When the eyes of the world turned to the FIFA World Cup 26, they were watching a playing surface engineered by Michigan State University. In collaboration with FIFA and the University of Tennessee, MSU helped provide the elite natural grass surface where Spain prevailed. Some of the same science behind that World Cup turf is also found at hundreds of golf courses around Michigan and the world, driven by alumni who design and maintain them.

In fact, right in East Lansing, Forest Akers is a course designed by a Spartan and currently run by a Spartan — and its west course was ranked the No. 3 college course in the country by GolfPass in 2024.

Ben Keeler is the course’s superintendent, which means he manages the team that makes the grounds run smoothly — by mowing greens and maintaining sand traps and other hazards. He graduated from Michigan State University’s Turfgrass Management Program in 1998 and has been at Forest Akers for five years after stints at other Michigan golf courses. “I love being at MSU,” he says, “because with the turfgrass program right here, you get to do things that are on the cutting edge.”

Keeler is far from alone. MSU’s nationally recognized turfgrass management program has produced generations of leaders in golf course design, agronomy and grounds management — and the impact is felt on courses across Michigan and around the world.

Spartan roots in Michigan links

Michigan is known as “America’s Summer Golf Capital.” According to the National Golf Foundation, Michigan is the U.S. leader in publicly accessible golf courses, with 748 daily fee, municipal and resort courses — which is more than the total golf supply in 45 other states. Add in the private courses, and Michigan is home to 868 golf courses as of January 2026. Only Florida and California have more than the Great Lakes State.

Spartans play a role in many of those courses — whether as superintendents, designers or in other roles — and have been doing so for over a century. One family of Spartans, according to the Michigan Golf Journal, has left a legacy on Michigan’s links scene like no other. Of the over 800 courses, nearly one-third have been original designs, expansions or renovations led by the Matthews family.

The dynasty began with W. Bruce Matthews Sr., who graduated from MSU with a degree in landscape architecture in 1925 and traveled south to design and build golf courses in Georgia and Florida. He returned home in 1929 to create his first solo design: the Manistee Golf and Country Club, which is along Lake Michigan. From there, the Matthews family and Michigan golf became synonymous. Some of the family’s well-known designs include Forest Akers, the Beeches Golf Club in South Haven and Hawk Hollow and Timber Ridge just north of East Lansing.

Matthews Sr.’s son Jerry Matthews graduated from MSU in 1956 and in 1960 joined forces with his father to design and build multiple courses. Today, W. Bruce Matthews III (Jerry Matthews’ nephew and son of Wally Matthews) keeps the tradition alive and currently runs Matthews Design Group, a course design firm. W. Bruce Matthews III has designed 36 courses and renovated over 80 — and his family, he says, has had a hand in over 300 courses in Michigan. Their involvement in MSU helps the university’s turfgrass legacy continue.

Bruce Matthews Sr. was instrumental in the formation of the Michigan Turfgrass Foundation, which supports MSU’s turfgrass program; he served as the foundation’s first president. Jerry Matthews would go on to teach a golf course design class as part of the turfgrass program at MSU, and Bruce Matthews III took up the class when his uncle retired from teaching.

“MSU is one of the leading institutions on turfgrass and soil research and has had a tremendous influence on turfgrass maintenance around the world,” Bruce Matthews III says.

Matthews family members aren’t the only Spartans to design and run courses throughout Michigan. Many alums who have come out of the College of Agriculture and Natural Resources’ Turfgrass Management Program are designing and working at some of the state’s most iconic golf courses.

More than a century of excellence

“Because of Michigan State,” Ray Hearn told Spartan Magazine, “I do more than design golf courses. I create experiences that are environmentally responsible, economically sustainable, interesting to play and built to help my clients thrive for generations.” Hearn earned degrees from MSU in turfgrass science and landscape architecture in the 1980s and has run a design firm for 30 years, with projects across the U.S. and abroad.

MSU’s turfgrass legacy dates all the way back to the renowned William James Beal, a professor at MSU from 1871 to 1910, who many consider to be the first turfgrass researcher in the U.S. MSU created short courses for greenskeepers in the 1930s, and by the 1960s had founded the two-year turfgrass management program that would become today’s program, which offers both two- and four-year degrees. John “Trey” Rogers, the professor who led the World Cup turfgrass team for MSU, teaches multiple courses in the program.

The program encompasses education and opportunities in golf courses, athletic fields, and home lawns and covers aspects like construction, establishment and management.

Much of this work takes place at the Hancock Turfgrass Research Center, a premier 56-acre campus facility. From here, graduates transition to high-profile careers ranging from Major League Baseball fields like Comerica Park to international championship golf courses.

Spartans make the grass greener

Back at Forest Akers, Ben Keeler views his role as being a steward of MSU’s turfgrass history. And he’s proud to be part of the alumni network that, as he says, seems to be everywhere in Michigan’s golf scene.

“Leaders like the Matthews and Ray Hearn have shaped the industry for us,” Keeler says. “Now we’re just trying to carry out that legacy.”

Working at Forest Akers and with MSU, Keeler says, has made him feel like he has even more resources to keep the course in top shape. The RainBox irrigation system being tested at Forest Akers is the perfect example. Working with Thomas Nikolai, a senior turfgrass academic specialist in the Department of Plant, Soil and Microbial Sciences, Keeler is excited about the system, which mimics rainwater. For Keeler, RainBox could help with irrigation and pesticide management, which allows for better environmental decision-making.

“The MSU Turfgrass team has been leading the way in turfgrass irrigation techniques since the late 1980s,” says Nikolai, who is known as the “Doctor of Green Speed” thanks to his research on putting greens. “We are pleased to have the opportunity and support of RainBox with hopes of adding to the legacy.”

The program also ensures a steady pipeline of new talent. Along with the almost 30 people on the grounds crew, Keeler usually employs a student or two each year — and those students often go on to work at golf courses across Michigan and beyond, often at iconic courses like Arcadia Bluffs or Bay Harbor Golf Club.

Christopher Burnett, a 2003 graduate of the turfgrass program, says the sunrise at Bay Harbor Golf Club in Bay Harbor is “epic.” Burnett is the superintendent of the course, which stretches over two miles along the Lake Michigan shore.

After graduating, Burnett worked at courses on the East Coast and in Michigan before landing at Bay Harbor five years ago, where his friends joke that he has one of the best offices in the world. Throughout his career, he has seen other turfgrass alums, whether as colleagues or at nearby courses. “There’s a lot of us,” Burnett says of Spartans in the world of golf, “and we band together.”

Keeler notes how the strong Spartan network makes it easier to learn and advance the field. “There are Spartans everywhere,” Keeler says of Michigan’s golf industry. “And having that network sure makes my job easier.”

The turfgrass alumni network counts at least 100 Spartans who are currently working at Michigan-based golf courses and hundreds more are outside of the state. The team at the turfgrass program maintains a map of Spartans around the globe, and the reach is vast, with Spartans everywhere from East Lansing to Singapore. (Alumni fill out a form to appear on the map, so some Spartans may not appear.)

Whether on the grand stage of the World Cup or a golf course close to home, Spartans are making sure the playing surfaces enjoyed by millions are up to par.