An internship at Beau Pr\u00E9 Golf Club in Natchez is giving a local resident and Mississippi State University student a leg up in the golf industry.

State junior Bruce Bell is in his third year in school’s professional golf management program – a four- to five-year course – and is getting valuable on-the-job training that will put him far ahead of his counterparts in the private sector.

&uot;It gives us a great opportunity to to work with PGA (Professional Golf Association) pros and learn what they have to offer.&uot;

After passing a one-day, 36-hole &uot;playability&uot; test, Bell got deeper into the program, including the golf professional’s training program – the bulk of the course’s material.

&uot;In the GPTP we learn about everything that goes on around a golf course,&uot; he said. &uot;We study golf cart fleet management, teaching, club repair and design, tournament operations – everything that goes on at a course.&uot;

Once Bell finishes the GPTP, he said, he will become a Class A professional.

Bell said the the contacts he makes during the first of his three internships – which total 20 months – will also give him an edge down the road.

&uot;One of the pros at Indian Hills Golf Club (Murfreesboro, Tenn.) was on the PGA board of directors,&uot; he said. &uot;The internship ties us in with some pretty influential people in the PGA.&uot;

For his third internship, Bell said he will probably move to a golf resort at Hilton Head, S.C., as the course faculty push the interns to spend time at a public course, a private course and at a golf resort.