2020 Level 2 Internship Experience (COVID-19 year)

A year to remember indeed. From quarantine/lock-down to the end of the season, I have learned so much about myself and about the golf industry.

For my second internship, I decided to go back to The Ridgewood Country Club. One of the main reasons for this is because of the new clubhouse renovation that started when I finished my first internship. My goal at the time was to come back and help Dave Reasoner and his new golf staff rebuild and reorganize anything they needed. Little did I know that on top of the new renovation, there was a pandemic ready to strike.

With new renovations to the clubhouse and a looming pandemic, it was a tough start as a golf staff. Because I was local, I came in to help out as soon as it was deemed okay to reopen golf courses from the pandemic and in doing so, it was an all-hands-on-deck operation. My responsibilities ranged from cart staff, starter, bag room, range attendant, and pro shop help during the month of May. We were so short-staffed and with a lot of rounds played by the membership, it was sometimes hard to keep up. Ultimately, this is were adversity hit hard but I've learned to adapt quickly and manage my time to help as much as I could. As a result of being short-staffed, I was pulled in so many directions at the same time. I've learned to really focus on what's at hand and to never forget about other tasks that need to be done. There was a saying that Dave Reasoner mentioned to me and it was "Your best experience is from your last mistake" and I took this to heart because even though it was a tough start in the beginning, I managed to learn from the mistakes and become a more efficient worker as the season progressed.

Moving forward, it was a year of adaptation for us as I'm it was for the golf industry. It was almost like re-inventing the wheel; we had to create new safety guidelines and comply to the ones for the state of NJ. This was a huge learning moment for us and the golf staff and maintaining those rules were a challenging yet successful task.

For work experience, junior camp, running events and outings, and daily tasks were challenges we faced. We had to cut out junior camp program in half, cancel/reschedule our outings, and always follow safety guidelines.

Overall, spending my 6 months has taught me so many lessons and I was able to experience more than what I thought would come from this internship. I went from working outside operations to working inside. It has taught me how to run tournaments and events and provide the best customer service to members and guests. With renovations to the clubhouse on top of COVID-19, it was a hectic season but a season I'll never forget.