NewGlfr
New member
I love this game. As someone who grew up without the means to enjoy playing it, but watched every chance I got, it was an awe inspiring experience to be abe to be at one of the premiere Golf Courses in the World with such history behind it. Seeing the course for the first time as the bus pulled up to the entrance was jaw dropping.
I got to follow some of the greatest Golfers in the World when I was not "working" and geeked out when following Tiger for the few holes I got to see him play. I also followed many others and got to see some of the best on the practice tees and practice greens.
I got to meet Jon Jennings the Chief Groundskeeper at Shinnecock and chat with him about the course itself. That was incredible. I also met the Chief Groundkeeper at Baltusrol, and we chatted a bit about his long history at the various courses he worked at.
It's amazing to me how many great people I got to meet over the few days I was there and how much love there is for the game by everyone in attendence. I can tell you, that anyone who thinks Golf is struggling should come to an event like this and take a look around. Tens of thousands of fans of all ages convening to honor a sport they love.
That's the awesome part.
Unpopular opinion incoming. If you want to argue with me, you can, but you aren't going to change my mind.
The volunteer experience was awful. The USGA does not treat it's volunteers well at all. There was an estimated 4500 volunteers which calculates to almost 90 000 hours of free labor. I don't know how Golf gets away with this. Especially since they are college age interns on the grounds which the USGA pays for food, lodging and clothing for 2 months time. 6 weeks before the event and 2 weeks after. But if you want to volunteer, you have to pay for the swag (which does not go to charity, btw, more on that later), pay for lodging, travel and food. Again, more on that later.
As a volunteer in the Merchandise Tent, it is absolutely staggering how much money the USGA makes on the things they sell. Yes, that is the goal of capitalism, but everyone I spoke to who worked in there was dumbfounded at how they can rack in so much and equally expect so much from "volunteers". It is not easy "work" to be on the floor for 4 and half hours at a time checking out so many people and seeing what is spent. Volunteers get no discounts, in the tent at all. We were also told we couldn't purchase more Volunteer swag unless it was our size and that the public would not be allowed to purchase volunteer apparel. When we asked what they did with all the extra stuff, they told us there was a charity they donated it to in South Africa. That was an outright lie. On Sunday, all the volunteers get an e-mail that all volunteer swag will be available to anyone and we can now buy any size we want. Obviously, the whole volunteer swag stuff is a security issue, but be honest about it.
There were no special considerations for the shuttle bus or food for Volunteers. You would think there there would be a parking area for volunteers close to the Shuttle so we wouldn't have to walk a great distance. Well, no. Many of us had to walk upwards of a mile just to get to the shuttle bus, and then back again once we got back. The shuttle itself was very poorly conceived, too. One of my shifts started at 6:45. It should have taken 25 minutes to get from the parking lot to the Course. Not so much. We actually got an e-mail telling us to show up at the buses between 5:30 and 5:45 to make our early shift. So show up at 5:30. Didn't get on the bus until 5:45. Didn't get to the course until 7:15. Many of the Hole Marshalls missed the first couple of tee offs because of it, and many people weren't available to get to the Merch Tent, etc. Frustrating and stressful.
Don't forget, too, that many of us had to travel to the Shuttle bus as well. And lodging was not plentiful in the area, nor very reasonably priced. I got a very cheap dumpy AirBnB as I was by myself, but still had to drive 25 minutes just to get to the Shuttle area. Woke up at 5AM to get to bus area at 5:30, and then 1:30 to get to the course. THEN to "volunteer". Just very poorly conceived.
Getting food was not easy and the food was terrible. We had access to free coffee, donuts and soda. We also got one voucher for free lunch per shift you work. But when it was time to get a short break from our shift to get food, we had to wait in line like everyone else to get our food. The lines were very long. No way to just walk up to get your food. And since you couldn't walk through he Merch Tent with food or drink, you had nowhere inside to sit down for a minute and eat. I'm not even going to tell you how bad the food was. We also had to go to the regular concession stands to get the food, rather than the "special" concessions which actually had freshly made, real food. Not frozen and microwaved stuff.
It was also very elitist as far which volunteers got certain stations and where the volunteers were allowed to go. A lowly Merchandise Tent Volunteer didn't have the same access privileges as the better stations. Some volunteers had ready access to the players. Others were forbidden from going to player areas. The best stations were given to members of the surrounding Golf Courses. And even they complained about how they were being treated.
One thing that was quite apparent was the demographics of the volunteers. I would say that 60% of the volunteers were over the age of 60 which made many of these issues even worse. Some of the more elderly volunteers needed help getting around after their shifts none of the stations let you sit down for long. It's also a matter that after an experience we had, I'm not so sure many will sign up to volunteer again.
For me, that's the ultimate rub. How in the world does the USGA and the PGA get away with this type of labor situation? The Masters does it right by actually employing the people that help temporarily. I think there will need to be a paradigm shift with this in the very near future. I'm remiss to think that the next few generations will tolerate this kind of thing, which is terrible for the game. Needless to say, the USGA in particular does not need anyone's help.
