Pocono Associaton

The northeast PA. association of superintendents takes place at Mount Pocono. This association is an affiliate of the GCSSA. and provides monthly meetings guest speakers and the most important rules to follow.

The membership is required to attend the meetings and they split each member by categories of superintendents, assistants, and every single role the the applicant play in the industry.

The Pocono association provides motivation for young people interest in start in the industry. The student gets the benefit to attend the meetings and in some cases they provide them with a scholarship for student expenses at school.

It is important to attend the meetings because the superintendents are not too far from each other. This could be a benefit to each one of them if the superintendent is able to take every single good advice from each colleague to develop a smart and better performance at their course. I encourage every single reader that is trying to enter the turfgrass management program to apply for the association closer to their home course and attend the meetings.

You wont regred it.

Comunication for turfgrass managers

During all the time that I have spent working on various golf courses I have observed that one of the best qualities for a superintendent is going to be communication skills.

At Penn State Dr. Kaminski has implemented with an internship preparation class and communication class. During the internship preparation class we develop skills to make resumes, cover letters and express to our employers our goals that are required for the internship project at the end of our internship.

''Communication is key to success'' that is what not just Dr. Kaminski said but almost every single of our professors here at Penn State. I believe that developing skills not just to communicate to the workers but also to the members and to the greens committee is basically the main role of a superintendent in the industry.

Personally it is very important for me because my communications skills were not my strenght when I started at the program. I believe that as time passed, the most progress I have made the most progress. Hopefully when the time comes to apply for an Assistant position not only the Superintendent is going to evaluate my dedication but also my communicating skills.

My summer internship is going to take place at Glenmaura National Golf Club in Moosic PA. It is a 18 hole course and current host of the Nation Wide Tour. The course employs 25 maintenance workers. During the winter they are working on many proyects such as rock walls, green reconstruction ,and last but not least they are expanding the practice facilities. We also have numerous projects for this summer and I'm goin to be a part of them.

About me

Hi my name is Emanuel Santos. I am on the two year turf program at Penn State. I was born and raised in Puerto Rico. In 2006 I move to Pennsylvania with the ambition of getting some education but I was not sure what was my interest at the time. I started working on a golf course that same summer and to be honest I never thought that it was going to make me decide to go an study turf management.

The first superintendent that gave me the opportunity to work at his course was Greg Boring. He was at the course two years before me as a superintendent. On a daily basis I began to be a little curious and a lot of questions started to be asked by me. Greg guided me to gain knowledge about almost all of the cultural practices. By the time my second season was over as a seasonal employee he was hired on another golf course close to my home. At that time I was in my home town and it was impossible to have any communication with him.

February of 2008 I started working at Glenmaura National Golf Club in Moosic PA. Jeff Koch, the current superintendent hired me as the Spanish crew foreman. At the beginning I was involved in cultural practices and nothing else but wen he saw my aspiration of going to school and take turf as a mayor. Then he shared his knowledge with me and I was involved in bigger projects. My current goal is to graduate and obtain the knowledge to be able to perform better in the future.

That's all about me.