Love it.

I need to move somewhere to work internationally. I love it. If I get to speak spanish, that's cool, or I'll just go anywhere.

Hint hint...

Bienvenidos a Mexico!!

I am in Mexico this week. Never thought I would want to come to the Yucatan area, especially Playa del Carmen and the Cancun airport, but if I have to do it and get paid $225 for the week with my very nice hotel paid for and food all taken care of, I guess it's not all that bad.

I'll write more later, but don't get too jealous... I've only spent 1 hour in the ocean, 5 minutes near a pool, and way too much time to count getting eaten by bugs and organizing players and volunteers. Fun, yes, but hard work and certainly the closest thing I will get to a paid vacation while doing this internship. Needless to say, I wouldn't be here if I didn't speak Spanish and as the only intern here I can say from the bottom of my heart: Gracias, Senora Leavitt.

More to come, I hope...

Parenting an Athlete: Dos and Don'ts

After 10 weeks on the junior golf road and 10 years as a youth athlete, I think I have a good grasp of what it takes to be a good parent in the world of sports and here's my list of dos and don'ts...

DON'T:

1. Use that high-pitched, fast-paced voice when you ask me to find your son or daughter. That is not my job, they are your offspring and I am just their rules official.

2. Don't expect me to know why they chose the rules option they did or why they have decided to use that club. Again, and see number 1, they are your child and I am just their rules official.

3. Don't offer your kid a drink of Powerade every shot. Chances are you will not only bother the rules official, but you will make them wish they'd been put up for adoption those many years ago.

4. My job is not to get you food, drinks, scorecards, cold towels, or a glove when your son tears his. I work over 80 hours some weeks and that will just make me grumpy.

5. Don't make me explain everything I am doing. My knowledge of the rules is based on someone who got 100% on their rules test. I learned how to set tees from that same person. The coolers are where they are for a reason. It takes a long time to do what we do; see number 4 for more info.

6. Don't try to enter the scoring area or any other official area. Your days as a high school athlete weren't that spectacular anyway and they are long gone. I don't need your input on the rulings that your kids know better than both of us.

7. I have a cart so that when you complain to me about not being there when your daughter needed help with a water hazard ruling I can say that I am doing everything I can to be in 12 places at once.

8. If you and all your fellow parents had a cart out there I would not be able to get to said rulings, and you would complain for days on end about how Johnny's dad was driving around the green while Timmy putted.

9. Having a hip replaced at age 40 does not necessarily entitle you to a golf cart. It just shows you should have been in better shape or persuaded your family doctor to get you a handicapped placard. Without that I can do nothing for you.

10. Sometimes I can't drive you everywhere. When this happens, it is not a reflection on me or our organization. You can walk.

DO:

1. Give interns that work 80+ hours per week for ~$2.00 per hour email addresses and phone numbers of people you know that could get us a job or we could make contact with.

2. Tell me to be quiet while another kid in your son's group putts, not just your own. That shows a classy person.

3. Stay away from your kids while they play. Your mediocre athletic abilities aren't going to rub off by osmosis.

4. Leave grandma at home if you are just using her for her handicapped placard. That's low and you are healthy enough (or could use a walk) to walk 18 holes without a bag like your child is doing.

5. Show interest in the staff's dreams and aspirations.

6. Keep your thoughts about what should be done to yourself. Play in an old-man's league if you have an opinion or become a rules official.

7. Thank the staff and volunteers. It'll just make you look like a better person, even if you were the parent that yelled "WHAT ARE YOU DOING?" to your daughter when she chunked her shot into the water hazard.

8. Buy your kids ice cream after they compete. And bring one of the friends they made playing.

9. Remember that it is just youth sports. Yes, they MIGHT save you $200,000 by playing Division I sports, but they also may decide to take the academic route (sorry, Dad!) or be burnt out by the time they graduate high school. Every shot does not matter and the lessons they are learning here are more valuable than whether they score well or not.

10. Smile. It'll just make everyone's day that much better.

Hilton Head - Reflections

So we may have arrived in Nashville 3 days ago, but Hilton Head's tournament was awesome. Here's why:

1. We stayed in a cottage on the golf course, by the first tee, where we also had our tournament headquarters. This means everything we needed was right there and I could wake up 15 minutes before I had to be on my cart for morning assignments.

