Curtis Tyrrell Preps for 2012 Ryder Cup

Curtis Tyrrell (2-year class of '96) talks about the preparation for this year's Ryder Cup at Medinah Country Club. A total of 20 members of the Golf Course Turfgrass Management Program will fly out this week to volunteer for the 3-day competition.

Heading to the Ryder Cup

Next week is the 2012 Ryder Cup and 19 students in the Golf Course Turfgrass Management Program are heading to Medinah Country Club to see first hand what it takes to pull off this event.

Arranging this type of opportunity for the students was 3 years in the making and couldn't have been possible  without the hard work and efforts of Curtis Tyrrell (Class of '86), Medinah Country Club and a long list of sponsors. Read more about how this came about in an earlier post.

Next week will be very busy for the students, but I hope to provide running updates from Medinah through this blog and on various other social media outlets. Check us out next week on these social networks:

www.twitter.com/johnkaminski
www.facebook.com/psuturfgrass

In the meantime, here's a few images from my internship visits to Medinah over the past few years. Look for more next week (Thursday-Sunday).

2-Year Students Win GCSAA Scholarships

Students within the Penn State Golf Course Turfgrass Management Program on the University Park Campus won 40% of the scholarships available through the Golf Course Superintendents Association of America. A total of 7 students were awarded $9500 through GCSAA's Essay Contest and Scholars Program.

Winning 1st and 3rd place in the essay contest were Chris Konow and Nick Huttie, respectively. The Association awards three prizes in total.

Konow, from Plainfield, Conn., is a first-year student in the turfgrass management certificate program at Penn State University and has just completed his advanced internship at Shelter Harbor Golf Club in Rhode Island. He won the first place scholarship of $2,000 for his essay: "The effect of green speed on turfgrass health and playability."

Huttie, from Lehighton, Pa., is a first-year student at Penn State and completed his internship at Allentown Municipal Golf Course. He claimed the third place award of $1,000 for his writing: "Superintendents and social networking."

In addition to the Essay contest, a total of 6 students earned awards through the GCSAA Scholars Competition.

Benjamin Burrill, Otley, Yorkshire, England, an international student at Penn State University, was awarded a $2,000 Ambassador Award.

Other winners included:

Chris Konow, Plainfield, CT
Logan Murphy, Dodge City, KS
Justin Lantz, Wilmington, DE
Eugene "Mike" Horrigan, Litchfield, CT
Craig Acton, Pickering, Ontario, Canada

A total of 8 of the 20 available scholarships were awarded to students within the Penn State Golf Course Turfgrass Management Program on the University Park Campus.

Since 1957, the Golf Course Turfgrass Management Program has graduated over 1700 students; many of which are now superintendents at some of the best clubs around the world. This career enhancement program provides accelerated training for people who have been in the golf course industry for a couple of years or for someone who is in a different industry and ready for a change.

Visit www.turf.psu.edu/certificate for more information on the Golf Course Turfgrass Management Program at Penn State.