Cole Klima

Community Leadership Project Reflection

Penn State Golf Courses

10/8/2018
Introduction:

On October 8, 2018, I aided Joe Hughes at the Penn State Golf Courses with the USCAA

National Championships – Skills Challenge. Golfers from a number of different schools participated in

this skills competition consisting of putting, driving and pitching contests. Students were in charge of

leading each of these competitions. I, however, helped lead the scoring of each of these contests by going

to the different competitions and gathering scores and bringing them back to the master scorecard. In

addition, the scoring table served as an information desk, with many of the golfers and coaches coming to

ask a variety of questions related to the event.

Preparation/Training:

Prior to the skills challenge, there was only one planning session. During this planning session,

Joe gave myself and the other students a brief rundown of the details related to the event. He filled us in

with what the event consisted of, what we should wear and let us sign up for where we wanted to lead. I

signed up for scoring, and upon leaving this planning session, I was not particularly confident in what I

was doing and was unsure if I was adequately prepared for the event. I do not think any more planning

sessions for this were necessary as Joe covered the necessary information pretty quickly, but I do wish

that this planning session was a bit more in-depth in the process for each event. However, Joe covered

this more on the day of the skills challenge by showing each group what they would be doing. I was still

unsure of myself in this role going into this meeting, but Joe’s explanation and showing us the scorecard

helped clear any of my doubts and helped me feel prepared. This meeting seemed a bit chaotic as students

kept coming in at different times, leading Joe to jump back and forth between explaining different things

to the students who were just arriving. I would suggest improving this by having the students split into

their four groups and then explaining to each group individually what they will be doing rather than with

all of the students assembled together. This will help the meeting feel less chaotic and make our tasks

seem clearer. It was not until each group had gone off to its station and Joe had come over and talked to

just the scoring group that I fully understood my position.

Coordination/Support:

Throughout the entire process, from the planning session through the event, Joe was extremely

supportive and helped myself as well as other students succeed in our leadership roles. Prior to the

planning session, Joe engaged us first via e-mail, providing us information on the planning session,

general information about the event and information about how to use the golf course’s shuttle, the Lion

Limo, to get to the clubhouse where we meet for the planning session and the event. My only

communication with Joe prior to the event was responding which session I would attend along with a

question related to the Lion Limo that Joe quickly answered. For the planning session, Joe gave us the

opportunity to go on one of two days to best accommodate our schedules while also allowing us to

contact him in case neither time worked out. He clearly laid out his expectations for us in the planning

session, such as defining a dress code for us, and allowed us to select which activity we would run. On the

day of the event before the golfers had arrived, Joe was walking around and ensuring that all of the

stations were prepared and understood what they were going to do. He also got water and sports drinks

that could be consumed by both us and the golfers. At the scoring table, he helped us answer some of the

questions that many of the golfers were asking since a large number of people were coming over to the

table. This support helped us stay on task and allowed myself to retrieve scores from the pitching and

putting areas while Joe and another student remained at the desk and helped golfers and coaches with

their questions. In addition to Joe, the service desk of the clubhouse was extremely supportive as they sent

out the Lion Limo to pick me up from the putting greens on North Atherton Street and take me to the

clubhouse and back. The drivers of the Lion Limo were efficient and helpful in getting me to the

clubhouse and directing me on where to go. As a whole, the agency was great in supporting students and

giving them the opportunity to succeed during the event.

Self-Evaluation:

In general, I felt that I succeeded in my position during the event. I primarily retrieved scores

from the pitching and putting contests in addition to answering questions from golfers and coaches. I

think one of my biggest successes occurred whenever I went over to the pitching station to retrieve
scores. At this station, some of the names of the golfers and their scores were not lined up with the

appropriate college. I had to work with the scorekeeper at the pitching station to correct the errors to

ensure that the scoring was not messed up. This was my biggest success as I took control of the situation

and understood that placing names and scores in the wrong place could cause confusion and mess up the

scoring for the event, so I worked with the scorekeeper and made sure that each name was listed under the

correct college in case of a tie. I also felt I was successful in working with golfers and coaches to an

extent. Of the three of us in the scoring group, I felt that I was the most confident and willing to help

golfers and coaches. However, one personal criticism I have is that I was inconsistent in my answers at

times. Many of the golfers asked if the scoring table was the registration table for the event. On occasion,

