Working or volunteering for a golf tournament.

[GolfingInHawaiiSpoiledMe]

Aloha guys/gals. Just wondering how many of us take time to work or volunteer at tournaments.   

  Just did 5 years at the Sony open standard bearing.  

   Thanks. 

[SavvySwede]

18 minutes ago, GolfingInHawaiiSpoiledMe said:

Aloha guys/gals. Just wondering how many of us take time to work or volunteer at tournaments.   

  Just did 5 years at the Sony open standard bearing.  

   Thanks. 

Never done one myself. Any good stories?

[WUTiger]

I have volunteered for three tournaments in St. Louis area:

• 2008 U.S. Women's Amateur at Old Warson CC. Driving range and standard bearer. This was cool because I caddied there circa 1970, and hadn't really walked the course since then. One of the younger "schoolboys" I used to caddie, Mike Smith, worked there as caddie master.
• 2013 U.S. Senior PGA at Bellerive CC. I was a course marshall on Hole No. 14, a 380-yd. dogleg left par 4.
• 2014 Curtis Cup at St. Louis CC. This was a women's amateur event USA vis. Britain/Ireland, the equivalent of the men's Walker Cup. The U.S. beat the GB/I team. I was a course marshall; in a match-play format, this is great, because a group of eight marshalls travel with each foursome. You don't have to stay at just one hole.

Stories:

U.S. Women's Amateur. One of the teenage players had a monster head cover patterned after a character from the Maurice Sendak children's book, Where the Wild Things Are. I asked her, "are you a wild thing?" and she got a little upset - "I have very good control off the tee!" she replied. Then her aunt, who was caddying for her, intervened on my behalf. "Honey, I think he's talking about your head cover..."

Senior PGA. No. 14 sometimes produced a slowdown when people tried to cut the corner and a ball search ensued. This was great for the tee box crew, because you could scope out what the players were carrying in their bags. The Callaway and TaylorMade drivers sported some really exotic non-stock shafts.

Curtis Cup. The USA women were addicted to lob wedges. Several times, a USA player would face a chip shot into a false front, throw a LW shot in six feet from the flag, and have it spin back 20 feet. Shades of past Phil M. disasters. My post-match notes are at home, so I don't have details on who did what specifically.

Interesting note: The GB/I women tended to have fluid, traditional "swinging gate" swings, while the USA women tended to have X-Factor swings.

Another interesting note: Most of the women on both teams were scholarship golfers at D1 U.S. universities.

 

[GolfingInHawaiiSpoiledMe]

41 minutes ago, SavvySwede said:

Never done one myself. Any good stories?

Not really, pretty subdued out here.  I have seen some amazing shots doing this. What's baffling is these guys pull out 7 irons from 165 in ankle deep rough and with no effort what so ever and drop on the green.  

 

    There are a few golfers the old timers will avoid at all poss cost. Due to the fact they are complete a-holes to walk with.  On the other end they are few golfers where it's a such a pleasure to walk with.  We are I told not to intiate any talking with them unless they start the convo. Few these guys are full of jokes and take pride in having fun with us as we walk with them. 

 

Edited April 1, 2016 by GolfingInHawaiiSpoiledMe

[boogielicious]

13 hours ago, GolfingInHawaiiSpoiledMe said:

Not really, pretty subdued out here.  I have seen some amazing shots doing this. What's baffling is these guys pull out 7 irons from 165 in ankle deep rough and with no effort what so ever and drop on the green.  

 

    There are a few golfers the old timers will avoid at all poss cost. Due to the fact they are complete a-holes to walk with.  On the other end they are few golfers where it's a such a pleasure to walk with.  We are I told not to intiate any talking with them unless they start the convo. Few these guys are full of jokes and take pride in having fun with us as we walk with them. 

 

Cool! Thanks for posting this.