The 2019 Turf Bowl team completed their competition in San Diego, California on Thursday, February 6. The team, Renaldo Rolle, Ken Revoy, Scott Dillon, and Jordan Bodiguel, are all 4th year Bachelor of Applied Science in Golf Course Management students.
The Turf Bowl exam features a written case study, as well as a wide variety of multiple choice, short answer and identification questions covering the agronomic, business and financial management aspects of the superintendent profession. The Turf Bowl accepts only undergraduate students, in teams of up to four participants.
The competition was close this year, and the Olds College team ended up finishing in 19th position out of 68 teams.
“We were hoping to finish higher in the standings, but the scores were actually incredibly close. We were only a handful of points out of the top ten,” explains Turf Grass instructor and Turf Bowl Team coach Jason Pick.
The team prepared for months leading up to the competition, including studying information that they did not learn in class.
“The competition is hosted by the Golf Course Superintendents Association of America, and as you would expect, topics were involved that we don’t teach in Alberta” explains Pick. “Our golfing season, and our climate, are so different than in most areas of the United States that our team had to spend hours of time outside of class learning about grasses that grow in hot, arid climates and locations that never see sub-zero temperatures. “
Attending the Turf Bowl was possible thanks to a sponsorship from Syngenta, who supplied accommodation and flights to the conference. Thank you Syngenta for your continued support of the Olds College Turf Bowl team.
