Back in May when I started at Mass Golf as a P.J. Boatwright Intern in the Communications Department I wasn’t exactly sure what to expect over the course of the next four months. I figured I would do some writing, maybe some video work, but for the most part I was in wait and see mode.
What has followed in the now four months that have passed since that time has been some of the most enjoyable and rewarding work I’ve gotten to do in my career. My first day was in Longmeadow at Twin Hills Country Club for the Mixed Four-Ball Championship for the Stone Cup and it was a whirlwind.
I met a bunch of people, shook a lot of hands, and watched how our department goes about handling an event day. By the time it was over I had a better feel for things, but I knew I needed to start gaining some reps doing the work myself to get more comfortable.
Two weeks later I was already putting together my own recaps for the Senior Four-Ball Championship. In between, I had the opportunity to cover the Griscom Cup from afar, write about a cool new First Tee initiative, and even highlight the other interns who joined Mass Golf alongside me.
As my comfort level started to grow, our event schedule picked up. I continued handling different recaps and qualifying stories and then the camera worked kicked in. I edited together the video recap for the Women’s Stroke Play Championship for the Baker Trophy and following that I got to put together a couple video projects during the Mass Open Championship.
I would say it was right around the time the Mass Open wrapped up in the middle of June that I had gained a lot of comfort and confidence and from there on I got to do some really cool stuff in between our event schedule.
One of the best parts of this summer was getting to write some fun feature stories. I got to talk to several of our Mass Golf community members about playing in parent-child tournaments. I did a lot of interviews this summer, but there was nothing that brought a smile to someones face quicker than talking about teeing it up alongside their own child.
One particularly fun feature to put together was a USGA Championship preview. I interviewed Doug Clapp and Jim Patterson ahead of them playing in the U.S. Senior Open Championship. Both guys were awesome interviews and so excited to be playing, so it was a lot of fun for me to share their story.
Ahead of the Mass Amateur, I got to put together a couple of unique pieces. I highlighted the hometown Brae Burn members getting to play at their club for a big-time event, I put together a Q&A with some past Amateur champions that proved to be quite interesting, and I talked to Ben Spitz about his strong game ahead of the event.
Those stories were a lot of fun to do and they helped me learn what Mass Golf is all about. The community is amazing and it was an honor to get to highlight so many of the incredible stories that exist within it.
I loved writing about Jenny Ceppi winning two club championships in one day, sharing the story of Tracy Welch playing alongside her daughters in the Women’s Amateur, and highlighting a couple of our outstanding ladies advancing in Q-school.
All of those stories were fun to do, but they stuck with me because they show that in this community we have good golfers, but better people. One of my favorite projects I worked on this summer was a perfect example of that.
I had the opportunity to put together a Faces of Mass Golf video on Joe Eadie, a First Tee instructor and the head golf coach at Springfield College, the same school I graduated from in May.
Coach Eadie was born in Jamaica but moved to Springfield and has made a living as a golf instructor after he picked up the game just after high school. His humility, willingness to share his story, and continued commitment to helping grow the game made it an honor to share his story with our community.
Overall, I had a busy summer. In total, I made it to 10 of our Men’s Championships and six of our Women’s Championships. I kept track of all my work and I put together over 80 pieces of content – whether it was written, video, or some other form of media.
The schedule is crazy, the hours our long, but I would not have wanted to have spend this summer any other way. I’ll always be grateful for this summer spent with Mass Golf and all of the people I met along the way.
