"The Drive" - Part II

Well..we did it! We have officially arrived back in Braselton, GA - where we started our adventure just a few (12), short weeks ago!

Our morning started at an early 7 am when we hit the road and headed into St. Louis to begin our trip. We were able to drive past the Arch, Busch Stadium, and a couple of other landmarks before we crossed the river and headed into Illinois!

We spent the next 3 hours or so travelling through Illinois before we headed into Kentucky and made our first stop of the day. Not long after that, about 11:45 to be exact, we headed into Tennessee....our 4th state in about 4 and a half hours....not bad for a morning of work! haha

Overall, the drive was a ton of fun today and it was great to spend some quality time with Kiley and Camille before we head separate ways tomorrow.

We arrived in Braselton just before 7 tonight and came to check in at our home away from home! I don't think I have ever been so excited to see a particular hotel again! lol The girls decided that we were up for a trip to Waffle House for dinner since we have been trying to go there since we left here just under 11 weeks ago! It was a great experience and I was actually quite impressed with their dinner selections as well. :)

After Waffle House, Kiley, Camille and I spent the rest of the night just hanging out in our hotel room...it was kinda nice to not have to worry about anything and just relax! :) The best part of the night was the fact that Brunie came to visit us from school after her practice for the night!!! It was great to see her again and catch up about everything that has happened in the last week....but, it was hard to say good bye once again! :( It has definitely becoming real that we are going to be parting ways tomorrow...I know it is going to be hard....but I can't wait to see everyone at home as well! This couldn't be a more bittersweet ending to what was an awesome summer!!!

But....Augie....HERE I COME!!! :)

"The Drive" - Part I

Well....today was the first 15 hours of our drive back to Atlanta and we have made it basically to St. Louis!!

Today was fairly uneventful as we covered 3 states and sat in a car....haha

We did have the opportunity to eat lunch with Kiley's parents in Hays....that was fun!!

Other than that, we are planning to hit the road at 7 am once again and hopefully we will be in Atlanta by dinnertime or shortly thereafter!!! :)

Night all!

We Made It!

It is hard to believe, but we are headed out on the road bright and early tomorrow to begin our trip back to Atlanta! The last 10 weeks of travelling have flown by and I can't believe we are already at the end of the summer!

Today was our final round of the summer and it was just as nerve-wracking as all the other ones this summer..it came down to the final putt and only then could we officially declare a winner!

After all of the fun involved with post round, it was time to breakdown the course and pack up the trailer one last time! We were able to get it all done pretty quickly...especially since we had a bunch of additional tasks this time around. After packing up, we headed out to our last dinner with Adam and Curt before heading home to pack up and get ready for our early departure in the morning!

I am sad that the summer has come to an end, but it makes me just that much more excited to know that I am less than 3 days away from seeing all of my family and friends again! Love you all and can't wait to see you very soon! :D

Here We GO!!

Well...this is it! Tomorrow is our last day of work for the summer and our last tournament round as well!

I have no idea where the time has gone and as bittersweet as it is, I can't decide if I am more excited to see everyone at home, or more disappointed that my time on the road has come to an end. The bright side is that we still have 3 travel days before we have to say goodbye to one another....

However, as I start to look forward, I am sooo excited to see what this next year brings! Not only will there be plenty of new memories with friends, teammates, family, and staff members, but I will also be taking on new responsibilities and experiences all year long!

Come Sunday, I will be flying back to Chicago, getting to move into my first house, starting golf for the season, catching up with my amazing friends and fellow staff members....then Monday, I will get to join in with CA training, go to golf practice, have my first Student Teaching meeting...and then, Wednesday, I will have my first Student Teaching experience at Moline High School! I am sooo excited to see what all of this brings and to just enjoy my senior year!

But, as I look ahead to tomorrow, it is amazing how many "lasts" will be occurring...our last "team dinner," the last tournament round, the last time we pack the trailer, the last time we put out coolers, the last tent tops, the last time we score the juniors...the list could go on forever!

But, most importantly I hope that this will all be "lasts" for the summer...but not forever! There is always next summer....and hopefully there will be many new opportunities there and that....that makes me very excited! :)

Saved the Best for Last!

Wow! That is all I can say!

For all of those that have asked what my favorite location has been this summer, I officially have an answer for you...COLORADO!

Today was my day off for the week and I took advantage of the area and went to explore the Rocky Mountains for the day.

I left about 11 and started by heading to Estes Park, the entryway to Rocky Mountain National Park. The drive through the mountains and upon arriving to Estes Park was absolutely amazing! Just the drive alone was enough to make the trip worth it. When I arrived in Estes Park, I drove to the entrance of Rocky Mountain NP and then decided to go hike to the top of Prospect Mountain instead. I rode a gondola to the platform and I would say we were about 100 feet or so below the summit at that point. The ride up was amazing and it was really cool to see the town below as well as all of the towns in the valleys of the Rockies. Once I reached the top, I hiked pretty much the rest of the way to the summit...it was gorgeous!! Here is a panoramic view from the top of the gondola ride.

After heading back down on the gondola, it was time to head back towards Boulder and check out one more location before calling it a day. From this hiking trail, this is what I could see:

As well as the campus of CU-Boulder...

Overall, today was a day filled with amazing views and unforgettable experiences! I am going to have to find a way to get back here soon and spend a bunch more time exploring and getting the full experience of the mountains!

I can't believe that we just have two more tournament rounds left for the summer and then we begin our journey back to Atlanta and then back to Augie on Sunday! It is going to be a great last couple of days and I can't wait to see everyone at home!! Miss you all!!!

"Little Monday"

So, most Mondays are referred to as "Big Monday" due to the large number of activities and their importance within the week.

However, this week we we only had a practice round on taps for Monday, and it was scheduled for the afternoon. Because of this, we had yet another sleep in day today and began working at a lovely 11:30 am!

We started off our day by putting out some coolers, setting up the golf course and making sure that the juniors were prepared to hit the course for their practice round. We then spent the rest of the afternoon staking and roping, checking coolers, driving around the course, and completing completely random tasks. After their round, we had Player Registration and Player/Parent Meetings.

Overall, it was a really chill day and a great way to prepare for my day off tomorrow! I am so excited to go check out the mountains and enjoy the lovely scenery and weather here!!!!! Night all! :)

Last, Last, Last....

I feel like this is what I have been/will be saying all week!

Today we hosted our last qualifier for the summer and it went really well! We arrived at the course about 11:30 this morning to get to work and were able to leave about 7 or so this evening.

I impressed myself this morning by getting up about 9 even though I didn't have to be ready until just after 11. It was kinda nice to relax and watch the Olympics while getting some e-mails sent, books ordered, and other fun stuff like that!

The day went by really quickly and before I knew it my housemates and I were walking back home for the evening. We arrived back at the house to find a large dinner prepared for us and we were able to hang out with our host family for most of the week. This week, I am staying with the same host family as the three boys - Drew, Kyle and Jake. They have a sweet set-up in the basement of the house and I have my own room up on the main floor. It has been a blast to have a chance to hang out with them and play some Ping Pong and Foosball, watch the Olympics, and just relax a little. I'm not sure that I have actually stayed in the same location as them all summer, so it is a nice change in pace!

Other than that, it was a typical day here in Colorado! Tomorrow we get to sleep in again as we don't have to be at the course until 11:30! :)

And...finally, a quick shout out to everyone headed back to Augie today! CA training started tonight so I know that a lot of my friends are back on campus and I can't wait to join you all in less than a week!! Time is going to fly by at this point and it is hard to believe that I will be writing my final post from my room in just ONE week! Who would have guessed the summer would come to a close this quickly?!

Miss you all and I can't wait to see you soon!!!!!!!! :)

Set-Up and Rockies!

Today was our set-up day to prepare for the tournament rounds that will be occurring the rest of the week. We started off at 6 am this morning by hitting the course and setting some hole locations out in front of the member play. After completing the hole locations, we unpacked our trailer and began setting up Headquarters and Ops HQ.

To round out our morning tasks, Camille and I prepped all of the banners and put them up while the boys filled all of the sand bottles, buckets, and tent bags. While they delivered all of these items around the course, Camille and I cleaned coolers so that we could head to lunch. After a quick lunch, we were back to work putting out POP frames, trash/recycling bins, and staking/roping off areas. After a hard day of work and really pushing to get things done, we were able to leave about 3:30 this afternoon and heading back to our host families to get ready for our big adventure this evening!

We headed out about 4:45 or so to catch the Colorado Rockies v. San Francisco Giants game in Denver this evening. We had seats that were in the outfield, just off of the left field line, and 22 rows up! It was a great view of the game and it was a BEAUTIFUL night for baseball! :) Here is our view:

Our schedule for the rest of the week is pretty relaxing compared to a lot of other tournaments and I am really looking forward to spending some quality time with my teammates before we all head for home at the end of the week. Tomorrow starts our relaxation time as we will begin our day at the course at 11:30 am! Time to get some sleep and take advantage of our sleep-in day! Night all!!

We Have Arrived...

