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Anthony Sherman can’t help but laugh as he recounts his first interview at a golf club. “He asked me, ‘where do you want to be in five years?’” Without skipping a beat, Sherman replied, “I want to be on your side of the desk.” He smiles. “When I said that to him, I knew he was either going to tell me to get out or he was going to help me.” Luckily, his interviewer, Jack Mackenzie, then Superintendent at North Oaks Golf Club, chose to help. “Jack told me, ‘If that’s what you really want, then you should go to Rutgers.’” Sherman took Jack’s advice to heart and enrolled that fall.
Growing up in Clear Lake, Iowa, Sherman spent a lot of time at his parents’ course, Oak Hills Golf Club. “I started at four or five years old sweeping up so I could earn quarters to play the arcade games,” he recalls fondly. Soon he was emptying trash cans and raking bunkers. “When I was six or seven, my dad let me drive the cart around, and then when I was 10, I mowed the greens. So, yeah, I’ve worked on golf courses pretty much since birth.”
More than a decade after attending the Rutgers Professional Golf Turf Management Program, Rutgers still holds great meaning (and memories) for Sherman. “That was where it all started,” Sherman recognizes. “I can still go back in my memory banks and hear [instructor] Rich Buckley talking about fungus, or [instructors] Bruce Neary or Bob Dobson in my head. I loved all of them.”
Sherman felt at home in the Rutgers two-year program thanks to the environment and the instructors. “They taught in a way that made it easy for me to learn and I haven’t forgotten,” Sherman reflects. “It felt more like a conversation than a lecture. It was easy to ask questions if you didn’t understand something. They were willing to help.”
The experience at Rutgers immediately helped Sherman land a job at the Tournament Club of Iowa. . “When the superintendent saw Rutgers on my resume, that was it, I got hired,” Sherman reveals. Although he wasn’t a Rutgers alum, the superintendent knew the reputation of the Rutgers two-year program and understood the value of the condensed curriculum. “He knew I had focused on learning exactly what I needed to do the job.”
Sherman enjoyed promotions every year thereafter as his career took him all over the country, from the Midwest to the East coast to California and now Minnesota, where he is currently Superintendent of Owatonna Country Club and actively working to earn his GCSAA Class A Member Designation. “Every job I’ve gotten was easier to get because I went to Rutgers,” Sherman admits.
Every job I’ve gotten was easier to get because I went to Rutgers.
– Anthony Sherman
Learning how to interview for jobs and talk to superintendents at Rutgers made a huge difference. “[Instructor] Chris Carson taught us how to talk to somebody who’s interviewing you. He took a whole day and talked about how to prepare, how to speak, how to hold yourself, how to get through those tough situations,” Sherman shares. “It helped me throughout my entire career. I’m grateful for it.”
Ensuring others enjoy the same opportunities, Sherman has referred several crew members and colleagues to Rutgers. “For the cost and camaraderie, I believe that Rutgers is the best,” Sherman says matter-of-factly. “I can still call up one of the 40 people I graduated with to ask questions, get jobs, or get help with a problem I’m having trouble figuring out. I graduated with a great group and all of the teachers were wonderful.”
When asked what drives him, Sherman’s passion for the work is evident.
“Every day is different. I love that I come in every morning before the sun rises. I love that I’m outside and I get to see wildlife. I love the smell of freshly cut grass. I love the challenge of fixing up the golf course to make it look immaculate and beautiful.”
– Anthony Sherman
Learn more about Rutgers Professional Golf Turf Management School!
Send an email to 2yearturf@njaes.rutgers.edu.