Dew covered the ground and fog hung over the Naples golf course.
Colby Paiva watched as deer appeared and began to eat the grass.
After taking in the scene at his summer internship, Paiva realized he made the right choice in pursuing a career in golf and sports turf management rather than attending nursing school.
“I won’t see this at a hospital,” Paiva said.
Paiva, a UF senior, is one of about 15 to 20 students majoring in golf and sports turf management, a four-year program requiring 120 credit hours.
His love of the outdoors drove him to change his career path, and Paiva hopes to become a golf course superintendent.
Jason Kruse, an assistant professor for the program at UF, said that, as a superintendent, Paiva would manage the entire landscape of a golf course.
Kruse said the major also prepares students for careers as athletic field managers and managers for residential and commercial landscaping companies.
The major is part of a statewide program, which means students can also earn the degree from research centers in Fort Lauderdale and Milton, Kruse said.
Kruse said students in this interdisciplinary program take classes in entomology, environmental horticulture and agribusiness along with turfgrass culture classes — where students learn how to grow and maintain turfgrass — and management classes.
Students gain experience through internships at golf courses or athletic fields.
Kruse said they also help paint and prepare Florida Field for football games and maintain an on-campus golf green known as the Envirogreen.
“Students that are successful in this typically have a lot of pride in their work,” Kruse said.
Paiva said this feeling motivates him to work long days and hours on the course.
“And you have to have a lot of pride in your work because, if you don’t, it will show,” he said.
Paiva remembers the pride he felt when a member came up to him during his internship in Naples and complimented the course’s appearance.
“For me, it’s kind of cool that I can build something or take care of something that challenges people,” Paiva said.