After an approximately 13 hour drive through the heart of the Midwest, we have arrived in Longmont, Colorado, just outside of Denver. This was quite an impressive trip as Team 3 was able to make it to a destination without getting lost, having car troubles, and avoiding any delays whatsoever! Glad it only took us 10 times to get it right! haha

There wasn't too much excitement today other than our arrival and a wonderful car ride with plenty of jam sessions and naps along the way! I promise to get some pictures up of the mountains tomorrow...they were absolutely gorgeous with the sun setting as we drove in tonight! :)

But, we are back to work at 6 am so I had better get some sleep! So, from Colorado, have a great night! :) 

9 down....1 to go!

Who would have ever guessed that we would make it to this point?!

After 11 weeks of traveling, it is almost time to depart on our roadtrip to our final tournament site. But, before that happens in the morning, we had to say goodbye to two of our teammates this evening....Sydnee and Sydney are headed home after this week and today was their last day! :( We are definitely going to miss them this next week....Team 3 just won't be complete! Here is our team picture that we took this evening... apparently the boys are just too embarrassed to be around us....oh well! haha

Well, we hit the road bright and early tomorrow and I suppose I had better start packing! Next time you hear from me, it will be from good ole' COLORADO!!! Sooo excited for this one!! :)

Lambert's...

"The Home of the Throwed Roll!"

That was the location of our wonderful dinner tonight! :) I know that the majority of my blog posts have included food recently...but that is because we have had some AWESOME meals!

The location of our dinner tonight was a building that resembled both a Cracker Barrel and a restaurant that I talked about when we were in Weston - Jackson's. The restaurant was adorned in old-fashioned/rustic things and the food was in a typical 'homemade' style. I had a delicious piece of meatloaf, a baked potato, some green beans, some tomato/macaroni mix, and - the most important part - a couple of throwed rolls!

This was honestly the best part of the meal. The employees walked around with a bunch of different sides that you could choose from, on top of the sides that come with your meal. There was black eyed peas, fried okra, the tomato/macaroni mix, some fried potatoes, and then...the rolls! They would walk out of the kitchen every couple of minutes and let out a yell of "HOOOOT ROLLLLSSS!" Out of nowhere, everyone's hands would shoot in the air and the server would start chucking rolls across the dining room! It was the hit of the night and I am pretty sure that we saved every roll that came our way! Can't waste pure goodness! :)

Other than dinner, today was a pretty typical day on the course....nothing too exciting to report. As for my evening, it is time to get off the computer and lay in bed and catch up on my Olympic coverage! :)

Hope everyone has a great night!!! :)

OLYMPICS!!!!!

Today was the first round of our tournament here in Springfield, Missouri. I was lucky enough to get to start half of the field today and it was a blast getting to know a lot of the juniors and talk about their summer and their plans for the fall. It is crazy to think that I first worked with some of these golfers almost 10 weeks ago at Steelwood! Where has time gone?!

In addition, today we hosted our social activity for the week and played SNAG Golf once again. It is so much fun to see how much the juniors enjoy hitting tennis balls at our staff members in velcro suits! Definitely makes the job worth it! We also played Quick Golf, where the players work in teams of two to play three "short" holes as fast as possible. The catch is that the players must alternate who takes the shot and we were using rubber "golf balls." We had an odd number of juniors show up, so I joined one of the golfers who has been at our tournaments the last 3 weeks. It was a blast to team up with her as we literally ran around the golf course trying to get the ball in the hula hoops as fast as possible! I have been saying that I want to start running and hitting golf balls throughout this week and next week. Who knew that the first time I either ran or hit balls would be at the same time! haha I have never had so much fun sprinting in 100 degree temperatures! Props to the juniors for helping the staff members feel like kids all over again! :)

After we were done for the day, we headed back to the hotel and I was able to shower and get packed up for tomorrow before we even went to dinner. After grabbing a quick dinner, I headed back to the hotel just in time to catch the start of the gymnastics team competition and their awesome routines!!

It was a great to have a night to just hang out and watch some Olympics and chat with friends! Thanks Katie for the phone conversation --- it is great to catch up with everyone and it is making me sooooooooooo excited to head home in just a week or so!! Miss everyone and can't wait to see you all VERY soon!!!! :)

Night all!!!

Well Then...

So today was 'Big Monday' - one of the more hectic days in the AJGA schedule. We had a Junior-Am this morning, a practice round this afternoon, and then wrapped up the day with Player Registration and Player/Parent meetings this evening. It was a long day as we left the hotel at 5:40 this morning and then got back about 10 tonight, after grabbing a great dinner!

Even with all of that, I am comfortable saying that this was one of the most enjoyable and fun days that I have experienced this summer! I can't pinpoint why I say that as most of them have been absolutely amazing...but I am going to venture and say that it was due to the impressive teamwork that occurred throughout the day. We were able to knock out some tasks in mere minutes that would have taken us over an hour just a couple of weeks ago. It is amazing to see how far we have come, and I think that makes this last week and a half that much more special.

In addition, dinner tonight was a hoot and it was great to just sit and laugh at complete ridiculousness after a long day on the course. I am beginning to realize how much I am going to miss everyone when the summer is over. It is hard to believe that there are just 4 short days left with Brunie and SydMack before they head home, and just another week or so with everyone else. I can honestly say that each of my teammates have taught me a whole lot about myself...crazy what one summer of 12 weeks can teach you!

With that, it is off to bed to prepare for another hot day tomorrow! I get to start the players off of the first tee...better rest up before trying to tackle some of these pronunciations! :)

100 and What?!?!

Today was our first round of golf here in Springfield and it took place on one HOT afternoon! We started the round about 1:30 this afternoon and by 2:45 we had reached the high temperature for the day - a whopping 107 degrees! Holy Crap!

Luckily, we all survived and we were able to get the round in just before 7 pm. After a 6 hole playoff and prepping banners and other signage for our early morning tomorrow, it was time to leave the course and grab some dinner.

We pulled into Arby's about 9:40 and thank goodness they had some really nice employees working who even delivered our food to our table! (It's the little things that count...right?! haha) We arrived back to the hotel about 10 or so, and after a quick chat with the one and only Krystal Marquez, it is time for bed!! Hope everyone had a great day!!! :)

County Fair Time!

Today was my day off and it was rather uneventful until after dinner.

As a short summary, I spent most of the day laying in bed and watching the Olympics. I had planned on working out and getting a couple of other tasks done, but I wasn't feeling well after lunch and decided that a nap would be much more beneficial!

After grabbing a quick dinner, I met up with the rest of the team and we headed down to the Ozark Empire Fair to check out the events and enjoy a little time away from the course. The girls took a nice ride on the Ferris Wheel and walked around to play some games and check out what all was going on.

After that, we met up with the guys and enjoyed some talented - and some not so talented - karaoke acts before heading back to the hotel and calling it a night!

A Little Bit of Driving and Working....And a Whole Lot of Eating!

Today was our last "short" travel day of the summer!

We started out from Kansas City this morning about 8 am and arrived in Springfield, Missouri just before lunchtime. Once we arrived, we took a quick tour of headquarters and then headed to Jimmy Johns for a "quick" lunch before starting to unpack the trailer and set up the course for the week.

After we returned from lunch, I headed to the airport to pick up our Assistant Tournament Director for the week - who we have also worked with 2 other times this summer. It was great to catch up with him a bit as we drove back and hear about the most recent tournament he was a part of. Once we returned to the course, it was down to work! Three of the girls had left to pick up some courtesy cars that we will get to use throughout the week...but they returned shortly after I did.

Our goal today was to move all of the hazard and out of bounds stakes onto the lines that our Tournament Director had painted on the course. This may sounds like a really easy task, but when you are trying to pound PVC pipe into ground that hasn't had rain in over 50-some odd days.....things can get interesting! After spending a couple of hours driving around the golf course with Drew and checking out of bounds stakes, it was time to call it a day and head to dinner.

We went to Famous Dave's tonight and I can honestly say that I ate way more than I ever should! haha My meal included 4 BBQ ribs, BBQ pulled pork, corn on the cob, cornbread, and chips. While I couldn't quite finish it all...it was REALLY good!! Something I will definitely have to eat again! :)

Other than that, we got all checked into our hotel tonight and I completed my to-do list before my day off even started! :) The plan for tomorrow is a whole lot of sleeping, watching the Olympics, working out, and maybe hitting some golf balls! Looking forward to a little relaxation time and then it will be time to hit the ground running on Sunday! Night all!

Another One Down?!

Well, with that....our time in Kansas City is over....

Hard to believe that at this time in just two short weeks we will be preparing for our journey from Colorado back to Atlanta....and then the summer will be over! This has been quite the experience and I am looking forward to making the best of the next two weeks!

As for today, we had quite the turn around in both the girls and boys divisions. There were some awesome scores posted and it was a pleasure to watch these amazing juniors finish out their tournament. In other important news, we were able to pack up the trailer in record time once again and we were ready to leave the course about 5 or so this afternoon....that's pretty darn successful!! :)

After we left the course, Camille and I headed back to our house and cleaned up a bit before we went to grab some dinner. It was nice to just sit down and chat and not worry about having to converse with 10 other people as well. After dinner, it turned into quite the crazy night. Long story short, we ended up driving around for quite awhile trying to run a couple of errands and meet up with the team once again. And, with that, it is off to bed! Tomorrow's greeting will be coming from Springfield, Missouri! Talk to you then!

