The First Cut

Hello and welcome to Kennedy’s Turf Corner. As the name implies, my name is Kennedy and I love to talk about turf. As a current undergraduate student with goals of pursuing the turfgrass industry I make it a point to learn all I can about turfgrass and the industry professionals who share this passion. I like to remind people that turf is the greatest thing ever and there is nothing greater than turfies.

The idea for this blog came from a mentor and friend in the industry, Mr. Pat Jones, someone well known and respected in the industry. He suggested this as a way for me to talk about turf even more... Sold! But before I started writing from my list of ideas, I wanted to begin with an introduction of myself.

Joining the industry during a pandemic, means just like the rest of the world, I was unable to meet and interact with the industry in person. Instead of a traditional dive into the industry, this time was taken to learn. Attending lectures, zoom meetings, certification courses, you name it, and I was there. From my very first experience with turfgrass (other than as a playing surface), I fell in love with it and wanted to learn more. Knowing that industry professionals are pushing a crop to the absolute limit with high-quality crop still being produced was amazing, but what makes turfgrass especially remarkable is the traffic intensity that no other crop could withstand.

Agronomy became my passion; pest management became my passion. The beauty of an education is that the more you know the more you want to know. For as many questions one has the answer to, they have that many more which still need answering.

Once my Twitter account was created, I started running. This was an area filled exclusively with people who share the same passions which in turn developed another one.

Not only did I have the passion to learn, but I also developed a passion for networking and communication. As someone extremely shy growing up, I found my voice and I wanted to use it. I love communication! If we have not had the pleasure of interacting whether it be twitter, a conference, a tournament, please reach out! I have many goals in life and one of them is to meet everyone in the industry.

The beauty of Turf Twitter is it allows someone to interact and get their name out there. For someone like myself, who might have just started volunteering for tournaments or attending conferences, you now can meet everyone and pick up conversations where you last left off. Plus, the conversations are always about turf, my favorite subject! This blog is just another way to communicate, especially if you might not use twitter or travel to industry related events. How else will we talk turf!

In summary, I love the turfgrass management industry. This industry has all my passions in one. Not to mention the high-quality industry professionals that have shown me nothing but kindness and support. This blog was created not only to write about what I love, what I know so far, but more importantly so we can continue conversations. If you have read this far, thank you and I hope that sharing these ideas will not only interest you, but start more conversations.

Thank you!