Download - Summer Internship Report
The Edison Club
The start of the Edison club came in 1904 when a bunch of employees
from the General Electric company wanted to build a place in which
they can meet socially outside of work. In 1925 the Edison Club main club house was moved from downtown Schenectady, to the top of a
cliff over looking the Mohawk river in Rexford New York. The original
facility included an 18 hole golf course, 4 tennis courts, locker houses,
and a club house. The club house went under a big renovation in 1928
which added kitchen and dining areas. The following year the club
added 9 more holes to the course. The swimming pool was added
years later along with the snack bars and wading pool. The Edison club
was bought from G.E. by the members in 1968 and has been private1969.
Chain Of CommandMark
Jorgensen General
Manager
Brad Gardner
Assistant Professional
Jaclyn DuBois
Pro Shop Merchandiser
Myself
Craig Mclean
Head Professional
The Edison Club Hall of Fame
The Edison Club Hall of Fame is located inside the clubhouse, outside
the ball room. The Hall of Fame Consists of many members or former
members who have impacted the club, community or golf industry for the better.
Karsten Solheim
One of the more familiar members of the Edison club hall of fame is Karsten
Solheim. Karsten Solheim
revolutionized the design of golf
clubs. He was a project engineer for
G.E. so he spent time at the club
tinkering with new designs. After
playing with putter designs he
eventually made the “Ping” putter and would go on to found Ping.
Architect for The Edison Club
Devereux Emmet
was the original
architect for the
Edison club. He
has designed
many other
notable
courses such as
Congressional
Country Clubs
Blue course,
Mohawk Golf
Club, and
Leatherstocking
just to name a
few.
Club Fitting and Repair Facilities.
The Edison Clubs club repair area was located underneath the club
house just off of the bag room. The area included a vice for re-gripping
or re-shafting clubs, lots of different grips in all different sizes, and a bench grinder for customizing clubs.
Disliked Design Feature
One of the design features I dislike the most about the course is its
repetitiveness. For example holes 6 and 22. also 27,18, and 9. they
seem like the same hole except with a different green.
-In this picture you can see the
greens of the 18th hole and the
27th hole. Both fairways leading
up to this green are almost the
same.
Design Features
A good thing about the Edison golf course design is the fact that its short.
The majority of the members at the club are not bombers of the ball and
they cant play on a long course. I feel like the course makes the game a
lot more enjoyable for higher handicaps. But don’t think the course is a
push over. Emmet included the strategic placement of bunkers throughout
the course which makes approach shots and layups a little more
challenging. The course being narrow also makes it challenging for the big
hitters who think they can overpower the course. The courses main
protection are the greens. All the greens have subtle undulations in them
making it tough to read greens. Some greens on the course have flat
surfaces, but because the course is located on a cliff you have to know
where the river is and whether you are slightly up hill or down because
these things could make the putt break in the opposite direction you
thought is was. I have had the displeasure of knowing what that’s like.
Club Rates and Fees
Membership types with rates
Family
Regular $6,020.00
Senior $4820.00
Super Senior $3420.00
Single
Regular $4820.00
Senior $3820.00
Super Senior $2770.00
Greens Fees Guest fees
Weekday 9 holes $25.00
Weekday 18 holes $50.00
Weekend 9 holes $30.00
Weekend 18 holes $60.00
Off season fee $35.00
Family guest fees $35.00
Cart Fees
Weekday 9 Hole cart $9.00
Weekday 18 Hole cart $18.00
Additional FeesSome additional fees are optional. They include the following.
Annual cart rental-Single $775.00
Annual cart rental-Two in a family $1,250.00
Locker fees-Full $115.00
Locker Fees-Half $92.50
Locker room fee-Single $25.00
Locker room fee-Family $40.00
Shoe service $85.00
Driving range single $175.00
Driving range two in a family $225.00
Driving range 3 and up in a family $275.00
Bag storage $100.00
Pull cart with bag $110.00
Motorized cart $140.00
Promos for more members
General manager Mark Jorgensen was most known for gaining
members. Mark would always throw in free passes to play the course as
prizes for some of the many outings we had. When I was there I witnessed mark in action. Mark offered to let the guy play for the price
of a cart. The guy took the offer and 3 days later he had a membership
at The Edison Club.
