Female volunteers at the 2022 U.S. Women's Open at Pine Needles are the focus of the web series "Breaking the Turfgrass Ceiling." Photo by Howard Richman
A 14-part video web series highlighting women in golf maintenance called “Breaking the Turfgrass Ceiling” will be featured on GCSAA TV starting this month. GCSAA TV is a joint project of the Golf Course Superintendents Association of America
(GCSAA) and EPIC Creative.
The series focuses on the experience of the women in golf course and sports turf maintenance profession who volunteered at the U.S. Women’s Open at Pine Needles, N.C., in the summer of 2022.
The videos can be found at gcsaa.tv beginning June 14. A new episode will be released every other Wednesday.
Sheila Schroeder, Ph.D., a professor in the department of media, film and journalism studies at the University of Denver, served as the executive producer for the series. Originally she went to Pine Needles to do social media storytelling surrounding
the 30 women maintenance volunteers during U.S. Women’s Open tournament week. She then realized there was enough content for a series.
The content includes episodes on how the women in turf team originated, daily course prep, career paths, education, special guests, and how the women are Breaking the Turfgrass Ceiling in the profession.
In 2021 30-year GCSAA member Troy Flanagan, director of golf maintenance at Olympic Club, started the tradition of bringing in 30 women volunteers to assist the regular crew during tournament week of the U.S. Women’s Open. GCSAA member David Fruchte,
CGCS, continued that at Pine Needles in 2022, and in July GCSAA member Bubba Wright will welcome 35 women for this year’s Women’s Open at Pebble Beach.