The dreamers aren't members of WKU golf teams, but students in the Agriculture Department's ever-growing turfgrass, landscape and golf course management programs. The United States has about 16,000 golf courses with more than 270 in Kentucky. Graduates of the horticulture program find jobs available in landscape nursery or design businesses, public gardening programs, education and the Extension service, Dr. Martin said. WKU turf graduates also are finding work at local and national golf courses.
Recent graduates work at Valhalla in Louisville and golf courses in New York and Alabama.
A successful internship program provides students with hands-on experience, including one this summer at Augusta National, home of The Masters. Western's Agriculture Department has strengthened the turf program in the past 10 years. The most important development was the addition of the two-hole golf course at the Agriculture Research and Education Complex in 1994, Dr. Liu said. The course is a laboratory for turfgrass research and for student learning, he said. Students maintain the course, greens and irrigation system.