Tournament Schedule
May
3rd-WGA ABCD Scramble
7th-WGA Scramble
June
10th-Mens Member Guest
13th-Mens Stag Day
Tournament Schedule Continued
July
17th-CDCGA Junior Scramble
19th-Edison Club Junior Scramble
20th-Womens Member Guest
August
3rd-Parent Child Tournament
25th-WGA Fewest Putts Event
27th-WGA 2BB of 4
29th Couples Nine-n-Dine
Member Guest
Member guest was the most important tournament of the year. During
member guest employees were required to work more hours due to
the size of the tournament. The tournament included Under Armor polo's and pullovers for each member and their guest. Member guest
also had a huge diner the night before. There was seafood, deserts,
drinks, and TV. The club shuts the entire course down for the member
guest tournament. I thought that was interesting considering the
amount of members that weren’t playing in it. Helping to run Member
guest at a club with many members was a good experience for me
because I feel like I could tackle any tournament a club throws at me.
Sales Promotions
Extra member guest apparel was sold after the tourney.
We offered the polo's for $20 and the pullovers for $35.
Last years clothing is kept on a rack in
the back of the pro shop. We offer
buy one get one half off on these items.
Top Selling Goods
Driver
Taylormade SLDR
Irons
Ping Karstens
Golf Ball
Titleist
Clothing
Cutter and Buck
The Edison Club Golf Operations
Likes
The Edison club had a tee time
program called foretees.com. On this
program members could make their
own tee times from their house by
logging on and viewing the sheet.
This system frees up pro shop
employees to handle more important
matters at hand.
The Edison club allowed its
employees full use of the facilities.
Dislikes
Lots of members made leagues
hectic.
There are not enough employees to
keep up with requests from all those
members.
The three sets of nine holes cause
confusion among guests on which
way to go. This interferes with the
members play. Which causes
complaints.
The club sells the course for outing
use a lot and it causes complaints.
Major Job Duties
Leagues
There were leagues that went on
Monday thru Thursday. The
leagues needed the pro shop to
do the pairings on T.P.P. and print
out the score cards. Doing this
could get a little crazy at times
due to the large number of
people in leagues.
Weekly Junior Camp
The weekly junior camp was on
Wednesdays and Fridays. During
the camp I was in charge of
instructing the kids. I would usually
go up then back down the range
helping kids individually and then I
would set up a easy game to
practice what I was teaching
them.
Major Job Duties Continued
Junior Clinics The junior clinics vary from the day
camps because they are a full week thing. Monday thru Friday the assistant pro Brad Gardner and myself would be in charge of instructing a group of kids. The first week consisted of 5-9 year olds which was a little rough but we found some activities they thought were fun and kept there attention span. Such as long drive, and chipping in to a bucket. The second week consisted of 10-16 year olds. This group was a little different. It was easier to hold their attention so we could actually get in to some more in depth instruction.
Working the Pro shop
Computer
Most of the days I was in the pro
shop sitting behind the computer.
During this time is when I usually
get leagues done but when I'm
not doing those I'm trying to keep
up with foretees. The program
allows members to make tee times
from home so it needs to always
be managed by someone in order
to know who is coming and who is
still out on the course.
Lesson learned From Craig
On the last day that I worked at the course Craig pulled me aside to
not only let me know what his thoughts were on the summer, but to
give me some very valuable advice. He told me the golf business is based on communication and relationships with members. He said
that getting to know members is important especially when you’re
working in the shop and seeing them every day. he wanted me to try
to start conversations with people. Ask them questions about their life,
what they did for a living etc. He pretty much said I need to step out of
my shell and interact more.
How I became a better player
During my internship I had full use of the golf facilities so I was playing
and practicing a lot. One of the days I was on the range and my boss
came over to take a look at my swing. He asked me what I was trying to do. I responded by saying “I'm working on not coming over the top”.
His response to me was “the brain doesn’t know the word not. The
brain can only do”. What he was saying was I had to get my mind in
the right place in order for my body to get in the right place. He told
me to think of what you want to do rather than want you don’t want to
do. That new way of thinking has changed the way I practice and has
also changed my attitude towards the game. I feel like I get a lot more
out of my golf game with this mentality.
Summer Internship Summary
My summer at The Edison club started out with a lit of worries. I knew I
was stepping in to one of the busier courses in my area and was going
to require a lot of hard work and patience to get through the summer. Towards the middle of the summer I was getting comfortable with the
roles and jobs assigned to me. the staff throughout the entire club
started to recognize me and made me feel a lot more comfortable
than I did in the beginning. By the time august rolled around I was
pretty exhausted. My first fulltime job during the summer really tested
my self discipline but I wouldn’t trade it for the world. I walk out of this
internship with a ton of new and useful knowledge I plan to put to use
at my next internship which hopefully can be somewhere south.