2. I made some great friends, including a player who hurt herself in the qualifier on Sunday and was forced to watch her friends and competitors for the rest of the week because she was staying with another family for the tournament. I drove her for the whole second round, teaching her about all the things that a rules official does and even getting to do two rulings for her to see. We had great fun, proving that I really do get along with 15 year olds better than anyone.

3. Best tournament chairman ever. He's the father of one of the tournament assistants we've worked with quite a bit and basically knows everyone on Hilton Head and made sure we had tons of fun and were well taken care of. He's the reason for the next couple points...

4. When you know the right people on the island, you are told the right restaurants to get pancakes/waffles/french toast at (Stacks, in the middle of the island, and have Pavel be your server), can get a guest pass to get into Sea Pines resort, and know all the local favorites for fish and whatever else you could ever need. We parked in any parking lot we wanted for the beach, got through every security gatehouse, and almost got to go parasailing on our day off. Needless to say it's never what you know, but who you know that matters.

5. Hilton Head is kinda interesting, with things hidden and a much smaller feel than I ever expected, but it's a great place and I am glad I made it. I never got to go in high school when the tennis team went, so this was a nice opportunity.

6. Best ice cream sundae I've ever had. The reason? Best hot fudge I've ever had. That's all I really need for a good sundae.

Hilton Head was great. A great tournament for 12-15 year olds (younger than the average tournament, which is open to 12-18 year olds). This means more learning, better attitudes, and more fun, as far as I can tell.

I Love Minnesotans!?

I never thought I would say it after 4 years of school in the frozen tundra, but in our Qualifier on Sunday I followed a boy who just moved to Nashville from Minnesota and I was so excited to see this blonde boy with the goofy accent. I think I might have scared him a little bit, but do you know how GOOD it feels to have someone down here recognize what Carleton is?

Highlights from Augusta/Welcome to 'Bama (again)

Best things that happened in Augusta:

Dad came to visit. We played mini golf and watched Toy Story 3. I still worked tons. Oh, and he became best friends with Sean on my team and I'm about to be kicked out of the family. Dad asks me how Sean is every time we talk on the phone!


We saw fireworks in South Carolina, just across the river from Augusta, at a private golf course we were invited to by the head pro who wanted us to enjoy our 4th of JU-ly. It was the first time I've seen shapes in a show, other than at Disney. Hearts and planets.

West Lake Country Club is beautiful and well-taken-care-of. And could use some new cart paths... I had to wear what I would wear running. Ladies, I'm sure you know what I mean.

Saw "The National" and couldn't really see much more than this sign and down the trees that line the entrance. Maybe someday I'll be deemed worthy enough to go watch The Masters...



Davis Love III's son won our tournament! And I made so many friends in the players this week. Parents were great, too. I met a man from New Hampshire and was the first to hear when another man's daughter (who was playing) got a full ride to Baylor for golf! I feel like a proud mother.

I learned more about the full-time job here than I have in my whole summer, as an "Operations Assistant". I got to meet with the Superintendent of Golf, discuss how the course is marked and mowed, and determine drop zones and other course markings. And all with my favorite tournament director so far, who was very hard on all of us and never took anything less than great, but that also I had more fun with than anyone.

Augusta was great, but now we are in northern Alabama, in the beautiful city of Huntsville. It really is gorgeous, kind of pretty like New Hampshire... big hills (mountains?) and lakes and the course we are playing is full of money and is very secluded. The edge of the 15th and 16th holes runs right up to cliffs and the cart path on 3 is down the side of a cliff. I'll try to get a picture this week.

PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENT (I really said this. On radio.):

Attention all staff for your ginger public service announcement, brought to you by TanMan Mulligan Sunscreen Wipes. We are about to make the turn into the second wave of players which means it is time to reapply your sunscreen! Thank you and have a nice day.

We really are sponsored by sunscreen wipes, so it was really just a plug for sponsorship...

I Should Be Arrested. By the Cart Police.

At this point in the summer a blog about my job just couldn't be complete without something about carts and the fact that our lives revolve around driving a course, being a rules official from a cart, and making all the mistakes that young people can make with driving in the woods.

To start, I have to show you the rules.
Keep entire body inside cart should be a no-brainer, right? Well, I always have my leg hanging out the side and sometimes, yes most of the time, I try to drag my shoe down on the ground a little bit. Apparently this is not allowed.

