Mid Atlantic PGA internship enriches York College student’s love for the game

The story goes that Jordan Koller ’22 was watching her father practice golf swings in the backyard when she began laughing at him. Perhaps a little bruised by his daughter’s taunts, he put the club in her hand to see if she could do any better. She was just 2 years old. 

As she grew up, she developed a love for the game. At 12, she joined the PGA Junior League Team format and competed for six years before deciding to attend York College of Pennsylvania. The Maryland native hadn’t even considered York College until she received a letter about the new women’s golf team. “I decided to visit and knew it was the right place for me,” she says. 

Being an example

Koller says a lot of things come easy for her. She’s always been a good student and likes to be creative. Golf, on the other hand, challenged her. “I saw the rewards of working hard for something, and I grew to appreciate that,” she says. “It brought out a lot of positive characteristics in me.” 

Her love of golf led her to explore a degree in Sport Management, where Koller hopes to help other young women develop the skills and passion for golf that she’s found. She was able to put that into practice this past summer as a junior golf intern running junior golf tournaments with the Mid Atlantic PGA. Visiting familiar territory on courses in Virginia, Koller had attended some of the same camps as a high school student. 

While she was often one of the only females at camp as a kid, she heard one mother express her gratitude for Koller as a female golf leader that her own daughter could look up to. “It was really rewarding to know I could be an example of how a woman can have a future in sports,” Koller says. 

Career preparation

The internship experience allowed Koller to apply a lot of things she learned in her Sport Management classes at York College. Along with communication and coordination skills, she brought with her an understanding of what the student-athletes are going through on the course.

The grind of an 18-hole course in the summer heat, and now with face masks and COVID-19 precautions to consider, can be grueling. “The coach isn’t going to be able to pull you out of that,” she says. “It’s a mental game, and I’ve been in that position.” 

Now, with her internship behind her and a new year at York College underway, Koller is ready to get back on the golf course to continue improving her own game. Thanks to a partnership with the Country Club of York, Koller says, she has access to a challenging, beautiful course that can be hard to come by at other Division III schools.

“From my coach to my professors, there are a lot of people at York College who are working to bring out the best in me,” she says. “I’ve found experiences here that have prepared me for my career.”