Cooper on the Course

Cooper on the Course

by Ben Elliott

When looking for a job as a young person, it can be hard to know what to look for. With few ideas in the department of career advancements, finding a job specific to you and your goals is rare. Because of this hurdle, most young people look for money, friends, and learning experiences to set some jobs apart from the low-income fields.

It is rare that you find all three at once, but Cooper Fine got lucky when he was hired at Nicklaus Golf Club. “After working in a restaurant and hating it, I decided to go where my friends were,” says Cooper, on the reason for switching jobs. “I had a couple older friends who like working there, so I thought I’d give it a shot.”

Cooper got hire on as a bag boy at the club. “I basically just run and get the members bags when they need them, I wash clubs sometimes, and I help the guys in the pro-shop when they need it,” he says when asked about his responsibilities at the club.

Cooper recalls being nervous for the first couple weeks of work but as he learned the ropes he became more comfortable in his possession. He cited the members recognizing him as the key change that allowed him to make this transition. “When the members start knowing your name, it changes the game. They start to tip you more too which is nice.”

Even with just these factors, Cooper says it would be enough to make him stay. They are the reason he likes working at Nicklaus Golf Club, but they aren’t the reason he loves it. When asked about what makes him love his job, he brings up two new variables: meeting new people and playing golf with his friends.

“Meeting [Shane Cordes, a member at Nicklaus Golf Club] for the first time is one of my favorite memories,” Cooper tells me. “He just rolled up with a cigar in his mouth and started handing out $100 bills to all the guys.”  Cooper also remembers him meeting the shoeshine guy, Michael, and some of the kitchen staff like server, Lauren, as great experiences that he couldn’t have had anywhere else.

Cooper told me enthusiastically about the other side of things that makes him love his job. “After my shift ends, grabbing my clubs and playing 9 holes with a few of my friends. That is one of the best things about working there.” He reminisces on all the times that he and his friends have gone straight from working to playing. He uses this as evidence when talking about the comradery within the staff.

When asked why he chose this as the community he is a part of, he claims this comradery is why. He starts by conceding that, “when you work with someone and they are lazy, you can get bothered by them sometimes.” But, he tells me that when people who are already your friends not only have to rely on you to get a job done but then you also get to play golf with them frequently, you tend to get very close.

During my research I found out why this might be. The golfing community is focused around spending hours and hours perfecting your craft. Through the work you do for the club as well as the effort you put in for your own individual games, a bond is formed between you and your peers. Because there is no medal when you finish a game with your friends, golfers value the fun and conversations they have while playing above their ability to beat one another.

After talking with Cooper and doing my research, I found that there is a lot to this community that someone on the outside looking in wouldn’t see. I learned that the game of golf is very similar to a place of business. Yes, everyone does their own thing or plays their own game, but at the end of the day its largely not what you do in a day that makes it worthwhile. Most of the time it’s the people you do it with that dictate the value of a day’s work. Whether its on the course or at work, it’s not about how well you do. What matters are the conversations you have and the relationships you form.