Greenkeeping is not a man’s job. It never was.

Across six countries and five continents, we met women who are proving — not for the first time — that care, precision, grit, and adaptability don’t come with a gender. For these women, turf management isn’t a rebellion. It’s a rhythm. A relationship. A conversation.

What’s striking isn’t how radical it is to see a woman on a roller or driving a fairway mower — it’s how timeless it feels. Like they’ve always been there. Because, in many ways, they have. From mothers who grew up on farms to daughters of greenkeepers to self-starters who walked onto a golf course and never looked back, each woman here embodies something that goes beyond trailblazing. They bring care. They bring calm. They bring the kind of detail-oriented multitasking that keeps courses alive.
Hazel calls it “maternal.” Grace calls it “seeing the reward.” Lucy pushes herself to prove it. Taqwa is a pioneer in her community. Crystal believes “you can’t tell someone to do something you can’t do yourself”. Gerri is training other women for the future.

They each bring something to this work that’s deeply human: a sense of relationship — to the course, to the team, and to the game.

This feature, in partnership with Tru-Turf, speaks to their journeys. It also reflects how the profession is evolving: smarter equipment, more inclusive leadership, and a growing recognition that women have long been part of this field — even if the perception hasn’t always kept up.

Rolling, too, is like this: seen by some as “new,” but in fact a practice that’s quietly shaped the game for decades. It’s not flashy — but it’s powerful. Subtle. Radical. Just like the women here.

We asked each woman three questions:
• How did you first enter greenkeeping and what keeps you here?
• Like women in turf, rolling is both timeless and radical. What difference has it made on your course or team?
• What helped you find your place in turf and how can the turf industry open space for more women?

Hazel P. Manarang – senior golf course superintendent, Golforce Incorporated (Philippines, Asia)

Life in turf
I’ve been doing this for all 25 years of my career. This was my first job and when I graduated from college, I didn’t expect to do this. I was on vacation with my brother in the northern part of the Philippines and he showed me around a golf course. I was so amazed to see a bunker, and back then I didn’t know what a bunker was, and there was a rake there. I raked the bunker, and he took a picture of me and the rest is history! I’m an outdoor person; I think I would collapse if I had to work in an office for eight hours. I started work on a Golforce course and I hope this is what I’ll be doing when I retire. My parents are agriculturists, and I studied agriculture at university. I love working as a golf course superintendent because it’s field work, like farming, but for a leisure activity. Golforce trains us in all the hard physical work first, raking, cleaning. There was a time when this work got me down, but my parents told me it’s normal to learn the hard work first. I’ve worked on eight golf courses and became a superintendent at my second course, the Splendido in Tagaytay. I’m currently at Orchard Golf and Country Club in Dasmariñas. It’s one of the premier golf clubs in the Philippines. There are two courses here and I also oversee another course elsewhere.

Rolling
I like rolling because it really contributes to the speed of the greens. I have been at clubs where they don’t have rollers, and it was really hard to achieve the speed and the trueness they want. The grass here is mostly zoysia, which is hard to manage just by cutting. In my experience rolling really makes a difference to firmness and speed. We roll frequently, especially if there are tournaments. We like to alternate rolling with mowing, because mowing causes stress to the grass. If we are aerating the greens the rollers are very helpful because they smooth the surface afterwards. It’s important that rollers are easy to manoeuvre because we have a lot of bunkers. I have found Tru-Turf rollers to be very lightweight and easy to manoeuvre, especially because you don’t need a trailer.

Women in turf
When I started training, there were other women on the course, but not so many made it to graduation. Now more women are interested in this as a career, and we are hiring more. The industry has had to recognise that women are not frail, and they can do this work. It has been a man’s job, and I had to work hard to thrive. Now I am passionate about giving our clients a good experience and transforming a course into a pristine condition. I like to challenge myself to do something great with a golf course and I think perhaps women are keener on fine detail and quality overall.

For other women or anyone who is thinking the career might be for them, I would say the work is very varied and it’s possible to have a good work–life balance. Every day you will have a new challenge and even the turf is not the same every day. I actually talk to the turf and try to work out what the different surfaces need! I think I approach it in a maternal way in that I make time to understand the turf better and nurture it.

Gerri O’Callaghan – superintendent, Sandringham Golf Course (Australia, Oceania)

Life in turf
I kind of fell into greenkeeping in my late 20s. I grew up in a small country town in Victoria, and I’ve always loved golf. I grew up on a farm, so I also loved the outdoors. I think it’s fate that I eventually got into greenkeeping. I did a trial at Sandhurst Golf Club on the outskirts of Melbourne, and I just loved it. I studied for my Certificate 3 in horticulture and turf recreational management, which meant I learnt about different playing surfaces and the way grass grows. Australia has such a different climate to a lot of places in the world, which I’ve always found interesting.

