Day 4     September 6, 2010

Thankfully by this stage in the Championship, things get off to a later start, allowing the assignment meeting to take place at 7:30am.  Got assigned to the Phil Mickelson and Adam Scott pairing, teeing off at 1:15, the 4th from last tee time of the final day of the DBC.  By now I was developing a routine for killing time by hanging out on the practice tee grandstand, having one breakfast, then a 2nd breakfast, then timing lunch just right since our 18 hole round would last at least 5 hours.

Got to the 1st tee around 1:00, met up with our crew leader Tony, Brian, Dave, and Tom, all veteran marshals and good guys. We were also going to be joined by a Norton police officer for added crowd control, which was great since the afternoon Labor Day galleries were becoming pretty liquored up.  Mickelson and Scott were tied at -12, the leader Charlie Hoffman at 17 under par.  The gallery at the first tee was around 300 spectators, growing steadily to 5,000 as we made our way along, picking up people at every hole.  Tony and I stayed parallel to Phil and Adam, while the rest of our crew worked a few hundred yards ahead on either side of the fairway.  We would join up at each green and position ourselves relative to where the hole marshals were already stationed.  Invariably, those marshals would thank us for bringing in the ''reinforcements'' after they saw the size of the gallery we were escorting.  Making our way from each green, between the ropes down the narrow chutes to the next tee, was always a challenge, with people standing 7-8 deep, trying to get Phil's attention.  At some points, I felt sorry for Adam Scott, who was virtually ignored by the crowd.  This would present a challenge to us at each tee and on the greens, keeping the crowd in place until both golfers had hit.  Spectators would tend to bolt as soon as Phil was done, trying to move ahead to jockey for the next viewing position along the ropes. We were constantly giving the command "Stand please" & "Hold for both players".

On hole #10 I had an especially challenging situation when Phil's drive went outside of the ropes not once but twice, requiring us to move the crowd to create an alley for him to play his shot.  We have to drop the gallery rope by pulling the stakes, which involves marking the stake hole with a tee, or you never find it again and can't jam it back into the rock hard turf otherwise. Little known marshal secret!  The spectators want to be right on top of Phil, who only encourages this with lots of friendly bantering back and forth.  His caddie Bones was helpful in directing the crowd back the proper distance for the right shot angle.  Our crew leader Tony is a master at this type of situation as well.

After finishing at 18, Tony stationed us at the scoring / interview area, which had become packed.  The eventual winner of the DBC, Charlie Hoffman was in the pairing immediately behind us, which added to the tremendous crush in this whole area.  Was a thrill to be in the midst of all the players at the top of the leader board as they were being interviewed, then making their way to the clubhouse.  It was a long 12 hour day, after a long 4 days at the Deutsche Bank Championship, the second stage of the FedEx Cup of 2010, and I'd had some small part in making it all happen.  Can't wait until next year.

Day 3    September 5, 2010

Cold Sunday morning at TPC Boston, 58 degrees, wore DBC wind shirt to ward off the chill.  At the 6am mobile marshals meeting, was surprised when I wasn't assigned to any of the player groups teeing off early in the day, which meant the later my assignment, the closer those players were to the top of the leader board.  I was eventually assigned to the Matt Kuchar-Charlie Hoffman pairing, only 1 back from the leaders.  Diane was again our crew leader, found out she had requested me from yesterday's crew with Phil, so I was happy I'd made a good impression.  Diane was a real veteran of marshaling, having volunteered not only at DBC, but also for years at the Travelers tournament in Hartford.

Now came the hard part, what to do from 6:30am until our tee time at 1:30 this afternoon.  Evidently a system hasn't been developed to assign us to our player pairings other than to have us all attend the early morning mobile marshals meeting.  Since I was volunteering to get close to the players, I requested a additional morning assignment where extra help might be needed.  David assigned me to the Villegas-Streelman group for 9:50, where I could walk 9 holes with them but save my legs for the full 18 holes I had later on with Kooch and Hoffman.  Sat in the grandstand at the packed practice area, having my DD iced coffee and bagel, joined by Melinda, another marshal who was also part of the Hartford crew.  About one-half of all the mobile marshals got their start at the Travelers years ago, including our co-chairmen Karen and David, eventually coming over to the DBC to get the mobile marshals committee going.    

