On March 1, the ISU Turf Grass Club attended the “Turf Bowl,” a three and a half hour test sponsored by John Deere in Las Vegas, Nevada. There were 85 total teams from 44 different universities in attendance.

“We spent months preparing for this event,” said Daniel Strey, senior in horticulture and president of the Turf Grass Club. “We started Thanksgiving of last year and had weekly study sessions to prepare for this tough event.”

Iowa State’s team won first place in this competition, ahead of the University of Massachusetts at Amherst in second place and the University of Maryland in third.

The 18th annual Turf Bowl, according to the official Golf Course Superintendents Association of America website, is hosted every year as a part of the association’s Education Conference and the Golf Industry Show. The exam is focused on every part of the superintendent profession and the essay is based on a business/financial scenario.

John Deere began as a sponsor for this competition three years ago. They fund the entire event, along with the $4,000 prize for first place.

“We take the prize money and use it to directly fund next year’s trip,” Strey said.

“The test itself consisted of a 30 minute essay, 170 multiple choice questions, and 75 identifications questions,” he said.

The essay covered many different topics including: grass plant physiology and morphology, insect and disease management, agronomy and soils and business and water management.

In addition to the essay, they had to identify different types of turf grass and wheat, irrigation components, soil types, diseases and insects, and sprayer and mower parts.

The team worked with intensity from the day they started preparing up until the competition itself.

“As a team we would get together two to three times a week and even on weekends,” said Isaac Mertz, senior in horticulture and another member of the winning team. “As far as day to day stuff, I don’t think there has been a time over the past month and a half that I went somewhere without a set of flashcards in my pocket. I’d review them walking to class across campus, while waiting for class to start, and even while getting lunch. People would give me weird looks, but you get used to it. Plus, the feeling of accomplishing what you set out to do definitely makes it all worth it.”

Iowa State has won this competition 12 out of the last 14 years it has competed.

“It speaks volumes about the level of education students receive at Iowa State,” said Shane Lohman, senior in horticulture and another member of the Turf Grass club. “The turf professors at Iowa State are truly some of the best. They do everything they can to prepare the students with the proper education for employment after graduating.”

There was a total of 10 students in attendance from Iowa State, split into three separate teams. The winning team consisted of Strey, Mertz, Casey Sheehy and Lohman. Coaching this team was graduate student Nick Dunlap, getting his masters in turf grass management here at Iowa State. He was with the Turf Club when they won the Turf Bowl both in 2010 and 2011.