In classes and labs conducted on the course, students are learning firsthand what it is like to operate and maintain a golf course. Dr. Jerry Davis, professor of agricultural engineering, and Dr. Ed Seagle, professor of environmental horticulture, have spent many hours teaching and working with their students at Forest Lakes.
Davis said his classes completed 600 student hours on the course during the spring semester. His drainage and irrigation class worked on developing solutions to some of the course's drainage problems. Students in his turf equipment class serviced and repaired equipment and calibrated chemical application equipment.
During the summer term, Davis will conduct a drainage and irrigation class and a power equipment class at Forest Lakes. One of Davis' students, Ray Lundy, a wildlife technology major from Monticello, is completing an internship this summer at the course. One of Lundy's primary responsibilities is to oversee equipment repairs.
"Working at the golf course provides a great opportunity for students to gain 'hands on' experience and a 'sense of reality' about how a golf course is operated and maintained," Davis said. "The skills they learn also serve as a springboard into the job market."
Seagle said his classes completed 1,000 student hours on the course during the spring semester.
Classes in environmental horticulture that benefit from Forest Lakes as a teaching and demonstration site include Golf Course Design and Management, Landscape Design, Grounds Management, Pest Management, Pesticides and Calibrations, Equipment Operation, Irrigation, Mowing, Fertilization, and others.
"A small group of students will be on campus for the summer term, and these students will be exposed to projects in development," Seagle said. "One particular project will be installing an irrigation system and laying approximately 18,000 square feet of Tifway bermudagrass sod along the ninth fairway in an area that was recently renovated.
"Exercises such as these are invaluable to student learning and provide focus to students entering the industry through this career path. Forest Lakes has proven to be an effective teaching and demonstration tool for all of our students. Once we have attained the organizational structure initially planned, the facility will be the best teaching tool in the nation for turfgrass and landscape students, as well as students in other disciplines."
Wayne Cooper, who manages Forest Lakes for the college, said the course has undergone several projects to complete the original design of the course. Some of these projects included finding solutions for drainage problems, cleaning up the rough, working on the greens, and adding new sand in the sand traps. Other projects will be addressed in the months to come. Not only do these renovations make the golf course more aesthetically pleasing, but they also help provide a better working environment for the students who use the course as a learning laboratory.
Cooper said the course continues to be open every day for public play. In fact, he said the number of players at the course has increased significantly in the past month.
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