The Toro Co. and GCSAA are once again offering the Toro Championship Tournament Training Program for GCSAA student and assistant superintendent members. This year, three winners will experience first-hand what it takes to prepare a course for tournament play.

In June 2008, one GCSAA assistant superintendent and one student member will travel to La Jolla, Calif., for the U.S. Open Championship at Torrey Pines. In addition, one assistant superintendent will be selected to travel to Bloomfield Hills, Mich., in August 2008 for the PGA Championship at Oakland Hills Country Club. Each winner will help the staff prepare the course for the event. Toro will provide all travel and accommodation.

Since the start of the program, 32 GCSAA members have been selected to participate. “We established the program to bring the experience and knowledge of major tournament preparation to GCSAA junior members,” says John McPhee, director of golf marketing at Toro. “The experience is designed to expose superintendents at the beginning of their careers to a variety of cultural practices and management techniques that make major tournaments a success.”

Applications for the program are available online. A typed, 500-word essay will be part of the selection process. All applications and essays must be submitted to GCSAA, postmarked no later than Feb. 10, 2008. An independent panel of judges will select finalists, and the site superintendents will select the winners. The Toro Company will notify the winners in March 2008.