Oakland Hills Country Club
Bloomfield Hils, Michigan
Summer 2008

William Meyers works on a drainage project to lower the water table. William Meyers checking the calibration on a trailer sprayer before spraying fairways. William Meyers and another intern with the Wanamaker Trophy.

In the summer of 2008 I was very lucky to get an internship at Oakland Hills Country Club in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan. This was a great opportunity because I was able to participate in the preparations and execution of the 90th PGA Championship.

Oakland Hills was a very new experience for me. I had never worked at such a large club, with two courses, and so many employees. Working on such a highly ranked course with such high expectations for playing conditions was also a little new for me. I was also able to get more experience with identifying different diseases.

I had the opportunity to work on both courses at Oakland Hills, which proved to be two completely different environments. In the month of June, I worked on the North. It was much more laid back compared to the South. The North only had about twelve people maintaining it so we were limited on the amount of projects that could be done. The two interns on the North always helped with important jobs, such as course set up and chemical applications, because of the lack of experienced people. When it got very close to the PGA Championship the North was maintained as little as possible so that everyone could work on the South course. Most of the irrigation was shut off on the front since the fairways and rough were being used for parking. In the few weeks leading up to the PGA Championship, the North was being maintained by only a handful of people. They would mow the fairways that still had irrigation, mow the greens everyday and the tees every other day, and then they would head to the South course.

One of the most important experiences that I will take from this internship is the diseases that I saw and got to identify. We had a very large problem with Dollar Spot at Oakland Hills. Dollar Spot seemed to always strike the North course first. It could be found on most fairways and tees, however it was most prevalent in the low wet areas around #16 and #15. We would put down periodical treatments to prevent this.

Overall this was a good internship and a good opportunity for me. I learned a fair amount of new things and many new ways to do old things. I did not get as much responsibility out of this internship as I had wanted to. I made a lot of great contacts through all the management there and all of my fellow interns.

Read the rest of William Meyer's Internship story. (PDF)