This is the first year for “Science on the Green,” a program that introduces 20 sixth-, seventh-, and eighth-graders from West Point and Oktibbeha county schools to golf and the science behind it. Next year, organizers hope to add participants from Lowndes County to the list.

The program is coordinated by the university's Center for Science, Mathematics and Technology. The United States Golf Association Foundation has donated $147,000 to keep Science on the Green running for the next three years.

Sandra Harpole, center director and physics professor, said the program is designed for students who have never had a chance to play golf. “We asked teachers and principals in the Oktibbeha and West Point schools to nominate students who had a high interest in science and math who had not had the opportunity to play golf,” she said. “We have fun using golf to teach the physics of golf and the design of clubs and balls, measurements using lasers, water quality and conservation, and other topics.”

There is no charge to students for the two-week program, which is held at the MSU Golf Course. Golf clubs and transportation are furnished, and students receive a year-long membership to the MSU course. The 18-hole, par 72 public facility has repeatedly been listed as a “place to play” by Golf Digest magazine.

Anytime they want, students can make an appointment and automatically are paired up to play the course with a professional golf management student. An avid golfer herself, Harpole says she likes to sneak physics in at unexpected places. “Students learn about projectiles and motion with Science on the Green,” she said. “At the golf course, they look at different clubs to see that the loft, or angle, on the clubs is different. The clubs make the balls go different distances. Then they look at projectiles to see what the relationship is between the angle and how far the object is going to travel.”

“That is one of the fun things about teaching physics. People don't think they ever use physics, but they use it in everything they do,” Harpole said. During the program, each student is paired with an MSU student majoring in professional golf management. Training focuses on the sport in the morning hours, when students learn to perfect their swings, putting, and chipping.

In the afternoons, they hit the classroom to learn the academic side of their morning sports lesson. The 20 students are divided into teams and they compete academically. This year, for example, the students learned how to measure the height of a building using trigonometry.

To enhance the athletic and academic sides of Science on the Green, students also take part in several field trips. This year, they visited Taylor Made-Adidas Golf in Pontotoc, True Temper Sports in Olive Branch, and other golf-related industries and businesses.

The culmination of the camp comes when each team designs its own golf hole, using all of the knowledge they gained during the program and a little help from the pros. Students use hand-held Global Positioning Systems to lay out the hole with string and then they actually play it.

Joining the golf course and College of Business and Industry's Professional Golf Management academic program as Science on the Green participants are the university's Plant and Soil Sciences Department, Water Resources Research Institute, and colleges of Engineering and Arts and Sciences.

For more information on next year's Science on the Green, contact Sandra Harpole at 662-325-2922.

Junior high students learn the art of golf during morning lessons and deepen their understanding of math and science in the afternoon as part of MSU's Science on the Green program. Above, program coordinator Sandra Harpole helps participants use their newfound knowledge as each team designs their own golf hole.