Between the Lines

A Career in Turf – “When you do what you love, every day is Saturday!”

Jeff Borger retired in August of last year after a thirty-threeyear career in Turf Science at Penn State University. Borger was the manager of a turfgrass field research program that evaluated grassy and broadleaf weed control methods and plant growth regulators. He taught Weed Management courses in the four-year Turfgrass Science Major and in the two-year Golf Turf Management Program. He was also well-known as the organizer of the Western PA Conference education program for many years and eventually took on the education program for the Eastern Conference and Northeastern Conferences as well.

Last October Jeffrey “Vern” Borger was honored by his peers in a formal ceremony at the Penn State Golf Turf Conference with the Pennsylvania Turfgrass Council’s Dr. George W. Hamilton, Jr. Distinguished Service Award for 2023. This award is considered PTC’s highest individual honor and is presented to individuals who have exhibited outstanding service to the turfgrass industry. It is fitting that an award named for the good friend and mentor who opened the doors to a long career for Jeff Borger should also represent the highest respect of his colleagues at the beginning of his retirement from that career.

From Hobby to Career

When asked what originally attracted him to the discipline of turf science, Jeff Borger gives a very down-to-earth reply. “Formal education for me was not a goal. I was just a kid with a lawnmower.” Turf care was his ongoing hobby, the side gig that accompanied all his other academic and work ventures for many years. It was shortly after he moved with his family into a new home that neighbor and PSU professor George Hamilton, noting Borger’s talent and passion for lawn care, urged him to consider turf science as a profession. They teamed up in a lawn care venture and Jeff Borger saw that it might be possible to make a career of something he had always loved and was already doing.

However, making a career change at a time when he was responsible for a young family and almost finished with a degree in Engineering was both a huge commitment and a huge challenge, Borger recalls. Balancing family life, making a living, and keeping up with his studies was not going to be easy. It took him 16 years of part-time classes as a returning adult student to complete his academic work. But he recalls with gratitude that he always had his family’s support and encouragement and says that in the end, following his passion was definitely worth it. With George Hamilton’s guidance, the hobby really did turn into a rewarding profession and the neighborhood friend became a mentor who in turn introduced him to two of the founding fathers of the Penn State turf programs, Tom Watschke, and Donald Waddington. “Those three men changed my life,” Borger says. During his career at Penn State, Jeff earned a B.S. Degree in Turfgrass Science and an M.S. Degree in Agronomy. After Dr. Watschke’s retirement, he became the Assistant Teaching Professor in Turfgrass Weed Management.

Turf people help Turf People

When Jeff Borger is asked to talk about the high points of his career, it is the spirit of friendship and mutual help among turf professionals that springs to mind first. “I don’t think about one particular event as a high point but about an ongoing network of support. Turf people help turf people,” he says. That help can take the form of teaching, of research, or of hands-on assistance in the field. Looking back now, as a teacher he is always proud to hear from former students who are applying what they have learned from him in their own successful careers and as a researcher he is happy to have contributed to the scholarly body of knowledge. He also recalled his experiences of teaching adults in the field with extension programs as very meaningful and fulfilling the true mission of the land grant university. In his view, turf professionals help each other in any way they can because whatever problem you see your colleagues encounter this year might be yours to deal with next year. Nature is a formidable opponent. “Every day is unique – and nature always wins,” he laughs.

Future Possibilities

We asked Jeff Borger to look into the crystal ball and tell us how he sees turf science and its related careers developing in the future. He says he sees the field as one of boundless possibilities because it is being driven by so many passionate, focused people. The profession itself demands ingenuity and intuition of its professionals, so no matter what happens in the larger outside world, they will be equipped to respond to it just as they respond every day to all the variables that nature throws at them.

He advises young people who are just starting out in turf science not to give up when the going gets hard or when they or their parents become discouraged. “If you have what I call ‘turf fever,’ the desire to work in this field, never give up. Go to conferences, visit local sports fields and facilities, ask questions, talk to the experts, carpe diem. Just keep putting one foot in front of the other and you will come out a better person,” he says.

Every day is Saturday

As for his own future plans, Jeff Borger is enjoying having no detailed plan except to let the days unfold in front of him. “Travel, conferences, catching up on family time, sure – my plan is to take each day as it comes. I can take my wife on dates again!” he says. “Every day is Saturday now!” Then he adds, “But that was true of my career, too, in many ways. When you are doing what you love, you don’t have to wait for the weekend to do your favorite things. You’re doing them every day. Every day really is Saturday!”