Charting a new path

Raking bunkers at the Plantation Course at Kapalua in Hawaii is one of many different jobs Brianne Kenny (center) finds herself experiencing from week to week as the manager of environmental science for Troon.

Brianne Kenny disliked golf while growing up near Cleveland, Ohio. With a passion, in fact. She thought it was a sport for rich, stuffy people, and would express her loathing online, often getting into digital fights with friends over the topic. She assumed golf courses were irresponsible with resources like water and chemicals — anathema to someone who earned an undergraduate degree in forestry, fisheries and wildlife science from Ohio State.

But in 2016, to help pay for a master’s degree in biology at Miami University in Ohio, she took a job as a restaurant server at Troon Country Club in Scottsdale, Arizona. During a new employee orientation, she set foot on a golf course for the first time and saw birds, wildlife, thriving natu...