WEST ORANGE, N.J. (August 19, 2026) – A pair of GOLFWORKS Interns are on-site for the 111th Met Open Championship at Essex County Country Club.
Luke O’Brien is spending the summer as an outside operations intern for the club, where he helps out on the course and assists members there. This week, he spent a chunk of time working on the range mainly collecting and cleaning the golf balls after the range closed for the afternoon. Along with that, O’Brien directed traffic in and out of the club, a big part of helping things run smoothly during a tournament of this scale.
“You learn how hard it is to make money,” the 17-year-old O’Brien said of his first paying job. “It kind of immerses you into the real world.”
O’Brien ended up landing the job after staying persistent in his search. He connected with a former GOLFWORKS intern from Essex, Ryan Mack, who’s now the Outside Operations Manager for the club. When a position opened up, Mack’s appreciation for the GOLFWORKS Program helped lead to O’Brien getting hired for the summer.
“Luke is doing very well,” Mack said. “Two months so far and he has been about as good as you can get.”
“It shows a true bond,” O’Brien said of both he and Mack being in the GOLFWORKS family. “He’s a good boss and I felt like he introduced me to the workplace really well.”
Mack said the impact GOLFWORKS had on him was “huge” and that his experience was “top notch.”
“It’s a really great cause that introduces the sport to others,” he added.
About The MGA Foundation’s GOLFWORKS Program
GOLFWORKS is the MGA Foundation’s cornerstone program, created in 1994. The program provides meaningful summer internships for high school students at more than 70 participating MGA Member Clubs throughout the Met Area. The program started with just 12 students at 6 clubs, and now more than 300 students are employed as interns each summer. The program’s success, thanks to the support of Founding Partner MetLife, is a critical link to helping the MGAF make the game of golf and meaningful employment accessible to everyone.
The GOLFWORKS program places student interns at MGA member clubs and facilities where they spend the summer working in various areas of the club industry. Interns learn from industry professionals and may spend time working in the golf shop, as part of the food and beverage service, on the grounds staff, or as part of the clubhouse operations. For many, this is a “first job” and provides professional and life lessons that helps interns succeed with their future education plans and careers.