Here's the Secret....

So today was the second round of our tournament this week and it was a scorcher out there once again! These crazy temperatures have made for some long days outside, yet they have been some of our shortest days this summer! For the second day in a row, we have left the course before 4:30...kinda nice to have our "chill" tournaments at the end of the summer!

But you might ask, "why are you able to get out of there so much earlier than the other weeks?" I have to be honest and give some of the credit to the awesome staff at Mission Hills Country Club. We have worked with GREAT staffs all summer, but this one has done more than I could ever imagine for us. I think some of their enthusiasm and willingness to help out could be based upon the fact that they are bored as their regular members are not playing due to our tournament. But still, the cart staff and golf shop staff have gone out of their way to make our job as easy as possible!

Here are a couple of examples from today alone....

• We have had a bunch of loose water bottles in the bed of our truck for a couple of days as they were left over from the qualifier and we just didn't have the opportunity to get them out/use them yet. The same goes for a bunch of Gatorade that we were going to use today. The cart staff not only boxed up the product for us, but also brought it to the cart barn and organized it by color for us!
• This same product needed to be added to all of the coolers this afternoon in order to prep for tomorrow's round. Before we even had a chance to start prepping the coolers, the cart staff had placed all of the product in the coolers and ready to go for tomorrow!
• During this same time, we were working to break down both the scoring and starting tents out on the course. I brought in a cart that was FULL of stuff that needed to be unloaded and put away before I could head back out. I pulled into the cart barn as we are storing most of our equipment there this week and, before I could even get out of my cart, they unloaded everything and started putting it away in all of the correct places! haha
• The final example is in two parts. But one of the break down tasks is to place a massive piece of plastic over the scoreboard so that none of the papers get wet due to humidity, dew, rain, etc. Drew was working to put this up and here walks up one of the staff members who proceeded to help him and learn more about what we do and how they can help tomorrow! At this same time, another member of the MHCC staff was preparing our standards that will display the scores in our final four groups tomorrow. 

Whether it was boredom or anything else that encouraged them to help us this much....we appreciate it! It makes for such a fun week when we can work so closely with the other staff members and have a chance to interact with those who work at the club that we are "overtaking" for a week! 

The moral of this story is that we couldn't do it alone! The number of volunteers that we have had this summer is completely mind-blowing and we owe a whole lot of our success to them....and because we can never say it enough....THANK YOU to everyone who has helped us in any way this summer - timing stations, water roving, housing staff members, spotting, shuttling, you name it...they have done it! And we couldn't have done it without them!! :) 

Rest and Relaxation

I think that today was the first time that I actually pulled through with doing a whole lot of nothing on my day off! :) 

This morning began at a lovely 10 am. After picking up Kiley and doing a little rearranging of vehicles, I was off to California Pizza Kitchen with Melissa, Aaron, Lindsey, and Riley! I have learned to love the coincidences that come along with travelling throughout the country. By the luck of the draw, this was the second time that I was able to see Melissa this summer....that is a record by a long shot!! And, it was so nice to hang out with such a good friend (and her friends) while out on the road! Thank you guys for allowing me to join in on your vacation.....I had a blast and I hope that it can happen again sometime! :) 

After lunch, and rearranging cars once again, I headed back to the house and decided that today was my day to watch some TV, catch up on my to-do list, and enjoy some air conditioning! It was great to just sit and relax and my to-do list has officially been accomplished! Can't believe how close I am to heading back to school and everything that is associated with it! These last two tournaments are going to fly by - only 2 more days off this summer! Holey Moley!!

Hope everyone else had a great day and was able to avoid the crazy heat as much as possible! Night!

BIG MONDAY!

Today was an early morning as we had to be ready to work at the course by 5:45 since Junior-Am registration started at 6:30. When we got to the course, Kiley and I were responsible for prepping and getting all of the coolers distributed to the holes. Thank goodness for some awesome volunteers as this would have been quite the task in the amount of time that we had! After getting all of the coolers ready and getting the Junior-Am out on the course, we were able to enjoy a nice breakfast as a team. The rest of the day was very busy as we worked to finish up the little projects that needed to be ready for either the afternoon or tomorrow. Once the Junior Am was over (and I got to play photographer at the reception), it was time to send the juniors out on the course for their practice round. Once they finished out about 6 or so, it was time for us to host registration and the Parent/Player meetings. These went on for about an hour or so. Once that was over it was all hands on deck to get everything done and get out as early as possible! We were able to get everything done and be on the road by 8:45 or so! Love it!!

As for the most exciting part of this post…it is about tomorrow! It is my day off here in Kansas City and I am going to be able to see a super-awesome friend from Wichita!! J I am so excited to see her, catch up, grab lunch, and then do a whole lot of nothing the rest of the day!! 

HOT HOT HOT!

Yes….that completely describes today! This morning started with a beautiful sleep in day as we did not have to be at the course and working until 11 since the shot gun was at 1:30!! The only downside to this amazing plan is that we were out at the hottest part of the day – all 100+ degrees of it!!

The qualifier was the most eventful one that we have had so far just due to the heat, some shots, and some moves that the players tried to make! Good thing they can keep us entertained out there!  After the round was over (and our typical playoff was complete), we worked to tear down the whole course and pack up the trailer to head back to the tournament course for the rest of the night. By the time we hit the road, it was close to 8:30 or so and Kiley, Camille and I stopped to pick up a nice Taco Bell dinner for everyone on our way back (by the way, that was quite a change from yesterday! Haha). Once we got to the course, it was pitch black and we ended up just eating dinner and heading home since it is kinda hard to drive around a golf course without any light!

But, it is now 11:30 and Camille and I just got back…I am exhausted and ready for some sleep before Big Monday comes around! Night all!

Marking, Marking, and More Marking!

Today was the biggest set-up day for this tournament as well as the qualifier we are hosting tomorrow. I started off my 6 am morning finishing up marking at the tournament course and then prepping/putting up some of the banners for the tournament. After all of this was completed (about 1 or so), we headed to Noodles & Company for a quick lunch! It was delicious and definitely a great choice!

After lunch, we packed up the trailer, loaded all of the qualifier materials, and headed to the qualifier course to prep as many materials as we could for our afternoon shotgun tomorrow. We were able to finish up all of the marking, move some stakes, put up tents, prep sand bottles and buckets, place banners, and put up some other signage around the course. We were able to knock all of these projects out in just a couple of hours – definitely a testament to how much we have learned in the last few months!

After we finished up those tasks, we were done for the day! It was already 5:30 or so, leaving us plenty of time to get ready for our comp meal at EBT Restaurant. This dinner was one of the nicest that we have been to all summer and it was absolutely delicious!!!! This was a meal that we would NEVER get to experience on the road without the support of the community. Let’s just say that I have never eaten a meal that cost that much per individual…..completely worth it though!

Since the qualifier is an afternoon shotgun, we won’t be working until 11 tomorrow! It will be lovely to get a morning to sleep in and catch up on some sleep! Looking forward to it!!

4 States in 4 Hours

Well today was the shortest travel day that we have had all summer. But, just as usual, it started bright and early! We hit the road just before 7 this morning and dropped off our TD and Assistant TD at the airport (after passing through Iowa for a brief few minutes). On this trip, we were able to see the new baseball field for the College World Series and drive through Creighton University. After a bit longer on the road, we made it to Kansas City and spent the rest of the day travelling between Kansas and Missouri as I am staying with a host family just off of “State Line Rd.”

We went straight to the host golf course when we arrived in town and began unpacking the trailer before sitting down to lunch with our Tournament Chairman for the week. This his afternoon, Kyle, Drew and I went over to the qualifier course and completing some marking and stenciling that needed to be done. We will head back there tomorrow to finish everything up and get ready for the qualifier on Sunday!

Other than that, we had a great time at dinner tonight – leave it to a restaurant to keep us entertained!! Hope everyone is doing great these days!! Feels great to greet y’all from Kansas!!! J Night!

Another Week....

has already gone by! Who would have thunk it?!

Today was the final round of our tournament here in Nebraska and it is hard to believe that we only have 3 more of these left before the summer is over!!

I was fortunate to have the opportunity to set the front 9 of the golf course this morning and enjoy the beautiful scenery one last time...even if it already felt like it was over 100 degrees! I was able to get some really cool pictures, so I will try to get those posted as soon as possible. After setting the course, I was lucky enough to follow the leader girls today. It was a struggle as you could tell that the girls were exhausted due to the crazy terrain on the course, but they were able to power through and we had quite the finish!

Both the boys' and girls' champions were crowned after getting a birdie on 18....there were some tears in the scoring tent, but each and everyone of those players had something to be mighty proud of! This was a tough course and some great competition!!!