My 9 holes with Camillo Villegas and Kevin Streelman was pretty sedate although Villegas was new to the Tour and a hot commodity for the ladies in the gallery. I learned a few lessons in what not to do as a walking marshal during this assignment, as one member of our crew would demonstrate repeatedly.  His technique was to position himself in the most prominent place imaginable on every hole, drawing unnecessary attention to himself as he signaled for quiet with raised arms.  Sometimes he appeared almost as a caricature of what marshaling isn't all about, distracting the players as well as  the gallery.

After cashing in my lunch voucher at the concession stand, I met my afternoon crew members at the 1st tee, Diane, Tom, and Brian, all veteran marshals.  Was surprised that the gallery wasn't larger for Kuchar, maybe 50 people at the start of his round, building to a couple hundred by the 10th, then close to 1000 by the 18th tee.  Heard countless calls of "Kooooch"and "Go Chuck" for Matt and Charlie Hoffman, especially coming from the corporate pavilions starting at the 15th tee.  Found out its nearly impossible to ask for quiet anywhere from tee to green along the 16th hole at the DBC, you just give-in to the open bar atmosphere.  Roger Maltbie was even getting a fair amount of shout-outs ("ROGAH"!!) as the NBC on-course commentator walking along with us. Despite this controlled chaos, got the impression our presence was very helpful as player escorts.  After Kuchar and Hoffman putted out on 18, Diane and I accompanied them down the narrow chute through the immense crowd, into the interview and scoring areas.  Passed close by Stricker and Donald being interviewed by Gary Koch of NBC and Steve Sands of the Golf Channel.  After Kuchar exited the scoring trailer, accompanied him to the autograph area nearby, just behind the clubhouse.  This area is technically for kids only, and is blocked off by crowd barriers; its our job as marshals to stand beside the player to fend off some of the older "kids" who have snuck into the autograph-seeking crowd standing 5 deep.  Matt was in high demand and politely signed for 15 minutes.  Told Diane afterwards I'd had a great time, especially in my first experience of finishing at 18, followed by being right in the middle of all the post-round excitement.        

Day 2     September 4, 2010     Saturday

It was the second day of competition at the DBC, and it was going to be my first inside the ropes next to the players as a mobile marshal.  To make it an even more unique experience, we had just weathered Hurrcane Earl on Cape Cod, winds roaring all Friday night into Saturday morning but winding down by 4am. I got up at 4:45 to check the weather, but more importantly to check on the status of the Sagamore bridge leading off the Cape; there had been conjecture on Friday that the State Police were going to close the bridge if conditions were unsafe.
No problem driving up to TPC Boston as it turned out, but the weather meant I was delayed and missed the 6am mobile marshals assignment meeting.  When I caught up to Karen and David, they informed me I was assigned to the Phil Mickelson, Ben Crane, & Jeff Overton group, considered the #2 group of the day, (Tiger being #1).  I was really surprised to be placed in such a high profile group as a rookie mobile marshal.  I had an hour to kill so I got breakfast and headed up to the practice tee, getting a cart ride from a marshal's support guy.  Found a bit of golf heaven at the practice area, the place was packed with 25 of the top 100 players in the FedEx cup standings, all going through their warm-up routines, each slightly different from one another.  The atmosphere was already electric, then went up another notch entirely when Phil walked on to applause from the hundreds of spectators in the grandstand and along the ropes.
Made my way to the 10th tee for our 7:48 tee time, joining Diane our crew leader, plus four other mobile marshals, nice guys all.  Diane's style was excellent, letting us each choose where we wanted to be stationed as we walked 18 holes with Phil's group.  I chose to stay parallel to the players, other marshals went ahead at 100 and 200 yard positions.  We started out with a gallery of around 200 people at that morning hour, which eventually grew throughout the round to between 3000 to 4000 on the last 4 holes (6 through 9).  I quickly saw the value in the mobile marshal concept as several holes had only 2-3 hole marshals and would have been swamped with the size of our gallery without our added 5-marshal crew. I was inside the ropes virtually every step of the way, keeping alongside the players, standing only a feet away in lots of cases. One key concept I learned is to be unobtrusive, not blocking the galleries' view, but also being visible as the crowd watched the players.  Spectators take their cues from the marshals as to when to remain quiet and respectful of the play going on.  We on the other hand don't want to act as if the gallery must remain quiet or stationary unnecessarily, so we're constantly assessing each player's shot routine to signal for quiet at just the right moment.
Seeing a player of Phil Mickelson's stature over the course of 18 holes gave me a fuller appreciation of his professional nature which makes him such a crowd favorite.  I could not believe how many people in the crowd were compelled to shout his name or words of encouragement, literally thousands of times.  Phil seems to acknowledge each one, with a smile, a nod, a tip of his cap or his trademark thumbs-up.  I'd be going nuts with that much constant distraction, but Phil is ''on'' every step of the way, all 18 holes.

