Volunteering at a PGA Tour Event

[davep043]

They're telling you 6 shifts? That seems odd, as the scoreboards were only in use on the 4 tournament days. It also seems odd, I seem to remember that we only were required to work 4 shifts in the week, even the time we were "hole marshals" and the hole had to be staffed for practice rounds as well as tournament days.

[nutmegchoi]

They want us to submit 6 shift, 5 hour availability.

I'm not sure that means they'll book all 6 shift or not.

 

$185 and they give us week access, meals for the shifts, tshirt, jacket and hat.

I won't complain.

[davep043]

I wonder if that's a standard request for all volunteers, not specific to the leaderboard group. That may also be for scheduling flexibility, and they'll use you for 4 or 5 shifts. No matter, you'll have a great time. One suggestion, I know I purchased an additional volunteer shirt, so I didn't need to do laundry every night. Pinehurst in June was pretty steamy.

[ray9898]

LOL.....pay to 'volunteer' for something while everyone involved keeps making millions.

[nutmegchoi]

Weekly pass is $625.

I don't think my $185 wasn't such a bad trade.

And god forbid, if the event holds with no galleries, I still get to watch live golf.

[Djuga06]

I’ve been a marshal/hole captain at the tourney here for the past 14 years. My favorite thing to do is the directional flag at the tee. If you’ve got a good eye, it’s tough to get much closer to the players than with that flag. Always find it fun to hear the player's stories/random observations. They don’t let us play the course though, anymore. For those complaining about paying to volunteer, the nominal amount you are asked to pay (less than $100 here) is far less than what you’re given as many others have said. Looking forward to hopefully working the President's Cup next year.

[manku]

I do it every year...I can sell my free tickets for more than my admission (and that's selling at 50% of face value), so it doesn't really cost me anything except my time.

I will say, however, that volunteers should be only assigned golf related tasks. I did transportation once...for a day. Driving courtesy cars to and from the airport, or schlepping some random person around town, should be a paid gig. Same with people who work the merchandise tent.

I've been a standard bearer (fantastic, but tiring), done media (fun...drove PGATour radio guys around the course), and driving range (cool to see them up close with entourages, but sorting balls gets very tedious).

Personally, it's the only way I'd ever go to a golf event unless someone gave me free tickets/free parking/free food...like a corporate suite or access to something similar.

 

[davep043]

Actually, the cost covers a very reasonable price for the "uniform", and the full week's admission has always seemed to me to be a very fair trade for the 20 hours or so of "work" that is expected. Obviously we all value things differently, but I've never felt like I've been taken advantage of when I've volunteered.

[tocino]

My wife was more attracted to the benefits than I was when we volunteered. i didn't realize we got so much outside of the extra passes. Free meals, free happy hour (1 drink but plenty of people were giving up their tickets), free snacks, access to the ProAm if you're not working it, and the Safeway Open had a concert on wed, thur, fri, and sat at night. That's plenty in exchange for a little bit of your time doing something i'd probably be watching on TV anyways. If i didn't have to cross 2 bridges, I would've volunteered for the PGA Championship at TPC Harding Park and that one you had to pay for it