It’s hard to believe it’s been a little more than a year since I first enrolled at the Golf Academy of America in Phoenix. So much has happened in the last 12 months, and the time has just flown by!
It seems like just yesterday I was standing in line to have my picture taken for my Student ID. Now, we’re less than four short months away from graduation. After that, it’ll be time to get into the golf business – officially.
Before we left on our three-week Christmas break, several faculty members approached me individually because I’m our semester’s Class Representative. All of them told me basically the same thing, “Finish what you’ve started.” The tone and the frequency of the conversations I had prompted me to send out on the following email prior to the start of classes Monday morning:
On this the eve of our 4th and final semester at the Golf Academy, I thought I would send out a quick email. It’s been a fun ride, and it feels like it’s coming to an end almost as soon as it began.
I had several faculty members approach me just before the break. They all told me essentially the same thing: our class is different. I think we realized we had something pretty special early on, but now it’s up to us to finish what we’ve started. Their message to me was to remind you to “finish strong.”
You’ve seen the attendance numbers. Fourth semester’s numbers are usually pretty pathetic, somewhere in the 70th percentile. I would like to see us finish above 90%. We did it 3rd semester, and we all know how many days were missed. Let’s try to keep it above 90% just one more time. Let’s keep it together for just four more months. What’s in it for us? The personal pride of knowing that we saw this thing to completion. I’m more than happy to help give rides to school or even tournaments if you need it. All you have to do is ask.
The other thing I would like is for all of us in the Spring 2016 class to have a job ready and waiting for us when we graduate. I know some of you are still deciding what you want to do when you graduate, and that’s fine. But let’s take advantage of Fred’s services, sign up for our exit interviews early, and then go out and get the jobs we really want.
Don’t wait until the last minute! We don’t have class on Fridays. That would be a great day to come in and polish your resume and cover letter and to talk to Fred about what you’re thinking for the next step in your career. We all have so much to offer the golf industry. Let’s shoot for a 100% job placement percentage so we can make our class a truly memorable one.
See you tomorrow,
Dan
Golf Course Design
We don’t have class on Friday, and other than Tournament Golf, which is an elective when you’re in your 4th semester, the only other class offered on Mondays is Golf Course Design, which is also an elective.
PGA Professional Ed Ekis can teach just about any class he wants to at the Academy in my opinion, but this one he’s especially qualified to lead. I can’t wait to hear what Ed has to say about golf course architecture, but I’ll be honest, the Golf Course Design Project due at the end of the semester has already got my attention.
We’re responsible for designing our own 18-hole course – to scale – on a topographic map. It has to have strategic, heroic, and penal design elements as well as five tee locations and additional supporting features such as mounding, long grass, boulders, water, and trees. It’s no joke.
Strategic holes are those holes that may everyone think on every shot. The safest route is usually also the longest. Penal holes are exactly what you’d think – holes that force you to hit the ball a certain distance to a certain spot. Heroic holes are those risk/reward opportunities you have to weight throughout your round. If you’re willing to take on the risk of hitting your ball over a water hazard on your approach shot into a Par 5, for example, you may be rewarded with eagle, or at worst, an easy birdie.
By far my biggest takeaway from our first day back was that there are no great “pure” courses left. Architects such as Alister MacKenzie, A.W. Tillinghast, and others have all seen their original designs renovated, modified, or changed either due to advancements in turf maintenance equipment or other technology. Mind you, that hasn’t stopped the most rabid of golf enthusiasts from trying to play every single one of these gems even if only to catch a glimpse of what those architects may have envisioned all those years ago.
The one thing I didn’t know: it costs roughly $1 million to build a golf hole in the city of Phoenix where the Golf Academy is based because of soil conditions and because of how hot and dry it is. Compare that to the state of Michigan, where you can build an entire course for the same $1 million price tag.