Communication is a Skill

Both on and off the course, communication skills are a crucial assest of a superintendent. One needs to conduct themselves in a manner which well represents not only themself but the course as well. Whether it's mingling with colleagues at a conference or delegating job duties in the morning meeting, it's important to make it clear what point you're trying to get across.

On the course, it is the job of the superintendent to communicate what is expected to be done. It is lack of communication that can lead staff down a road of dissatification. Unhappy employees tend to equal low productivity which in turn needs to be explained at the next budget meeting as to why the labor cost isn't equaling the amount of work being done. Confronting the low productive employees usually results in a response of, "I wasn't sure what you exactly wanted done." A lack of understanding and lack of direction is often the cause of low moral and loss of productivity. When delegating job assingments, make sure everyone is on the same page by leading employees in the right direction with the understanding of the task at hand.

At some point a superintendent is going to be in front of a greens commitee trying to convince them that money is needed to be spent. Perhaps it is for a new piece of equipment or maybe for a project that may not seem nescessary to someone not involved in the turf industry. It is now time to communicate the long term savings in spending money now. A superintendent must be able to communicate in a business language to people whom most likely speak business for a living.

It is important for a turfgrass manager to set forth a clear path of direction and intentions of what is expected to be accomplished. Communication is a skill and can be learned and improved upon.

Getting to Know a Penn Stater

A second year student at The Pennsylvania State University, Adrien Van Dyk is studying in the two year turf program. He got his start at the early age of 13 working on a nine hole golf course near his home in West Calendonia, NS, Canada. He has been at it ever since.

His love for the turf industry brought him to Penn State to study in arguably the top program in the country. It is at Penn State that he was prepared on the importance of networking and professionalism. Being a two year program, Adrien emphasizes the importance to make the most out of the short time spent at Penn State because it will be over before you know it. Out of all his experiences one of his most memorable was a trip to Orlando, Fl. Adrien and a team of Penn State turf students went there to compete in the Sports Turf Managers Association conference and went on to win the competition. The victory would not have been possible if Penn State had not prepared him with the knowledge needed to be successful in the turfgrass industry. Adrien contributes a large part of this to a turfgrass soils class taught by Dr. McNitt. This was his favorite class of many taken at Penn State. He states that he learned a tremendous amount of information that is applicable to the industry and this proved true in Orlando.

On his internship at Greywolf Golf Course in Panorama Mountain Villiage, BC, Canada, Adrien learned the importance of setting goals and communicating those goals to his superintendent, Darren Reddekopp to make sure they were able to be carried out. Adrien held the position of second assistant and faced many challenges throughout the season. With frost as deep as 4 plus feet in the ground there were as many as 80 irrigation breaks due to frost heaving. With 25 new employees with no course experience it was added challenge due to the direct supervision that these new employees needed.

With this knowledge and experience, Adrien plans to return home to Canada and apply his Penn State education to have a successful career in the golf course management industry.

2010 Summer Internship

Shortly after the completion of my second term of schooling at Penn State, I will be heading back to Wisconsin to start an internship at Whistling Straits. Although highly respected in the golf world, Whistling Straits is quite new in terms of the golf industry. From 1949 until 1959 this 2 mile stretch along the shoreline of Lake Michigan was known as Camp Haven. Occupied by the US Army during this time it was used as an anti- aircraft training camp for US troops. Wisconsin Power and Light had purchased the land in hopes of constructing a nuclear power plant on the property. Thankfully those plans never got off the ground and in 1995 the Kohler Co. bought the 560 acres of lake front property with the vision of building a links style golf course there. Kohler Co. CEO, Herbert Kohler hired famed architect Pete Dye and together along with an estimated 170,000 truck loads of sand Whistling Straits was a reality. In its short existence, since 1998, Whistling Straits has hosted the 2004 PGA Championship, 2007 US Senior Open and will be hosting the upcoming 2010 PGA Championship in August.
With this internship I hope to soak in a ton of knowledge just from all the inter workings of tournament preparation. Not to mention the countless number of networking opportunities with others in the industry whom will all be there volunteering to make this tournament a success. Outside of the tournament aspect, I've set forth with some areas to gain experience in. I would like to get some hands on experience in the mechanic shop, reel grinding, back lapping and height adjustment to name a few. Chemical applications is crucial to master so I plan to jump on a sprayer as much as possible. I want to get involved with everything from the what and why chemicals are selected to rate calculations. I think one of the most overlooked goals is building communication skills. Learning to communicate with a magnitude of different positions and personalities is not easily learned.
I'm looking to getting out and getting my hands dirty again and hopefully catch a glimpse of the Wanamaker Trophy.

Who Am I?

My name is Ryan Brooks and I am a student at Penn State University studying golf course turfgrass management. I am originally from the Green Bay area of Wisconsin and about four years ago decided to move about an hour south to a quaint community called Kohler. In need of a job, I decided to give the golf industry a shot and applied for a golf maintenance position at Whistling Straits. A totally different world from the windowless kitchens that I was used to, I quickly adapted to the fresh air and sunrises over Lake Michigan every morning. After spending three working seasons at Whistling Straits I decided to persue my education at Penn State and thought I deserved a bit of a break from the balmy Wisconsin Winters anyways. So with a brief intro of who I am and where I call home, I hope you can bare with me as I stumble my way through this new world to me of social media.