June is generally my busiest month with the most travel for the entire summer because of internship visits and the summer of 2011 is no exception. Over the next 5 weeks I will be making trips to 9 students interning at various golf courses around the country. This week’s visit takes me to Atlantic City and Northeast PA to visit 3 students.

Visit 4: Stephen LePella @ Galloway National
This trip continues to show the importance of communication in our industry. Based on my calendar, I had planned to arrive on Sunday for a visit with Stephen only to realize that our scheduled meeting date was Monday! Despite being his day off AND volunteering at Seaview for an LPGA event early that morning, Stephen was able to give me a tour of the facility and the staff at Galloway was very accommodating regardless of the mix up on my part.

Visit 5: Aaron Giordano @ Fox Hill 
A recent father, Aaron decided to stick around his hometown in Northeast Pennsylvania to complete his 6-month internship. Working for 2-Year alum Ron Garrison, Aaron was deep into the preparation of the course for the biggest event that the club holds each year. He has been involved in various aspects of the maintenance crew from general maintenance to special projects to tending to the numerous ornamental plantings around the course.

Visit 6: Jeffrey Wilbur @ Country Club of Scranton
After leaving the morning visit with Aaron, I headed over to the Country Club of Scranton to catch up with Jeff Wilbur. Jeff is going through a unique opportunity as one of the assistant superintendents under the direction of Greg Boring. Although not complete with the program at PSU, Greg decided to give him a shot this summer with the expectation of a 2012 return in the full time position. Although relatively young for the position, I was impressed by the success he was having with the position and the rapport that he had already developed with the entire crew. In addition to his management responsibilities, Jeff was involved in a variety of projects (DryJect going on while I was there) and is excited about the extensive bunker renovation coming up this summer.

Next visit: Chevy Chase Club and a week at the US Open

View photos from Round #2 of the internship visits below.