Played the Blue Course at Bethpage

Shot 90. Not my greatest round. Walked 18 holes in 90 degree heat for almost 6 hours. It was miserable, but I like the course alot. All of the courses were packed today and it produced a tournament-like feel. I was really nervous teeing off on the first tee because there was a good crowd of people watching while they waited for their tee time. Luckily I didn't top it or hit a major slice or hook off the tee. I hit a pretty solid drive about 270 or so that barely ended up in the left cut of rough. I was so relieved that I made it off the tee box and didn't make a fool out of myself from the get go. I played with the two other interns and another guy named Mel, who was an older man that avoided his daughter's bridal shower today by playing a round of golf. He was a nice New Yorker to play with, but he was about to kill the group ahead of us because they were the slowest human beings on earth, not to mention they were horrible golfers. Kyle and Rebecca (the other interns) were pretty solid golfers, so I was the scrub of the bunch, but it was still fun. Rebecca used to play golf at LSU, so she dominated both Kyle and me. Overall today was nice day for golf. I wish I could have done a little better, but whatever. I'll take playing a round at Bethpage any day. I need to practice alot more before we play the Black course in a few weeks. I would love to do better than 90, but I have a feeling it could be much worse.

My First Week on Long Island

This week went as good as any first week at a new job could go. Nothing too exciting happened, but I did get to learn my way around the Farmingdale/Bethpage area and got to meet some of the USGA staff. For the first week, me and the other merchandise interns (Kyle and Rebecca) got to do alot of cleanup type of work in the offices and learned the basics to get the internship started, such as arranging furniture in the merchandise office, hanging up bulletin boards, vacuuming and cleaning, running different computer programs, and learning how to answer the phones. We also go to travel to the off-site warehouse in downtown Farmingdale where all of the merchandise will be delivered before the Open. Honestly the warehouse is kinda creepy and not my favorite place to be, for it reminds me of some kind of building one of the Saw movies would be set in. The first day in the warehouse we got to build some dollys, which turned out to be more difficult then expected, and moved some wooden palettes around so that we could easily organize any shipments we receive by SKU's (I did learn something in my Marketing classes). UPS is the Open's shipping partner this year and we were able to meet Matt, the UPS delivery man in charge of all of our shipments. We got a taste of what the delivery and inventory process would be like in the warehouse when he delivered some packages on Tuesday. There weren't a whole lot of packages relative to what we will receive in the future, but it was still a pretty tough job considering there are only three interns right now. On Wednesday and Thursday the other interns and I were told we would have to take shifts in the warehouse throughout the day, so that someone from the USGA staff could be present while some security men set up a security system in the warehouse. So every two hours or so the interns would take turns holding down the fort to see if anything suspicious goes on. Not really sure what we were looking for, but we got to catch up on reading or sleeping. Yesterday I got to put labels on envelopes all day that would be sent out to all of the 1,200 merchandise volunteers for the Open. We had to fill every envelope with random stuff like vouchers, maps of the course, a pin, and other information about the tournament. The labeling and stuffing process took all day and we only got through the letter J, so we will have fun continuing this daunting task next week. To end my last workday of my first week on the job I took a camera out to the soon to be merchandise tent and took pictures of the construction. The tent is massive and will take a few more weeks to be finished. It will be the largest tent at the Open and will eventually be my home away from home as the Open approaches. So overall it was a nice first week in Farmingdale. Today I drove around Massappequa (sp?) and found this famous hamburger stand called All-American Burger that is supposed to be pretty good. I've heard that Alec Baldwin and Jerry Seinfeld are frequent customers, so it must be worthwhile. Really cheap also. I didn't get the chance to try it because it was cash only and I was paperless. But I found a Five Guys down the road in Amittyville and got my 3,000 calories for the day there. I wanted to find the Amittyville Horror house, but had no idea where to go, so I'll save that trip for another day. Tomorrow I'll have my first golf outing on the Blue course at Bethpage. I'm looking forward to it, but I'm sure it will kick my butt. I'll take my camera and takes some pictures, but i'm not promising they will load on this site because of the weak internet. I'll let you know how bad I play.

WARNING:

Today was the day I got to move into my new home for the next couple of weeks before we move into the dorms at Farmingdale State College. Right now two other interns and I are living luxuriously at the Homewood Suites in Bethpage, NY. We are near the golf course and will begin work tomorrow morning on the site of the US Open. I was very excited about working at Bethpage, but after today I am pumped even more then before because I actually got to see the course up close today. My parents and I walked around the clubhouse and near the courses of Bethpage to get a feel for where I'll be this summer. The courses looked amazing, though most of the courses already have hospitality and merchandise tents being set up on them for the Open. That didn't stop groups from playing the courses, though the tee boxes were moved to the fairways on some holes. We got to see a couple of groups finish up their rounds on the 18th hole of the Black course, so it was neat to see how the course played. I'll try to post some pictures of what I saw. I also got to see the first hole of the Black course and the WARNING sign that tries to scare amateur golfers away. I can't wait to test my skills on the Black course a couple of days after the Open. My goal is to break 90 from the professional tees, but that might be wishful thinking. One of the workers in the Pro Shop told us he didn't think anyone would finish under par during the Open, so it's going to be pretty tough. Tonight I got to meet my boss for the summer, Mary, and two other USGA staff members, Nikki and Nick. They were very welcoming and treated us to dinner at Houlihan's. We got to ask them about the internship and learn about the types of jobs we would be doing this week. This week we will be mostly moving stuff around and organizing the offices that are on site. But I can't wait to begin and I will be sure to keep everyone updated on what I am doing.