LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Once the 150th Kentucky Derby is in the books, the sports world turns stays in Kentucky as it turns its attention from horse racing to golf.

What You Need To Know

  •  Valhalla Golf Club is set to host 2024 PGA Championship

  • 'Swampers' are college-age interns working in operations to prep the course for the championship

  • This year's crew includes 27 interns from across the country

  • The program goes back over 20 years at Valhalla

The PGA championship at Valhalla Golf Club is only a few weeks away and helping the club prepare is a special group of interns called “Swampers.” It’s an internship like no other.

“It’s just a lot of movement going on and it keeps things exciting every day,” Swamper Molly Heidt said. She is one of 27 paid interns in the Swampers program.

“We’re getting into the nitty gritty here,” Walker Remynse of Arlington, Texas, added.

These select interns are spending more than four months putting in work at Valhalla Golf Club, the host of the 2024 PGA Championship. It’s part of an internship tradition going back 20 years.

Swampers work in operations, beginning with set up and staying several weeks after tear down. Swampers take in deliveries, trailer placement and work directly with more than 40 vendors.

“We definitely are the backbone of the tournament and setting things up for vendors, making sure they are all set for whenever they come in, making sure the tournament is set. Making sure everything is done perfectly,” Heidt explained.

Heidt, a University of South Carolina alum, is more than six weeks into an internship that hopefully propels her into a long career in tournament golf. “I think internships and opportunities like this are just so awesome because you get to meet people from all over and they have different experiences and different people that they know and you just get your foot in the door,” the 24-year-old said.

As practice rounds draw near the work week and days get longer. “This one you better be hands on, or else, you know, it’s sink or swim really here,” Tyler Radko of Buffalo, New York, said. And by the time the internship is complete, Swampers know every inch of this course, if not already. Plus, they’ll have cultivated valuable friendships.

“Obviously the memories we make and the connections make here will last a lifetime,” Arsen Shtefan of West Hartford, Connecticut, said.

The activity at Valhalla Golf Club is non-stop as risers and galleries are built, fencing is installed, anything you can think of to make sure the facilities are primped, primed and ready for the world’s best golfers, and 200,000 fans is happening right now. Most of these tasks involve this group of interns.

“Work more days, more hours, but I think that’s when the bonding really starts to happen once we get those long hours in,” Heidt said confidently.

The Swampers team has participants from 16 different states, including Texas, Connecticut, Florida and South Carolina, just to name a few.

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