It's hard to believe that we are at Round #6 of internship visits for the students. One thing that I have learned from past visits is that it's best to group the student by geographic region so that visits are easier in terms of travel. While I did my best to do this in 2011, I feel that I am going to end up with about 3 more trips on average than what I would consider manageable typical. In any case, with what looks to be a much larger starting class this fall, I am definitely going to have to make a few adjustments in our placements. Either way, all of the internships thus far have been extremely successful which I feel is a testament to the students' hard work and preparation during the selection process.
Visit #10: Shane Lee @ Baltusrol Golf Club
Shane is one of our international students and has been around golf course maintenance for many years as his father is a superintendent in Singapore. In deciding on a location, Shane chose Baltusrol because he felt he would learn a great deal of information about the management of cool season turfgrass (he interned as part of the Ohio Program for a year at TPC Sawgrass prior to coming to Penn State) and he knew that the internship program had a reputation for working the students hard. Shane toured me around the Lower Course and showed me many of the projects that they worked on this year to clean up around the major bunker renovation that occurred last year. Visiting Baltusrol is always a great experience for me personally as Mark Kuhns usually gives me the opportunity to give a seminar to all of the interns (more below).
Visit #11: Joe Leverson @ Liberty National
The day started with a 6AM visit to Liberty National where I toured the course with Joe. Joe is relatively new to the turfgrass industry, but already has a strong background of hands-on experience having first worked for Jeff Corcoran at Oak Hill and now for Greg James (2-Year class of '86) at Liberty. Although the course is only 6 years old, several of the greens and a few fairways were rebuilt in a tweaking to prepare for future hosting of the FedEx Cup series. I was amazed at how quickly they have established the greens this spring in preparation for a mid-season opening of the few holes that were rebuilt. Joe was one of three interns and doing a great job learning everything from the basics to getting a chance to participate in the renovation and grow-in of several new holes. Only being my second time to the course, I can say that I love the scenic nature of the course, but I am not sure that I want to put my sloppy golf game out there. It looks TOUGH!
View photos from Round #6 of the internship visits below.
Internship Seminar at Baltusrol
As I mentioned above, one of the great things that Mark Kuhns does for his interns is brings in outside speakers to meet with the students. We often get caught up with our own students and the competition between Penn State and all of the other schools can be fun, but getting to meet the diverse group of students from all over the country is even better. For today's presentation, we talked about managing dollar spot, PGR use on golf courses and the importance of professionalism for young people in the industry. The students (from Guelph, Purdue, UMASS, URI, Miss State, Penn State, and Rutgers...I hope I didn't leave anyone out) asked a lot of great questions and I genuinely enjoyed meeting all of them.
After an exhausting week at the U.S. Open, I had a couple of days back on campus to catch up on research activities and the daunting task of clearing out built up email (can't we find another form of communication that is better than email?). The time at home quickly flew by and I was off again to the Philadelphia region to visit a couple of golf courses that were having some trouble on their greens and to visit my students at Bidermann and Merion.
Visit #8: Mark Swankowski @ Bidermann Golf Club
Having retired from his first career, Mark is what I would call a non-traditional student. I am truly amazed at his commitment and passion for the industry. Working at Bidermann under the direction of Jon Urbanski is a great experience for any intern because of the limited number of intern positions available and the structured internship program that he runs. At the club, Mark has been involved in everything from general maintenance to water management and will get the opportunity to run the crew during one of their tournaments towards the end of the year. Despite the fact that he doesn't "need" to be there working, his commitment to the course is one out of true passion for being outdoors and working in an environment that he loves.
Visit #9: Samuel Hess @ Merion Golf Club
Merion seems to get one of our students every year. Although the internship is not right for everyone, the right person can excel in the well-structured internship program run by Matt Shaffer (2-Year Alum) and his crew. Many people think that working at a club like Merion means that you will be raking bunkers, string trimming, and doing other remedial jobs. To the contrary, Matt gets his interns involved in all aspects of the maintenance program and is fortunate to have 36 holes which allows them to do just about everything during the summer. The only downside of the program (which is only a negative if the wrong person decides to work there) is that they have up to 10 interns which means you have to work hard to stand out. I personally love the competition invoked in this system, but I also pre-screen my students to make sure it will be a right fit for them.
View photos from Round #5 of the internship visits below.
Dr. Mike Fidanza was recently promoted to the rank of Professor, and is located at the Penn State Berks Campus, in Reading, PA. He received his undergraduate and graduate degrees at Penn State, and his Ph.D. at the University of Maryland. "Dr. Mike" was in research and development for a major plant protection company from 1995 to 2000, and has been at Penn State Berks since 2000 where he holds a research and teaching appointment. Dr. Mike is honored to be part of Penn State's turfgrass science team, and conducts a broad range of research in turf ecology, integrated pest management, evaluation of pesticide application technology, and development of sustainable turf management practices. Dr. Mike enjoys time with the family, which includes 5 children (2 sets of twins) and 2 yellow labrador retrievers.
