By Design - Winter 2018

19 so I helped by teaching his classes. “That’s what got me very interested in education. I really enjoyed it and I thought I was pretty good at it. When I was a kid—before I discovered golf architecture—I thought of being a math teacher, there was always a bit of teaching in my mind. “When I came back to the New York area where I grew up, I was volunteering to speak whenever I had a chance, at superintendent’s meetings or seminars. I was speaking at a winter seminar and Ned Lipman, director of the Rutgers Professional Golf Turf Management School, approached me and asked if I were interested in teaching in the program. I said: ‘Yes, absolutely!’ In 1985, I taught one or two classes that went well, and they said why don’t you teach on a regular basis for the construction class. That’s how it started, and I’ve been teaching at Rutgers ever since.” Photo: courtesy of Jason Straka Photo: courtesy of Clyde Johnston at The Professional Golfers Career College