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Life
as an AJGA Intern |
A
Summer on the Road |
By
Jonah Beck
AJGA Intern
An AJGA traveling internship is often likened to MTV’s
reality show, Road Rules. In fact, it has been rumored that
MTV may have gotten the idea for the television show from the
AJGA internship program. Like the show, an AJGA intern gets
to travel throughout the United States in a van with five of
their peers. Unlike the show, however, we are provided the opportunity
to see some of the nicest golf courses in the country and eat
more sandwiches than Jared the Subway guy could ever want to
eat (If only it were true that you could eat as many sandwiches
as you want and your waist size would shrink).
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| Jonah
working on some of the tournament documents. |
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Know
anyone that would be interested in being an AJGA Intern?
The
American Junior Golf Association is currently looking
for qualified applicants for the 2005 season. Positions
are available as a Communications
Assistant and a Tournament
Operations Assistant. |
People tend to think that the traveling internship would mean
that you could play more golf than you could ever want. Quite
the opposite is the case. Although I have seen and even helped
mark a course such as Rich Harvest Links in Sugar Grove, Ill.,
I rarely had the chance to take a golf club out on the course.
However, reflecting back, it’s probably a good thing -
that way I never had to see how many strokes I would have lost
by to the talented juniors who play in an AJGA event.
Having playing in junior and college golf tournaments myself,
I was like most participants, unaware of how much work goes
into a golf tournament.
Of course, a lot of work is done on the course itself: marking
hazards and out of bounds, selecting hole locations and the
lengths of each hole, as well as looking for potential areas
that may bring rulings throughout the week. Work has to be done
setting up product coolers and trash receptacles, as well as
erecting starting and scoring tents. Someone has to stuff all
120 registration bags and others must make sure that each person
gets a pairings sheet, hole location sheet and a scorecard with
their name and previous score on it.
Quite often, the individual that starts you in the morning is
the same individual that will be typing a story about you and
posting it on the Web site and sending it to the media some
10 hours later.
An AJGA event will be successful, but with the work and support
of volunteers that same event will be great. Volunteers and
local committees at each event are the key to a well-run and
professional event.
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| Jonah
working tournament registration. |
Saying that, I have learned that the simple act of saying thank
you or writing a thank you note goes much farther than you might
imagine. You never know when it might make an individual's day
or pay dividends to you in a way that you may not expect.
There are many other important lessons that I have learned over
the course of the summer. Here is an assorted selection:
• You would be surprised how much you can still get for
a dollar now days. For instance: two apple pies at McDonalds,
or two monster tacos at Jack in the Box, or a frosty at Wendy’s
or even a roll of Tums at Walgreen’s.
• Marines and a particular ex-college golfer hate to be
outdriven by 14-year-old boys, let alone 14-year-old girls.
• I have not only seen some of the nicest golf courses
in the country, but some of the best laundry facilities the
Midwest has to offer.
• No matter how much you practice saying Andrew Patipaksiri’s
name, there is a high likelihood when you are yelling it, you
are either going to mispronounce his last name or call him Aaron.
Sorry Patty Pak.
• If you need to wake up at 5 a.m. to go to work, make
sure you set more than one alarm because hotel wake-up calls
are not a sure thing.
• When live scoring is not available, make sure you never
assume what an individual recorded on the previous holes. Odds
are you will assume wrong and misinform everyone on the final
hole on who is leading the golf tournament.
• If you are ever at Boyne Highlands Resort, in Harbor
Springs, Mich., and stumble onto a memory card for a digital
camera, make sure to call and inform the AJGA offices of your
discovery.
• Never promote an onion eating contest when:
- You have to room with that individual for the rest of the
week.
- You are stuck in a cubicle-sized headquarters with him for
the remainder of the week.
Ask almost any AJGA intern after they get over their 5 a.m.
wake-up call and they will tell you all of this work is worth
it. For most of us, the opportunity to work with and get to
know many of the best junior golfers from around the United
States and world is what is most rewarding.
The greatest privilege we have is to be able to watch the juniors
play golf. We witness the juniors learn about themselves, as
well as learn the skills of hard work, determination and honesty,
all the while making lasting friendships. Not to mention all
of the lessons that these juniors teach each us and what interns
learn of themselves throughout the summer, is what each of us
will carry with us for the rest of our lives. |
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