My second round of internship visits was conducted between Jun 8-11 and included stops at the Kittansett Club, Winged Foot Golf Club, and Glenmaura National Golf Club.The trip took me from State College towards Boston, back to NY, through NE Pennsylvania and then back to State College.  Read more about the students’ and see photos from the clubs below.

Martin Sorensen @ The Kittansett Club (Stop #3)

Martin Sorensen is one of the international students within the program and hails from Denmark. During the fall semester’s Internship Preparation class, Martin decided that he wanted to complete his internship in the New England area to best mimic the growing conditions found in his home country. Working under the direction of John T. Kelly (PSU, class of 1993), Martin has been involved in all aspects of maintenance. During our trip he described the different maintenance practices of the golf course due to the two distinct climates of inland holes versus the holes exposed along the point. He noted he has been involved in a variety of aspects from mowing greens to the installation of drainage on the course. He also was able to observe the installation of the XGD drainage system on some of the greens.

Ernie Bendzak @ Winged Foot (Stop #4)

Working under the direction of Matthew Burrows (Director of Golf Courses), Ernie headed to Mamaroneck, NY to complete his six-month training at Winged Foot Golf Club.& In his first week on the job, he dealt with cleaning up much of the course following some major storms that had wreaked havoc on some of the trees on the property. Some of the jobs he has been involved with since include general mowing, course setup and special projects. One of the projects that Ernie described was the expansion of the pushup greens to bring the course back to its Tillinghast design. The expansion added an estimated 40% to the acreage and brought many bunkers back into play as well as provided much more area for potential pin placements.

Emmanuel Santos @ Glenmaura National (Stop #5)

Emmanuel Santos (Manny) has been working on golf courses in the Scranton area of Pennsylvania for several years. This summer Manny chose to head back to Glenmaura National to continue on his path to become a golf course superintendent. During our visit, Manny described the difference in terms of how he thought about turf management after completing his first year at Penn State. He was happy to report that he is much more involved in the decisions made throughout the golf course and that he is increasing his understanding of why certain practices are performed.