In 2015, the USGA had NET Assets of about $300M. But they need "volunteers" to run their Tournaments? You can look up their tax returns since they are a 501 (c) organization. Just plain staggering.
I got to follow some of the greatest Golfers in the World when I was not "working" and geeked out when following Tiger for the few holes I got to see him play. I also followed many others and got to see some of the best on the practice tees and practice greens.
I got to meet Jon Jennings the Chief Groundskeeper at Shinnecock and chat with him about the course itself. That was incredible. I also met the Chief Groundkeeper at Baltusrol, and we chatted a bit about his long history at the various courses he worked at.
It's amazing to me how many great people I got to meet over the few days I was there and how much love there is for the game by everyone in attendence. I can tell you, that anyone who thinks Golf is struggling should come to an event like this and take a look around. Tens of thousands of fans of all ages convening to honor a sport they love.
That's the awesome part.
Unpopular opinion incoming. If you want to argue with me, you can, but you aren't going to change my mind.
The volunteer experience was awful. The USGA does not treat it's volunteers well at all. There was an estimated 4500 volunteers which calculates to almost 90 000 hours of free labor. I don't know how Golf gets away with this. Especially since they are college age interns on the grounds which the USGA pays for food, lodging and clothing for 2 months time. 6 weeks before the event and 2 weeks after. But if you want to volunteer, you have to pay for the swag (which does not go to charity, btw, more on that later), pay for lodging, travel and food. Again, more on that later.
As a volunteer in the Merchandise Tent, it is absolutely staggering how much money the USGA makes on the things they sell. Yes, that is the goal of capitalism, but everyone I spoke to who worked in there was dumbfounded at how they can rack in so much and equally expect so much from "volunteers". It is not easy "work" to be on the floor for 4 and half hours at a time checking out so many people and seeing what is spent. Volunteers get no discounts, in the tent at all. We were also told we couldn't purchase more Volunteer swag unless it was our size and that the public would not be allowed to purchase volunteer apparel. When we asked what they did with all the extra stuff, they told us there was a charity they donated it to in South Africa. That was an outright lie. On Sunday, all the volunteers get an e-mail that all volunteer swag will be available to anyone and we can now buy any size we want. Obviously, the whole volunteer swag stuff is a security issue, but be honest about it.
There were no special considerations for the shuttle bus or food for Volunteers. You would think there there would be a parking area for volunteers close to the Shuttle so we wouldn't have to walk a great distance. Well, no. Many of us had to walk upwards of a mile just to get to the shuttle bus, and then back again once we got back. The shuttle itself was very poorly conceived, too. One of my shifts started at 6:45. It should have taken 25 minutes to get from the parking lot to the Course. Not so much. We actually got an e-mail telling us to show up at the buses between 5:30 and 5:45 to make our early shift. So show up at 5:30. Didn't get on the bus until 5:45. Didn't get to the course until 7:15. Many of the Hole Marshalls missed the first couple of tee offs because of it, and many people weren't available to get to the Merch Tent, etc. Frustrating and stressful.
Don't forget, too, that many of us had to travel to the Shuttle bus as well. And lodging was not plentiful in the area, nor very reasonably priced. I got a very cheap dumpy AirBnB as I was by myself, but still had to drive 25 minutes just to get to the Shuttle area. Woke up at 5AM to get to bus area at 5:30, and then 1:30 to get to the course. THEN to "volunteer". Just very poorly conceived.
Getting food was not easy and the food was terrible. We had access to free coffee, donuts and soda. We also got one voucher for free lunch per shift you work. But when it was time to get a short break from our shift to get food, we had to wait in line like everyone else to get our food. The lines were very long. No way to just walk up to get your food. And since you couldn't walk through he Merch Tent with food or drink, you had nowhere inside to sit down for a minute and eat. I'm not even going to tell you how bad the food was. We also had to go to the regular concession stands to get the food, rather than the "special" concessions which actually had freshly made, real food. Not frozen and microwaved stuff.
It was also very elitist as far which volunteers got certain stations and where the volunteers were allowed to go. A lowly Merchandise Tent Volunteer didn't have the same access privileges as the better stations. Some volunteers had ready access to the players. Others were forbidden from going to player areas. The best stations were given to members of the surrounding Golf Courses. And even they complained about how they were being treated.
One thing that was quite apparent was the demographics of the volunteers. I would say that 60% of the volunteers were over the age of 60 which made many of these issues even worse. Some of the more elderly volunteers needed help getting around after their shifts none of the stations let you sit down for long. It's also a matter that after an experience we had, I'm not so sure many will sign up to volunteer again.
For me, that's the ultimate rub. How in the world does the USGA and the PGA get away with this type of labor situation? The Masters does it right by actually employing the people that help temporarily. I think there will need to be a paradigm shift with this in the very near future. I'm remiss to think that the next few generations will tolerate this kind of thing, which is terrible for the game. Needless to say, the USGA in particular does not need anyone's help.
In 2015, the USGA had NET Assets of about $300M. But they need "volunteers" to run their Tournaments? You can look up their tax returns since they are a 501 (c) organization. Just plain staggering.