These are the 14 other rules of which I have broken 12 and followed 2 (because it would be really stupid to drink alcohol on the job and I have never had any children around a cart - except that time in Augusta when one of our volunteers put his kid to work bringing water around the course... so maybe I've broken 13?). You can read them and figure it out, but they're kind of hard to follow... People have tried to throw me out, I've been standing up, I've gone up and down the steepest slopes on the course, I never use my brakes to reduce my speed, and I've had up to 5 people in my cart at one time. And then there are all those times when I drive the cart from the passenger seat because the driver seat is out in the sun.

And anyway, I've only been in a bad cart situation once, when I tried to drive over a curb and got my back right wheel stuck over a drain. Apparently these little guys are rear-wheel drive and I needed that wheel on the ground. Oops!

Golf Mecca

We're here! It may be Golf Mecca #2, but it still is something - I'd say Scotland might beat it. Yep, the hotel-ridden, chain-restaurant-saturated, strip-mall-heavy metropolis of Augusta, Georgia. We enjoyed some of their nightlife during their first friday of the month time when all the shops are open in the street, which was certainly an experience. That same evening we spent a few hours at the top of the Wachovia building in The Pinnacle Club, a dining club where the tournament chairman treated us to cocktails and appetizers even though he is on a fishing trip in Alaska the whole tournament. We drove our courtesy Lexus SUVs around downtown on Friday night and have been enjoying them ever since!

Dad came for the weekend to see this holyland of golf, but we could only barely see in the gates of "The National" as they call it (it'd be silly to call it Augusta National since we're in Augusta...) and I had to work all day Saturday and most of the day Sunday. Luckily we had the later afternoon off on Sunday and got invited as a group to a course across the river in South Carolina to watch the fireworks and Dad really hit it off with my teammate Sean... all day Monday Dad talked about how Sean is "the son he never had"! Well, good thing he couldn't even enjoy the fact that his beautiful daughter had the day off to spend with him!

We played some mini golf and he beat me pretty badly, but I did serve as a pretty great rules official... you can take the girl out of the golf course, but you can't take the golf course/rules official out of the girl. It's just in my blood now! Then we grabbed some burritos at a cute little place where the owner decided to bet me that Germany would beat Spain on Wednesday because I was wearing my Spain jersey. So when Spain wins tomorrow I get free lunch! The afternoon was finished out with a Toy Story 3 trip, which made me cry at the end, but it was a great movie and I recommend it to everyone. I also cried during the preview for Secretariat, about the Triple Crown horse, so that's going to be a good one. I can recommend it already...

I'll hopefully remember more funny stories soon and will be more inclined to write more if people write something to me! So tell me how things are!

TE QUIERO

a.k.a. "I love you" in Spanish.

A couple things have happened today that are worth talking about:

1. Spain beat Portugal. My guys pulled through, and if anyone knows my high school swim coach, Rob Hale, you may know the phenomenon he talks about called "goofy poops". Usually an event associated with your own athletic competition, I was thinking this was going to happen to me at various points in our first round of the tournament today because I was so nervous for the game. I made sure no one told me the score and just watched it in bed. 1-0, goodbye Portugal, hello one step closer to Spanish world champions.

2. I have been told that I will stay on with the internship until September 8, so the tournaments I will get after that August 15 weekend are in Playa del Carmen, Mexico, Williamsburg, VA, and West Virginia at Greenbrier. It'll be great because I will be in Mexico for my birthday and then, the day after I get back from Atlanta will...

3. go to Scotland to drop my sister off at the University of Edinburgh where she will be starting as a first-year student. Dad and I will deposit her, we'll all travel, and maybe I'll find a job while I'm there?

That's all for now, I am going to bed to be fully rested for setting the tees on the whole course again tomorrow morning (this is my least favorite morning job and I did it today too) and for the big second round!

Does anyone even read this?

Why Do Golfers Stand on One Leg?

I read a great picture book when I was little, called Why Do Ducks Stand On One Leg? and it was just a Chinese proverb-like story. What I realized today during the qualifier round was that golfers do this too! Not sure why, if you have any thoughts, send them my way.

We're here in Rome, Georgia, a really pretty little town in northwest Georgia where parts of the movie Sweet Home Alabama were filmed. Some were even filmed at the Coosa Country Club where our tournament is! Tomorrow I have the day off and am thinking I will explore Berry College and a great restaurant I discovered the other day called the Honeymoon Bakery... moral of the story? Rome, Georgia has the best breakfast sandwiches I've ever had, at this bakery and at the qualifier golf course (Stonebridge Golf Course). The course was beautiful and full of herds of deer and beautiful houses that I want to base my future home off of. The best was on the right side of number 8.