I treated it as a registration table and marked their names off or filled them in on the scoring sheet when

they did not have to actually do this. Most of the time, however, I told them to tell the students at the

competition they were participating in their name and school and that they did not need to register or

sign-in at the table. While this was a minor issue, I believe consistency is important as a leader and as

someone in guest services and failing to do that can make a situation more confusing or complicated. This

experience helped me fully understand my strengths and weaknesses as a leader. The experience

reaffirmed my strength of having the desire to help out with other tasks and supports others to ensure the

success of the group. As evident by helping out the pitching scorekeeper, I was more than willing to

takeover a situation to ensure that the task was being done correctly and that we would be successful. On

the other hand, this experience helped me gain a better understanding of my strengths and weaknesses in

serving guests. While I was confident and willing to help guests, I feel that I could have better served

guests by providing consistent answers and better prepared myself for the questions they were asking. I

felt confident whenever they walked up to me, but seemed to lose confidence when the answer did not

immediately come to mind and I began to look to the other scorers or Joe to help me. I learned the

importance of thinking on-the-fly and how this pertains to guests as well as to groups. If I did not think

on-the-fly whenever I helped the pitching scorekeeper, we could have had a big mix up in the scores for

that competition. Overall, this quick, critical thinking is an important component of leadership that I need
to consider before heading into group situations or other events and this event helped me better

understand that.

Participants:

While I did not have much interaction with the golfers while they were participating in the

competition, there seemed to be a general satisfaction with the event. The participants seemed particularly

pleased with the drinks provided by Joe. Many of the participants and coaches, however, wanted to get

through the challenge as quickly as possible as they had spent roughly six hours on the golf course on a

warm and sunny day prior to this. For example, one coach walked up to the scoring table and asked if

they needed to stay any longer for playoffs or awards. This coach seemed a bit impatient and wanted to

get out of there as quickly as possible. However, it does not seem that his attitude was related to the skills

challenge, but rather to the unusually hot weather in October and spending so much time in it. The

general sentiment from the golfers seemed to be that it was a long, hot day and that they were ready to go

eat and get out of the Sun. The event outline stated that the event would last until 5:00 PM, but hardly any

golfers hung around and everyone had gone by around 3:30 PM. While the contests did not take long to

complete, I was surprised to see how quickly all of the groups cleared out as they had only started to

arrive at around 2:30 PM. While the drinks were a nice touch, I would improve the event by having a

more readily accessible cool down area. The clubhouse could be used as a gathering space for participants

so they can stay cool with additional refreshments inside to keep them satisfied at the event. Additionally,

a tent could also be set up outside in the green space between the clubhouse and the practice putting

greens as a place to put clubs or as a means of protection from the weather.

Summary:

Overall, I consider this a successful leadership experience. I initially selected this activity as I

have played golf and am interested in it, so I felt that leading an activity at the Penn State Golf Course

would be an exciting and unique opportunity to practice leadership as it connects with something I enjoy.

Going into the event, I felt a bit nervous as I was unsure if I would succeed. However, I felt I adequately

met my objectives as a leader as I frequently went back and forth between the pitching and putting
contests and the scoring table to collect scores, assist them with their scores and keeping track of the

names and schools and helped golfers and coaches by answering questions. While I was not perfect in my

role, I gained an understanding of where I stand as a leader and know where I can improve. I would

perform in an event of this nature again as I found it to be useful experience and I find the setting to be

interesting. I feel comfortable doing golfing-related events as I enjoy golfing myself and have a sense of

familiarity with it, so I would be happy to do an event like this again. As someone planning on working in

the amusement park industry, I am able to apply the guest service component of the scoring table to my

career. Communicating with guests is one of the biggest tasks I will perform as a worker in that industry.

This experience helped me understand where I stand in working with guests and helped me figure out

where I need to improve in guest relations. I can also apply my commitment to completing the task and

supporting others to do so. This is a strength that could be easily applied to the amusement industry as

there are so many different tasks that need to be completed regularly in an amusement park and I am more

than willing to step in and perform the task and/or directly support those completing the task. This

experience helped me realized that this is a strength I possess that I can use to become a more effective

leader.
 RPTM 236 Leadership and Group Dynamics
Community Leadership Project Proposals

Organization: Penn State Golf Courses

Address: 1523 West College Ave. State College, PA 16801
Contact: Joe Hughes
Phone: (814) 863-0254
Email: jdh174@psu.edu
Event or project: USCAA National Championships – Skills Challenge

Number of Volunteers: 12

Audience/Population: Participants in the event – 100 players

Important Dates: Monday, October 8th 2:00-5:00PM
Locations: Penn State Golf Courses – Driving Range & Practice Greens

Brief Description of Leadership Project:

Lead the participants through three different skills challenges:
 Set-up Events
 Conduct Long Drive, Chipping & Putting
 Keep their Score & post them on a leader board

Other information students should know:

We will meet as a group or over email to go over the details on the assignment.
These are the e-mails that Joe sent the students who signed up with information about the meetings and

preparation for the event.