Welcome, Richard Last. The 1st International Intern!
Richard and myself on the 18th green at Nikanti Golf Club during his first few weeks on site.
Throughout my whole time in Asia, I have been wondering about how it may be possible to send some of the local greenkeepers over to the USA to take part in the Ohio State University International Internship program; having the opportunity to work on some of the best golf courses in the US and the World, and help tournament preparations for some of the best players in the world. The problem has always been the language barrier, as most local greenkeepers in South East Asia speak very little English; if at all. Perhaps one day we will find a way to still make it happen.
Then, one day “out of the blue” as Richard puts it, I get this message…
“Dear Brad,
Forgive me for contacting you out of the blue.
By way of introduction my name is Richard, a student of greenkeeping currently completing my traineeship in Denmark.
As part of my education, I am in the fortunate position of having the opportunity to undertake a portion of my studies abroad with funding from my home education establishment. I’m really interested in getting as broad of an experience as possible, and using this opportunity to learn as much as I can. I’ve been doing a good deal of searching around, and came across BRT. I’m really interested in the data side of turfgrass management, and how improving efficiency through data can lead to more sustainable and better results. I don’t know if you have any interest in taking someone on for four months starting this October, but if so I’d really love the opportunity to have a chat...”
I had always been so preoccupied with thinking of sending local greenkeepers overseas, that I didn’t give much thought to accepting them here with BRT Agronomy or with one of our partners. If we could bring multiple international interns to us, instead of only sending one local greenkeeper overseas, we could create an international community at the golf course where everyone could collectively benefit from the combined international experience.
I love to share information regarding the strategies we implement for managing high-performing turf and thought this would be a fantastic opportunity to do just that while giving Richard a chance to experience golf course management in Thailand. However, rather than working directly with BRT Agronomy, I arranged for Richard to come on board as a full-time intern for the entire 4-month program at one of our main partners, Nikanti Golf Club in Thailand.
Nikanti Golf Club has TifEagle Bermuda greens, TifWay 419 Bermuda fairways and rough, Paspalum tees, and Bahia in the secondary roughs and native areas. The tropical climate allows for a 12-month growing season with a definite wet and dry season.
Richard aerating the 15th green at Nikanti Golf Club
Originally from England and residing in Denmark, Richard had not seen tropical weather for some years since his last visit to Thailand; but he adapted well and the team at Nikanti loved having Richard on board as they could practice their English skills while asking about where he is from, why he’s here, why can’t he stay for longer than 4 months and hundreds of other questions.
Richard's main responsibilities revolved around performance data collection and assessments of current weed concentrations, when not walk mowing greens, mowing rough, aerating, or any other number of tasks he was assigned. But no matter what the task, he never complained; although shy at times, he was always positive and ready to contribute with valuable input when planning tasks or projects.
It is not so easy working with a team that does not speak more than a few words of English, but he had no trouble fitting in; even joining in the banter with the assistant's Ake and Ping.
Richard measuring green speed on the 18th green at Nikanti Golf Club.
Although we very much wished Richard could stay with us longer, sadly, the time had come to return to Denmark and his full-time job at Rungsted Golf Club after a fantastic 4 months with us. I very much hope Richard enjoyed his time in Thailand and grew from his experiences at Nikanti Golf Club.
Due to the success of Richard and this internship, we will be looking into further developing the internship program; hopefully opening it up to multiple interns from varying countries across the globe who wish to experience turf maintenance in a tropical climate and how it is managed at Nikanti Golf Club.
I wish Richard well in his future endeavors and hope he has a chance to come back and visit again soon.
Richard can be contacted via LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/richard-last-4ab7ab84/