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Tajchman’s career beginning at top Kansas courses
   Getting to know the Junior Golf Scholars

   Spending time in the outdoors at Prairie Dunes and Colbert Hills isn’t all bad.
   Kansas Golf Foundation scholar Alan Tajchman will get to see plenty of two of the Sunflower State’s best golf facilities over the next few years as he develops his career in golf course management. The Hutchinson Junior College sophomore currently works at the South Central Kansas community’s prized Prairie Dunes and at year’s end he’ll transfer to Kansas State where he’ll spend plenty of time on highly ranked Colbert Hills as part of the school’s turf management program.
   “It was part of the plan to get a good start on my resume,” the 20-year-old from Chapman said recently. “…and it just worked out that I could play tennis here, that was another scholarship that I got, then it worked out I could get some hours out (at Prairie Dunes). To get that on my resume and start that networking, a lot of people at Prairie Dunes know a lot of people around the U.S. and working at an elite golf course just helps that out a lot.”

From tennis to golf
   Tajchman said he was introduced to golf by his grandparents, Ron and Charlotte Calhoun, Alan Tajchman

who live on Turkey Creek Golf Course in McPherson. He also played in the junior golf program at Rolling Meadows in Junction City.
   “I just enjoyed being outside and golf has been one way I could get outside and enjoy the outdoors,” Tajchman says.
   But he didn’t play the sport for Chapman High, instead turning to tennis. And that’s not surprising since his mother Cheri is the school’s tennis coach.
   “(Golf) was always during the same season as tennis, so I always ended up playing tennis,” he says.
   Tajchman was also a member of the Fighting Irish’s track and field, basketball and cross country teams. He ran the 400 and two relays for the track squad and qualified for the 4A state championships as a senior.
   Last year, Tajchman took his tennis-playing skills to the Dragons’ tennis squad in Hutchinson. But this year the school has suspended the program and that may serve as a blessing in disguise at Tajchman develops his golf course management education.
   “That’s actually a good thing because I’ve been working out at Prairie Dunes,” he says.
   Also keeping him busy are extracurricular activities like working with the school’s annual phone-a-thon fundraiser.
   “That was really interesting,” he says. “I’d never done anything like that before.”
   Another Hutchinson JC endeavor had Tajchman playing on a scout team against the Lady Dragons’ nationally ranked women’s basketball squad.
   “That was a lot of fun and a good way to meet new people,” Tajchman says. “We went two or three times a week to their practices and acted like we were the other team (and) ran the plays they would run against them. They ended up going to (the NJCAA National Championships in Salina) so that was fun.”

Early starts
   Working on the maintenance staff for superintendent Stan George, Tajchman says he’s already learning about all the things it takes to care for a top-rated golf course like Prairie Dunes.
   “I haven’t worked at a golf course before…I had worked out at Milford State Park during the summers,” he admitted. “Just all the different equipment and how much work actually goes into it. Starting that early in the morning…that’s kind of different. I never really had to do that before.”
   But the crack-of-dawn starts have not scared him away from pursuing a degree in turf

management and a career as a golf course superintendent.
   “Golf course management is pretty broad…I’d probably want to do the grounds side of it,” he says. “I really didn’t want to be cooped up in an office sitting at a computer all day. I wanted to be able to get outside, enjoy being outside and the opportunity to golf a little more.”
   Tajchman says he’d like to work at a top facility some day, though he’s not given a lot of thought to what part of the world he’d prefer.
   “I’ve been pretty lucky to work out at Prairie Dunes, an elite course. It’s a good place to start on my resume,” says Tajchman, working on prerequisite courses at Hutch JC with sights set on a turf management degree at Kansas State. “My goal would be to end up working somewhere like Prairie Dunes. That might involve moving out of state and I don’t know if I want to do that. I’ll just get through the program and see where it takes me.”
   But the turf student is certain of his appreciation for the help his KGF scholarship has provided.
   “Without it, it would be tough,” he says. “That’s one reason I started out at JUCO, to relieve some of that financial burden, because to start off at K-State, that’s a pretty penny. Without the scholarship help it would be difficult, I’m assuming, for a lot of people to make it through. It’s greatly appreciated.”