5.30.2010
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.
5.29.2010
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.
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.
5.26.2010
"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...
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...
5.25.2010
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!
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!
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