Get Exciiiited!!

Blogging from Alabama tonight!  My first time in Alabama and I get to spend my week at a BEAUTIFUL golf course.  Steelwood Country Club is amazing.  It is a fairly new golf course, cut from the forest, and surrounds a lake.  The clubhouse has the old style and even smells antiquey!  The last couple days we have been driving Steelwood as well as TimberCreek where the qualifier will be held, and marking hazards and out of bounds.  Tomorrow we will be stenciling TimberCreek and painting the million and a half things at Steelwood.

We had about a 6 and a half hour drive from Braselton to Loxley.  I had my first 3-hour shift of driving pulling the trailer.  I took the last leg of the trip and pulled into the golf course.  The course has a narrow entrance that the trailer was getting stuck in.  Curtis decided that he could do it better than me, so he pulled it through the opening.  Needless to say, I wasn't the happiest camper. I'm kind of stubborn when it comes to people telling me I can't do something!  We took a quick drive through the course, unloaded some things out of the trailer and I had another first last night – eating at Mellow Mushroom.  Delicious.  I had a Greek side salad and a “Hey Dude” pizza.  It had a ranch based sauce, chicken, cheddar cheese, jalapeños, and a buffalo sauce!  We finally made our way to Bass Pro Shop – coolest place ever.  It was even more entertaining to see Camille react to it.  Camille, Bruny, Megan, and I played in the toy department with the horses and play guns and hats! We got some pretty sweet pictures!  I’m sure one of them will have them on their blog, but I have got to get those pictures!  

This morning we started around 7:15 and ended around 4pm.  It was so nice to have a short day!  We ate Panera Bread for lunch and Ruby Tuesday for dinner.  A few of us even went to a froyo place that was sort of like Red Mango!  The name of it was Moo Chi Chi which was an inside joke to the owners that meant give me another kiss – love it, so cute.  Tomorrow we are starting at 7am sharp.  Oh!  This hotel has a pancake maker, so I’ll even be able to have a good breakfast again.  
I’ll end with sharing how much I enjoy my team! After a week and a half we have a TON of jokes and funny stories and we rarely stop laughing.  Matt (a tournament coordinator) even kept a tally of my snorts at dinner tonight.  I think it was only five though – which is a very low number.  I think he also appreciated my radio lingo.  I told him we had an all sorts of funky hazard and needed his help – I thought it described it well.  Anyways, my team is great! End of story.

1474 miles so far!
-Kiley

Saying goodbye to my glove tan and hello to a watch tan!

I think I start all my blogs with typing Wow, this week was crazy and then decide to delete it (sometimes not).  Today, I'm just going to go for it.  

Wow! This week was crazy!  The entire intern staff and full time staff ran our first tournament of the summer, the Preseason Junior at Chateau Elan.  Camille and I were assigned to follow a group together and be their rules officials and keep track of their pace of play.  We switched jobs each nine so we each got a chance to do both.  The first day we followed a group of boys and had no red cards, only one real ruling, and one great ruling/penalty call by Camille.  That made for an easy day!  The second/final round we were able to watch the girl's leader group.  We were both super excited, and it proved to be a great day with four great rounds, 71 (even par), 72, 75, and 76.  They could all kick my butt!!  After the final round we were able to get the course broken down rather quickly.  I guess that's what happens when you have 36 operations interns running around and helping out.  That night we all went for a celebratory drink at Jack's!  There were about 30 of us there taking up an entire deck in the back - so much fun!  It is crazy to think that we don't get to work with all the other great people we've been hanging out with all week, but I'm super excited to head to our first tournament with just Team 3. 

Today, my job as inventory captain went a little more in depth... we loaded our trailer.  All of our equipment was spread out in the basement, taking up way more room than a 16 foot trailer would cover.  Of course, with the help of the full time staff we are packed and ready to go!  Today was by far the easiest day of training, but I'm sure glad that our 10 long days are over.  Tonight, we had to do laundry again.  We didn't get lost on the way to the Laundry mat - thank goodness.  We had two Team 4 girls join us which made it a great big party!  Poor Kelli dried her cloths and some of them majorly shrunk!! (Lesson learned). 

At 8am tomorrow we will head out in Tank and Hutch for Loxely, Al.  The tournament is at Steelwood Country Club.  I've heard from other full time staff that it's absolutely beautiful, super secluded, and very private.  I'm so excited to see this place!! 

-Kiley

Catching up!

The last couple days have been crazy! We have been prepping for our first tournament, the Preseason Junior at Chateau Elan. We've learned about all the equipment that we use, starting and scoring players, code of conduct rules, rules officiating, hole locations, setting tees, pace of play and Operation Hydration.  

