How to Land an Internship at a Leading Golf Club

As part of the AGMS course, we have the opportunity to complete placements in the summers between academic years. This is a great chance to gain experience in the golf industry, while also strengthening your CV for when you’ve graduated.

For my year one placement, I wanted to work at a top-rated golf club and ideally gain experience working across multiple areas. The internship at The Grove was perfect for me, as it offered the opportunity to work in a luxury environment and rotate around different roles in the club.

I began looking for a placement early to give myself the best possible chance of securing a strong placement. I emailed around 10 different golf clubs with my cover letter and CV, resulting in a few responses of having no vacancies and a few good responses. Around the same time, I made contact with the Head Professional at The Grove, during an extra-curricular session held at the Belfry. These extra-curricular sessions are very valuable for professional development and, in my case, helped me to secure a placement.

In early November, we had this talk from the Head Professional at The Grove about personal brand and working in the golf industry. During this talk, the internship at The Grove was mentioned, which immediately caught my interest. At the end of the talk I made sure to get his contact details so I could follow up.

I then emailed him to request more information about the placement and sent over my CV. This led to a first round interview. To prepare, I brainstormed questions they could ask me, planned my responses to these questions and did some of my own research into The Grove, noting down any questions to ask. The interview went well, and I was invited to the second round of interviews. I prepared similarly for this interview, making sure I was confident in my responses. A few days later, I got an email confirming my place on the internship at The Grove for the summer.

My top tips for securing your ideal placement:

1. Start the process early on!

The earlier you start, the more time you will have to secure your placement, and you won’t be stressed towards the end of your first year as you scramble to find somewhere

2. Be clear on your goals

First thing you should do is to sit down and think about what you want to get out of a placement and where you would like to go, whether this be gaining some coaching experience, retail experience or just having a good summer playing as much golf as possible!

3. Prepare for interviews

Don’t just rock up to interviews without preparing. Think about questions they might ask you and have some questions ready to ask them

There are resources to help you along the way, including the PGA website where placements are advertised regularly. You can apply for these roles or reach out to golf clubs that you are interested in.