Golf course superintendents and sports field managers often dream of landing a great job as a grounds manager at a top school close to home. Tom Barry has been living that dream for over 12 years as the grounds manager at Greens Farms Academy in Westport, Connecticut.
Greens Farms Academy is a private PreK-12 school situated just off the Long Island Sound. Its 45-acre campus includes gardens, turf, athletic fields, and naturalized areas—all managed by Tom and his four-person crew. They maintain two artificial sports fields and four natural grass fields to support a busy athletic program. Managing artificial fields presents unique challenges, and Tom shared some of his experiences navigating them.
A strong advocate of Biological Soil Management, Tom also teaches turf and horticulture at a local community college. On campus, he transforms the school grounds into a hands-on learning environment for students. With strict pesticide restrictions and limited resources, weed management remains one of his biggest challenges.
This year marks Greens Farms Academy’s centennial celebration. As our conversation wrapped up, we shifted from turf to tunes — Tom, an accomplished guitarist, just added a new guitar to his collection and plays whenever he can!