PURCHASE, N.Y. (September 26, 2011) - The MGA Foundation’s cornerstone student internship program, GOLFWORKS, provides meaningful summer working experiences at Met Area clubs to more than 200 deserving high school students each year. Now in its 17th year, the success of the GOLFWORKS program can be attributed to the willingness of MGA member clubs to hire deserving area teenagers. In some cases, these teens had very limited prior exposure with the game of golf, like Sam Washington, who worked at Century Country Club in Purchase, N.Y., this past summer.

Washington, 16, completed his second summer as a GOLFWORKS intern in the bag room at Century. Some of his responsibilities included greeting members and their guests, cleaning golf clubs, and maintaining golf club storage. Washington, who is now in his senior year at Woodlands High School in Hartsdale, N.Y., carries a grade point average of 93 and participates on the school’s tennis and bowling teams. While he does not play on the golf team, he has had the opportunity to pick up the game through his time at Century.

“I’m learning how to play golf thanks to the GOLFWORKS program,” he said. “The guys here [at Century] are teaching me the basics of the game and of the golf swing, and I’ve found an interest in something I never even thought about doing.”

Century’s Caddie Master, Justin Blass, had nothing but complements about his GOLFWORKS intern. “Sam’s a great kid and a hard worker, especially for his age,” said Blass. “He has always been on time and ready to work. He was our first GOLFWORKS intern and we’re going to try to keep him around for a while.”

Washington’s favorite part of the job has been interacting with the people who work and play at Century. “The people here are just great,” he said. “It’s a good working environment and my fellow workers as well as the members are all really nice to me. It’s an entirely new and different experience and it’s nice coming to work and just being around all these people. And because they like golf so much, it helps me because now I know a sport that I never knew before.”

Working 40 hours a week this summer, Washington gained valuable working experience, especially when it comes to time management. While he studies hard during his senior year, he is looking ahead to his future and hopes to study biology and pre-med in college.