I am from a small town called Port Orchard, which is just across the Puget Sound from Seattle, WA. I found my dad’s old clubs in the garage one day and starting swinging them around when I was 9-10. He is left-handed and those were the only clubs I had, so naturally I became a left-handed golfer. He would take me to the local course once or twice a month and I fell in love with the game from there.
I played high school golf and started working at McCormick Woods Golf Course when I was 16, and that’s where I found my passion for the business side of golf. Doing a quick Google search, I realized that there was an actual university program for golf management and started convincing my family that was what I want to major in. I narrowed it down to two schools that I was ultimately interested in pursuing, and made campus visits to UNL and the University of Idaho since it was the closest school to me. I fell in love with everything that Nebraska had to offer and knew that would be the school I will be going to since the beginning of junior year of high school.
My first internship was at the Seattle Golf Club in Shoreline, WA. Seattle Golf Club is an exclusive private golf club that has some truly amazing members and a great staff to work with. I was able to work in the golf shop and interact with the members on a regular basis.
Since I worked at a public course in high school and a private club during my first internship, I decided to try something different on my second internship. This led me to the Illinois Junior Golf Association running junior golf tournaments. I helped run junior tournaments Monday through Friday all summer long. I was able to go to different golf courses throughout Illinois and work with other interns from across the country. This is where I found my passion in tournament operations and decided that is what I am going to focus on as a career.
Currently, I am interning at the Carolinas PGA Section in the tournament department. The Carolinas is the biggest section with over 2000 PGA members and is located in Greensboro, NC. I have been involved in all aspects of the tournament operation including pairings and paperwork, course marking, set-up, rulings on the course, and writing the calligraphy on the scoreboards. I am hoping to have my extended internship at another PGA Section or with a tournament organization next year.
My time at Nebraska has been filled with some amazing memories and opportunities that I don’t think I would be able to have anywhere else. The amazing staff and awesome group of guys and gals in the program really make the Nebraska PGA program so incredible to be a part of. I am so grateful to become a leader in the program after all the special things I have done because of this program. I am really looking forward to getting to know all the students in the program and making sure their time at Nebraska is filled with the same great opportunities that I had. I would like to thank the staff and students for believing in me and trusting in my leadership abilities to ensure that this program remains one of the best in the nation.
Go Big Red!
More details at: http://go.unl.edu/nccb