After the round was over, we spent the rest of the afternoon/evening packing the trailer and getting everything ready for next week. We packed that trailer in record time and I can tell that we are finally figuring out a system...too bad we only have to do this 3 more times! haha

After packing, our Tournament Chairman for the week (and his family) invited us to dinner at Champions Run, where he is the Director of Golf. This course will be hosting the web.com's Cox Classic next week and it was cool to see what they are already doing to prepare! Dinner was AMAZING as we had all you could eat salad bar, prime rib, veggies, baked potatoes, and a dessert bar.....definitely one of the best meals of the summer!! :)

Other than that, it is time to pack and head to bed! Next time you hear from me I will be back in good 'ole Kansas!!!! :)

Baseball, Hot Dogs, and Cotton Candy!

Today was just another typical day on the course! Started out my morning with coolers/fruit/ice/water duty with Jake and then spent a couple of hours hanging out on holes 7, 8, and 9 rules officiating. The real fun of day came just after we got off the course.

The Assistant Tournament Director, Freyman, and I were heading up the Care for the Course Party and Social Activity this week - which was a water balloon 'toss.' I had to quickly fill up about 100 water balloons and lets just say that the water balloons started their own war against me...and they won! haha

After getting completely soaked, I headed up the range where we had about 10 juniors or so ready to help out and then have a little fun! We put out grass seed and sand on the driving range for a bit as part of our Care for the Course initiative. After that was over, it was time for some fun with water! It all started out nice and calm with a couple games of water balloon toss, but it quickly escalated to a water balloon fight....but as long as the juniors had fun....then it was a-ok!

After the fun was over, we helped the boys finish breaking down the course and prepping the coolers/other materials for tomorrow. It amazes me at how fast we have gotten at these tasks! We were out the door about 4 again today...with plenty of time to go get ready for the evening! I headed back to my host family and enjoyed a really nice dinner with them before heading out to the feature activity of the week - a Stormchasers Baseball game (they are the AAA affiliate for the KC Royals)! We sat in the outfield for the game and enjoyed some typical ballpark food before the girls called it an early night! Definitely time to get some sleep and get ready for tomorrow! Hard to believe that tomorrow is our last day at Quarry Oaks...time sure is flying by!!!

Night from NE!

Titles are Getting Harder and Harder....

Today was our first round in Nebraska!! And boy, it was a hot one!! Luckily, we were able to finish up the round, breaking down the course, and some miscellaneous tasks and be done for the day about 4....definitely the first time that has happened all summer!! :)

After we got done, we headed back to our host families to get cleaned up and then met up for a cookout at one of the host family's house. A lot of the families were there and it was really cool to meet all of the people that everyone is staying with and have a chance to eat a home-cooked meal and hang out for a couple of hours. We were even able to catch up on some TV shows while we were at it!

Other than that, it is off for an early night....time to catch up on some sleep! :)

Practice Round and Junior Am

That basically sums up my day!

This morning was an early one as we had a shotgun start for our JuniorAm at 8 am. I was in charge of setting up the golf course today, including setting the tees, checking holos, placing proximities and a couple of other tasks. This took me a good couple of hours and then I had some extra time to finish up various tasks in HQ and out on the course.

The most exciting part of my day was that I got to do the practice round send off this afternoon! This meant that I spoke to all of the players over the PA system, welcoming them to the tournament and going over the important announcements. It was really cool that I was trusted to do that and I was realized how much I have learned about all of this as I wasn't really nervous either!

After the send off, we all headed off on the course to talk to the different groups and check on the players/parents in this really hot weather! This week is also really cool as one of my cousins is playing in the tournament. It was nice to talk to him for a bit today and I am excited that I will have the chance to watch him play tomorrow!

Other than that, it was a pretty typical day on the course! I am excited for the tournament rounds to get underway tomorrow and see how the players react to this course! Hope everyone has a great night! :)

I Played Golf!

Today was my day off for the week and it was a great one!

I started off by sleeping/laying in bed until noon....sooooo needed after our travel experiences! Once I was up and going, I headed off to Panera for a couple of hours to enjoy some food and work on my project that is due tomorrow and my reflection for school.

The best part of the day came about 3 this afternoon. My host family offered to take me over to their golf course to hit some balls! This is the first time that I have touched clubs all summer and it felt great! There were definitely some interesting shots, but overall I was pretty pleased with how it went. After hitting, I decided to go drive by Rosenblatt Stadium and the Omaha Zoo to get some pictures since it was too hot out to actually go enjoy the sites!

Once my host family was done playing in the Parent/Child Golf Tourney at their course this afternoon, I went back to join them for dinner. It was a great meal and a ton of fun to see how big of a junior golf program they have there. I was told that they have over 200 juniors participating all summer...starting with their 101 level at age 5 all the way to 301 (which goes through high school).

There wasn't too many overly exciting moments today...but it was a great day off! Hard to believe that I will only have 3 more of these before I head home! Everything is getting to the point where I can count down...and that is a scary thought! Can't wait to see everyone soon!! Night! :)

We Made It!!

Well we hit the ground running just before 7 am this morning and pulled into the golf course parking lot just after 8 am!

Right after we arrived, we unpacked the entire trailer and set up Operations HQ so that we were ready to go for the rest of the day and the entire week! Camille and Drew both had the day off, but we got a ton done and I was really impressed by the number of things we were able to cross of the To-Do List!!

We were able to ride the golf course, put up all of the banners, clean and prep all of the coolers, put up the Pace of Play signs, construct all of the tents, stake and rope the starting tees, and I got to help our Assistant determine what the Time Par (amount of time to play each hole) would be this week!

It was a crazy day to follow up an intense day yesterday, but I am glad that we were able to come through and make up for the hours that we missed as much as possible. I am pretty sure that everything is ready to go for tomorrow....and I hope that the qualifier goes well!

I am off for the day tomorrow and I am really excited because I may get to hit golf balls! I guess that I forgot the fact that I moved in with my host family tonight. They are really sweet and I am looking forward to spending time with them this week! The family has one daughter and one son that are between the ages of 4th grade and 7th grade. It is going to be a great change in pace this week!! They are also cool enough to help me get on the golf course this week if I have time and completely take care of me!

But with that, I am exhausted and about to fall asleep! It has been a crazy couple of days and I can't wait to sleep in tomorrow! Goodnight from Nebraska!!! :)

Friday the 13th?! Go Figure!

So clearly this didn't post correctly last night....let's try this again!

Today was quite the interesting day, and clearly lived up to its potential seeing as it is Friday the 13th. I don't normally think anything of it, but it was definitely Team 3's most unlucky day of the summer!

We started off about 30-40 minutes late from Columbus this morning due to a couple of incidents and miscommunication along the way. When we got on the road, we were making great progress and moving through Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois smoothly. It was really fun to drive through downtown of a couple big cities that I have never been to. We passed through Columbus, Indianapolis, Champaign, Bloomington, Des Moines, and even more I believe in just one day - not to mention we were in 4 states as well!

In addition to the cool cities, I was lucky enough that our path through Illinois took us through the Quad Cities and I was able to see my family when we stopped to fill up the trucks with gas! :) It was great to see them and I can't wait to get back so that I can actually try to spend time with them instead of just saying 'hi' in the gas station parking lot. Maddie was also awesome enough to bake us cupcakes (some chocolate with caramel drizzle and then some blue/lime green/purple tie dye ones) and bring them along so that we had some snacks in the car.

We hit the road from there with about 5 hours left to drive. We knew that we would come close to making it to the hotel before our curfew, so we called to get permission to drive just a bit longer tonight. Little did we know that timing would be the least of our worries!

I started off this leg of the trip driving Tank, the second truck in our caravan today. Less than 30 minutes from our stop in Davenport, I noticed that something wasn't looking right on the trailer. Kiley and I were looking at the trailer before we realized that the right side of the trailer appeared to be a lot lower than the left. It dawned on us that the tires were flat and we called the boys to pull over. Just as they started to pull over on the shoulder, one of the tires popped and smoke started coming from the tire/trailer. Luckily, Jake was able to get the trailer on the side of the road and we assessed the situation. Unfortunately, both of the tires on the right side of the trailer were done for as the second tire had a nail in it and was losing air quickly.

After spending quite some time on the phone, we ended up changing the tires ourselves and were quite successful actually! This was definitely a bonding experience and taught us all how important it is to leave any disagreements behind when it comes to dealing with crazy situations!

We ended up spend just over an hour on the side of the road and at a gas station trying to make sure that all of our tires were at the right pressure. When we finally got back on the road, we knew that we were going to have to move quickly if we were going to make it to Omaha on time - or even tonight at all. Long story short, we didn't make it to Omaha tonight and we are currently spending the night at a hotel in Walnut, IA. I have heard that we are just over an hour from the hotel right now and we are leaving at 7 in the morning to go the rest of the way. Hopefully everything will go well tomorrow, but I am exhausted....Have a great night! :)

Week 6 --> All Wrapped Up!

Wow.

Today was a looong day! It was the final round of our tournament this week and our last day in Ohio. I can honestly say that it felt like we just got here yesterday and I am scared for how fast the rest of this summer is going to go!

Just like many other final rounds this summer, the day went by quickly but was full of activity and craziness! I started off my morning by putting out coolers with Drew and then heading out to follow my groups for the day. Since I had some of the earlier groups, I was able to start breaking down the course and finishing up some odd jobs while some of my other team members were still on the course. Once again, Team 3 had a playoff today for 1st - this time in the Girls' Division. Once the playoff was over, it was go time!