Even though I can sleep all day tomorrow, I am too tired to stay up any longer so I will sign off now, but keep commenting! I miss everyone and hope that everyone is having a good summer. I can't believe still that I will not be going back to school in two months... scary!

I LOVE SOUTH FLORIDA!

I never thought it would be possible. I'm a Maine girl with a Minnesota education, born and raised and dependent on seasons for my happiness. Cool summer breezes that keep me from needing Air Conditioning to sleep. Winters with enough snow to drown an elephant, but that make tearing down Comp Hill and Narrow Gauge possible. And plenty of rainy, fluctuating seasons in between. And being in Sarasota last week didn't make me too keen on spending any more time in Florida, with the outstanding amount of wealthy retirees and passionate (and wealthy) golf families.

But then we got to Weston, the Jewish retirement capital of the world and neighbor to Fort Lauderdale, not historically known as my most favorite place in the world. But today, on my day off, we spent the day exploring, discovering an amazing outlet mall with really nice places like Lacoste and BCBG and then (after going to the beach we lounged on every day on the swimming training trip in Fort Lauderdale) moved south to the Miami area. We got some Cuban food and guanábana juice for lunch, which we shared with a very nice Dominican man who we discovered eating by himself. Then we drove around areas full of Cuban and every other type of international food opportunity you could imagine. It's hot, the architecture is decidedly Spanish/Latin American, and there are people of every single walk of life and from every place you could imagine. Oh, and did I mention there's a great beach and that our new friend told us there are 20 blocks in Downtown Miami with 300 bars and clubs?

We got ice cream at the famous Jaxson's Ice Cream Parlor ($4 for one scoop, but they make it all right there and they can't understand when you order Coffee Fudge that you wanted it for the coffee -- I ended up with fudge, lost in translation. In our hotel parking lot we have a Peruvian restaurant, a Colombian restaurant where we grabbed cookies and sweet bread (pan dulce) tonight before watching Harry Potter, an Argentine restaurant, a Mexican restaurant, and a bar called Flanigan's. It's an exciting place and the course we're working on this week is really exciting. It was home to a tour event (Honda Classic) and we have the same course for the qualifier and tournament, which will really cut down on our setup and breakdown duties. And did I mention we've only been here for two days and have already had two storm delays?

It's an exciting place, beautiful cars, close to incredible amounts of culture and beaches, and there are even places where you can spend $80 to take a one-day cruise to The Bahamas with a breakfast buffet, a dinner buffet, and 4 hours in The Bahamas. Randi and I were planning on doing this today, but had to help the team and get the oil changed on our truck, Ox. It's okay, that let me buy two skirts that I have no real need for at J. Crew to pretend to replace the clothes that were lost at the Ritz-Carlton Members Golf Club last week. Ergh. Updates should be a little better this week, but for now, enjoy the post I wrote while on my Delta flight last week and the tidbits here.

(this was written on Saturday when I had the day off and the internet was broken)

Thanks, Delta, I Didn't Think Graduation Would Be Fun Anyway

So when you cancel my flight from Pensacola (I know, I should have known. Flights from dead-end, dead-beat cities are always cancelled) and put me into Minneapolis the next day, obviously I'm not going to be TOO upset. Not like I cared about this graduation. I mean, they happen all the time right? I know I was planning on graduating again someday, so really it's not a big deal. The Hilton Garden Inn was a nice respite from the hustle and bustle of the exciting and lively world of Pensacola, and getting to watch the entire World Cup Preview show on ESPN2 while I waited for the Celtics to beat the Lakers was pretty great, too. And those two $6 vouchers to feed me were awesome. Thanks for telling me that I needed to stay in the airport to eat dinner. Instead I went to the hotel to find that the hotel wouldn't feed me, they'd only give me a really nice bed and Neutrogena shampoo and let me watch 6 hours of their LG flatscreen TV programming. So I used the dinner voucher for breakfast when I caught my re-booked flight and then used the breakfast voucher in Atlanta at Starbucks and made sure to use as close to the full $6 as possible. I'm taking all I can get from you, Delta. The ladies at Starbucks don't like you anymore either, we all decided me missing my graduation because of your mechanical issues was not alright. Kesha at your Online Help Desk was great, though. I mean, I am only missing 1/2 of my graduation, so it only makes sense that when I ask for you to pay for my flights this weekend, you give me about 1/3 of what I paid to be able to be back to graduate. Yeah, that's totally fine. I've talked y'all into about $300 so far, and man is it far from over. I will spend my weekend getting everything I possibly can from you. Kesha did offer me a hotel in MSP, but I told her it's coo'. I will get your money somewhere else. Like by telling all my friends never to fly with you. And on my flight from ATL to MSP you were kind enough to seat me with two recent graduates who you screwed over, too. That makes sense. You wouldn't want our complaining about your company to infiltrate the rest of the world. We'll lock ourselves over here and whine about what you've done to ruin our weekend and not let anyone else know what you've done. Doesn't bother me, everyone else will know soon enough. It's really just too bad that you acquired or merged with Northwest because if I remember correctly they were actually one of the worst airlines in the world. They got rid of every convenient direct flight ever made and then charged at least $700 for a flight to one of their hubs. Yeah, you're on the track to success now and Northwest is definitely the one to take you there. Congratulations.

