Above Par

Parker Henry came to NC State nearly 20 years ago to become a golf course superintendent, not a ringmaster.

Yet the Liberty, North Carolina, native with a degree in turfgrass science spent this spring hosting two high-profile professional tournaments during a four-week period.

“It’s been a busy time here at Memorial Park,” Henry says.

Henry was a student when Lonnie Poole Golf Course opened at the university in 2009. He graduated four years later, well-prepared for his first assistant superintendent position at North Carolina’s Sedgefield Country Club in Greensboro, followed by a position at Quail Hollow Country Club in Charlotte.

Now, he manages a staff of 28 at Memorial Park Golf Course in Houston — one of the nation’s premier municipal golf courses.

He is one of many graduates from CALS’ renowned turfgrass science program who have leveraged their degrees into enviable internships and full-time positions across the country.

For Henry, who spent two years studying business before switching to turfgrass science, it was an academic choice that has allowed his career to skyrocket. Beyond caring for golf course greens, the turfgrass science major prepares students for careers in athletic field management, home and industrial lawn care, and sod production, among others.

“I was able to transition right into CALS,” Henry says. “One of the things I liked most about it was the much smaller class sizes and the better student-professor ratio. I grew up on a farm, and after two years, I realized I really wanted to be outside. I couldn’t envision myself sitting in an office behind a computer.”

Finding the Fairway

A superintendent is vital to a course’s playing conditions and reputation. They oversee maintenance and course operations and management, including the care of fairways and greens, irrigation systems and maintenance equipment.

Business management student Cameron Hurley transferred to NC State after one year at Appalachian State to pursue the family business of accounting. He also started a part-time job at NC State’s Lonnie Poole Golf Course.

After returning from a summer accounting internship, he changed his career path and opted to get an associate degree in turfgrass management through CALS’ Agricultural Institute. His next internship was on the maintenance staff at one of the most prestigious courses in American golf, Winged Foot Country Club in Mamaroneck, New York.

“I’d never worked at a golf course [before coming to Lonnie Poole],” says Hurley, who will graduate in December. “I learned all the basic stuff, like mowing, raking bunkers, irrigation principles and cutting cups [on the greens]. I really enjoyed it all and decided to start working towards an associate degree in turfgrass management. It’s really become a passion of mine.”

Protecting Their Turf

For decades, NC State has been firmly planted in North Carolina’s $6 billion golf industry.

The opening of Lonnie Poole Golf Course on Centennial Campus, built by the Arnold Palmer Golf Design Company and designed by NC State alumni Erik Larsen and Brandon Johnson, created an outdoor laboratory for CALS students, as well as programs in the College of Natural Resources and the Poole College of Management.

It’s also opened more pathways into the profession.

“When I was a student, there weren’t a lot of internship possibilities,” says Brian Green, Lonnie Poole’s director of course maintenance for the last 13.5 years and current president of the Carolinas Golf Course Superintendents Association. 

Green, who earned an associate degree in turfgrass management from CALS’ Agricultural Institute in 1995, says he got his first job through word-of-mouth from a professor.

“I’ve been in the industry ever since,” he says.

Today, golf is thriving, thanks in part to its designation as an essential outdoor activity during the COVID-19 pandemic. Lonnie Poole Golf Course has averaged more than 40,000 rounds per fiscal year since 2019-20.

Those numbers dropped this summer when the course closed for several weeks to replace its greens with a new heat-resistant ultradwarf bermudagrass. But demand for tee times — and for turfgrass students to maintain courses — will continue to rise, says Lonnie Poole general manager Chip Watson.

There are dozens of internships and entry-level positions available at courses throughout the region, with competitive starting wages and big growth potential. In a 2025 salary survey of 3,033 responding members, the Golf Course Superintendents Association of America reported that the median salaries were $140,000 for certified superintendents, $100,500 for Class A superintendents and $90,000 for Class B superintendents.

Green says it’s easier for new graduates with experience to land a well-paying position than when he got his start.

And with artificial intelligence data mapping, autonomous equipment and other high-tech maintenance tools, an associate or bachelor’s degree in turfgrass science is a hole-in-one path for pursuing a career.