The other week, I had an opportunity to volunteer at a golf tournament fundraiser. I had never been to a golf tournament, so I had no idea what to expect (yes, in 20 years of event planning, I never had to organize a golf tournament, it’s true). I was looking forward to helping out and having an excuse to spend all day outside.
The morning of the tournament, I got geared up in my official volunteer golf shirt and headed off to the country club. It’s a really beautiful facility with a mission-style clubhouse and of course the golf course was impeccable.
photo credit: Leslie Jones 
photo credit: Leslie Jones
Phones aren’t allowed on the course (one of the volunteer coordinators had a cautionary tale of someone who was escorted off of the property for taking a call), so I left my phone in my car, which was kind-of great. I mean, I leave it in the other room all the time, but not checking in for eight hours is an accomplishment these days, wouldn’t you agree?
This is one of those events that has been going on for years and years. Most of the volunteers are regulars and everyone knows each other. I always get a little bit nervous when I find myself walking into one of those kinds of situations, so I was relieved by how nice and friendly everyone was. The volunteer coordinators and the other volunteers were super nice, and all the golfers were relaxed and happy.
I was paired up with another woman who was also new to the event. We were dropped off at our assignment with the promise that someone would come back by to explain what we were supposed to do.
It was a cool, overcast morning and my new friend and I had about an hour to chat and enjoy the scenery before the golfers showed up. We still didn’t know what our official job was, so we just made a point of being friendly and checking off the groups as they came through.
A gentleman in the maybe fourth or fifth group finally explained to us why we had been stationed at that hole. You see, the fairway on this hole was a big hump. Long hitters would clear the crest of the hump, but from the tee, you couldn’t see whether they were still hitting up or were on the green. One of us was supposed to stand out on the course at the top of the rise and then signal back to the tee when it was clear for them to tee off.
This was an unfortunate interruption of my conversation with my new friend, but I was glad that we had something important to do like making sure that no one was concussed (I mean, the golfers were practically all doctors, but still).
When our final group had teed off, we headed back to the clubhouse where there was a lovely cocktail reception with a huge silent auction (add that to the list of reasons that I am glad to have never had to plan or run a golf tournament). I’m looking forward to volunteering again next year.
