Kansas State University's new bachelor's degree program in golf course management is primed to educate the golf course superintendents of the future.
Graduates will be familiar with responsibilities and goals of managers involved in business, hospitality, and food serve operations at 18-hole golf facilities. They will also be highly employable at 9-hole facilities, where retaining a specialist in each area of course operation is not practical or affordable. As a superintendent trained in this program, you will have the credentials to compete for a position as general manager later in your career.
Course work provides expertise in turf management, business administration, the hospitality industry, and communications, as well as general courses in the humanities, social sciences, mathematics, and chemistry.
Students will complete two internships. The first one in turf management will be completed at Colbert Hills golf course in Manhattan; the second internship will be in the golf course management or food service/hospitality operations at a Tournament Players Club or other select courses across the United States.
Colbert Hills, which opened in May, 2000, is named after Jim Colbert a K-State alumnus and a member of the SENIOR PGA TOUR, the 18-hole championship golf course is a resident course where K-State students pursuing the golf course superintendent profession can gain hands-on classroom and internship experience.
Colbert Hills will also be a practice and tournament course for the K-State golf teams; a host for a skills-based youth golf academy; and a research facility to study the environmental impact of golf courses on natural resources and to evaluate the best management practices for turfgrass culture.
The program was developed with input from experienced golf course superintendents, who indicated that the skills students can develop in business, communications, and personnel management will be as important as the education received in the plant and soil sciences. The Golf Course Superintendents Association of America and the PGA TOUR will continue to advise and collaborate in structuring internships and evaluating the program's effectiveness in educating the next generation of golf course superintendents and facility professionals.
Corporate partners, including John Deere Company and Rainbird, are providing students with hands-on experience using state of the art machinery, equipment, and systems at Colbert Hills.
For information, submit inquiries regarding the golf course management program to Diana Edmonds, Department of Horticulture, Forestry, and Recreation Resources, Kansas State University, 1028 Throckmorton Plant Sciences Center, Manhattan, KS 66506-5506. 785-532-6923, e-mail: dedmonds@oznet.ksu.edu
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