By Jeff Day

WEST ORANGE, N.J. (July 27, 2011) -- The MGA Foundation’s cornerstone 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 15-, 16-, and 17-year-old youngsters, many of whom are experiencing their first jobs.

Crestmont Country Club in West Orange, N.J., which will host the 2011 MGA Senior Open August 29 & 30, has been a supporter of the program since 1994, the first year of GOLFWORKS. For many of those years, GOLFWORKS had no bigger supporter at the club than the late Pete Famiano, Crestmont’s longtime head professional. Famiano hired Orville Grayson as the club's first GOLFWORKS intern, and Grayson is now back working at Crestmont as the club’s Assistant Caddie Master. Grayson credits GOLFWORKS as his introduction to golf as an industry.

“The GOLFWORKS program is like going behind the curtain to see what the business of golf is like,” said Grayson. “You could go to tournaments all the time, but you just don’t really know how it all happens and the process of putting on a tournament or outing. The GOLFWORKS program gave me access to that and it also helped me to become more personable and outgoing as I was a really shy kid.”

Crestmont Head Professional Bob Downey has sustained the legacy of Famiano, who passed away in 2009, by hiring GOLFWORKS interns each year. “Pete started at Crestmont in 1973,” said Downey. “And he was the head pro until 2005, when he became the Director of Golf and I became the head pro. He was one of the first pros who got onboard with the GOLFWORKS program, which is a great tool for high school students just to expose them to how the golf business works.”

Bob LeBlein, who recruits GOLFWORKS participants across New Jersey, has secured all of Crestmont’s interns during the club’s participation in the program. “We’ve had a whole bunch of great kids between Orville, who was our first intern, and Aaron Rhaney, who is our current intern,” said Downey.  “We’ve had some fantastic benefits from being a part of it because we’ve had some great workers who our members have gotten to know and as a result, the membership really understands the concept of the GOLFWORKS project.”

Crestmont’s  longtime support of GOLFWORKS inspired the MGA Foundation to create a scholarship in Famiano’s memory, which began last year and was awarded to Aaron Rhaney, a 16-year old who just finished his sophomore year at James Caldwell High School in West Caldwell, N.J.

“This will be my second year being involved in GOLFWORKS and I’ve learned there is a whole other side to golf than just playing it,” said Rhaney, a member of Caldwell High’s varsity golf team. “I didn’t realize how much work is done to have everything run smoothly from the bag room and golf shop, to seeing that the caddies and professionals get their jobs done. In the golf industry there is a whole other side that a lot of people really don’t get to see.”

While Rhaney is a hard worker at Crestmont, he’s also a talented golfer who carries a Handicap Index of 2.8. He was also instrumental in creating Crestmont’s employee playing privileges.

“Aaron was our first GOLFWORKS intern who could play golf really well,” said Downey. “Our caddie master, Peter Acevado, came to me and told me how much Aaron and the bag room staff liked to play and asked if they could play golf after work during the week.”

Downey proposed allowing Rhaney and Crestmont’s staff to play Tuesday through Thursday after 5:00 p.m., a major change from Crestmont’s policy of allowing employees to play just one day per week. “The members were very open to letting them play,” he said. “So now we have staffers playing later on during the evenings, which is great.”

Rhaney even plays with the members occasionally, which has allowed him to build relationships with them. “I enjoy being around the members,” he said. “I enjoy interacting with the members and one of them even invited me to play Bayonne last year, which was a real treat.”

Downey has been impressed by Rhaney’s work ethic and positive attitude. “Aaron comes to work dressed like he’s ready to play in the U.S. Open,” said Downey. “He always has a smile on his face and if he’s asked to do something he does it right away and is always ahead of the game, trying to do something like greeting and helping out the members.”

And the respect between Rhaney and Downey is mutual, as Rhaney considers Downey to be a role model. “I have a great time working with Mr. Downey,” said Rhaney. “He showed me how hard of a worker somebody can be while having a very personable attitude. He’s really just a pleasure to be around.”

Rhaney is carrying a 3.5 grade point average through his sophomore year, and while he has two more years of high school remaining, he already has his eyes set on the future, with a goal to become a student-athlete at a NCAA Division I school in 2013. “Hopefully someplace warm,” he said with a smile. “After that I’d like to go pro, and while I don’t know how much of an opportunity I’ll have to do that, I’ll definitely pursue it. If that doesn’t work out, something I would really like to do is become an assistant pro and eventually a head pro at a club, which would be a really nice job for me.

Rhaney is on a career path that has been facilitated through Crestmont Country Club and the MGA Foundation’s GOLFWORKS program. “My internship has really helped to mold my plans for the future,” he said. “I’m preparing myself to work in the golf industry and GOLFWORKS has helped to shape that goal.”

Rhaney’s goal is helping the MGA Foundation achieve one of its goals of Growing the Game, a cause near and dear to Pete Famiano. While Famiano is no longer with us, the heritage of Growing the Game at Crestmont will continue through the MGA Foundation’s Pete Famiano scholarship.