The Toro Company and the Golf Course Superintendents Association of America (GCSAA) will again offer the Toro Championship Tournament Training Program (TCTTP) for GCSAA student and assistant superintendent members. This year, three winners will experience first-hand what it takes to prepare a course for tournament play.
Two GCSAA assistant superintendent members along with one student member will travel in August 2006 to the PGA Championship at Medinah Country Club in Medinah, Ill. and will work with Thomas Lively, Certified Golf Course Superintendent (CGCS), and his crew. This is the second time Medinah has hosted the PGA Championship; the first was in 1999 when Tiger Woods won the championship and was presented the famed Wanamaker Trophy.
Since the start of the program, 28 GCSAA members have been chosen to participate in a PGA Championship, U.S. Open or Ryder Cup event. “We established the Toro Championship Tournament Training Program to bring the experience and knowledge of major tournament preparation to GCSAA’s junior members,” says Darren Redetzke, director of golf marketing at Toro. “The experience is designed to expose superintendents at the beginning of their careers to a variety of cultural practices and management techniques that make major tournaments a success.”
Applications for the program are available at http://www.gcsaa.org/resources/awards/toro/. A 500-word, typed essay will be part of the program selection process. All applications and essays must be submitted to the GCSAA, postmarked no later than June 1, 2006. An independent panel of judges will select finalists based upon the essays submitted and the site superintendents will select the winners.
The Toro Company will notify winners in June 2006. For more information on Toro equipment, parts and financing visit www.toro.com/golf; contact your local Toro distributor at 800-803-8676; or write to Toro Commercial Equipment at 8111 Lyndale Avenue South, Bloomington, MN 55420.