Roper native Mark Snell sits the Superintendent of Treyburn Country Club, one of the most esteemed and well-regarded golf courses in the state.

It’s a position that has earned him statewide acclaim in certain circles, even gracing the cover of a prominent turf magazine, as a testament to spending more than 30 years in that arena.

The son of Mack and Joyce Snell, Mark grew up on a farm along Roper’s Mill Pond Road.

“I came up on a small farm in Roper. We were small farmers, mostly raising tobacco and peanuts,” he recalls fondly.

Naturally, Snell considered following in his family’s footsteps to join the business and get into agriculture as a full-time venture. However, he decided to forgo that path as he got older and the industry changed rapidly.

“It was one of those things where if I wanted to make a living at it myself, I was going to have to seriously look at expanding,” he says. “I would have to hunker down and really borrow a lot of money to get started so I really thought about it and decided that it was either take that leap or get into something else.”

Fortunately for Snell, his dilemma would not last long after another path presented itself courtesy of some insight from a relative.

“My cousin, Dean Askew, his dad used to work at the state farm and he went to NC State. He told me that the turf grass program they had there was really taking off,” Snell recalls. “Back in the late 80s and early 90s, they were building a lot of golf courses, so as you might imagine, there was a really high demand for it. I figured it would be a much better career move than sinking all of my money and hopes into farming.”

Fittingly, after graduating from Lawrence Academy in 1987, Snell attended NC State University where he took up Turf Grass Management. Here he aimed to soon play his part in laying the green foundations of the many courses that were on the rise.

Even before graduating from NC State, Snell began working at some prestigious courses in the state capital.

“When I was in college, I started working at Carolina Country Club in Raleigh,” Snell recalls. “I did that work, fell in love with it and really I’ve been doing it ever since.”

After graduating from NC State in 1991, Snell began working at Treyburn Country Club, where he has worked for 34 years. During that time, he has been a pivotal figure in its upkeep and in creating a memorable environment for its membership.

Snell would join the Treyburn team and quickly rise to become its Assistant Superintendent not long after. However at the turn the millennium, Snell became the Superintendent and has overseen the upkeep of the grounds and set the standard for the impeccable quality that visitors have come to expect for 25 years in that role...