Love sports and working outdoors? Become an expert in the science of maintaining golf courses, sports fields, and more. Small class sizes and hands-on, on-site learning give DelVal Turf Management grads a top-flight reputation in the golf and turf industries, with a nearly 100% rate of job placement by graduation.
Top ten reasons students come to DelVal to study turf management:
- Delaware Valley University is the only small, private university that offers a 4-year degree in Turf Management.
- You will enjoy small class size and extensive hands-on learning experiences.
- You will learn on facilities that include a turf research center, putting green, athletic fields, and acres of lawn turf.
- You will learn from professors, not teaching assistants.
- You have access to 70 + golf courses & sports fields within 1 hour of campus.
- You will work with the same advisor for your academics and career advice, program director Dr. Doug Linde, for all 4 years.
- DelVal’s program, and its students, enjoy a great reputation within the golf and turf industries.
- Our graduates are successful with nearly 100% job placement by commencement.
- You will complete a required internship program through DelVal’s award-winning E360 Program. Most Turf students have 3 summers of paid work experience.
100%
real-world experience
$30,100
average scholarship and grant amount awarded to freshmen in 2025-26
18
Average class size
TURF MANAGEMENT AT-A-GLANCE
The combination of small classroom courses, hands-on learning on the DelVal campus, and E360 work experience prepare you for a career in turf management.
Core Turf Management Courses:
- Soils
- Intro to Turf
- Turf Cultural Systems
- Turf Pest Management
- Case Studies in Turf
- Golf Course Design and Construction
- Supervision and Management
- Human Resource Management
- Irrigation Technology
- Plant Physiology
- Pesticides for the Green Industry
- Spanish for Agriculture
Recommended Minors
- Agribusiness
- Business Administration/Sports Management
- Environmental Science
- Landscape Design/Build
- One Health Communication
Career Paths
With 100 percent of our students having real-world, hands-on experience, graduates with a degree in turf management find employment in areas that include:
Supervises the maintenance of a golf course. Depending on the course, the superintendent may oversee 2 to over 50 employees with a budget ranging from $100,000 to over $1,000,000. Some superintendents enjoy the challenge of hosting a professional golf tournament or building a new course, while others enjoy the more relaxed atmosphere of a daily-fee public course. Salary range for Head Superintendents is $50,000 to $250,000. Graduates with a 4-year degree in Turf Management start their careers as a 1st or 2nd Assistant Superintendent or Assistant in Training. Starting salaries range from $40,000 to $60,000. Advancement to Head Superintendent can occur within 5 to 10 years.:
Oversees the maintenance of one athletic field or an entire sports complex. Professional Sports Facilities need educated turf managers to maintain the fields used by professional baseball, football, and soccer teams. Universities, colleges, high schools, community parks, horse tracks, polo clubs, tennis clubs, and cricket clubs are beginning to recognize the need for a professional turf manager to maintain their athletic complex. Graduates with a 4-year degree in Turf Management usually start their careers as an Assistant Field Manager. Salaries range from $40,000 to $120,000.
Often work as supervisors, consultants, or technicians for professional lawn care franchises. Many start their own company. Responsibilities can include mowing, fertilization, pest control, renovation, sales, evaluation of home lawns, and customer service. College graduates normally start as technicians or managers. Lawn care is the largest sector of the turf industry.
Maintain an institutional site landscaped with turf, trees, flowers, buildings, and roads. They can be hired by colleges, universities, municipalities, park & recreation facilities, office parks, residential communities, professional gardens, hotels, resorts, theme parks, cemeteries, etc. Many large landscape management companies that maintain these areas hire our graduates.
Grow, harvest, and sell mature turfgrass to homeowners, landscapers, golf courses, and athletic fields. Many producers own and operate their sod farm.
Sell and/or service the materials and equipment that turf managers use. There are sales and service representatives associated with just about anything purchased in the turf industry -- mowers, fertilizer, pesticides, seed, sprayers, amendments, etc. Sales representatives typically have many years of experience maintaining a golf course or sports field and get into sales as a career change.
Develop the grass or fertilizer of the future. Teach turf management at a technical school, college, or university. Give advice in exchange for money. Requires a graduate degree.
Turf Internships
Employers that recently hired DelVal students for summer employment/internships.
Golf Courses:
- Saucon Valley
- Somerset Hills
- Baltusrol
- Pikewood National
- Merion
- Aronimink
- Crooked Stick
- Bethpage
- Congressional
- Winged Foot
- Philadelphia Cricket
- Medinah
- Navesink
- Liberty National
- Pine Valley
- Trump Bedminster
- Oakmont
- Oak Hill (NY)
- Eagle Point (NC)
- Desert Mountain (AZ)
- Cardsound (FL)
- Rock Creek Cattle Co. (MT)
- Philmont
- Huntingdon Valley
- Manasquan
- Huntsville
- Lookaway
- St. Davids
- Lancaster
- Indian Valley
- Kittanset
- Bellewood
- Overbrook
- Manufacturers
- Greenbrook
Sports Fields:
- Philadelphia Eagles
- Philadelphia Phillies
- Philadelphia Union
- Reading Fightin Phils AA baseball
- Lehigh Valley Iron Pigs AAA baseball
- Indianapolis Indians AAA baseball Lakewood Blue Claws A baseball
- Trenton Thunder AA baseball
- Boston Red Sox – Fenway Park
- Ripken Baseball
- Little League baseball – Williamsport
- Philadelphia Union Soccer
- FC Dallas Soccer
- Auburn University
- Windview Athletic Fields
- Episcopal Academy
Much More Than an Internship Program
The Experience360 Program gives you the opportunity to apply classroom lessons to real-world experiences in the field of turf management. In addition to valuable internships, E360 includes career exploration including hiring trends and salaries, opportunities for student research, week-long study abroad, leadership development and community service.
I loved all the field trips. We got to see a wide range of sports facilities and meet many people in the profession.
Jillian Ulozas ’26, | B.S. Turf Management
The Aggies have had eight winning records and one .500 mark in the last 21 years, including undefeated runs in both 2004 and 2006. They captured their first-ever Freedom Conference Championship in 2005 and were conference runners-up in both 2003 and 2006.
Contact
Dr. Douglas Linde, Professor
OFFICE LOCATION: 116 Feldman
POV of Turf Management
