Vo-Tech considers adding course on golf course maintenance

Saturday, Nov. 19, 2005 | 9:23 a.m.

Students at Vo-Tech High School may soon be encouraged to be under par.

Vo-Tech Principal Richard Arguello plans to add a new program next year, teaching students the ins and outs of building and maintaining a golf course.

Arguello hopes to build a three-hole golf course using vacant Clark County School District land adjacent to the campus off Mountain Vista Street near Sunset Road.

Much of the labor would be provided by students and staff, with the golf course construction being incorporated into classroom activities as appropriate, Arguello said.

"We're going to try to do as much of this ourselves as we can," Arguello said. "We're looking for community sponsors to help with the design and materials, and we already have some people interested."

The proposal has the support of the Southern Nevada Golf Association, said Jan Schlosser, the group's executive director.

While Clark County has imposed a moratorium on building new golf courses, there are plenty of job opportunities at the 45 existing courses, Schlosser said.

"It's a challenge to grow grass properly in the desert," Schlosser said. "And golf course superintendent is a great job around here. Salaries start around $60,000, and some of them at the private clubs probably earn more than the head pros."

Arguello, who already has visited a career and technical high school outside of Phoenix that has a golf course maintenance program, plans to take a side trip to another one in Kansas City when he attends the National Association of Career and Technical Education conference in two weeks.

Arguello envisions the first holes of the course being built on land between the high school and the southeast region office. There would be no fairways, which would require too much grass and too much water to maintain, Arguello said.

Without extensive outside assistance, it likely will take the school until 2008 to finish the project. Once completed, students would be able to take golf to fulfill their physical education requirements. And the course could be opened to the public during nonschool hours.

Emily Richmond can be reached at 259-8829 or at emily@lasvegassun.com.