Doug Soldat, Turfgrass Extension Specialist and Professor, UW-Madison:
The Turfgrass Apprenticeship Program is separate from our four-year degree program at the university.
The apprenticeship was developed in collaboration with the Wisconsin Golf Course Superintendant’s Association. A subcommittee got together and came up with a list of all the different things they expect in assistant golf course superintendant to know.
It’s much more than just agronomy and turfgrass management. It has a lot of the people skills, and the program and project management skills. There’s 75 different tasks, so it’s a really comprehensive, skills-based apprenticeship.
We meet for six weeks in the fall. We start in early November and we go right to the end of December.
The program runs Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday from 10:00am to 3pm.
Adam Lois, TAP Program Student, Oconomowoc Golf Club:
The really nice part is that’s only three days a week, so Monday and Fridays I can work at a course, I can take what I’m learning today, I can talk with my boss on it on Friday, and talk with him again on it on Monday. See what kinda translates over from that.
Doug Soldat, Turfgrass Extension Specialist and Professor, UW-Madison:
It’s just a wonderful opportunity for our students to see things that go on at the golf course. We spend a lot of time in the classroom, but we also like to get out to the real world and have students interact with practitioners.
The students have come from mostly Wisconsin, but also surrounding states – Minnesota, Illinois.
Brad Young, TAP Program Student, West Bend Country Club:
I heard about the program, a couple times at some seminars they would talk about it, but then I really got into it talking with my boss. He’s on the board, and he worked tightly with them, and he thought it would be a good idea to send me through this instead of going to get a turf degree, because he knows I already did my formal education, a four-year bachelors.
Doug Soldat, Turfgrass Extension Specialist and Professor, UW-Madison:
The Turfgrass Apprenticeship Program doesn’t grant a degree. We grant a certificate that represents 144 hours of classroom training. And then there’s an apprenticeship program, where they link up with an apprenticeship director, who is usually their employer. They work through a list of skills, competencies and tasks.
Garrett Luck, Golf Course Superintendent, Hidden Glen Golf Club:
Prior to the TAPS program, while Ethan was employed here, he was able to get the first-hand knowledge of chemical applications, fertilizer applications, budgeting, a process that I would share with him.
While attending the TAPS program, he was able to actually do that work himself, and meet with other superintendents and see how they do it.
Ethan Bublitz, Assistant Golf Superintendent, Hidden Glen Golf Club:
It’s a great opportunity if you’re looking into the golf superintendent industry.
It’s a great time to come in. People are leaving the business, not a lot of people are coming into it.
The game of golf itself is just growing, it’s booming right now.
Brad Young, TAP Program Student, West Bend Country Club:
It’s kind of like an apprenticeship for an electrician, or construction, how they send them through there. Plumbing.
Now this is kind of the same for the turfgrass industry.
Doug Soldat, Turfgrass Extension Specialist and Professor, UW-Madison:
It’s really fun to see how people who are passionate about turfgrass management start to get the education about the fundamentals, and watch them get promoted and move up. It’s a great program for somebody that’s looking to take the next step in turfgrass management, and we hope you consider checking it out.