Indiana

Winona Lake, Indiana
July 28, 2013 

Maryland is in the books and we arrived in Indiana on Friday for our next event at Stonehenge Golf Club. This summer is flying by, it's crazy to think that by the end of this tournament it will be August.

The drive was our longest to date. In total it took us about 12 hours. In between the Maryland Eastern Shore and Indiana are a lot of farms and wind turbines. We got a good look at Ohio and Indiana, and I think both states are doing fine filling their farm quota. We also drove through Pennsylvania for a good portion of the trip. This was our second time in Pennsylvania and Ohio, but the first time we crossed in to Indiana.

After a few weeks in the Northeast we are back in the Midwest for the first time since our week three trip to Cleveland.   It's nice to be in a new state this week. This is my first adventure in the Hoosier state and its off to a good start. First off when I got to my host families house they gave me their basement to myself. They also had the movie poster of Hoosiers framed in the basement. I would expect nothing less from an Indiana home to frame the poster of one of my favorite movies ever.

The tournament field this week is 144 comprised of mostly payers from the Midwest. The tournament starts Tuesday. It was a long commute to get here, but now that we're here it should be a good week in Indiana.

Maryland Eastern Shore

Easton, Maryland

July 24, 2013

Tomorrow is the final round of the Junior All-Star at Talbot and we are leaving the Maryland Eastern Shore for Indiana. This has been a really cool week so far and I will be looking for more of the same out of tomorrow’s final round. 

Talbot Country Club has been a great host in their first year with an AJGA tournament. They have made us feel welcomed and the support has been terrific. Many TCC members have volunteered their time to help the event. This staff really appreciates the event and I think the AJGA will be back for many years to come. 

Although the final round is tomorrow we already had a big winner in the first round. Sam Jung broke the TCC course record with a 10-under-par 62. He made eight birdies and an eagle. Jung was fired up about breaking the record and the club was pumped to have a new low. They had Jung remake his scorecard so they could display it in their proshop. 

His round included six straight birdies on the back nine. Astonishingly his 62 only included 23 putts. It was cool to watch him finish out his round and then interview him. 62 is one incredible round of golf. 

Life at the manor this week has been great. We have been by the pool or bay almost every night. The experience of staying at this house has been unreal. The house is famous enough to have a history plaque out in front of it. 

The Manor is so important it has its own historic plaque

I enjoyed my time at the MCM Elegente Hotel in Abliene, Texas, but I got to admit this week was a little bit of a step up. Tomorrow is the final round, and after the champions are crowned we pack up and head to the next one in Indiana. 

Sunset from the backyard of the manor

OB:

Wedding Crashers is on my short list of favorite movies of all time along with Superbad, The Departed, Almost Famous, Old School, Fight Club, and A Football Life: Bill Belichick. When I saw our Manor in Maryland the first thing I thought of was “this looks like the house from Wedding Crashers.” It was a big white house on the Maryland Eastern Shore. Then we found out that the house was in fact in our town and right near us. 

Not only was it near us, but it was right across the street. We saw the front of the property called Ellenborough. This was a cool experience. Crab cakes and Football, That’s What Maryland Does. 

The house from Wedding Crashers is right across the street from us this week

Fun times this week on the Maryland Eastern Shore with team 5

 

The Manor

Easton, Maryland

July 20, 2013

After our week in Texas we flew back east for our next tournament on the Maryland shoreline. This event is the first time the AJGA has been to Talbot Country Club in Easton, Md. The course seems to be in great shape and the country club is fantastic. The tournament starts Monday and until then we will be setting things up and getting ready. 

No matter how nice the course is or how well the tournament goes I already know what the highlight of the trip is going to be. We are not staying at a house this week we are staying at a “Manor.” This is the biggest house I have ever been to. The Canterbury Manor as it’s called is right on the Chesapeake Bay and has everything you could ever image. It has boats, jet ski’s, a pool, a guest house, a barn, a pool house, enough land to hold a football game, and a gazebo right in front of the bay.  

The view from the gate at Canterbury Manor

All of our host family situations have been solid, but this is just next level. We have already gone to their pool and it’s exceptional. After a little while in the pool we headed to the Chesapeake Bay for some salt water. The bay water was really warm and it was an overall great experience swimming in the salt water for the first time this summer. Unfortunately there was one casualty to the Bay: Kathleen’s iPhone.   

