KEY POINTS:
THE QUALIFICATION
What: National Certificate in Sports Turf Management (Level 4)
Who: NZ Sports Turf Industry Training Organisation
Contact: www.nzstito.org.nz, www.getonthegrass.co.nz, email turftraining@nzstito.org.nz Ph: 06 355 7025
Cost: Three-year course, $535 a year plus additional certificate costs, and accommodation and travel for block courses
Starting salary: $28,000 to $38,000 for apprentices. Increases come with experience and knowledge
Prerequisites: No prerequisites, but it helps to be keen on working outdoors, growing things and sport
If the prospect of an office job tees you off, how about working on a golf course or a similar outdoors job looking after sports turf.
"People get into the job for two reasons," says Brian Way, training services manager with the Sports Turf Industry Training Organisation. "Either they like sports or they like the growing side of things, the horticultural side."
Nationwide, about 180 apprentices are enrolled in the three-year National Certificate in Sports Turf Management.
Trainees learn on the job under the direction of a qualified turf manager, studying part-time by correspondence through the Open Polytechnic and attending one-week block courses with the Sports Turf Institute in Palmerston North each year.
The qualification provides a grounding in the skills needed to manage sports turf up to supervisory level. Topics include using and servicing equipment, theory and practice, managing budgets and supervising staff.
Training covers the turf management requirements of all major sports including golf, tennis, bowling, croquet and cricket, plus racecourses and artificial turf.
Once qualified, turf managers can move within the industry or work overseas.
Way says the industry has a loose relationship with Ohio State University, which offers internships at American golf courses.
THE APPRENTICE
Sam Dobson (21)
Apprentice greenkeeper with Golf Course Maintenance
I started at the end of January last year. The apprenticeship takes about three years. My company pays for my course.
I enjoy that physical thing of being outdoors and I've always liked mowing lawns.
I work from 7am to 3.30, that's winter hours. In the summer, it can be from 6am, depending on the light. We have a quick meeting, decide who will do what. It changes every day - whether we're mowing greens or the rough, or spraying. I work Monday to Friday and every third weekend for four hours in the morning.
My boss, Lyndon, is teaching me about spraying. A lot of it is the safety side of things, as the chemicals can be toxic to people and wildlife. We use a lot of different machinery - various mowers for different greens, doing roughs and fairways. The greens normally get done once a day, the roughs about once a week, but it takes almost a week to cut it all. The fairways can take a couple of days.
The job is what I expected and more. I did get the chance to work up at Gulf Harbour for the New Zealand Open last year because our company looks after that course. Occasionally, I get out and play nine holes.
When I finish my apprenticeship I think I'll head overseas.
I have been told that you can work just about anywhere in the world on courses or sports fields.
THE EMPLOYER
Lyndon Baird
Superintendent at Formosa Country Club
Sam has good work habits. He's always punctual, very keen. He is doing a modern apprenticeship. Every three months, someone comes here and checks that everything is running smoothly. Most of it is learned on the job as well as doing correspondence.
At the moment, Sam is my spray technician so he gets paid more than someone who is an apprentice labourer. As he gets more skills, his pay goes up.
For spraying and fertilisers, you have to have the certificate and know the rules and regulations.
There's a lot to go through. Chemical application is a major one because of all the environmental issues. And fertilisers are the same with nutrients leeching into the environment.
An obvious part of the job is mowing grass.
Then there are aspects like drainage and soil types, irrigation and drainage, landscaping trees and gardening.
I've noticed how the training is making Sam think about how he goes about his work. He seems more vigilant.
He has taken note of what he's learned and puts it into practice.
Attitude is a huge part of getting on with the team you work with. You have to have the ability to work in the rain and in really bad conditions.
Greenkeepers have to be self-motivated as a lot of the time they are out by themselves on the golf course.
A big part of the job is people management which Sam is learning as he goes.
