration is, why it is conducted, and how it is almost always a worthwhile practice, despite its downsides.

Aerification Update

Aerification is going very well. We are on schedule with the process as the front side was finished today. We are also slit seeding the tees that we shut down the fairways for aerification. Due to waiting on more seed to be delivered, we have not seeded #8 and #9 tees and fairways. We will continue with the aerification process this week thru Thursday, and finish up on the following Monday. Hopefully the seed will come in and we can get caught up on those fairways and tees. This delay will cause a little disruption in play in order to catch up with the closed fairways but please bare with us. The pro shop will let you know what holes will be closed for the day along with postings of the closings throughout the clubhouse. This is a necessary maintenance practice that in the long run will help improve the soil conditions which will lead to better turf conditions. If anyone has any questions regarding this, please stop me at any time. And as always, we'll see you on the course.