Summer Internship

ReportBY DERRICK BROWN

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

Facility Layout

Club House

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.

Driving Range

Pool

Practice Green and 19th Tee

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.

The Edison Club Pro Shop

Pro Shop Merchandising/Layout

Golf Ball Display Stand

Footjoy Display Stand

Merchandising/Layout Continued

The Ladies Section of the Shop

Men's Section of the Shop

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.