Thursday consisted of lots of stations, including timing, weather delays, Care for the Course, and Pace of Play.  The weather system they use is way more advanced than our tiny lightning detector in the pro shop! It even has a name - Thor!  I was assigned to be the inventory captain of our team.  I took inventory of everything that will go on our trailer on the road.  I was amazed at the amount of things that will fit in a 16 foot trailer.  After going through inventory we got to go outside again (we love going outside).  Our team put up the starting tent, stake and roped it off, set tee markers, and practiced starting players.  You would think that after the number of starts I've been through I would be pretty seasoned at starting... wrong.  When it was my turn, I froze, and forgot everything I needed to say.  Thank goodness it was just practice!  Code of Conduct and Operation Hydration closed out the day for us and we got to go out to eat with our first week Tournament Director!  I'm super excited to be working with Andrew Greenfield our first week.  He is incredibly knowledgeable about the game and rules of golf - it's amazing.  He took us to a barbeque restaurant named Stonewall's BBQ.  It was delicious.  Their cheese potato casserole stuff is amazing!  It reminded me of my housemom's party potatoes (minus the beef).  Thursday was a relatively short day and it was super nice to be able to get back to the hotel a little earlier.  The boys and I decided to go get some duck shoes (epic fail) and then needed to do laundry to finish the week.  The closest 24/7 laundry mat was supposed to be about 15 or 20 minutes away - I think.  Turns out, iPhone GPS systems may not always be the best.  We got lost and ended up taking about 30 or 45 minutes to just get to the place after a 20 minute loop that took us to where we started!!  I think the laundry mat experience was a first for all of us, but we were sure glad to find it when we did. (I think I need to learn better proportions of soap)!

Friday was also an eventful day! We started with staff photos at 7:30 and quickly moved on to setting hole locations.  I had never really thought about all the variables that can go into picking a place to put the hole.  You have to think about the competitors, the distance of the hole, the size of the green, the previous hole locations, the geography of the hole, the potential errors when going for the green.  Seriously, there is so much to it!  I actually really enjoyed this part of the day though.  It was a beautiful morning and we got to be outside.  Plus, there's close to no wind here.  It's WILD.  After hole locations we got to have a little bit of fun.  We set up a starting and scoring tent, complete with stake and rope and tee markers and they played music over the speakers.  It was a nice change of pace for the week.  Then the entire afternoon was spent setting up the golf course in preparations for this weekend's events.   That evening we went out to eat with Kristi for dinner at a Japanese/Sushi restaurant.  DELICIOUS!  We even had some free time to go grab a drink after hours with some of the team and some of Team 4!


Finally, I get to today!  Today was a loong day.  We started at the course at 6:45.  As a team, we went around to check our assigned holes.  Hole locations and tee markers were checked and set for the practice round.  These were our "morning assignments." Once again we went over more rules and Pace of Play (very important around the AJGA - very much unlike collegiate golf).  Following that refresher we were able to learn about some of the communications side.  On our team of eight people, six of us are operations interns, and two are communications interns.  Operations interns are responsible for the set up of the golf course, while the communications interns are responsible for all of the pairing, scoresheets, publicity, social media, etc and so on.  Lunch was Chik-fil-A again! I could definitely handle this being in the south thing.  The afternoon consisted of more stations, some review, a stuffing party and dinner.  We had registration and the players meeting at 7:30 and finally got home around 8:30.  It's been a long day!  




In between all the working, Team 3 has become quite the team.  A few words to describe the team and a few members would be... sarcastic (#1), ditzy, leaders, smart (for the most part), loud, different, fun, and probably some other awesome adjectives like terrific and outstanding and magnificent!  We have definitely had some long days, but this has yet to feel like a "job."  I've learned so much in the last week and have worked, but I still enjoy going in the morning and I especially enjoy the people I get to work with everyday.  

Have a GOOD 'UN!
-Kiley

P.S. I nearly forgot.  Meet Tank (the white one) and Hutch (the grey one).   We get to drive these all summer long!  They are pretty legit.  

Day 3 - in the books.

Hello again! Day three is over and it's been a long, but good day.  Today we learned the specifics of marking a golf course, setting tees, and checking hole locations (aka holos).  We also dove right into the rules at 7am today.  If anyone was wondering, rules of golf are far less interesting than one may think (or maybe not). 


The best part about today was definitely bonding with my teammates!  In just three days we have inside jokes going, and a couple of nicknames down - just a few to go!  We get along great and are all starting to be more comfortable around each other.  Another awesome thing about today... we were not shuttled back to our hotel and now have Hutch and Tank to take if we need to run a short errand!! So we went to find some duck shoes after supper.  However, we had no luck! Back to DSW tomorrow.


At 10:45 I feel like it's way passed my bedtime...


Good night ya'll! (I think I may be getting a southern accent from being around my team - yikes!). 
-Kiley

"Shoot." I don't know what to do.

Whoa! I feel like I have so much to update and it's only day two!