So, while I head back to school to beat my parents there by about an hour, I am just glad that I don't have to be in Sarasota right now. Oh wait, if I were there I could be helpful, mark a golf course, be outside, and possibly even help my team finish early so we could spend some time at the beach or something. ATL was cool, though. Nothing like spending your Friday morning in the busiest airport in the world, missing half of what you intended to be there for for your own graduation, and getting everything you can out of Delta... two $6 meals in airports where food costs twice that and a $100 voucher when you spent $300 under the impression you'd be home to graduate. No worries.

Week One: Done and Done.

The south probably describes the way Team 2 does things best... "Git 'er Dun." Funny. Motivated. A little gritty around the edges. What started off as a great group at training turned into a group with a great sense of humor as we hit the road and then became an incredibly fun, hardworking, and successful team on the road. In summary, we rock.

So much has happened in the last week that I will just summarize and give some highlights.

Sunday was the qualifier. We played it at a different course than the tournament course and had a rain delay as the three remaining groups on the course approached their final green. So they waited an hour for one chip and one or two putts. Once we were finally out of red alert, they got out there and finished only to find that we needed a playoff for the top spots for the tournament. It started with 5 guys for 4 spots and ended up with two guys battling it out through the first hole EIGHT TIMES in order to determine a winner. I felt really bad when the guy that lost came the next day to the practice round because he was an alternate, but didn't end up getting to play. This may not make too many people upset, but I had to be a rules official for a group with a player that feigned illness and told me my rulings were wrong even after they'd already been called into the head rules official. And he may have been cheating, but I have no proof. Jerk. It's times like these when the spoiled rich kids that tend to have the opportunity to play golf really come out and make me wonder how I could ever be interested in working in golf.

But then I follow groups with the most polite, well-behaved, wonderful kids I've ever met, despite being given everything their whole lives. I had quite a few great kiddos, all ones that I hope to see at other tournaments this summer.

The other great part of the week is the volunteers that come out for it. Most of them are over the age of 60, some with great stories and some with great health problems and a lack of understanding of the game. Some players don't like their balls to be searched for if they hit a provisional ball. Sometimes you wonder what's wrong with someone when they look at you like you're doing something wrong while they are the one standing on their golf cart's horn. Sometimes you don't want to be told that your job isn't real and that you don't do anything. And sometimes you just gotta laugh when the ball spotter volunteer is using his binoculars, spots a ball he thinks is coming his way, yells "oh shit!", and runs back into the woods while the ball bounces up the opposite side of the fairway. It happens and it's why we love what we do.

I laughed a ton this week, sweated more than I thought was possible, realized how much I love 12-18 year old and will never understand 60-75 year olds, and discovered that golf is a great sport and this job, while being incredibly demanding on my sleep schedule, body, and focus, is also incredibly rewarding and I hope that I will feel this way the whole summer.

And for now, as I lie in my Hilton Garden Inn bed that Delta is paying for in Pensacola, Florida, I am happy to have my first tournament under my belt and hoping I will actually make it back for my graduation on Saturday. And if not? Well, Delta better get my family down to see me in Sarasota this weekend.

Crazy Old Ladies

Two stories here; one from yesterday, one from today.