It wasn't long after that last putt dropped that the Awards Ceremony was over and we were packing the trailer at full speed! The operations side of everything was done about 6:30 or so, but we had to wait for the communication girls to finish everything up before we could finalize the trailer and head out for the night. We ended up leaving about 9:45 or 10 and headed out to grab some dinner. To no surprise, there are virtually zero restaurants open at 10 pm, especially ones that are not fast food! We ended up finding a place that was open, grabbed a quick bite, and then said our goodbyes to our TD and Assistant for the week.

I have spent the last few hours trying to get everything packed up and ready to go as we are hitting the road in just about 6 hours! Guess I had better head to bed as we have another long day in front of us tomorrow! Our drive from Columbus, Ohio to Omaha, Nebraska is going to be quite the adventure! Stay tuned tomorrow - I am sure there will be some good stories from our day! lol

Goodnight from Ohio! :)

Short Day!

Today was the second round and it started off awesomely as I was able to sleep in about 3 extra hours! :) I haven't been feeling the greatest this week (a mixture of allergies and a cold) and the results of that extra sleep were more than I could have imagined! I am feeling a whole lot better and I hope that it continues to get even better over the next day or so.

I spent basically the entire time that I was at the golf course following my groups and rules officiating. I helped with coolers and a couple of other random tasks when I arrived, but it was basically me and my golf cart today! Not to mention, the weather was absolutely gorgeous with blue skies, a warm sun (about 80+ degrees), and very little wind.

When we were done for the day, we spent some time prepping for trailer packing tomorrow and the final round tomorrow. All in all, we were able to leave the golf course about 6:30 with everything done and only one day remaining in Ohio.

We headed back to the hotel, where we had a great complimentary meal!! The food was really good and there were a lot of choices that we have not had this summer. I had some really good pork chops, along with asparagus and potatoes...definitely a great meal! After dinner, Kiley, Camille, Sydney, Curt (our TD) and I went to check out a local ice cream shop that we have been driving past every day. The others had some great looking ice cream and it was a ton of fun just hanging out for a bit! I am off to bed now, as we have an early morning tomorrow and a really busy day! Hard to believe that I will be headed back to Central Time Zone on Friday....its going to feel like home! haha

Hope everyone has a great night!! :)

Early Night...and Late Morning!

Hey there!

So today was the first round of the Memorial Junior presented by Border Energy here in Columbus, Ohio!

It was an absolutely gorgeous day outside and I don't think that we could have asked for a better day! I started off my morning by placing some signage and then helping Kyle with the fruit coolers, product coolers and the placement of a couple other food products.

As Kyle finished up with this project, I headed out on the course to follow my four groups of girls for the day. I finished up my rules officiating part of the day just after noon and then worked the scoring tent until just before 4. As crazy as that sounds, it is one of my favorite parts of the event! In the scoring tent, I am able to talk to all of the juniors and act as that buffer as they walk off of the course. I see just about every emotion in that tent, but it is awesome to see how just a short conversation and a little bit of fun with announcements and thank you notes can change an attitude in less than 5 minutes! I can't say that every junior is like that, but I enjoy talking to each of them just the same!

When I left the scoring tent, I headed to Columbus Airport to drop off the Midwest Regional Director as he is leaving us the rest of the week. It was great to get to know him during the last two events and I am sure that he will be greatly missed at the course the next two days!

When I arrived back at the course, it was time to grab some dinner as we had the Player/Parent cookout tonight at the course. After dinner, we worked on organizing and cleaning up Headquarters before we called it an early night! It was so nice to be home about 8 and have some time to catch up on e-mails, projects, and other miscellaneous tasks that have been piling up! Other than that, it has been a great day - and it is about to be an awesome morning! I get to sleep in 3 extra hours!!! :)

Hope everyone has a great night!

Long Day = Quick Post

Hey there!

Today was Big Monday, and let's just say that it lived up to its name!

This morning started off with the practice round and we had to get as much onto the course before that started as possible! I spent the first 2-3 hours prepping and putting up banners all around the course. I would say that we normally have about 4-5 banners...but this week, we have 13! It was crazy!!

Once those were done, it was time to prep all of the registration gifts for the Junior-Am and set up the registration tables and all that jazz! The remaining time at the golf course I was focused on projects for the Junior-Am.

After the Junior-Am, we headed to the hotel where we held the player registration, player meeting, and parent meeting. It was a busy night trying to get everything set up and ready to go, but I am happy to say that we were able to wrap up those events just before 9 pm!

At this point, it was time to go grab dinner and then SydMack and I dropped a couple people off at the hotel, at another host family, and then drive ourselves home. We finally got home about 11 and I can say that I am more than ready for bed! Guess that is what a 17.5 hour day will do to you! :)

Qualifier Time!

Today was a somewhat unusual day for Team 3. First off, it was only the 2nd or 3rd Sunday that we have hosted an event on a Sunday. I am pretty sure that this is due to the fact we have had tournaments run through Friday a couple of times and that has shifted our schedule a bit. Also, we were able to sleep in today! We didn't have to be at the course until 11 this morning, so that was definitely a nice reprieve from the early mornings we have had recently!

We arrived at the course at 11 and began to set up for our qualifier today. This course is a different one than we will be using for the rest of the week, so that meant we had a  little extra work to do both before and after the event. The qualifier was a shotgun at 1:30 this afternoon and play finally wrapped up about 6 or a little after. Not too shabby! 

In typical Team 3 fashion though, we had a playoff! As that was occurring, we began breaking down the entire course and packing everything back into the trailer to take over to the course we will be at for the rest of the week. After everything was wrapped up at the qualifier course, it was about 8:30 pm or so...what I would call a late night!

But wait....we still had some work to get done at the tournament site to prepare for tomorrow's practice round and Junior-Am. We stopped by Arby's quickly and grabbed dinner before getting back to work. We arrived on site about 9 and needed to unpack all of the coolers, the product, the sand bottles, and our Ops trunk. In addition, we filled about 100 bottles with sand in order to give them to the juniors as they arrive about 7 or earlier tomorrow morning! 

Luckily, we were able to knock out all of those tasks and have a staff meeting in virtually no time at all! We were on the road home about 10:30 and now that my clothes are ironed and everything is ready for tomorrow, I am off to bed! I have a feeling that 4:55 alarm is going to come waaaaayyyyy too quickly!!! Night! :)

Absolutely Nothing! :)

I learned last night that my first day in Ohio would be my day off for the week! That seems to be an ongoing trend these days, and I am becoming more and more ok with it!

I was really hoping to make it to the Columbus Zoo while I am here, but seeing as it was 104 out today, there was no way that was going to happen! Instead, I spent my entire morning sleeping and laying in bed watching TV. I think that this is the first day that I have actually used my day off to relax and do absolutely nothing...it was AWESOME! :)

Once I finally got up and going, I headed to Panera to grab some lunch and get caught up on my Facebook/Blogging extravaganza for the summer. It was nice to get out and see "real" people in "real" places. I also went to WalMart to pick up some things and a cute fro-yo place not too far called Menchies. 

When I got back to the house, I turned on the US Women's Open to check out the remaining AJGA juniors who are participating this week. I was also hoping to see some of the members of Team 2, as they were enjoying a day on the golf course in Wisconsin! I wasn't able to see any of them, but I did get a nice 2-3 hour nap in, as well as catch part of the Cubs game. I am pretty sure that this is the first baseball game that I have watched more than one or two pitches the entire summer...absolutely crazy!

Once I woke up, it was time to go eat again! This time, I found a Culver's! I am pretty sure that this is the first one that I have seen since I left IL in May! I didn't realize how localized of a chain it is, but their chicken tenders were just as good tonight as I remembered! :) 

Once I got back to the house once again, I was able to catch up a bit more on some TV shows and then was lucky enough to receive a Skype call from some pretty awesome girls!! I spent the next 2 hours catching up with Katie and Amy and all of the drama from the summer! It is nice to be back on the "inside" of the secrets -- you two know what I mean! ;) This conversation made me even more excited to be back in just a couple of weeks! 

It was nice catching up with people throughout the day today...that little sense of normalcy has definitely kept me going throughout the summer! With that, I am off to bed!I don't have to be at work until 11 tomorrow, but I am excited to take advantage of a little extra sleep! Night all! :)

Well.....Just Another Travel Day!

I am writing this as we are sitting in the Columbus Airport waiting for a ride back to the hotel. We flew from Traverse City to Detroit this morning and then finished out our journey with a quick 30 minute flight to Columbus, Ohio. When we arrived at the airport, we gathered all of luggage, called our shuttle, and headed outside to meet our shuttle back to the hotel. Easy right?!

Well, if you haven't caught on, Team 3 seems to have plenty of difficulties on travel days and today was no exception!

First off, we walked out of the airport to be greeted by temperatures over 100 (it was in the 80s in Michigan)...not fun! We ended up sitting outside for somewhere between 1-1.5 hours. In that time, we got a kick out of seeing how many times different hotels drove by - let's just say that it was A LOT! After just under an hour of waiting, we called the hotel to see if they had any updates and we were told that they should arrive any minute. After Camille pressed them for a more specific answer, we learned that they couldn't get in contact with the shuttle driver and had no idea where he was.

