When the first professional golfer steps onto the green at this year’s U.S. Open, the grass beneath his feet will be pristine thanks to a grounds crew that includes an alum who honed his skills at the University of Guelph.
“Tournaments are a lot of fun to do,” says Connor Brown, who is returning to Oakmont Country Club, in Plum, Pennsylvania – where he completed his internship – to volunteer on the crew. Brown is taking some time off from his assistant superintendent job at Oakville Golf Club to add a major tournament to his resume.
A graduate of the Diploma in Turfgrass Management (DTM), Brown grew up on a golf course, the son of a golf course superintendent. “I always loved it,” he says. “I love working outside.”
The DTM set Brown up for success in the industry, bridging hands-on learning with business and leadership skills, he says. Beyond the scientific courses that explored grass and soil and insects, he also took classes in human resources, management and finance.
“People often say growing grass is the easy part of the job,” he says. “In this program, you are exposed to that. A lot of my job today involves managing staff.”
At the U.S. Open, Brown will take a leave from his regular duties and return to the Oakmont green, ensuring the course is up to professional standards, mowing and trimming to maintain appearance and playing conditions for golfers like Rory McIlroy and Corey Connors.
He joins fellow DTM alumni who will be working at and hosting this year’s Canadian Open at TPC Toronto at Osprey Valley.
U of G a turfgrass industry leader from the start
Internships like the one Brown had at Oakmont are a keystone for success in the DTM, says Cameron Shaw, program manager. All students engage in a 15-week paid summer work-term between the second and third semester of the two-year program. There is a lot of demand at the moment for skilled, educated workers in the turfgrass industry, he says, and many students return from internships with job offers.
“The industry is at the point where there are more jobs than students.”
The DTM is one of only two dedicated post-secondary turfgrass management programs in Canada, born from a 30-day Turfgrass Manager’s Short Course the University first offered in the 1970s.
“That’s when the University of Guelph became visible as a leading educational entity for turf, one of the first in North America,” Shaw says.
Interest continued to grow, and in 2003 the Diploma in Turfgrass Management was created within the Ontario Agricultural College. The first graduating cohort was the Class of 2005, who will celebrate their 20th anniversary this year.
The program is unique in that it offers students a path toward a diploma in a university setting, with world-class facilities like the Guelph Turfgrass Institute (GTI), the first of its kind in Canada when it was established in 1987.
Turfgrass diploma program industry aligned for success
Most DTM students are golf-focused, but Shaw says the internationally recognized program prepares students for a variety of careers such as professional sports field maintenance, hotels and resort grounds as well as working in parks and recreation at the municipal level or in lawn care, sod production and sales.
It is quintessential experiential learning: students are using equipment and tools on the grounds of the GTI, gaining experience and knowledge through practice.
The mix of faculty, researchers and industry professionals like irrigation consultants or golf course architects brings together the core tenants of the program: science, sports, recreation and the environment.
“In an industry as niche as ours, being taught by both researchers and professionals is so important,” Shaw says. “Our program’s balance of theoretical and practical applications makes sense for problem solving in the real world.”
That networking element is also incumbent on the students for whom the program provides opportunities to visit golf courses, landscaping operations, sports fields and other venues to meet the crews behind them. Each year, the program hosts a banquet at Cutten Fields golf course, inviting industry to meet with students in a formal setting. Through fundraising, Shaw says, the program is also able to send students to events like intercollegiate competitions and the Ontario, Canadian and international turfgrass industry conferences.
“By the time these students graduate, they have met thousands of industry professionals and fostered meaningful connections,” Shaw says. “That’s been a remarkable success in our program.”