Afterwards, I did an adult apprenticeship and a diploma in sports turf management. I became superintendent at Sandringham, which is part of Royal Melbourne. It’s an 18-hole facility with a driving range and the headquarters of Golf Australia and the PGA of Australia, so it’s quite a busy hub. As a superintendent I’m leading young men and young women in the industry and hoping they take on my enthusiasm for the game and for producing great golf courses. There have been so many leaps and bounds in terms of machinery and the way we do greenkeeping since I started out around 15 years ago.

Rolling
Here at Royal Melbourne and Sandringham we have Tru-Turf rollers. They’re a great machine to use. I think the trueness and the ball roll of a freshly rolled green is unbelievable and I prefer it as a golfer. We have some of the new models with the lithium batteries and we find they roll many greens at a time, and they do it very well. We have a noise curfew in the morning because we’re very enclosed by suburbia here, so if we have an electric vehicle towing an electric roller we can start work before the curfew with no hesitation.

Women in turf
When I first came into the industry there were three women working in the facility, so I was under the impression there were a lot of women in the industry. This obviously wasn’t the case! I still have a great friendship with those three women, which helps a lot. I would recommend the job to other women because it keeps you physically fit but it also stimulates the mind. There’s so much science behind greenkeeping, we don’t just cut grass. You’re doing something different every day and you’re part of a network, a family, with the people you work with. I’m pleased to say we now have four women on the grounds staff; I was the only one at the beginning. It’s been great to see how well they fit into the team. I was the first ever woman to be on the Victorian golf course superintendents’ committee, which was a great honour. For the last three years I’ve also been a mentor to a young female apprentice as part of a ‘women in turf’ strategy. It’s an honour and if I can encourage and inspire young women to be part of the industry I’ll have done a great mission. I would say they should take every opportunity the industry offers them.

Taqwa Ali – greenkeeper, Ayla Golf Club (Jordan, Middle East)

Life in turf
I was the first female greenkeeper in the Middle East and at the beginning it was difficult because the concept of a female greenkeeper was so unfamiliar and unusual here. I started this work without any knowledge of what it would be like, so it was a journey for me. My passion for this kind of work kept me going to learn the basics until I became the person I am today. The course here at Ayla is new and was designed by a man [Greg Norman] with a great mind. I wanted to be involved in bringing this sport to Jordan. I love to learn about machinery, and I’ve had excellent support from my manager and the team to improve every day. I love this work, and I also want to bring value to my community.

Rolling
I know how to operate a roller, and I’ve seen the impact of rolling on the course. It improves the overall quality of the course and has become a symbol of consistency and attention to detail. It reminds us that even small changes can lead to great results. I’ve seen how regular rolling has enhanced player satisfaction by improving the smoothness of the greens’ surface and can maintain the green speed even when there is no mowing, especially during the cold season. Rolling is a daily practice here and I’ve observed that it helps with disease control, particularly with dollar spot.

Women in turf
I had a lot of support at the club and was given all the training I asked for. Everyone here is encouraged to get the right training to operate machinery and we are also given English classes. The biggest challenge was in wanting to do such difficult work when it isn’t common for women in the Middle East. I proved that I could do the work on fairway machines, rough machines, raking in good time. I would encourage anybody to take the opportunity to do this job. I’ve been interviewed on the Al Mamlaka television channel and told my story in an article, and I post my own videos of my work so other women can see it. There is now another women greenkeeper on our team who was inspired by my story and I support her. I will always be here to support any woman in this industry.

Grace Allen – second assistant superintendent, Pete Dye Mountain and Dunes courses (USA, North America)

Life in turf
Inspired by my father, I started playing golf in elementary school. Throughout high school I played girls’ varsity golf and ended up transitioning into an independent learning programme, which allowed me to start working early hours on the golf course. After realising the depths of maintaining a golf course, I developed an entirely different perspective on golf courses. My appreciation for landscaping and golf courses as a whole was developed into an everyday passion. Something that motivates me most is seeing the reward of hard work and ideas achieved on the golf course. Over time I have realised the hard truth, you absolutely have to love what you do to succeed in this path. Sometimes getting up isn’t easy, but there’s usually always something to make up for it out on the golf course. Whether it’s a beautiful sunrise or a mainline leak on a Saturday, either way you’d be glad you got there on time.

Rolling
There are many studies to prove the agronomical benefits of utilising rolling in turfgrass practices. Not only does a roller create a smoother and more precise playing surface provided for the players, but it also creates healthier grass. These are the outcomes that stand out most to me because in all ways it is beneficial to any property provided with one.

