OCEAN CITY- With golf becoming one of the fastest growing industries in the area and across the country, the demand for train professionals to run courses has grown in kind, but one of a handful of PGA-accredited golf course management programs in nation is right here on the Lower Shore.
University of Maryland Eastern Shore PGA program director Billy Dillon this week provided an overview of the school’s fully accredited program for Ocean City business leaders at Wednesday’s Economic Development Committee (EDC) meeting. Dillon said the UMES program is one just 19 at colleges and universities in the country and the only one at a historically black college or university.
“Golf has become a $76 billion industry,” he told EDC members on Wednesday. “It’s larger than motion pictures and its bigger than the NFL, the NBA and Major League Baseball combined, and we have one of the top programs to train professional managers right here on the shore.”
Dillon explained the rigorous course work that produces PGA-trained professional golf managers. He said the program is about two-thirds academic and one-third athletic, meaning the students participating in the program must have some acumen for the sport.
“The very first graduating class last year had 55 members and all of them have jobs in the industry already,” he said. “These aren’t professional golfers, but they are professional golf course managers. The two are mutually exclusive, but the kids participating in our program have to be decent golfers.”
Dillon said the program’s original curriculum was developed in 2008, but was erased and re-written in 2010, which presented some challenges for the fledgling UMES program. However, the UMES program has adjusted its curriculum to meet the new PGA standards and is already meeting the mark.
The program is rigorous for the students participating. It includes 130 credit hours and is a four-and-a-half year program. The program focuses on player development, the finance aspect of running a golf course or program and independent study.
Students are required to develop a tournament schedule, complete a Play Golf America project and a community service project. For the UMES program’s first graduating class, that meant assisting in the production of the Special Olympics National Invitational in Atlantic City last year.
The UMES students enrolled in the program must complete a 16-month internship, many of which are completed at golf courses in and around the Ocean City area and across the Lower Shore. Between the academic work and the internships and player development aspects of the program, there is little time for the participating students to do anything else.
“Golf is basically shoved down their throats from the day they step on campus,” said Dillon. “It’s a very rigorous program, but they are very well prepared when they get out of here and most are hired for well-paying jobs.”
The program is not without its benefactors. In October, a gentleman named Cornelius Jones donated $500,000 to UMES for scholarships for its PGA program. The scholarships are set up for minority students, including two male students and two female students. Dillon said the endowment will pay for four students at $125,000 each, which will cover the entire program for four-plus years.
The PGA program at UMES is an extension of the universities outstanding hospitality management program. The goal is to graduate students, get them fully prepared for careers in golf management and place them in meaningful jobs.
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