It was time to take matters into our own hands! At this point we were all quite giddy and more than ready to get out of the heat! Camille was even yelling "Go Giants!" at people across the street who were wearing San Francisco shirts....yeah, we lost all inhibitions. We were told by our Tournament Director that if no one had come to pick us up by 4:30 then he would send one of our teammates to get us instead. Needless to say, we were counting down the minutes until 4:30 and we could go back inside to the air conditioning and enjoy ourselves while we were waiting.

Minutes before 4:30 came, my favorite part of the afternoon occurred. Camille looked down next to the bench that we had been sitting at for nearly 45 minutes and found five dollars. FOR REAL! She found $5....who can actually say that at the end of a story and it be true?! haha

Well, that is about our excitement for the day. Camille, Kyle and I are just hanging out at baggage claim watching a Red Bull Production of Extreme Snowboarding...pretty darn cool!! :)

Hopefully our ride will be coming very soon and it will be time to head back to the hotel, go out and grab some dinner, and then head off to meet my host family for the week! It is crazy to think that we are starting the second half of our summer tomorrow and that the next time I am in an airport, it will be time to head back to Chicago! Only a short 5 weeks left...enjoy the rest of summer everyone! It is definitely going by quickly!!

Where Has Time Gone?

Wow! Another tournament has come and gone and it is hard to believe that it is already the first full week in July! It seems like just yesterday that we hit the road, yet we only have five more tournaments left before the summer is over!!!

As for today, it started out just like every other one this week. We headed to the golf course about 6:15 or so and then began our morning assignments. Before long, we could see the clouds rolling in and, sure enough, the rain hit hard! We ended up delaying this mornings tee times by 2 hours - making for a late start and an even later night! Luckily, the morning tee times went smoothly and we only had to the delay the afternoon start times by 1 hour and 45 minutes. Those 15 minutes may not seem like much, but we didn't finish our rounds until almost 7:45 as it was!

I had the opportunity to follow some of the leader boys this afternoon and it was so much fun to watch them come in and make the final push during their last few holes. It ended up that one of the juniors in my last group finished one behind the leader and shot 3 under for the tournament. It is amazing how good these golfers are and I will never get bored of watching them play!

On a completely random side note, I ran into one of the golf coaches that I see quite often at my meets today! The Ashford coach was there recruiting a player in one of my groups and he recognized me before I was able to place him! Funny how it is such a small world - especially in the golf industry!

After the round was over, we still had to break down the course and pack the trailer before we were done for the day. Amazingly, we were able to get the course torn down and all of the operations equipment in the trailer by 9:30 and the communications equipment came not too long after! We were able to leave the course by 10:30 and then it was time to head back and pack up for tomorrow!

Camille, Kyle and I head back to Columbus tomorrow morning, when our flight leaves Traverse City at 11:45 am. I believe that we are expected to land in Columbus about 3 or a little after, so I am interested to see what we will do when we arrive! Similarly to before, we will be making a pit stop in Detroit, making for a two flight extravaganza!

With that, I had better head to bed! We are leaving bright and early for our hour and a half drive to Traverse City in the morning. Hope everything is going well! Miss you all!!! :)

Fourth of July!

First off....HAPPY 4th OF JULY!!! I hope that everyone had a great day and that you are all getting ready to go see some fireworks soon!! :)

Today was the second round of our tournament and it was another day of double waves. I will say that this is starting to catch up with me. I never realized how exhausting it could be to ride the course twice in a row. But when you consider that it is almost 9 hours straight of riding the course, observing groups, and giving rulings...it is no wonder I am tired by the end of the day!

Since today was the 4th, it was really fun to take a look at all of the juniors' outfits! A lot of them went all out, making red and blue almost seem like the uniform for today. After the round, we had our Care for the Course Party and you could definitely tell that the juniors were excited to get out on the course and drive the carts around!

We are heading out now to go see the fireworks over the Bay/Lake Michigan! I am not sure how many people are actually going from the team, but I am excited to go with our Tournament Director (who is from England and has never experienced an American 4th of July) and check out how the small town fireworks in Michigan compare to Walnut....bet they don't stand a chance! :)

Back to Work....

The day finally came...we had to go back to work! haha

After three days off in a row, we headed to the golf course this morning to start Round 1 of the Coca-Cola Junior Championship at Boyne Highlands. The morning started off with some thunderstorms, but we were able to start only 15 minutes later than scheduled.

The rest of the day was pretty normal, except for the fact that there were 2 waves of tee times. It made for a kind of long day, but it is definitely nice to know that we will be busy the entire time that we are at the course! After we were done for the day, we headed out to dinner and then called it an early night!

I am hoping that we can get done about the same time tomorrow so that we can catch some fireworks either here at the resort or over the lake! :) Happy 4th of July to everyone! Have a fun and SAFE day!!!! And enjoy those fireworks!!!!! :)

This is Starting to Feel Like Vacation...

So, today was basically my third day off in a row since we have just been travelling the last few days. Kyle, Camille and I were all given the day off and we were very excited to use it as an opportunity to go check out the area and even try to go paddle boarding in Lake Michigan!

The day started off with some sleeping in and Camille and Kyle headed out to grab a quick breakfast about 10 or so. After getting lost for a bit and grabbing food, they headed back to the resort to pick me up as we found out that we had to complete a random drug test today. We headed to Urgent Care up the street and got that done - with some major wait time on the part of the clinic, of course!

When we finally got that accomplished, it was just about time for Kyle to go play golf while Camille and I were going to go paddle boarding in Lake Michigan. We dropped Kyle off at the golf course on site and then we headed to Harbor Springs to locate the water sports rentals for the afternoon. When we arrived though, we were disappointed to find out that they were not renting any more paddle boards that afternoon. We asked for other locations, but it seemed that everyone had the same response.

Desperate to find some water activity to do, we started driving along Lake Michigan on M-119 and headed north. This road is known as the Tunnel of Trees Scenic Heritage Route. As you can probably guess, it was like a tunnel of trees on both sides of the road and you could also see Lake Michigan the entire time! It was absolutely gorgeous and I can't wait to upload some pictures!!! We ended up following this road for about half an hour while enjoying our ride with the windows down, music playing, and wildlife running through the woods....it was such a relaxing adventure!

When we realized how close we were to Mackinaw City, we decided to head there and do all of the touristy stuff! We walked in Lake Huron for a bit and along the beach looking at Mackinac Bridge. Again, there are some pictures that I will get up ASAP! It was fun to just walk through the shops and enjoy the beautiful weather after all of the 100 degree days we have been dealing with!

We eventually made our way back to the resort and picked up Kyle from the golf course before heading to dinner in Harbor Springs. We ate at this quaint little restaurant in downtown before heading back to the resort for the night. Tomorrow, we are back to reality as it is back to work come 6 am! The break has definitely been nice, but I am excited to get back to the golf course and back to being busy all of the time! With that, night all!

We Made It!!

We were off and running today for another long day of travelling starting with breakfast at 6:30!

We then started our 2 hour drive from Cincinnati to Columbus with a nice thunderstorm and a whole lot of rain! The drive was rather uneventful and we arrived to the golf course that we will be working at next week about 9 am. We quickly dropped our trailer and moved around some luggage and equipment so that we could fit all of the people and luggage into our two trucks. I am pretty sure that we completed this task in record time and before we knew it we were headed to the hotel where we will be staying next week.

When we got here, we gathered our luggage and parked the trailer for the rest of the week. The hotel was kind enough to let us leave our stuff until we return. We then took the hotel shuttle to the airport and began the process of checking 8 people in for 3 different flights. It was actually quite simple and we were headed into the security lines by 10:30 or so. Due to the smaller size of the airport, we were able to make it through security rather quickly and headed for our gates.

Conveniently, both the individuals going to Rochester and Boyne this week were on the same flight to Detroit. At this point we grabbed an early lunch with those that were going to Arkansas and said our first set of goodbyes. It is crazy to think that the people we have spent every moment with over the last 5 weeks are not going to be around for the next couple of days....I am sure we will all be super excited to see each other come Thursday/Friday. Myself, Camille, Kyle, Brunie, and Jake all hung out in the airport for another hour or so before it was time to board our flight. Our first flight was only 30 minutes long but had plenty of turbulence to last a lifetime!

After we landed in Detroit, we all went and hung out at Kyle, Camille, and my gate for a bit before we left. We then had to say goodbye to the last of our teammates and we headed for Traverse City! This flight was a much longer 45 minutes....shorter than the layover earlier in the day. While we were on the plane, we learned that we were randomly seated next to one of the juniors playing in the tournament this week. Kyle spent most of the flight talking with the junior and by the end of the trip, we had another passenger for our shuttle back to the resort. We were picked up by one of the individuals on the team here in Boyne and we started the 1.5-2 hour drive to the resort. The scenery was absolutely beautiful as we followed the shore of Lake Michigan the entire time. It was great to see some water and trees once again....I love being back in the Midwest!! :)

When we got to the resort, we checked into our rooms, grabbed some dinner in the grill and then headed out to explore the property a bit. We ended up walking about 4ish miles as we explored and it was definitely a good workout! We found out some information about the area and we are all looking forward to exploring even more offsite during our day off tomorrow!

