The Super-Scratch Foundation, capitalizing on its signature event – the Super-Scratch Invitational – is on a mission to erase the shortage in the population of employees for positions as golf course superintendents and assistants across the United States.
In 2020, a group of members from Huntingdon Valley Country Club in Pennsylvania’s Montgomery County recognized the employment gap and proposed the idea as a way to bring quality players, superintendents and clubs together in an event to raise money for superintendents. Huntingdon Valley was the longtime host of the Lynnewood Hall Cup, a long-standing amateur competition won by the likes of Walter Travis and Jay Sigel, which ended its run in 2010.
Tim Zurybida, a longtime turfgrass professional who now supervises the East Potomac, Langston and Rock Creek Park courses for the National Links Trust in the Washington, D.C., area, cited a drastic drop in turfgrass enrollment and the bleak future for golf course maintenance if a labor shortage solution isn’t found.
“We are doing something tangible for the industry, which is in dire straits with the lack of assistant superintendents,” Zurybida said.
With educational funding, the Super-Scratch Foundation hopes to build on the pool of turfgrass and agronomy students who can obtain college degrees and become the next generation of those who will sustain the golf courses of America as the fields of play everyone wants.
The foundation’s main fundraiser is the Super-Scratch Invitational, which pairs a club’s superintendent (super) with a top amateur player (scratch). The winning teams determine what colleges received their allocation of the tournament fundraising total.
In 2024, 15 students from six schools – Delaware Valley, Maryland, Massachusetts, Penn State, Rutgers, and Wisconsin – received scholarship funding. This year, more than 40 students from 10 schools (Penn State, Rutgers, Wisconsin, Maryland and more) will be the beneficiaries of the more than $100,000 in scholarships raised by the Super-Scratch Foundation.
Andrew Mason, a two-time Philadelphia Open and Pennsylvania Amateur champion, believes the foundation’s financial success will continue, but it requires assistance.
“There are two reasons it’s been successful,” said Mason, who is the foundation’s president. “Not many others are giving back to turf in a large national way and no amateur events give back to turf except for the Trans-Miss, which has done a good job regionally in their area. Our biggest avenue to increase our giving ability is to find ways for memberships to begin supporting our efforts.”
The national board of 14 volunteers includes seven turf professionals, including Zurybida and the Union League of Philadelphia’s director of agronomy Scott Bordner, who serve as vice presidents.
Bordner, who worked at Merion Golf Club and was the superintendent at Chicago Golf Club, is the foundation’s main spokesperson to the academic world.
“If members read up on this, a lot of young people go to members, successful people for advice and we need them to know about this,” Bordner says. “Our profession is more a trade than anything. When I go to guidance counselors, I ask them to send me their C students. C equals common sense. … We are looking for a different kind of student than most industries are.”
The club advocacy piece of the foundation is already primed with names such as Chicago Golf Club, Congressional Country Club, Cypress Point, Erin Hills, Lancaster Country Club. PGA West, Sleepy Hollow Country Club and Whistling Straits as well as the USGA. Within the Philadelphia area, Huntingdon Valley, Merion, Applebrook, Llanerch, LuLu, Overbrook, Sunnybrook, St. David’s, and others have also joined as advocate clubs.
Other advocates include companies such as Toro, Floratine, Simplot, Syngenta, BASF, Century Golf Partners and Kohler, along with the USGA Green Section, Golf Association of Philadelphia and The First Tee of Philadelphia.
“When we start telling people it’s to help students get into the game and stay in the game of golf, it quickly resonates with people,” Mason said.
A unique logo featuring a hole-cutting tool is another conversation starter for any of the board members.
“It’s a really cool logo and people ask, ‘Where is that from?’ ” Bordner said. “It opens up the door to talk about the shortage, talk about the problem, and talk about the solution.”
A field of 44 teams is expected to compete in the 2025 Super-Scratch Invitational, Oct. 16 at Huntingdon Valley.
For the first time in 2025, the tournament had a West Coast national qualifier at PGA West in early March. There is a plan to add other regional qualifying sites in the future, with three anticipated in 2026.
The top five teams at PGA West qualified for the national tournament in October.
“We had a good idea that nobody else was doing,” Mason said. “We’ve had the persistence to see it through. After a few years under the belt, we are barely scratching the surface. There is so much more we can do.”
Zurybida has an ambitious goal of providing funding for every turfgrass student across the nation. “If we can get 10 percent of the clubs in the country to participate, the money will be eye-opening,” he said.
“It’s how you get to the golfer that this is an issue. If they know there’s a problem, they will help. They want to know that the future of their golf course is in good hands.” — Scott Bordner
Bordner, meanwhile, believes the foundation can reach a significant level in 2025.
“If we don’t get to a million dollars this year, I will be surprised,” he said. “It’s how you get to the golfer that this is an issue. If they know there’s a problem, they will help. They want to know that the future of their golf course is in good hands.”
Mason, who played college golf at Temple, is ambitious too.
“We have donors of all makes and models,” he said. “And, hopefully we’ll become a few million-dollar foundation in the next few years, which would make a meaningful impact on the future for these students.”