Shortly after the completion of my second term of schooling at Penn State, I will be heading back to Wisconsin to start an internship at Whistling Straits. Although highly respected in the golf world, Whistling Straits is quite new in terms of the golf industry. From 1949 until 1959 this 2 mile stretch along the shoreline of Lake Michigan was known as Camp Haven. Occupied by the US Army during this time it was used as an anti- aircraft training camp for US troops. Wisconsin Power and Light had purchased the land in hopes of constructing a nuclear power plant on the property. Thankfully those plans never got off the ground and in 1995 the Kohler Co. bought the 560 acres of lake front property with the vision of building a links style golf course there. Kohler Co. CEO, Herbert Kohler hired famed architect Pete Dye and together along with an estimated 170,000 truck loads of sand Whistling Straits was a reality. In its short existence, since 1998, Whistling Straits has hosted the 2004 PGA Championship, 2007 US Senior Open and will be hosting the upcoming 2010 PGA Championship in August.
With this internship I hope to soak in a ton of knowledge just from all the inter workings of tournament preparation. Not to mention the countless number of networking opportunities with others in the industry whom will all be there volunteering to make this tournament a success. Outside of the tournament aspect, I've set forth with some areas to gain experience in. I would like to get some hands on experience in the mechanic shop, reel grinding, back lapping and height adjustment to name a few. Chemical applications is crucial to master so I plan to jump on a sprayer as much as possible. I want to get involved with everything from the what and why chemicals are selected to rate calculations. I think one of the most overlooked goals is building communication skills. Learning to communicate with a magnitude of different positions and personalities is not easily learned.
I'm looking to getting out and getting my hands dirty again and hopefully catch a glimpse of the Wanamaker Trophy.
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