This week kicked off with a visit to an intern at Chevy Chase Club in Chevy Chase, MD. Just off a plane from FL, I hopped in a car and drove straight to the club where I met with Dean Graves (2-Year Alum) to talk about the progress of intern Mitch McPhilomy. Mitch brought with him to the club a diverse and extensive amount of experience. Having worked in Colorado, Idaho, The Bahamas and a couple other places that I can't think of at the moment, he has seen a variety of grass types, growing environments and management styles.
For the tour of the course I had to pull Mitch off of afternoon water duty (thanks Dean for allowing me to grab him). During the tour, Mitch gave me the run down on daily activities of the interns and all of the responsibilities he has on the course; water management being a key duty for interns in the hot and humid mid-Atlantic region. While there, Mitch is also experiencing a wealth of information and is lucky to have the support and input from one of the best Superintendents in the country. I look forward to seeing how he continues to expand his knowledge and experiences as the summer progresses.
View photos from Round #4 of the internship visits below.
June is generally my busiest month with the most travel for the entire summer because of internship visits and the summer of 2011 is no exception. Over the next 5 weeks I will be making trips to 9 students interning at various golf courses around the country. This week's visit takes me to Atlantic City and Northeast PA to visit 3 students.
Visit 4: Stephen LePella @ Galloway National
This trip continues to show the importance of communication in our industry. Based on my calendar, I had planned to arrive on Sunday for a visit with Stephen only to realize that our scheduled meeting date was Monday! Despite being his day off AND volunteering at Seaview for an LPGA event early that morning, Stephen was able to give me a tour of the facility and the staff at Galloway was very accommodating regardless of the mix up on my part.
Visit 5: Aaron Giordano @ Fox Hill
A recent father, Aaron decided to stick around his hometown in Northeast Pennsylvania to complete his 6-month internship. Working for 2-Year alum Ron Garrison, Aaron was deep into the preparation of the course for the biggest event that the club holds each year. He has been involved in various aspects of the maintenance crew from general maintenance to special projects to tending to the numerous ornamental plantings around the course.
Visit 6: Jeffrey Wilbur @ Country Club of Scranton
After leaving the morning visit with Aaron, I headed over to the Country Club of Scranton to catch up with Jeff Wilbur. Jeff is going through a unique opportunity as one of the assistant superintendents under the direction of Greg Boring. Although not complete with the program at PSU, Greg decided to give him a shot this summer with the expectation of a 2012 return in the full time position. Although relatively young for the position, I was impressed by the success he was having with the position and the rapport that he had already developed with the entire crew. In addition to his management responsibilities, Jeff was involved in a variety of projects (DryJect going on while I was there) and is excited about the extensive bunker renovation coming up this summer.
Next visit: Chevy Chase Club and a week at the US Open
View photos from Round #2 of the internship visits below.
You may have read that my first internship visit started last week with a trip to visit David Serra in Germany. After that long trip, I now have a series of trips that take me on a much more local journey to visit a group of students in various cities. This week's 2-day trip took me over to Pittsburgh to visit Todd Dilla at Oakmont Country Club and then down to the Washington, D.C. region to visit Corey Landon at Congressional Country Club.
Visit #2: Todd Dilla @ Oakmont Country Club
It's always a great day when I get to tour Oakmont. The course is probably one of my favorites in the entire world. Todd, a native to the region, decided that he would complete his internship under the direction of John Zimmers at the famed course. Sending students to John is always an easy decision as he is one of the best mentors for young turfgrass professionals around. During our trip around the course, Todd showed me the things that he was responsible for.
Visit #3: Corey Landon @ Congressional Country Club
The third visit of the season took me to the "Congo" where I completed my internship in 1997. This is a great year since it's the first time the US Open is coming back to the course since Ernie Els won it while I was interning there. Corey's excitement about his role at Congressional and the upcoming US Open was clear. Interning at the Blue Course at Congressional with 2-Year Alum Mike Giuffre has been a great learning experience for him thus far (Read about the US Open's preparation in this months GCM). He is going to see many things leading up to and following the US Open that most never experience. During the Open Corey will be rolling the approaches. Although generally not popular with the maintenance staff at most golf courses, Corey is hoping that Tiger Woods competes in and wins this year's Major.
Next week I'm off to Atlantic City and Northeastern PA for another 3 visits. So far everyone's internship is going well and the students are learning a lot and contributing to the club. It's during these visits that I realize the importance of the internship for both the student and the golf course!
View photos from Round #2 of the internship visits below.
