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from the issue of February 17, 2005
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Golf program more than good walk spoiled
BY LINDSEY MCPHERSON, SPECIAL TO THE SCARLET
UNL's Professional Golf Management Program has captured the attention of many students excited to combine their love of the game with a career.
"I read about the [PGM] major in the Journal Star," said Jason Jarrell, a student in the program. "I read the article on Saturday at work. By Tuesday I had talked to Terry, and by Wednesday, I had signed up for classes."
And who can blame him? The idea of becoming a professional golf course manager sounds appealing to a lot of folks who enjoy the idea of combining a game, outdoors work and entrepreneurial skills.
UNL added the Professional Golf Management program to its curriculum in 2004. To many, this major sounds like a walk in the clouds, but as Harrell and 30 other PGM students have learned, this program requires dedication and discipline. Terry Riordan, PGM director and Cyril Bish Professor of Agronomy and Horticulture, wants students to understand the intensity of this major.
"It's not an easy program," states Riordan.
Students are required to take a wide variety of courses such as chemistry, physics, biology, business, food and nutrition, and turf grass management. There are no credit hours offered for simply playing golf.
The road to getting the program accredited by the Professional Golf Association (PGA) has not been easy. Riordan has been working hard since December of 2001 to form the program at UNL. It took a year to develop a curriculum to be considered as a PGA-accredited program. Before the program was eligible to be submitted as a proposal, Riordan had to observe the PGM apprentice program.
"An individual from the Nebraska program was required to go down to Florida, and observe what the PGA was doing at the PGA Education Center. For 11 days I observed their seminars, their three checkpoints, and their testing. Then, I came back and at that point we were eligible to submit a proposal to the [PGA]," Riordan said.
However, the proposal was not initially accepted. In fact, three proposals were made, and each time the PGA would reply with suggestions for the curriculum. The fourth proposal was accepted after it was certain that UNL's program would offer a curriculum that would help students meet the PGA requirements. In February of 2004, Nebraska was granted the opportunity to begin a PGM program for the 2004 fall semester.
UNL is the 15th school in the country, and the only one of two schools in the Midwest to add this program to its curriculum.
Scott Holly, the PGM coordinator said, "Most of the schools are in the south or southeast, so we could do recruiting from a lot of states around here."
Because the program is so new, recruitment is of great importance.
"We are recruiting every chance we get," Riordan said. The PGM program currently has 31 students, all of them male.
"We have money for scholarships for women and minority students," Riordan said, adding the "PGM staff is optimistic that we will attract a more diverse group of students in the near future. They realize the program is still young, and is very likely to grow."
Tara Pawling, PGM administrative assistant, receives about 10 phone calls a week from students who have seen the program's Web site www.pgm.unl.edu and are interested in the program. This program tends to attract individuals who have a passion for golf. The PGA claims that only 1 percent of PGA professionals across the country drop out of its accredited programs.
"It's taking young people that really love something, and giving them a career that involves that love of the game," says Riordan.
Pawling hopes more students will begin to realize the great opportunities this program has to offer. The PGM program has a huge database of many opportunities and contacts with golf pros all across the nation. And with just two PGM programs in the Midwest, regional job opportunities are significant.
"These students come in, and they can go anywhere from here," Pawling says.
Riordan is also proud of what the program has to offer and of the accomplishments made in just the past few months.
"I have been really impressed, so far, with the young people that have come into this program, considering we're just starting," Riordan says.
Student Harrell has enough love for the game to make him a successful professional golf manager. He had been out of school for two years before the new program tempted him to return.
"I know how to play golf, I know rules of golf, but [I'd like to learn] how to teach people how to play golf, how to run golf tournaments, and just be a complete professional," Harrell says.
Riordan is confident some of these students, like Harrell, will be golf management professionals within the next five years.
Editor's Note: Student Lindsey McPherson wrote this story last semester as a course assignment for a public relations class taught by Phyllis Larsen.
GO TO: ISSUE OF FEBRUARY 17
NEWS HEADLINES FOR FEBRUARY 17
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Golf program more than good walk spoiled
PeopleAdmin training offered each Thursday
To Annie...
A Piece of University History
Dental Day VII helped improves smiles all around
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