The past few weeks have been nothing short of incredible. I have grown as a young turf professional in more ways than I can count. I have gotten to use the pro core to aerate and needle tine greens, mow greens, mow TCA, spray, work on irrigation projects, and much more. There was one week where everyone arrived to Peninsula at 5am instead of 6am to work. The verticutter started on the green first, followed by me on the greens mower, the top dresser, and then the pro core. That was an outstanding week. We had an unexpected leak on one of our development lines, and spent a Friday digging it up to find the leak and then repair. That was the first time I had ever seen irrigation up close like that, and I got to watch it all. I have planted countless annual beds, and I have gotten to have a say in lay out plans and designs! This week I have been working on a spray project. The Goosegrass has grown out of control, but there is also Sedge and Torpedo grass to combat it. To beat it, we are mixing a spray solution into 25 gallon tanks and spot spraying roughs, fairways, cartpaths, and collars. The mix contains Tribute, MSMA, an MSO, and a fertilizer called Rapture. I got to help do all of the math and got the same answers as our spray tech! I feel so much more confident in my skills and knowledge as well as my way around the courses and the game of golf.

I cannot believe that I have almost been here for four weeks! This past week was full of learning great new skills, and trying to master old ones! On Monday I did golf service and fixed plugs that were too low or too high. One of the assistant superintendents has a saying, “if it’s low it’ll show, if it’s high it’ll die”, and this is permanent in my mind. I got to use the buffalo blower again on Tuesday! On Wednesday, I got to spray for the first time! I went along with the 2nd assistant superintendent and sprayed native grasses along the Marsh course! We ended up getting a lot of rain and sent everyone home early. On Thursday, I got to mow greens for the first time! I was so excited. Our mowing direction was 4–>10. I think I did well for my first time. The most challenging part was trying to mow perfect passes when I could not see the dew line which was gone by hole 7. Thursday evening and Friday morning, I planted 4 different annual beds, which I was very happy to do! Saturday was a typical golf service day. I did not go in on Sunday, as that is when Tropical Storm Cristobal made landfall. We did not have too much of a mess to clean up, really. There were limbs, leaves, and some trees down everywhere, but it could have been much worse. The worst part was the fact that both of our Buffalo Blowers were down, so what would’ve taken one person a few hours on the Buffalo Blower took multiple people a few hours on backpack blowers. I can’t remember which day, but I also got to hand-rake bunkers, which I really enjoyed!

I have gotten to do so many cool things in the last week, and I have had a lot of fun challenging myself physically and mentally. Last week was continued annual planting, and then the weekend shift was typical golf service and checking greens for hot spots that needed hand-watering! Monday was Memorial Day, so we left early! I rode along with one of the assistants and learned more about hand watering and irrigation heads! I also went with a coworker to our nursery greens and filled in removed plugs with sand. Tuesday was a really awesome day. I got to use the Buffalo Blower, and I also got to test out the Greens Mower on the nursery green! Learning the timing of when to pick up and drop the blades was a lot of fun. The most challenging part for me was making smooth passes. I am learning more and more to leave my comfort zone and trust myself with confidence. Today I spent the day doing typical golf service (changing lots of cups and tee positions), and then going through and fixing some low plugs on greens! I also got to talk through a practice calibration with one of the superintendents, it was great to use the information i learned in a real life scenario. I also observed fairy ring for the first time, which was so cool to see! I saw my first alligator this week, and plenty more. And of course, there has been more fly fishing the ponds and surf fishing. I am loving every second of this internship!

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It has been a great few days!!! Monday morning we had 4.5 inches of rain in just a few hours. It was a sight to see! Thankfully our course stands on 8+ feet of sand, so the rain that builds up quickly drains. It was forecasted to rain all day, so management sent everyone home. Instead of going home, I got my fly rod and fished the wonderful golf course ponds and caught a lot of bass and bluegill. A golf course is a wonderful place to practice fly fishing. On Tuesday, I started the day on golf service changing cups! I really love cutting and changing the cups, it is a lot of hard work and takes precision every time. I find the challenge to stay ahead of the golfers fun. I also got to learn how to drive a stick shift, which i am so happy about! It was lots of fun. After lunch, we started planting annual beds. We are planting blue salvia, red verbena, and white petunias. On Wednesday, I started the morning off with golf service as usual and will end with finishing annual beds! Today I also got to learn how to drive with and back up a trailer! So many useful life skills!

On Saturday I started the morning with changing tee placement on two of the courses. This is one of my favorite things to do. After that was done, I stayed late to ask questions about the Reel Mowers. I got to see the bed knive and demonstrate to myself how it cuts by testing with a piece of paper. I also got to see the groomer up close. After that I got to use a gauge to check the mowing height of the mower. After that, I got to drive it until i became comfortable. I had so much fun. On Sunday we went around and checked fairways and greens for hotspots. We turned on fairway sprinkler heads with a radio and app that controls our irrigation system, which was awesome to see how that works. If the greens had hot spots, we hand watered them with the hose. I got to see how much maintenance goes into the irrigation heads.

Today was a very exciting day! I worked with the assistant greenskeeper. We started the day with a team meeting discussing the amount of rounds and what all needed attention. I went with the assistant to go change holes and tee placement on the Marsh course and the Cypress course. I got to do everything on my own and it was a great learning experience. Today we were on pin placement 6. After we changed holes and tee placement, we went back to the maintenance shed and cleaned out the fertilizer barn. It was a great day full of hard work, learning so much, and meeting coworkers. I am so thankful for how much I had the opportunity to do today and can only imagine how far my knowledge will grow during this internship.

Before my first official day of work, I got to get on a Golf Cart and tour the beautiful property. Peninsula has 3 courses: The Cypress Course, The Lakes Course, and The Marsh Course. Everything is breathtaking. I even got to explore the wooden pier that leads out to a private pier over the bay, it is called Cabana Beach!