Day One started with a welcome and we headed right into rules.  It's a good thing I know golf because rules would be a little harder if I didn't!  After a couple of other tasks we had lunch.  I think I may gain a couple pounds this week - boy are we fed well!  After lunch, I was so relieved we were able to go outside for the rest of the afternoon.  We learned all sorts of things like putting up tents, staking and roping, putting together trash wraps and A-frames, putting up banners, and putting out coolers.  I also learned I will be responsible for keeping inventory over the summer - yikes! To end the day we ate dinner with our mentors. Our mentors are full time staff members that are there for us to ask questions throughout the summer.  

Enough about day one.. Today was SO much better!

This morning, Rick from the driving academy came to HQ to teach us about driving with trailers.  We even had to take a test at the end - this was not your typical test.  First, the example test was from 1988 (maybe you had to be there, but we found this hilarious).  Second, if you picked the best answer you were correct and got 5 points.  If you picked a different answer, you could still be right, but not completely and just get 3 points.  The same thing happened for a 1 point answer and a 0 point answer. (We also found this quite amusing). 

But here's the exciting part!

Guess who drove a big pick-up with a trailer, Yukon, and backed a truck and trailer today - yep! That's right!  Kiley did it all!  I even had to drive during a short, but very heavy rain shower with the truck and trailer on the interstate.  That however, was not so much fun.  During our driving lessons we had quite the time as Team 3.  We have been giving one of my teammates, Camille, geography lessons.  In the last two days she has learned where Kansas is located, that Missouri is a state, that mountain time exists, and today she learned that Waffle House is just Waffle House, not The Waffle House.  She is quite a hoot!  Not only did we learn to drive the vehicles today, but we were assigned our vehicles for the road.  Team 3 will start with two pick-ups named Hutch and Tank.  We drive big, four door, GMC pick-ups - and yes, they have names.  In a couple weeks we will trade in one of our trucks for a brand new 2012 Yukon with heated and air conditioned leather seats and XM radio.  These babies are nice!!  The list for the name includes Snoop, Usher, and many many others! I guess we will see what they pick. Personally, I like Snoop!

OH!  How could I forget!!  Today was like Christmas morning at AJGA HQ.  We got our uniforms (right after Chik-fil-a for lunch!!). Sounds lame right?  Not so much.  Ralph Lauren polos and shorts, SunDog sunglasses from the Paula Creamer line (Hunter Mahan line for the boys), two pairs of Under Armour shoes (pink ones) and an AJGA hat! 

CHRISTMAS at the AJGA!

Basically, it's been a fantastic day.  From the last couple days I can tell just how great the AJGA is.  Everything is so thorough and organized - I could not be more impressed.  I feel so lucky for the opportunity to work here for the summer!  

My day starts with a shuttle at 6:45am tomorrow! So good night - stay posted for more :)

1,104 plus a few odd miles later,

Kiley

Goodbye KS, Hello GA!

Welcome to Braselton, GA - home of AJGA headquarters!  

After a nice, easy flight I've made it to my home for the next 10 days or so.. Country Inn and Suites.  I've met a few people from my team and am anxious to meet the rest tomorrow at our first day of training.  My day will start bright and early at 7:15 and if it's anything like the Intern Recruiting Weekend it won't end until about 9pm. 

I've learned a few things since I've been here about the upcoming week, but we won't know everything until tomorrow.  I do know that driving training will be Tuesday.  All you boys who don't think I can't drive a big truck (pick-up) and trailer - you are about to be proven wrong!  I've also learned why my teams splits.. and it makes perfect sense.  I am very excited to see where I will be on our split week, and also very excited to find out about all of the other tournaments we will be at.  

I don't have too much interesting stuff to share tonight, but I'll be updating later this week.  For now, I'm hoping this massive headache will go away and I'll wake up ready for a day full of training!

1104 miles down,

Kiley

My Adventure Starts Soon!

A few months ago in December, I came across the opportunity to apply for an internship with the American Junior Golf Association.  I had about two weeks after finals to get an application, personal bio, updated resume, cover letter, three recommendation letters, and a driving record sent off to Georgia.  After I finished that I had a Skype/phone interview and was invited to attend the Intern Recruiting Weekend in Atlanta and finally, I was hired as an Operations Intern. 
About a week ago I found out where my summer adventure would be taking me.  Needless to say, I was very excited!  This summer I will be traveling with eight other interns like me to about 10 different states (check out my map!).  We will travel to AJGA tournaments, setting them up and running other aspects of the tournament.  Not only do I get amazing travel opportunities in this internship, but they provide Polo Ralph Lauren uniforms, Under Armour shoes, and SunDog Sunglasses. How much better can it get?! Oh wait, I'm getting paid to do this. Talk about an amazing summer!
As my departure date nears I am getting excited, but also very nervous.  I keep trying to tell myself that every time I do something new I feel the same way and it always turns out okay. On Sunday, I'll board my plane in Wichita and be off to my summer with the AJGA! I plan to update this thing from every stop on our travels and maybe a couple from the road! 


0 miles so far,
Kiley