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Parker Stancil: Kerteminde Kin

As some of you may know, in addition to blogging for TurfNet this summer at Portmarnock Golf Club, I did the same last year from Kerteminde, Denmark at a newly opened Nicklaus designed course called Great Northern. Check out that blog here. My summer at Great Northern last year was much more enjoyable than I had expected. The course provided housing for international greenkeepers who had come to work from several different countries including England, Scotland, Ireland, Lithuania, Latvia, B

Parker Stancil

Parker Stancil

Parker Stancil: Learning the mechanic side of things

This past week I’ve been assigned by Gary Johnstone, Portmarnock Links manager, to work in the greenkeeping shop in the afternoons with our course mechanic, Iacob Spermezan. Yep, that's an I, not a J, as he's from Romania. His name is pronounced like Yock'-obe, and is the Romanian form of Jacob or James. Iacob removing the bedknife from a cutting unit. Most of the mowers here are Jacobsen. Gary must’ve gotten tired of me bugging him about working in the s

Parker Stancil

Parker Stancil

Parker Stancil: Special Visitors and Malahide Castle

My mother and stepfather, Tracy and Ashley Wilkinson, paid me a visit in Ireland as part of celebrating their 10th wedding anniversary. Their original plans included playing golf in California and staying at Pebble Beach for a week, but the flight, hotel, and other travel costs were cheaper to come here! I guess you could say I’m a mama’s boy, and mama was having a hard time with not seeing me all summer, so with short notice, they were eastbound and down to Dublin. Cheese!

Parker Stancil

Parker Stancil

Parker Stancil: The Parker Grand Slam!

While attending The Amateur Championship at Portmarnock Golf Club back in June, Jon Kiger of TurfNet informed me that he would be returning to Ireland in a few weeks for The Open at Portrush. It was a sweet surprise when he said he had an extra ticket for the Tuesday practice round and offered it to me. Offer accepted!  The boss (Gary Johnstone, Links Manager at Portmarnock Golf Club) gave me the day off of work to ride up to Northern Ireland to fulfill an item on my bucket list. (Yes

Parker Stancil

Parker Stancil

Lahinch: Beyond golf, and surfing...

During my week of volunteering at the 2019 Irish Open at Lahinch, I had the pleasure of experiencing the beautiful scenery, fun social environment, and everything else you’d want in a little getaway vacation in the town of Lahinch, Co.Clare. A view of the town of Lahinch from the top of the viewing stands at 18 green. The town of Lahinch is widely known across Ireland for its attraction of professional and recreational surfers. The word “surf” covers the town from top to b

Parker Stancil

Parker Stancil

Parker Stancil: The Irish Open at Lahinch

Organized by the European Tour, the 2019 Irish Open is being hosted by Lahinch Golf Club in County Clare. The breathtaking links club provides unbelievable views along the west coast of Ireland. Extremely steep cliffs and beautiful long beaches border the town of Lahinch, which is quite easy to see from the peaks of the enormous dunes clustered throughout the golf course. Me standing on the highest point of the Lahinch GC property. The view down #1 and #18.

Parker Stancil

Parker Stancil

Scott Powers: Live Sports - the English do it right. 

No matter what you’re in the mood for, London has it. As I mentioned prior, I am from the boondocks of Southern Ontario and am used to having to put in some real effort not to be bored back home. Here in England, it is a totally different game.  Because I work just over 40 hours per week (something most North Americans in the turf industry are not used to), I have plenty of time to do whatever I wish. So naturally over my first month here I prioritized going to as many sporting events as I

Scott Powers

Scott Powers

Scott Powers: The Big Smoke*

Hello all, As many of you already know I am interning at the Royal Automobile Club in England and will be doing some blogging for TurfNet while I'm here. I have recently graduated from the University of Guelph and decided to shake things up by moving across the pond.  The 18th at the Royal Automobile Club. The Royal Automobile Club is situated just south of London in a little town called Epsom. Being home to just over 30,000 residents, the town has the perfect balance

Scott Powers

Scott Powers

Parker Stancil: Another for the list... The Amateur Championship!

I have previously volunteered at TPC Sawgrass, Sea Island, East Lake GC, Gullane GC, and more, but this was my first time being a member of the greenkeeping team to actually be the host of a big tournament. I’ve had great fun with all the high-energy events, but by contrast the Amateur Championship here at Portmarnock Golf Club was a very nice and relaxed week. Horseplaying around last year with Ralph Kepple, East Lake GC Director of Agronomy. He was helping me with the Tour Cha

Parker Stancil

Parker Stancil

Parker Stancil: British Amateur Championship Prep

Preparation for the Amateur Championship began many weeks in advance of tournament week for Portmarnock Golf Club’s greenkeepers. I was fortunate enough to join the team a little over two weeks before the first practice rounds were starting, and we’ve been putting in some hard work. One day’s worth of walkmowing… I’m whooped.   Make sure to wear some sunglasses if you check out the gorgeous par 3, hole 12… you might go blind with all those lasers I laid dow

Parker Stancil

Parker Stancil

Reinventing myself for a life-long dream...

I am a non-traditional student at Ohio St. University-ATI in Wooster, Ohio. This year, at age 59, I decided to take some time and reinvent myself with a life-long dream of sports turf management. I am originally from Texas where I was a science teacher and football coach. After that, I spent time in Kansas as an assistant principal/athletic director. I moved to Ohio when my wife was hired by OSU.  Since then, I have become interested in all facets of the turfgrass industry. From May 1 throu

Guest David Payne

Guest David Payne

Back at it: Grinding for more credibility

I recently graduated from Horry Georgetown Technical College in Myrtle Beach with an Associates Degree in Golf and Sports Turf Management. I decided I wanted to keep grinding for more credibility, therefore, I will be attending Clemson University to advance my education by majoring in AgMechanization and AgriBusiness.  Me and two of the greatest mentors I could ask for: Charles Granger (left) & Ashley Wilkinson (right)  My original plans for this summer included knocki

Parker Stancil

Parker Stancil

For 2019, Greenkeepers Three!

Our Greenkeeping, The Next Generation student-authored blog debuted in 2012 as a way for our first intern to share his new experiences on and off the course while spending a summer in Ireland. It has been written by a variety of students from many different schools and regions of the country. The blog has also sparked increased interest in spending the summer overseas working in turf as the access to courses willing to host turf students has increased. It is in this environment that we are

Jon Kiger

Jon Kiger


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