Birdie of a Different Feather

Todd Schafersman, junior professional golf management major from Hooper, lines up his putt at Wilderness Ridge Golf Course.

By Sandi Alswager Karstens, ’01 PHOTOS BY ERIK STENBAKKEN

PGA Pro Mike Schuchart gives T.J. Pridell a few pointers at the Nike Golf Camp.

O

utside the Sun Belt and far from the nation’s golfing hotbeds, the University of NebraskaLincoln’s new professional golf management major is off to a strong start.

In the major’s second year, 69 students already are pursuing the degree in UNL’s College of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources, said Terrance Riordan, director of the professional golf management program in UNL’s Center for Grassland Studies and Cyril Bish Professor of Horticulture in the agronomy and horticulture department. The program began in the 2004-05 school year with 31 students and enrollment more than doubled this year.

“We already have about 40 more students admitted for next year,” Riordan said.

UNL was the 15th school to add a professional golf management program accredited by the Professional Golfers’ Association of America, joining warm-weather universities such as Florida State, New Mexico State and Arizona State. Currently 16 other schools across the nation offer this PGA-accredited program.

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UNL Professional Golf Management Major Makes the Cut

Juniors Todd Schafersman and Brad Cloke measure lie, loft and club length in the oncampus Club Repair and Design Laboratory.

“We have strong programs at UNL in turf science, business and food management – all areas of concentration the PGA required in the curriculum of its accredited programs,” Riordan said. “The program at UNL was created to capitalize on that expertise as well as attract students from Nebraska and other states who might not otherwise enroll at this university. The draw is that students can major in a program related to their love for the game of golf.”

Brad Cloke, a junior professional golf management major, said he chose UNL because of its distance to his hometown of Chicago. Cloke also was accepted to New Mexico State’s professional golf management program.

“But that was just too far from home,” Cloke said. “I went to UNL my freshman year knowing that the professional golf management major would soon be offered.”

Cloke said UNL’s offering is top-notch.

The program’s home course, Wilderness Ridge Golf Course, is one of the newest in Lincoln and features an 18-hole championship golf course and a nine-hole, par 32 executive course. If tee times are full there or if they just want variety, students

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have access to 10 other partner courses in and around Lincoln. Costs are included in students’ program fees.

When Nebraska weather doesn’t cooperate, students can use Wilderness Ridge’s indoor practice facility or two golf simulators on campus. The virtual simulators digitally mimic aspects of challenging courses, allowing students to sample some of the world’s most renowned golf holes. Students also can use them as a driving range or for chipping and putting practice. UNL has the only professional golf management program with two simulators for use by its students.

In addition, students use the program’s on-campus club repair lab to practice skills on which they will be tested by the PGA. The UNL program provides “individual attention that can’t be beat,” Cloke said.

“Being one of about 30 people when the program first started out was great, but even since the program has more than doubled in the last year I still get the attention I need,” he said.

Josh White, a senior professional golf management major from Lincoln, said some professional golf management programs at other schools don’t even offer a host golf course.

White, who grew up around his family’s golf business, said he likes the Midwest and wouldn’t trade it for a southern school even if it meant warmer practice weather.

“There is a lot of opportunity here to play and practice,” White said. “In addition, I am friends with all the kids in my class and am on a first-name basis with all of my teachers. At first, I didn’t think I’d need the one-on-one attention, but I really liked it once I got it.”

Senior professional golf management major Jason Harrell of Lincoln, who left college for three years, came back to school to pursue the professional golf management major.

“I read an article about the new program on a Friday and on that next Monday, I came and talked to Terry and enrolled.”

Harrell, who is the president of the PGM Student Club, said there is “no better office than a golf course.”

Jason Harrell, junior PGM major from Lincoln, gives Tara Pawling a lesson on the proper form of her golf swing.

Kevin Moberg, a first-year professional golf management major from Sloan, Iowa, said he grew up around golf.

Moberg attended Southeast Community College-Beatrice Campus for his freshman and sophomore years where he also was on the golf team. When he found out UNL was offering the professional golf management major, he knew the transfer to UNL would be the perfect fit.

“It was fitting that I found this major,” he said.

Majoring in your favorite pastime may sound easy, Riordan said, but the rigorous course work and other requirements demand serious commitment.

Students must study two curriculums – the university’s and the PGA’s, Riordan said.

The PGA curriculum involves topics such as golf rules, how to teach golf, tournament operations, golf cart fleet management, developing programs that encourage growth of the game, the PGA constitution, the business of golf, course and facility management, and club design and repair.

Students are tested on this material by the PGA, which sends professionals to

campus to administer its “checkpoints” at three different times throughout the fourand-a-half years a student typically is in the program.

UNL’s curriculum for this major includes courses in business and human relations, turf science, restaurant and hospitality management, biology and chemistry, in addition to all other courses required by the college.

“Students have to be good golfers as well as good students to enter and be successful in the program,” Riordan said. They need a 12 or better handicap to be accepted and must pass the PGA’s playing ability test prior to graduation.

In addition to academic and golfing ability requirements, students must log 16 months of full-time internships. This means every summer they need to have a job on a golf course or in a related position in the industry.

“You can’t take a summer off,” Riordan said.

Students will graduate with a bachelor’s degree in professional golf management only after they have successfully passed the

PGA’s three checkpoints and playing ability test, satisfied all of the university’s requirements and completed the 16 months of internships.

“Students have to work hard in the major,” Riordan said. “It’s a lot of fun, but to succeed, students need to have a passion for the game, be committed and manage their time. We like to say we turn your passion into your career.”

After graduation, students will be golf professionals and work in positions involving golf course management, teaching, sales and other positions related to the game.

Tyler Bolin, a junior professional golf management major from Kearney, said he worked on a golf course every summer while in high school and liked the overall work environment.

Bolin came to UNL to major in engineering, but switched majors when he discovered the professional golf management program.

“It’s a lot of work, but it is a good program,” he said. ■

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Golf Majors Ace PGA Test

University of Nebraska-Lincoln students majoring in professional golf management set a national record during their spring break.

For the first time at any university-based professional golf management program or at the Professional Golf Association testing center in Florida, the 19 professional golf management majors at UNL who took the PGA checkpoint test passed, the program’s director said.

“This is unprecedented,” said Terrance Riordan, director of the

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UNL program. “We knew our students had the potential, but to accomplish this it really shows how hard our students work.”

Normally, 20 percent to 50 percent of students fail at least one or more of the series of eight tests and must retake the checkpoint at another time and place. In addition, “the PGA said that new programs should expect a 50 percent failure rate,” Riordan said.

“Since all 19 Nebraska PGM students passed this checkpoint test, it is a great accomplishment. The PGA staff was very impressed with the performance and the professionalism of our students,” he said.

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Josh White in motion.