Turf management students help prepare for U.S. Women’s Amateur

WEST POINT, Miss. (WCBI) – Gill Wilkerson is a recent graduate of the EMCC Turf Management program.

He now has a job at Old Waverly in West Point and ever since his first day, he’s been preparing the course to host the U.S. Women’s Amateur.

“I started as soon as I graduation in 2018, the day I graduated actually. I didn’t want to get into golf turf management, but when I went to the classes, they started showing me more about turf. I’ve always did lawn care and the landscape side, but I switched over to turf,” said Gill Wilkerson.

He said preparation for the tournament started about two years ago, but he and his team have been working overtime since the beginning of summer.

“We work a lot. We work from like five or six in the morning till seven at night maybe. Later than that if we have to. About fourteen-hour days probably,” said Wilkerson.

It takes a lot of pre-planning to get the golf course just right.

“We come up with a fertilizer plan and a weed control plan. We’ll come out for spring and spray for pre-emerge and for the weed prevention, and about May we’ll put out fertilizer for the summer,” said Asst. Superintendent Zak Holloway.

Employees with Old Waverly said they encourage students like Gill to come and work with them every semester.

“I like to interact with the students, try to get them to come over and work at a place like this. You know, you don’t have these courses in Mississippi,” said Holloway.

After weeks of working hard to prepare for the National Tournament, students said there’s a sense of pride and also relief.

“We really sleep. Sleep as much as we can or if we’re not tired we’ll go out there and watch it or just do whatever we really want… I’m really happy how it turned out,” said Wilkerson.

August 19 will mark the beginning of EMCC’s next turf class.