IAA Internship Spotlight: Tyler Johnson

November 6, 2019

After unpacking his belongings from school, Tyler Johnson packed again with his golf clubs this time and headed to his summer internship in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, to work at Oakmont Country Club. Johnson is a second-year Turfgrass Management major at the University of Maryland’s Institute of Applied Agriculture (IAA).

Johnson has worked on golf courses for 4 years, but this was his first year working at Oakmont Country Club. “With Oakmont Country Club being ranked 5th in the nation, I wanted to see what it took to run such a high-level golf course,” Tyler said.   He enjoyed the environment of hard work and driven attitudes at the course.

As a grounds crew worker, Johnson’s main job was cutting grass, which helped him hone the skills he had already developed from previous golf course work and IAA classes. Oakmont Country Club helped him sharpen his skills to the point that he was able to execute perfection!  He also received the opportunity to meet Steph Curry and experience life in Pittsburgh.

 “Oakmont Country Club typically takes students from Penn State and Ohio State making it a big deal that they took Tyler because this internship is difficult. Tyler taking this internship was not only beneficial to him, it is beneficial to the IAA, promoting our program to the national level,” Tyler’s IAA advisor Geoff Rinehart said.

From this internship, Johnson realized that he wants to continue working in the golf industry because of his love of the game and his passion turfgrass. He hopes to be the superintendent of a golf course one day and continue playing the game he loves for years to come.