Writer: Kathleen Davis Phillips, (979) 845-2872, ka-phillips@tamu.edu
Contact: Dr. Richard White, (979) 845-3496, rh-white@tamu.edu
COLLEGE STATION — Ask a high school senior about college plans and the answer is likely to involve medicine, business, computers, law.
But a small band of students at Texas A&M University know the grass is greener.
They’re turf majors — Aggies you’ll eventually see managing golf courses, sports fields, parks, landscape businesses, home lawn care companies and maybe even cemeteries — all businesses dependent on a nice bed of soft, weedless grass and clumped together to form a $4.13 billion industry in Texas.
“About 90 percent of our majors want careers in the golf course segment of the industry,” said Dr. Richard White, associate professor and turfgrass researcher at Texas A&M. “Most of our graduates do go to work in the turf industry after graduation.”
It’s more than mowing. And in high dollar businesses and maintenance firms where a uniformly clipped and gorgeously green lawn is a customer’s desire, knowing when to water, fertilize and outsmart insects, weeds and disease is more than a weekend chore.
In fact, for every acre of turf in Texas — and the Texas Turfgrass Association says there are 3.5 million acres — more than $1,660 is spent every year.
“A lot of people make the turf decision on the career path because they think it means they will get to play golf and be outdoors, but that is not all of it,” said Stephen Best, superintendent of the Fazio and Crenshaw courses at Barton Creek Country Club in Austin. He noted that the weather — last year’s drought and this year’s floods — puts tremendous pressure on superintendents to maintain healthy stands of turf.
“But it is a very satisfying job, because you can physically work and see changes in it. You make a new landscape bed and it looks beautiful, and the satisfaction is every day,” Best said. “That is the part I really like.”
White said the idea of turfgrass maintenance as a career is improving, along with salaries, health benefits and “an occasional round of golf.”
An entry level turf manager at a golf course — and most other turf sectors, White said — can expect to start around $23,000 a year plus benefits, and the average salary nationally is upwards of $38,000. A talented and lucky person who manages to break into turf care for a major golf course may pull a six-figure salary, he added.
But a lot of people don’t realize that one can obtain a college degree for such a field.
“Most students come to this major by word of mouth,” White said. “They maybe worked at a golf course part time and found out there is a major.”
That’s how Best found out. He worked summers at a golf course in his hometown of Gonzales. The superintendent there, himself a graduate of the turf program at Texas A&M, suggested the major to Best.
But White said the casual exchange of information among acquaintances may not produce enough graduates. He expects the demand for turf professionals to increase, especially as sports fields follow a trend away from artificial turf and back to natural grass.
“I’ve never experienced a graduate date when a student didn’t have a job, or several, offered,” White said. “The employment opportunities are good and there is a lot of potential for entrepreneurial endeavors which we see lot of.”
Best, who has been at Barton Creek since graduating more than five years ago, said turf majors who are willing to work at the profession and who make sound decisions about the company they work for stand the best chance of having a lucrative career in turf management. He also suggested getting as much practical experience as possible throughout college by working on golf courses or in lawn care businesses.
Behind the beauty of skillfully maintained turf, is a lot of science — from grass varieties to soil types to pesticides. Most of it is backed with environmental concerns as grass usually coincides with large populations of people and with wildlife and bodies of water.
“This place has 54 holes, and we are building another course, and we are very environmental,” Best said. “That keeps you on your toes. Before you do the main job of taking care of the golf course, you look at the environmental side of things.”
“We educate agronomists who have specialties in turf,” White said. “They get a background of the core courses with entomology, plant pathology, communications, business, horticulture, soil science — much like other agronomy majors.
“But they also have courses in turf management, turf operation, personnel management, irrigation, and such,” he added. “They learn the actual day-to-day operations of a business, not just how to crop turf.”
He said the capstone course is a case study in which students must diagnose problems and offer resolutions for specific turf sites.
Most important for Best has been the knowledge he gained in soils classes at Texas A&M And he said that majors also should consider taking lots of courses in horticulture to gain more experience with trees and ornamental plants.
“We have a lot of deer out here, and they will eat just about everything,” Best said. “So we try to adapt every plant kinds that deer will not eat. That’s not easy. We also do a lot of xeriscaping using native plants,” to minimize the need for water and chemicals).
White said all majors also are required to do an internship of work experience. He has placed students at golf courses, sports fields, and lawn care companies all over the country.
“There are so many requests for student interns in the country, that many of the businesses offer housing and plenty of work hours at up to $8.50 an hour,” White noted.
Best said turf grass management offers a lifetime of opportunities to keep graduates satisfied and challenged.
“You don’t have to like golf courses because you can be in landscape businesses, sports fields and lots of other areas,” Best said.
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