My name is Nathan McKinniss. I am a fourth-year student in the Sustainable Plant Systems major program at the Ohio State University with a specialization in Turfgrass Science. I will be finishing my last courses required for my major and minor in Agribusiness in Autumn 2016.

While many look forward to graduation, I'm happy to be returning for another semester... which I may even turn into another full year. There are still many classes I am interested in taking to sharpen my turfgrass knowledge. One more year would also mean one more Turf Bowl competition.

The Turf Bowl is a competition sponsored by GCSAA at the Golf Industry Show. The turf club here at OSU puts together a team of four and this year will be my second time competing. I've been in Turf Club for three years and currently I hold the treasurer position.

The 2016 Ohio State Turf Bowl Team.

Aside from the turf club, I have interned for two summers at Brookside Golf & Country Club in Columbus, Ohio. There I have gained experience in the field under three great bosses, including the superintendent, Carl Wittenaur. I also work during the school year in the clubhouse with the Food and Beverage Department gaining a rounded knowledge of golf club operations. I have also worked at golf courses in my home town of Findlay, Ohio.

The second hometown course I worked at had the biggest impact on me as I helped with all maintenance activities except spraying chemicals. With the owner, Scott Malloy, PGA, I learned some of my first tricks of the trade, which were incomparable to how much I learned about myself.

The two courses in Ohio where I worked, and their proximity to my home

My uncle, Ben Taylor, played a large part as to why I am in this profession. Uncle Ben is the superintendent who I first worked for. From gigging frogs to picking up trash then washing golf carts, I started from scratch with him. From that I grew into wanting to know as much as possible about this industry.

I am interning internationally this summer in Ireland at a gem of a golf course, County Louth Golf Club -- or Baltray, as it is locally known. My excitement cannot be measured, and my gratitude is even greater! This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. I hope to return home with the experience of managing a links-type golf course plus the course preparations of tournament play from both the East of Ireland Championship at Baltray and the Irish Open at the K Club.

This opportunity would not be possible if it had not been for Mike O'Keeffe, director of The Ohio Program, which places students (both outbound and inbound) in green industry internships around the world. I am easy to persuade, however going out of the country for the first time might not have been easy to convince me of; but of course, Mike O'Keeffe succeeded with ease!

Mr. O'Keeffe then introduced me to Jon Kiger from TurfNet and encouraged me to apply for this internship. After a couple emails and phone calls I was thrilled with the good news of securing the intern position! Writing these blog posts is part of the internship requirement, which I want to give a big thank you to Jacobsen as a sponsor of the blog, and to TOCA for helping with the costs.