1. Our trailer can't fit in the very exclusive entranceway to the Steelwood community, which is basically a ghost town anyway these days. It won't be soon, when the players and their families come to town, but for now, the ivy and vines winding over the archway next to the entrance house are the only company the old, graying woman inside has all day. So naturally when I came running up to her door, not in a vehicle, while she was on the phone, she was caught off-guard. I asked if she could open the exit gate so the truck and trailer could come through there because we don't fit. She kindly told me that because she was on the phone, I would have to go stop traffic myself. So I went to tell the truck that I would guide them through. Meanwhile, she finished her conversation and came out, telling us to go in directions I didn't know had an entrance to the course, but I sent the truck in that direction because she pointed there. She came running after me, yelling about how she told me to have the truck come through and how she "has tons of cars backed up over here! I told you to stop traffic!" So I got the truck through, only to find three lonely cars waiting with her on the other side. Yep, tons of cars here in Loxley, Alabama. But, needless to say, the drama she threw in to direct us around the house was so much that I sent the truck in the wrong direction, yet another sign that the poor woman sitting in the gatehouse does not have enough to do these days and wastes her energy on hand motions that make no sense to people from out of town. So today when we went through and I took one for the team again by going up to the house to ask for the exit gate to open I was very relieved to find the nicest older man I've met yet, who just pushed the open button and let me work my magic. In less than twenty seconds I had thanked him, gave the truck the thumbs up, ran to the other side to stop the hordes of people I knew we would inevitably meet (TONS! Oh wait, zero.), and hopped back into my seat to ride to Headquarters. Phew, what a tough job.

2. Yesterday we were told that black snakes are good, brown snakes are bad. Today I decided to try a painting techniques of the Tournament Assistant who runs along with the paint gun to have a straighter line and to get it done faster. One second I was running along, carefree, all alone on the left side of the 11th and the next I was yelling over the radio to poor Aaron, the Indiana Jones snake-fearer in our group that I had spotted the first brown snake of the tournament and that they DO exist. Might have been a rattler, I'm pretty sure. I'm alive, but we'll see who doesn't make it through the week...

Snakes and Dead Bodies? Well, We ARE in Alabama...

The day started like any other. The four of us at the hotel ate our continental breakfast with deliciously strong black coffee and way too many helpings of OJ and met up with the rest of the team at the qualifier course, TimberCreek. Three of us stenciled the first 15 holes with distances to the green, with me naturally ending covered in spray paint and unable to use a Bushnell Rangefinder to save my life. Luckily, a large cell of thunderstorm moved in, forcing us into the cart barn and clubhouse where we met a junior who will be playing the tournament this weekend. And since he hails all the way from the land of crumpets and double-decker buses, naturally the relatives he is traveling with enjoyed a nice cup to tea to take the chill off from the strong Alabama downpour outside. Yeah, you guessed it, I want to be friends with this kid.

But once we realized the storm was not about to pass soon, we moved back to the Steelwood course to our HQ to pack Registration (Reg) bags... one of my favorite things to do. It involves organizing product, putting them into bags, and organizing these bags into boxes to give to the players. Organization and separation, now that's something I can enjoy.

When the thunder and lightning was gone we were sent out on the Steelwood course where the actual tournament rounds will happen Monday-Thursday and I was part of the crew marking the course for hazards. This course is so spread out and tough that we basically finished off 2 cases of red spray paint circling every hole to show the hazards. That's not even the good part yet. I almost got malaria, I'm sure, based on the number of mosquitos swarming around me out there and wearing my rainpants through the high grass only made the heat worse. But it gets better. Aaron on my team is scared to death of snakes and one of the members out playing this afternoon decided to tell him there are rattlesnakes out here. So we were warned to be cautious of the brown snakes but that the black ones are OK. So we saw about 7 snakes and the other crew working on the Out-of-Bound markings saw a 'gator in the cartpath. Then I was marking a water hazard in front of the tee on the 7th hole and going through some really swampy area when I came upon an area just saturated with flies. I took a breath and realized that it smelled like something was rotting. I looked ahead and saw a black mass, with flies hovering around it and quickly took a different turn with the yellow paint, messing up my line, but avoiding what I thought was a dead something. Another intern on my team came around when I radioed out about it and she verified that it was definitely a dead snake on top of something else that is dead too. So, welcome to Alabama, y'all! It's pretty much living up to expectations thus far, though I'm not sure where everyone who lives at this course makes/made their money.