I have put up some pictures now, but I hope to take even more tomorrow and get those up as soon as I can! Goodnight from Michigan!! :)

Travel Day!

So today was our easy drive from Atlanta, Georgia to Columbus, Ohio. Just a simple drive up I-75 that should take about 9-10 hours or so...easy right?!

Ha! Not for Team 3!

We had actually made it all the way to Cincinnati, Ohio without getting lost or having any major complications before we received a call from our Tournament Director with some bad news. Apparently there were some really bad storms that came through the Columbus area last night and now the majority of the area does not have power – and they may not for a couple of days. Due to this, our hotel was without power and we were not going to be able to stay there tonight. We were going to have to find another hotel somewhere between Cincinnati and Columbus to stay for the night. So that we didn’t have to backtrack, we decided to hang out in Cincinnati for awhile until we knew the plans for the evening. Also, when we were driving through Cincinnati we were able to enjoy a beautiful skyline and see the Bengals and Reds stadiums along with a bunch of the arenas downtown and Xavier University! I just wish we had time to explore all of this stuff!!

We mixed up the cars during our ride today and the 3 boys and SydMack were in the lead truck/trailer while the other 4 girls were in the second truck. Our truck called the boys to let them know the change in plans and asked that they find an exit where there was a WalMart, Target, or other store that we could just hang out in for awhile. After the boys had passed what felt like a bazillion exits, we called them back and asked what they were doing. We were SOOOOO IMPRESSED to find out that they had looked up a local mall and found directions so that we could all visit the stores that we wanted….what a considerate group of men!

We spent a couple of hours wandering Barnes & Noble, Dick’s, and other random stores until our TD called us to let us know that he was having no luck in Columbus. We started helping to call hotels and quickly found out (7 times over) that there were no vacancies. It ended up that we were able to find 5 rooms just south of Cincinnati (just over the border in Kentucky) and we spent the rest of the evening shopping, eating dinner, and just hanging out around town. I can now say that I have been to Forever 21, Cheesecake Factory, and a bunch of other stores/restaurants I have never actually been in!

We finally got to our hotel about 10 tonight and have just been getting organized/repacked so that we are ready to fly tomorrow! I didn’t realize how many items had accumulated in my backpack that can’t go on a plane! My group (Camille, Kyle and I) are leaving Columbus at 1 pm and heading to Detroit, where we will have about an hour layover before we head to Traverse City. We are actually really excited for the first leg of the trip as we are flying to Detroit with Jake and Sydney….it will be great to set out on our adventure with two other team members!! J With that, I am headed to bed…we have a long day of airports/flying tomorrow – starting at 6:15 am when we leave the hotel. Night all!

Packing Up and Heading Out!

Well today was our last day of the tournament...and our last day of Rolex events for the summer! Hard to believe that both of the invitational events are done, but I am really excited to take part in a bunch of the Open events the rest of the summer. It is also hard to believe that we headed out of the South and moving on towards the North/Midwest...but definitely have to say that I am excited to head back to my neck of the woods!! :)

As for today, it began just like every other round...minus the fact that our team 4 friends had already taken off for Arkansas. I was on cooler duty this morning and spent my time adding ice to a bunch of coolers out on the course. It was an absolutely beautiful morning out on the course and, as soon as I get a chance, I have  some pictures to prove it! :)

After finishing coolers, I headed out on the course with my groups. It was a pretty uneventful day as I was roaming with a threesome of boys and then two twosomes of girls. The round absolutely flew by and, before I knew it, it was time to start breaking down the course and packing the trailer! I spent a couple of hours breaking down the course while the playoff took place to determine the Girls' Champion. This was much less eventful than the 7 hole playoff that occurred during our first week, but still really exciting to follow!

After the awards ceremony and all of that were wrapped up, I headed off to the Atlanta airport with three of the junior golfers in tow. It was a fun trip, but took almost twice as long as it should have....definitely learned why people stay off the roads on a Friday afternoon! :) Round trip, I spent about 3 hours making my way about 90 miles or so. There were points that I probably could have parked the truck and been moving just as fast!! haha

Speaking of the trucks, I thought I should update everyone that we will not be receiving that awesome new Yukon that everyone has been raving about! It sounds like we will have the two pick-up trucks for the entire summer. Kinda disappointing since we had been looking forward to it since training....but we will make do!

Once I got back from the airport, it was time to load up the last couple of things into the bed of the truck and grab some dinner. It didn't really happen nearly as quickly as I just made it out to be...but the important part is that we got Panera for dinner...and it is Friday....Panera Friday anyone?!??! :)

Other than that, I am spending my night packing everything up once again so that we can hit the road by 7 am tomorrow! We are headed for Ohio tomorrow and then I will be flying up to Michigan sometime on Sunday. I will explain more tomorrow (once I know more details!), but for tonight....it is time to fold laundry and head to bed! Enjoy one final 'goodnight' from Georgia!! :)

TOC: Part 3!

Today was the third round of the Rolex Tournament of Champions (TOC) and it was another fun-packed day!

I started off this morning by touching up the Rolex signage around the course. Colleen and I were able to tackle that project pretty quickly and join most of the staff for a quick, but well-deserved, sit-down breakfast.

We had two rounds of tee times throughout the day and I was a rules official during both waves. For the girls, I was responsible for 2 groups and for the boys' wave, I was responsible for 3 groups. There really wasn't anything too exciting during my time on the course. It was rather unfortunate that the girls didn't keep their hole-in-one streak going though! Each of the last two days, a different girl has gotten a hole-in-one on #3. It was quite the sight and would have been a really cool streak to continue.

Other than that, we had our normal breakdown after the rounds were over and then we all rushed back to our host families to get ready for the Player's Dinner this evening. This was a nice ceremony that recognized the male and female junior golfer that best represented the philanthropy and volunteer spirit that the USGA and AJGA promote. It was really inspirational to listen to what these juniors have done and the stories behind their upbringings.

With that, I am off to bed! We have the final round tomorrow and we are losing about half of our staff for the week! :( I am sure it will be a crazy day.....but hopefully we will be breaking our streak of packing the trailer in the rain!!!! :)

Short but Sweet...

It has been a really long day and I think I am starting to feel the effect of the really long days this week. So, this post is going to be real short!

This morning, my assignment was to help with equipment surveys. Basically, I spoke with each golfer and entered all of the different clubs/balls/gloves/clothes/bags/etc that each of the golfers use on a program on the Kindle. If you haven't caught on yet, I really enjoyed this task as I was able to interact with a lot of the juniors and really get to know some of them on a more individual basis.

Once I was done with the surveys, I roved the course for an hour or two helping out different rules officials who were watching more than one group on a red card. I then had the opportunity to work directly with the first two groups of girls that went off the first tee this afternoon. I had literally no problems this afternoon with rulings or timing....my first group was upwards of 25 minutes ahead of schedule at one point - that is nearly unheard of!

After my groups were done, it was time to start breaking down the course. I spent about an hour working on that before I headed down to our Care for the Course party. We worked on the driving range today and put sand in all of the divots. Just as we were finishing up, the ice cream truck showed up for the juniors and the staff! This was a nice reward at the end of a hot and long day!

After our ice cream break, it was back to cleaning up the course and preparing everything for tomorrow! We finally got everything done and left the course just before 9 tonight. Needless to say, we grabbed dinner to go and headed for home! I am off to bed as we have another early morning tomorrow....but then the formal Players' Dinner tomorrow night!! :)

Dance Moms and Swimming Olympic Trials!

Today was the first round of the tournament and it was definitely one crazy day!!

Due to the large number of competitors, we have a slightly different set up this week than we are typically used to. We have two separate waves of players out on the course and a two tee start within each wave. This means that we are all on the course multiple times throughout the day, but so far it really hasn't been as crazy as I thought it would be!

Today, I started off my morning by putting up tent tops, side panels, and putting out table skirts. I am pretty sure that this is the first time I have had that assignment all summer and it was nice to do something different! After those were finished up, I was able to take a couple of minutes and grab breakfast. I think that is the best part of our team this week - we have worked really hard every morning to get our assignments done...leaving time for almost everyone to sit down and actually eat....a luxury these days!! :)

After breakfast, it was time to hit the course and follow my two groups for the morning wave. It was a pretty uneventful round with all of my groups and it was great to watch these talented young ladies enjoy this course and what turned out to be a beautiful morning!

After finishing up with my groups, I only had a couple of hours left before I got off for the day. That's right! Camille and I were lucky enough to get off at 3 today...a solid 5 or so hours before everyone else! I spent those last few hours refilling coolers and bonding with all of the water and ice once again!

When 3 came around, Kiley came to pick Camille and I up and we headed back to our host family to enjoy a relaxing afternoon/evening. I spent a couple of hours watching the Swimming Olympic Trials and catching up on sleep before enjoying a nice dinner of noodles and beef stew that my host family made. It was great to eat something completely different...and I am sure that we will not be seeing that again for awhile!