The pool that looks out into the Bay

We are sleeping in the guest house which is bigger than more regular houses. I doubt there are many more houses like this on the eastern seaboard. This Canterbury Manor is over 100 years and the main block built by Colonel F. Carroll Goldsborough. 

All the guys on team five are staying in the Manor this week. This is going to be a unique experience. Should be a fun week.  

Not a bad view from the backyard

On to the next

Abilene, Texas

July 19, 2013

The Aaron’s / Bob Estes Abilene Junior is over and I’m currently at the Abilene Airport. This airport is quite unique. If you look around you can see all ends of this building. This is definitely the smallest airport I have ever been in.  There are four gates, and hardly enough space to fit one 757. The planes that come into Abilene are quite small. These are the type of planes that I will have to duck my head to get in, and the type of planes that fellow teammate Tony will have to crouch to get into. I was in row 15 in Abilene, good for second to last row of the aircraft. From Abilene we take the 27 minute trip to Dallas where we will connect on a normal size plane and get back to Washington DC. 

This week we finished 54 holes of golf, which for other weeks is standard procedure. This week the rain made the tournament anything but standard. Somehow we still finished everything. We only had two days, but all golf was completed. On the first full day of golf most played 18, some played more, but only one group finished 36. This meant for a long final round day. Now as interns we are use to long days, but for the golfers this was an uncommonly long day. First they had to conclude the second round. This meant the first wave finishing up where they had to stop due to darkness the previous night. This also meant the second wave starting their second rounds. All in all in got done at about 2:15 p.m. 

This is when things got interesting for the communications depart. The goal was to get the final round shotgun off at 3 p.m. This meant a lot of work, fast work for us to meet our goal. First, all the second round score cards must be entered, and then we had to make the cut. After the cut was finalized the pairings had to be finalized.  While this is going on everyone else needs to keep the juniors informed and make sure they know where they’re going and what’s going on. This was an all hands on deck situation. 

With fast work from fellow Comms Michael and Meaghan, and good help from operations interns we met our goal. The air-horn was blown at 2:59 p.m.  I was definitely happy to meet this goal because at times it looked as if it was not going to happen. The timeliness of the start really set us up for success later in the day.

The shotgun went smoothly and everyone was in around 7 p.m. This allowed for a solid award ceremony and outdoor pictures, which we thought would have never happened at the beginning of the day. Somehow some way 54 holes were completed, and we had  a great tournament in Abilene. 

It was nice to meet PGA Tour professional and tournament sponsor Bob Estes. Abilene is his hometown; it’s great to see him giving back to junior golf. 

The tournament finished, I experienced my first week in Texas, and the drought in West Texas is officially over. I would say this was a successful week. Off to Maryland for next week’s tournament.

Tony struggled getting on our rather small plane in Abilene

OB:

This morning before heading to the airport I was watching The Open Championship. I have always wanted to head across the pond and go to The Open or Wimbledon. Being a huge sports fan there are many sporting events that I need to go to at some point. Here is my top 10 list of sporting events I want to attend.

10. The Open Championship- So much tradition and so much history. This would be a fun contrast to tournaments in the states. 

9. SEC football game- As a northerner the SEC culture fascinates me. I would love to go to a big Alabama/LSU or Florida/Georgia game. 

8. Game at Wrigley Field- Fenway will always be my favorite, but I would love to experience a game in the friendly confides. 

7. Rose Bowl- The granddaddy of ‘em all seems like a great way to spend New Year’s Day. 

6. World Series game at Fenway Park- My team my stadium, I would love to see it lit up on the world stage. 

5. Wimbledon- The championships are always fun to watch. I would love to experience them in person. I’ve been to the US Open and it’s fantastic. I would love to see how England does grand slams. 

4. Stanley Cup Final game at TD Garden- There has been some good opportunities in recent years to get this one done, but I haven’t gotten the chance. Hopefully in the near future the Bs will be back in the final. 

3. Final Four- The culmination of the most fun sporting event of the year that takes place in April once a year. New Orleans would be the perfect city when I go to my first final four. 

2. The Masters- Watching The Masters is always one of my favorite things to do every year. Someday I want to walk the Augusta National grounds in person. 

1. The Super Bowl- This biggest sporting event in America is undoubtedly the number one game I want to go to. However there is a slight asterisk here. Although it would amazing to go to any Super Bowl, the Patriots being in the game would make this a number one that couldn’t be topped.