For more than 50 years, the turf management program at OSU has been one of the leading programs in the nation.
Turfgrass is one of the fastest growing segments of agriculture in the United States and represents a $30 billion to $35 billion industry.
“During the past several years, the sport of golf has grown from a game for the elite to what some may argue is the new national past time,” said Gregory Bell, assistant professor of turf physiology and ecology.
With this tremendous growth in popularity comes a demand for higher quality, more challenging courses. The answer to this dilemma: superior turf management programs like OSU.
“The turf management program at OSU was a small group until a few years ago,” said Bell.
Between 1990 and 1998, the program grew to about 50 students. This number has remained the average enrollment for several years.
Because of the tremendous increase in the number of students in the program, the OSU Department of Horticulture and Landscape Architecture now offers master’s and doctoral programs with an emphasis in turf management.
Students in the undergraduate program take a wide variety of classes, including plant science, soil science, agricultural engineering, botany, entomology and business management.
Their career options range from starting their own lawn care or landscaping business to managing golf courses or sports fields.
Many graduates own or work for lawn care companies, manage athletic fields, or work for state or municipal parks departments.
“Due to the increase in popularity of the sport of golf, the most popular career direction students are taking is golf course management,” said Bell.
Before students can complete their undergraduate turf management degrees, they must complete an internship in the turf industry.
To participate in an internship, students must successfully complete at least 24 credit hours with a minimum grade point average of 2.00 and have at least one semester remaining toward the completion of a degree.
Students receive one credit hour for each 160 hours of approved work experience. A maximum of six credit hours may be earned.
One objective of the internship is to give the student practice in seeking out employment opportunities.
The golf course management internship may be completed at the student’s course of choice, but there are several duties required of both the students and the cooperators they choose to be their supervisors.
Students must participate in every aspect of managing a golf course: mowing, irrigation, fertilization, turfgrass establishment and/or renovation, application of pesticides, maintenance of bunkers and course setup.
Management skills are another aspect of the internship. Each student will fill the position of “superintendent for a day.” During this time, they will attend a greens committee meeting, supervise a crew of employees on a course project and be in charge of record keeping, payroll and the budget.
Another objective of this internship is to enhance the students’ educational experience by broadening their horizons beyond familiar surroundings.
Students in the program have worked with golf courses throughout the nation, from Texas to Florida and from Missouri to California.
“The hands-on experience I gained during the course management I did at the Country Club of Little Rock in Arkansas is the best part of the turf program at OSU,” said Ben Zollinger, 2003 turfgrass management alumnus.
Because of OSU’s excellent program on campus and the intense internships students must complete, the program has had a 100 percent job placement rate since 1997. The average starting salary for turf management graduates is $25,000 to $30,000 a year.
“The wide variety of horticulture, not just turf management, OSU teaches makes students more marketable,” said Brad Kmita, 2002 turfgrass management alumnus and Southern Hills golf course foreman.
Alumni of the turf management program are working as superintendents or assistant superintendents on golf courses across the nation.
Many OSU graduates work at some of Oklahoma’s most well-known courses, including Karsten Creek Country Club in Stillwater, Southern Hills Country Club in Tulsa, and Oak Tree Golf Club and Gaillardia Country Club in Oklahoma City.
However, their expertise is not limited to Oklahoma. OSU turf management graduates are located across the United States at some of the most prestigious courses in the nation, including Desert Willow Golf Course in Nevada, Desert Mountain Country Club in Arizona and Jupiter Hills Country Club in Florida.
Southern Hills, Oak Tree and Jupiter Hills were recently ranked by Golf Magazine in the top 100 U.S. golf courses. Southern Hills Golf Course has also been selected as the site of the 2007 PGA Championship.
“Southern Hills is consistently voted as one of the top courses in the nation,” said Kmita. “It is an honor for not only Southern Hills, but OSU also to be a part of one of the world’s most prestigious tournaments.”
The turf management program has come a long way from the small group it started more than 50 years ago.
“The program has developed into one of the most successful on campus and in the nation,” said Bell.
The need for quality turf management continues to grow with the popularity of golf. Modern day phenomenons like Tiger Woods sparked the interest of the nation for the sport, and superior turf management programs like OSU have answered its requests for quality golf courses.
OSU continues to lay down the “golden” greens on which legends like Tiger are made.