Nick Christians
August 22, 2013
nchris@iastate.edu
Zac Simons, massters student in turfgrass management, was chosen to attend the Jacobsen Future Turf Managers program in Charlotte, NC this past may. He had a great time. Here is his description of the experience.
By Zac Simons:
This
past May I had the opportunity to attend the Jacobsen Future Turf Managers
program at Jacobsen’s corporate headquarters in Charlotte, North Carolina. Each turf program around the country has the
opportunity to nominate a student to attend the event. This year 21 students attended the event with
one student coming from the United Kingdom.
The event was from May 13 – 16 and included stops at Jacobsen’s
manufacturing facility and distribution warehouse, the Quail Hollow Club, Sage
Valley Golf Club, and the University of South Carolina.
On Tuesday the day began with tours
of Jacobsen’s manufacturing facility and distribution warehouse. At the Jacobsen manufacturing each machine is
assembled by hand which shows the care Jacobsen puts into each of their
machines. The distribution warehouse
houses all the equipment waiting to be shipped as well as a section where all
of the replacement parts are stored. The
distribution warehouse also houses Jacobsen University which is where employees
can attend classes to learn about Jacobsen’s equipment and the maintenance they
require. While at Jacobsen University we
had two guest speakers. Abby McNeal CSFM
from Wake Forest spoke about her experience managing athletic fields and Dr.
Jim Brosnan from the University of Tennessee spoke about future issues facing
turfgrass management.
The next stop on the trip was to
Quail Hollow Golf Club which hosts the Wells Fargo Championship and will host
the 2017 PGA Championship. Quail Hollow was under renovation for the 2017 PGA
Championship. Superintendent Chris Deariso gave us a tour of the course and
explained the renovation projects that are occurring on the course. For the 2017 PGA Championship Quail Hollow is
converting their creeping bentgrass greens to MiniVerde ultra dwarf
bermudagrass greens.
On
Wednesday we visited Sage Valley Golf Club in Graniteville, South
Carolina. Sage Valley Golf Club is a
private club which is located 11 miles from Augusta National. Sage Valley also resembles Augusta National
very closely with its bentgrass greens and wall to wall overseeding of ryegrass
in the winter months. Superintendent
Chuck Green showed us the three practice holes on the course and explained the
maintenance practices that are done on the course. It was a busy day on the course so we were
only able to see the 16th hole.
From Sage Valley we went to the
University of South Carolina in Columbia.
We first stopped at Williams Brice Stadium which is the home of
Gamecocks football. The stadium had
hosted a Kenny Chesney concert in the spring and was still showing some
wear. We also visited the University of
South Carolina baseball stadium which is home to the 2010 and 2011 National
Champions. It is beautiful stadium which
seats around 8,000 and rivals some minor league stadiums. Clark Cox the head groundskeeper at South
Carolina gave the group tours of each stadium and explained the maintenance
practices that are done on each field.
The Jacobsen Future Turf Managers
program was an excellent experience. I
would like to thank Dr. Nick Christians for his recommendation and Jacobsen for
their hospitality. It was a great
networking and learning experience which will be useful as my time as a turf
manager.
Quail Hollow:
Sage Valley:
William Brice Stadium
University of South Carolina baseball field
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