Rain delays, empty roads, malls, crazy ladies yelling at me (I'll try to remember to include that in tomorrow's post), and dead bodies while I sweat through my rain gear and get some mosquito-borne disease or a snakebite... sounds pretty close to what I dreamt of when I looked at maps of Alabama in the atlas with Dad when I was little. No surprises here.

Welcome to Steelwood

So, it's about 110 degrees here always. And humid. This ain't no Texan heat, this is sticky, thick, HOTHOT heat.

The course the main rounds will be played on is BEAUTIFUL, but very difficult, so we will be setting up the qualifier course today at a different course, but we have a great headquarters at the main course, Steelwood, in a big "lodge" where we will spend most of our time even though I am one of the 4 staying at the Holiday Inn Express because there isn't enough room. At least I get a continental breakfast?

Leaving Town.

Now that we've spent the weekend running our first tournament with all 53 of us together with tons of full-time staff on hand to help and following just one group of players for 18 holes, we are heading out on the road in our 8-person team to start the real fun. We'll be driving to Loxley, Alabama in the morning (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loxley,_Alabama) and will ride the course and go out to dinner with our team and the Tournament Director and Assistant before we start the real work on Thursday of marking courses, picking hole locations, and getting ready for the qualifier round on Sunday. I will be sure to take pictures of the dirtydirty whenever possible and if I see a duck covered in oil, I will be the first to whip out my little scrub brush to clean the little guy.

In other news, I almost took my ability to wear golf attire (and that we're required to do so 98% of the time) too far tonight when I nearly bought a pair of plaid patchwork Sperry shoes. I didn't, you'll all be glad to know, but it was close and I fear I won't be holding my resolve much longer. It just has to be done. 7 Polo uniforms make it really hard to avoid...

Love It.

So much fun running a real tournament today. I don't know if it will last and I know some of the staff was complaining at the end of the day, but it's gonna be a long summer for them and i am going to have FUN! Too tired to write any more, my feet are going to fall off and we leave for the course at 5:30 again tomorrow morning, so off to sleep I go.

Yeah, I said it. And I liked it.

And yep, I'll probably say it again. "Y'all" makes everything easier, happier, and better. Who doesn't like to shorten things and fit in? And let's be real, everyone loves people who say "y'all". So, I've started saying it and I think it's going to be the gateway drug to everything southern. Soon I'll be saying "ten" like a Texan and drinking Sweet Tea until my teeth fall out. Maybe I've found my home!

But I think I've been vague with what this whole job is about. Other than the week's worth of polo apparel, unlimited amounts of farmers' tans, and fact that this is a junior golf company, there's plenty more to say. I'm going to try to outline what my basic duties are as an "operations intern".

We will be going to 10 junior golf tournaments throughout the summer, one per week (starting tomorrow) for which we will drive to the location in our teams of 8 (5 operations interns, 2 communications interns, and one who does both) and begin setting up the tournament before we run it that week. Each tournament has a Tournament Director and Assistant who will help us and be in charge of everything, but basically we do everything to make these really good tournaments happen. We will do course markings, marking hazards and out of bounds lines, and do hole locations and set the tees. The hole locations change for every round in the tournament, so we have to think about how the green works and then which would be the best location depending on round and how play will wear on the green. Before the tournament we also have to get all the tents set up in the starting areas and scoring area and get coolers and products from sponsors into coolers to take to all the holes. We do all the registration (which I did tonight for the Preseason Junior at Château Elân) and players and parents meetings and then comes the actual tournament. If there is a qualifier round we do that and then for the tournament we are the starters, rules officials, pace of play cops, and work the scoring tent. Essentially we are responsible for every type of job you can imagine and we split them among us, but also do everything for every tournament. It's going to be scary at first, but I am really excited. We're busy all the time, so that's really nice. As most of you know, that's how I roll.

And if you're interested in seeing the schedule for the summer, here is where I will be:
Braselton, GA until later this week and hereafter it's on a week-by-week basis. If you're going to be in any of the areas tell me and I will tell you when I'm coming to town.
Steelwood Country Club, Loxley, Alabama
The Ritz-Carlton Members Golf Club, Sarasota, Florida
Weston Hills Country Club, Weston, Florida
Coosa Country Club, Rome, Georgia
West Lake Country Club, Augusta, Georgia
The Ledges, Huntsville, Alabama
Berkeley Hall Club, South Course, Bluffton, South Carolina
Vanderbilt Legends Club, Franklin, Tennessee
Warwick Hills Golf & Country Club, Grand Blanc, Michigan
White Manor Country Club, Malvern, Pennsylvania

Not that these are places most people would go willingly, but I have to let y'all know, just in case.

