Turf management program continues to grow
September 19, 2003
This fall marks the third anniversary of a useful connection between golf and the Owens Campus of Delaware Technical and Community College. In August 2000 the college began enrolling students in its turf management program, in the Applied Agriculture Department.
Since then over a dozen students successfully completed the course and lab requirements for their associates’ degree, and then moved on to work literally in their field, both locally and in several neighboring states. Students enrolled in the turf classes now make up a significant percentage of the enrollment in the entire department
Steve Shortall, a turf management instructor at Delaware Technical and Community College’s Owens Campus in Georgetown, poses with a roll of artificial turf. The program students will install the turf on one of the tee boxes at the college’s two-hole laboratory. As the picture shows, the turf can easily handle golf tees.
Department chair Kyle Serman and Steve Shortall, an instructor in the turf program as well as related programs in horticulture and production agriculture, recently met for an interview. They discussed how the curriculum helps students learn the critical information they’ll need to become golf superintendents or work in similar assignments involving turf subjected to active use, such as baseball and football.
Shortall said, “Most people think [turf management] is all chemicals. But it’s actually a whole series of cultural controls, including aeration, irrigation, and fertilizer. The kids learn the important details to give the plant exactly what it needs.”
“When you’re keeping it at a 3/16ths-inch height, and people are hacking it up, there’s a lot of stress on the turf. That makes it subject to pests and other problems. If we maintain the right set of cultural controls, we’ll produce a more stress-free environment, and there’ll be less pest issues,” he said.
Shortall continued, “We see ourselves like a boxing manager working with a boxer after a match. We try to bring the turf back into shape after the fight,” he grinned.
In addition to the time spent in the classrooms and laboratories, the turf management students also receive hands-on training at the school’s two par-3 holes. Serman is always quick to point out that what looks exactly like a partial golf course is considered a laboratory by the college.
Serman is correct to think that way. One of their greens lost its turf completely, and the students are now busy replacing it. “We had them remove the bad turf with a sod-cutter, and last week they’ve laid down new sod. The next steps are to roll it and top dress it to get the ridges out. They’ll use a hand roller, and Mark Cote [of Baywood Greens] has also lent us his greens roller,” Serman said.
Shortall and Serman also showed me the roll of synthetic turf that the students will install on one of the tee boxes. The “grass” is life-like, and we proved it would easily hold a golf tee.
Shortall explained that some courses now use synthetic turf on tee boxes and other high-stress locations. “A new course near Cambridge, Maryland uses this same stuff on a tee box that sits right next to the Bay. They didn’t want any heavy equipment on the tee box for cutting grass, and they were also concerned about runoff into the water. This gave them the solution. Our kids need to know how to work with the synthetics, and they will,” Shortall said.
For more information about the turf management program, call Serman at 302-856-5400, or e-mail him at kserman@college.dtcc.edu.
Short Putts
Assuming Hurricane Isabel doesn’t alter the plans, there will be a tournament on September 26 to benefit the local Meals on Wheels charity. Golfers who can’t fit the event on their schedule can still contribute, however, and potentially earn something for themselves at the same time. At Clubhouse Golf on Rehoboth Avenue Extended, contributors plunking down $10 or more can double their money in gift certificates. All they have to do is make a “100-yard” swing on the store’s golf simulator stick on the island green shown on the screen.
Ed Larkin of Clubhouse Golf says they’ve already raised a nice piece of change for the tournament, and the swinging will continue up to September 25. For more information about the simulation part of the tournament, call Clubhouse Golf at 302-227-3347. For information about the tournament itself, call 302-645-7449.