Pay to be a volunteer at the 2018 US Open?

In these cases, the SWAG constitutes as your uniform for the week. So that if someone on the grounds needs assistance, they are easily able to locate a volunteer for help. Much easier than just saying, go find a guy in a golf shirt.

Almost always winds up being cheaper than buying a shirt or something on grounds anyway.

If you were going to the tournament anyway, what would it cost you for the ticket, parking, and any merchandise or food/drink you were gonna buy? Probably pretty close to the volunteer price. And you just went one day. They get the entire week!
 
I hear you there, but I'm not sure why they would hand out swag at the beginning. I did a day of volunteering at an Olympic Qualifying freestyle ski/board event, and the swag was dished out after the event and was based purely on how many days of volunteering was done. For a day, I only got a sweet belt, but others who did three days or more got swagged out pretty hard with a full outerwear setup. I'm not sure why golf events aren't done similarly.

Seems counter intuitive to me to give out the swag first.

I would agree with that and maybe that could be considered. That said, part of the swag is getting the uniform shirts ahead of time and with thousands of people at a tournament, it is easier to point out a marshal.

Technology has made things easier for tournaments. With the ID card which acted as my ticket at the BMW, they had a barcode on it that had to be scanned each time I arrived at the course. It allowed them to track if people were coming to the tournament and not to the volunteer assignment. If you didn't show for your assignment, they deactivated the pass.
 
Almost always winds up being cheaper than buying a shirt or something on grounds anyway.

If you were going to the tournament anyway, what would it cost you for the ticket, parking, and any merchandise or food/drink you were gonna buy? Probably pretty close to the volunteer price. And you just went one day. They get the entire week!

Tickets, 2 Polos, Hat, Jacket would cost way more than the 175 if paying the normal prices.
 
In these cases, the SWAG constitutes as your uniform for the week. So that if someone on the grounds needs assistance, they are easily able to locate a volunteer for help. Much easier than just saying, go find a guy in a golf shirt.
Fair, but why not use official tournament bibs that are returned at the end of each day to identify tournament workers?

Tell the volunteers to show up in a white polo and khakis and have them put the bib over it. They are reusable and can be handed out to different workers each day as needed. This was another thing that the Olympic event did that made a ton of sense to me.
 
I don't think money is as much of a question here. Its more about defining volunteer in its true sense.

a person who freely offers to take part in an enterprise or undertake a task.

I think the key word in that definition is 'free'. $175 is not that much for the benefits you get from 'volunteering' in such an event. However, it breaks the definition of the word. Might be better served calling it a Subsided Work Pass or something similar.
 
Yeah, I think in lots of cases the volunteer fee is (mostly) used to ensure people actually show up to volunteer.

I've paid $55 to volunteer for the local LPGA event. For that I'll get a polo and a hat, food when I'm working, and a round on the course (after $25 cart fee). My credential gets me in the gate all week too, and I'll also get another 5-6 weekly badges. One weekly badge is either $40-50 by itself.

So, it's actually cheaper for me to pay the volunteer fee than it would be to buy tickets for my family in order to bring my daughter out for a day.

$55 to walk inside the ropes with the final group in a tournament was an absoulte steal last year. Even if I'm scheduled with someone who barely makes the cut this year I know I'll learn something that'll help my game when it comes to course management.

Major championships have had more expensive volunteer fees, but when you compare the price to the cost of tickets it's not at all a bad trade off. Especially when you consider that it can often get you closer to the action than you'd otherwise be able to purchase.

I'd definitely feel different about paying to refill water coolers or something, but if you can get a placement where you're inside the ropes it's a pretty cool experience for the money.
 
Tickets, 2 Polos, Hat, Jacket would cost way more than the 175 if paying the normal prices.

Yup, every time. To each their own though, nonvolunteers do get to actually watch the golf and go follow a group that’s going low. Sometimes when you can’t and you’re in a fog of a group, that suuuucks.
 
It covers polo, hat, sometimes food, passes to everyday, oh and often a round at the course later in the year. It is worth the money
Same is true here for the Texas Open. I paid $45 the last time and this year I thinks it's $55. Unfortunately I can't commit the time for it this year.
 
Went back and looked at my voucher. I was scheduled to work the merchandise tent all four days. It does include 2 polos, hat, and a rain jacket.

Now that I know it's the norm I might pay to volunteer at a cheaper tourney in the future but for this one the juice definitely wasn't worth the squeeze.
 
Went back and looked at my voucher. I was scheduled to work the merchandise tent all four days. It does include 2 polos, hat, and a rain jacket.

Now that I know it's the norm I might pay to volunteer at a cheaper tourney in the future but for this one the juice definitely wasn't worth the squeeze.

You and me. I never volunteered before and I also got Merch

Guess we're gonna be folding shirts!
 
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