"I'm popping my collar for sun safety; I swear!"

At least I have an excuse to be the true me, right? Fair complexion + sun + polo = you guessed it! Good thing we got all the new shirts yesterday, so their collars are nice and stiff.

Today we wore our new clothes for pictures in the morning but changed into our own golf attire for a morning of lessons in course marking and an afternoon learning how to spray paint, where to paint hazards and out of bounds markers, and, in my case, making my first mistake of the summer. No, not the fact that I got red dots all over my formerly nice Editor shorts. I was opening a spray paint bottle and hit the nozzle, spraying it on the golf cart seat... got told "well. at least you learned something." Good thing the organization's director tells us that one of the values that makes up this place is making mistakes and learning from them. I did! I also learned I didn't know that courses had to have markings on them and didn't realize it involved spray painting... reminds me of the days that Hannah Groom and I used to spray paint anything we could get our hands on. Yeah, we're gangsters.

We also got caught in the rain - a downpour with thunder - while we were doing course markings, so half of my body was wet (the left since I was in the driving seat of the golf cart), but we'll never leave home without the new Footjoy rain gear again! This weekend there is a preseason tournament at the course where headquarters is located, so all the teams will get to really try out the things we're learning with multiple tournament directors around.

It was a long day, lots of time in the sun and rain, lots of learning, and I am exhausted. I am really really excited for the summer and told them today that I can stay as late as they want me to into the fall, so I might be staying through Labor Day! I hope the rest of the summer is as exciting and mostly fun as these 2 days of training have led me to believe! Too bad I won't be able to learn how to wear heels, like my mother asked. It is the South, but it's going to be the South of sun, rain storms, and eating weird food. For tomorrow? I'm just trying not to make another big booboo...

Welcome to Hotlanta!

The moment we've all been waiting for has arrived. I have arrived! While we may never have expected it when Dad gave up on my golf career (must've seen how much money I was going to make with my pro swimming) and sent little Maggie to golf lessons for a couple summers, I have officially become my father's favorite daughter. Yeah, my summer working in junior golf may be overwhelmed by the fact that Mag will be going to "university" in Scotland in September, but for a few short months, I am on top of ol' Jeffer's list.

I arrived in the ATL yesterday afternoon and was whisked away to the first of many free meals, with very few veggie options, but very many polos and enthusiasm. The other interns are funny and smart and the full-time staff are great to work with. I do have to say, though, that the cultural differences between the north and south (or maybe just Carleton and the rest of the world?) are going to be big, as far as I can see. Like saying a gay joke in the elevator? That's cool? Or using the word "retarded"? Or talking about getting tan in terms of "becoming Mexican"? I mean, sure, we're a really insensitive country overall, as our politics over just the part of my lifetime that I remember have shown, but we can do that? So, needless to say, I will surely pick up something of an accent, but I'm not so sure I can shake my silly, liberal PC-ness in the south.

Our day today included learning to hook up 15,000lb trailers to the backs of trucks and huge conversion vans, backing them up, driving them on the highway, and, of course, peeing in a cup again. Each team will have a big GMC truck with a trailer attached to it and these old-school party vans for the eight of us to move from golf tournament to golf tournament. In the evening, we got our 7 Polo Golf Shirts and 4 pairs of shorts, along with Bolle sunglasses, Fooyjoy rain gear, Under Armour shoes, and a couple hats. It's going to be a classy summer.

Other than that, the big highlight of the day was thinking of what restaurants, snacks, and activities we want to do if a tournament director wants to feed us or entertain us. I've started a list of southern foods that I need to try, and checked off sweet tea today... not my favorite. Made me think of that day in Burma when I had sweetened green tea and it was really hot and I spent the rest of the day throwing up... But I can check off the sweet tea! Next up? Maybe grits? Biscuits? Chicken and waffles? Send some ideas my way, this is so far out of my normal vocabulary I don't know where to begin! Waffle house, anyone?

So please, keep reading. I bought a laptop battery just so i could write from the car and hotel bed this summer, and I hope there might be someone out there interested in what I'm doing? I think junior golf will be an experience, but the south will be a whooooole 'nother one. Let me know what you want to hear about!