Other than that, I have just been spending my time relaxing tonight - and catching up on Dance Moms! Gotta love how one TV show can make you feel like you are back in the real world again!!! Hope all is well! Miss everyone!!! :)

Me and My Best Friend "Mr. Water"

Today was the practice round for the Rolex Tournament of Champions. Normally, we have a shotgun and all of the players go out at one time to play their practice round. However, due to many circumstances, the players all teed off at tee times for their round today. The tee times started at 7:30 am and finally wrapped up at 12:50 pm. Needless to say, there were a lot of golfers one the course and it led to a long day for us as well!

This morning started when we headed out to the course about 5:30 (it was still pitch black outside) and headed on to the course to set everything up for the day. Kyle and I were in charge of checking all of the Rolex signage throughout the course. After that, we helped get some coolers out before enjoying a nice buffet breakfast before heading out on the course.

I headed out to the course about 7:30 am with a couple of cases of water and a bag of ice. That was just the beginning! I spent my entire day being a water rover and re-filling the 18 coolers on the course with ice and water. I wish I could even guess how much ice and water we went through today...I can guarantee you that it was more than you could ever imagine. Kiley and Kyle also had the same assignment, so we were able to split up the course into regions...which made everything a whole lot easier!

I finally put my last case of water back in the cart barn about 3:30 or so and it was weird to drive around without my trusty water cases the rest of the day! I will say that this is one of my favorite jobs though. I enjoy the fact that I get to interact with all of the players and parents throughout the day...it is a great way to build relationships that will continue throughout the week - and summer!

Once I was done with water, Camille and I teamed up to breakdown the course as the last group completed each hole. We spent our time putting lids on sand buckets, filling divots on the tee boxes/in the fairways, picking up tee markers, and other random tasks.

As soon as that last group was off the course, we were done with breakdown and it was time to head to the host hotel to meet up with the rest of the team. Tonight was the players' opportunity to register and receive their tournament gifts. They received some really cool stuff and I will see if I can get any pictures linked to here in the near future. After their registration, there was a quick meeting and all that stood between us and going home was a quick staff meeting! We finally left the hotel about 9 pm or so...it was definitely a long day and I am exhausted from being in the sun.

This week is going to be a long one in general, especially with the number of players in the field. I am scheduled to be done at 3 pm tomorrow...so I am hoping that everything goes according to plan and that I can enjoy a couple of extra hours to relax! It is rare to have both a day off and a short day all in one week...I am going to take advantage of it this time!! :)

Sit Back and Relax....

That is what I spent my entire day doing! :) Love it!!

Today was my day off for the week and I took full advantage of the fact that there are no beaches or large attractions within my travelling radius and spent the entire day getting stuff done and just hanging out.

I started off by sleeping until about 10:30 or so this morning - that is definitely the latest that I have slept all summer! Once I was up and done watching Dance Moms, I headed out to run some errands and pick up lunch. I basically spent the rest of my day just hanging out at my host family's house working on my computer, watching TV, and doing laundry/ironing/etc.

The best part of my day was definitely the fact that my host family invited our entire team over for dinner tonight. It is crazy to think that we have had two awesome, home-cooked meals (in houses) the last two nights! We are being spoiled (and enjoying every minute of it)! Everyone came over about 6:30 or so and everyone just left about 15 minutes ago or so (about 11 pm). It is so much fun to just hang out with everyone outside of work and enjoy talking, playing pool, and interacting with my host family.

In fact, Kiley, Camille, and I went on a tour of the local neighborhoods with the oldest child in my host family - Kayla. She was a great tour guide and pointed out a bunch of houses of celebrities that are nearby! Hopefully I will get some pictures up soon, but they were beautiful!

I am just getting back from quick trip to WalMart, and it is time for bed! The juniors start arriving for the tournament tomorrow and it is going to be one early morning (5 am to be exact)! Night all!

Short Day...Fun Night!

Today was our first day on the course for the Rolex Tournament of Champions in Alpharetta, Georgia this week!

We were lucky enough to start off our day with some sleeping in as we didn't have to be at the course until a little before 8. We started off the day by unloading the entire trailer and setting up both Tournament Headquarters (in the Pro Shop) and Operations Headquarters (in the cart barn). Once we had everything unloaded and situated, our team took a ride of the course to get a feel for the holes and the general layout. It was interesting to note that there were no bodies of water present and a WHOLE LOT of sand, especially after we have spent the last few weeks in Florida. This is definitely going to be a different type of golf than we have gotten used to!

Once we rode the course, we spent the rest of the morning and some of the afternoon putting up Rolex signage all around the course. This involved some heavy lifting, sand bag filling, transportation of very long Rolex signs, and other fun tasks! Luckily, after putting all of this up just a week ago, we had a much better idea of what to do and we were able to fly through the tasks. Once all of the signage was up, we finished out our day by putting up a couple of tents, staking some rebar, and painting the pairings box. While it was a busy day, it was nice to just worry about the signage and make sure that everything is prepped for tomorrow!

After we got done about 5, we headed back to our host families to shower and get ready to go eat at one of our teammate's house. Kyle's family lives not too far from where we are staying, so they were kind enough to have us all over for dinner and to hang out this evening. Thank you for all of the food and everything tonight....we had a ton of fun! :) Also, Sydney's family lives nearby too, so they were able to join us for dinner. It was really fun getting to meet their parents/siblings/family and enjoying some time with each other away from the golf course!

After dinner, I had the pleasure of picking up two teammates that we are gaining for the week. They are coming to us from Team 4 and I was able to shuttle them to their host houses for the week. It was quite an interesting drive, but I am glad that we made it and I am safely back in my bed! haha

With that, I am super excited that I have tomorrow (Sunday) off and I can't wait to spend it catching up on sleep, homework, errands, and all that fun stuff! I also hope to have the chance to catch up with people through Skype, phone calls, texts...you name it...before our crazy week starts! Hope everyone has a great night!

On the Road Again...

Greetings from Georgia!

As I mentioned last night, we were unable to make it to Orlando and, therefore, had a 14ish hour drive in front of us today!

We left Weston about 7 am and started our trek up the Atlantic Coast. The ride this morning was filled with a lot of sleeping and some sing alongs to Disney movies and other various songs we could find! Everything was going great and we were making really good time until it was time for lunch. 

We ran into Zaxby's to grab food to go and when we pulled out of the parking lot, we went the wrong direction. It wasn't that big of a deal, except it took us about 30 minutes to figure out that we were going the wrong way. So, after about an hour, we passed by Zaxby's once again and we were ready to hit the road! 

After lunch, I was able to get in a couple more short naps and then it was my turn to drive! I ended up driving from about 5-8, at which point we were right outside Atlanta. We quickly switched up our drivers and hit the road to finish up our longest road trip yet!

We finally arrived at the course for the week a little before 10 pm and our Tournament Director, Andrew, was there to greet us. He sent us off with a couple of courtesy cars and a set of directions to find our host family's houses for the week. I am living about 10 minutes from the course, along with Kiley and Camille (and a member of Team 4 - Colleen - who will join us tomorrow). My host family seems to be super awesome and I can't wait to get to know them better over the next week or so!

I will hopefully have the chance to tell you a bit more about the tournament tomorrow...but, for tonight, I am headed to bed! Night all!

Team 3 is now 3 for 3!

Well...another tournament has come and gone...and we have spent another evening/afternoon packing our trailer in the rain! I don't think many other AJGA intern teams can say that they have packed the trailer in these conditions 3 weeks in a row....guess there is always a first for everything!

I am going to give you the short run down of the day as it is already after midnight here and we are hitting the road at 6:30!

Because of the rain out yesterday, today's schedule was a bit different than we are used to! First off, we started the day with a 9 AM shotgun...nearly unheard of from what we have experienced! In order to ensure that at least some golf was played and accounted for today, we played two stipulated 9-hole rounds. Basically, the girls played the whole back nine, while the boys played the front. After a short break (and a 30 minute rain delay), we switched places to play the final 9 holes. We were actually really lucky and we were able to finish all 18 holes of golf! It was a crazy day but I think that we all learned a lot...and after this week, I think that Team 3 can handle just about anything that is thrown at us!

Our goal was to start driving towards Atlanta tonight and get as far as Orlando. However, due to the rain and late start, we weren't able to reach that goal and we are staying in Weston for one more night!

Even though we were kind of disappointed about our long drive tomorrow, our TD decided to take us to this really cool restaurant right by the Ft. Lauderdale airport. It is called Jaxson's. The best way that I could describe it is a Cracker Barrel mixed with a country fair. They sell old-fashioned candy and all of the decorations are mid 1900s as well. The most important part is that all of their food is jumbo sized! The burgers are all half-pound, the hot dog was a half-pound, and the JUNIOR ice cream cone that people got was a quarter pound of ice cream! We were amazed by the size of the food...and basically unable to eat it all! I will make sure to get pictures up soon!

With that, I am headed to bed. It is going to be an early morning and a long day in the car! If anyone is bored, feel free to text me! haha I feel like I may need something to keep me entertained! lol

Also, quick note...I am going to be in private housing once again this week! I will try to update as often and as soon as I can throughout the week!