Women in turf
Starting the industry as a teenager came with a lot of experiences and opportunities to grow. The challenge I think most women face is obviously being in a male-dominated environment. The biggest motivator that helped shape my path was working for the right people and being given an opportunity to learn and advance in the workplace. Along with finding the right environment, attending Women in Turf events like the Women’s Leadership Academy and volunteering at the Women’s US Open, allowed me to find long-term friends within the industry who are easily relatable and connect like family. If I was talking to anyone at all who was unsure about their direction in life, I would say the same thing to each of them. There is a place for everyone in this industry and with the right attitude and effort anyone can succeed and be given career opportunities other places don’t offer. I think if a company could create space for women, they could reach out to Women in Turf and collaborate on an event. It could be a tournament or learning academy to invest in networking opportunities, and to continue building a place for the women seeking confidence in this worldwide industry.

Lucy Clarke — apprentice greenkeeper, King’s Lynn Golf Club (England, Europe)

Life in turf
I did self-employed gardening for about a year, doing carpentry. I saw a job advert for an apprentice greenkeeper and thought it looked perfect for me as I like being outdoors. At that point, I didn’t know anything about golf or that greenkeeping was a thing! I joined as an apprentice and fell in love with the variety involved in the job: spraying, irrigation, mowing. The industry was also so welcoming and helped me come out of my shell a lot. I’m motivated by getting more qualifications and working my way up and I also want to inspire younger people, especially women, to get into the industry. If I’d known greenkeeping was an option at college I would have taken that path a lot sooner, so I want to raise awareness of it as a career with the younger generation.

Rolling
I’ve been at King’s Lynn for two years and we roll a lot more than we used to. I constantly ask to go on the roller; I just think it’s so beneficial to our greens. Especially in winter time, we’re prone to diseases and rolling can help prevent that! We roll a couple of times a week because we’ve got push-up greens which get wet quite often, especially with the weather we’ve got now. In summer I think we should roll more and cut less to take the stress off the grass. Cutting every day at the height we need is too damaging. It’s amazing how true the greens are when we roll more and how much healthier the grass is. The golfers definitely let us know they’ve noticed!

Women in turf
I work constantly, I don’t stop and I wear myself out because I feel I have to prove to everyone that I can do things as well or better than a male apprentice. Sometimes I refuse help when I need it because I don’t want people to think it’s because I’m a woman. The biggest hurdle I’ve experienced is me trying to prove a point! I went to a LIV Golf event at Wentworth and I was the only woman, but everyone was so welcoming. My tutor and also Mike O’ Keefe from the Ohio State Turfgrass Intern Programme have been very supportive and both are focused on increasing the number of women in the industry. They push me to do better and get my name out there. I would tell other women that it might seem like a purely physical job with early starts, but it is so much more than that. Greenkeeping can take you anywhere and you’re learning constantly. I’m planning to go to America to do an internship in Ohio and I want to end up in Australia as a deputy. That’s not something you can say about the average office job.

Crystal Janse van Rensburg – head greenkeeper, Kyalami Country Club (South Africa, Africa)

Life in turf
I grew up on a golf course because my dad was, and still is, a greenkeeper. Everything I know I learnt from my dad. I tried to play golf for a living but that wasn’t for me, so I decided to take up greenkeeping and I loved it. I love being outside and not in front of a computer all day. I’m inspired to make it better and better every day. You can take one golf course to a certain level and if you can’t take it any further there’s always another opportunity to do the same on another course. We work with living organisms, so every day is a challenge, and no day is the same in this industry.

Rolling
We had a big tournament here recently and we did some rolling in the run up to that. It gets very hot here, between 35 and 38 degrees, so we roll at night because we’ve realised it’s not as tough on the grass when it’s cooler. We also roll in winter to make the surfaces a bit harder and quicker because it’s cold enough for the grass to handle it. I also like to roll for members’ days, and we do that at night, too. Rolling definitely creates a smoother surface to putt on, the ball doesn’t bounce as much so if you have a shot into the green there will be one bounce and then spin, so you can reduce topspin. We’ve also noticed less dollar spot when we roll.

Women in turf
It’s still difficult for us in South Africa because there can be a ‘manly’ mentality on some courses, but I believe that if you’ve got respect for the people you work with, they will respect you back. I also believe that you can’t tell someone to do something you can’t do yourself, so you have to lead by example. The main hurdle I faced in the industry was actually getting a job as a woman but after that it was like a snowball effect, and everything followed once I got a job as an assistant. People are still surprised to meet a woman greenkeeper. I think clubs here could put programmes in place to train female greenkeepers and it would also help if more women were encouraged to play golf. It’s getting bigger as a sport for women but it’s still not as big as it should be.

Conclusion
What connects these women isn’t just their passion or their roles — it’s their presence. They notice things others might miss. They care deeply and speak up when it matters.

In every one of these stories, there’s proof that turf doesn’t need to be “made” a space for women. It already is. What’s needed now is recognition, amplification, and opportunity. This global feature is one part of that — a small reminder that women in turf aren’t a trend. They are, like rolling, a foundational practice.

Present. Consistent. Here to stay.