 Our final hole was incredible. The right side of the 9th fairway is adjacent to the main spectator entrance to TPC Boston, so the first thing everyone does on arriving is to stand at this fairway to see who is coming along.  The midday crowd was like nothing I'd ever seen, people must have been standing 20 deep, the noise was amazing.  All we had to do as marshals was to get them to be reasonably quiet and motionless!  About the best we could do was to get things settled down to a dull roar. A tremendous experience.  Phil was having a spectacular round, starting the day at minus 3 and finishing at 8 under par, a wonderful display of great putting. Afterwards, Diane gathered us together off the 9th green and told us we'd worked ''perfectly'' as a crew.  I really felt such an integral part of the action, as well as having a small part in enabling the tournament to take place as part of the volunteer Blue Crew.  To top it off, I was later cutting through the players courtesy car parking lot on my way to the practice range when I ran across Phil getting into his courtesy BMW.  He looked at me, and nodded, seemingly recognizing me from having just walked 18 holes with him. (Or so I'd like to think!).

The 2010 Deutsche Bank Championship      TPC Boston

Day 1    September 2, 2010  
Pro-am

I got selected to the mobile marshals committee knowing it would be a different experience from an assignment to a single hole.  I wondered about the amount of work involved.  We were expected to arrive at the TPC Boston at the ungodly hour of 6:00am for the mobile marshals meeting, requiring me to set my alarm for 4.  It was dark when I arrived on course at 5:30, made my way to the volunteer pavilion for the traditional DD coffee & bagel, then over to the MGA HQ building for the meeting.  Right away I got the impression I was part of an elite team. There were 30 other marshals assembled to get pre-tournament info from our Co-captains Karen and David.  The mobile marshals are assigned to those players who will require additional marshal support for crowd control, the most popular players.  We walk 18 holes with these players, rather than being assigned to a stationary position at one hole.  Additionally, we escort players through their entire round, from the 1st tee through the 18th green, then on to the scoring, interview, and autograph areas.

Hunter Mahan and Dustin Johnson

Rickie Fowler

Bubba Watson

Jason Day

Karen and David welcomed all the returning marshals, as well as us rookies, and assigned me to 2 veterans who would form our group accompanying Rickie Fowler and his amateur partners.  The biggest issue we were made aware of was the increased tendency for spectators to try to bring cellphones onto the grounds, technically prohibited by the PGA TOUR.  If we observed a patron with a phone, we're trained in the logistics of politely asking them to refrain from cellphone use as it is distracting to the players.  In addition, it was emphasized that the taking of pictures is only allowed during the pro-am, not during regulation competition later in the week.
I had an hour to kill before Rickie's tee-time and went to the practice green, when Tiger arrived.  He always scores the coveted first tee slot in the pro-am, 7:00am. Watched his entire practice session, he was all smiles the whole time, but despite a thousand requests, no autographs for the gallery.  Also warming up with TW were Scott, Day, Harrington, McIlroy, Casey, Donald, Glover, Leonard, Villegas, all lined up at the practice range.  Ryder Cup Captain Corey Pavin, was also strolling about, chatting-up the prospective hopefuls.  He would be making his final selections the day after the DBC. Great atmosphere at the pro-am, players relaxed and generally receptive to giving autographs to the gallery lined along the ropes adjacent to the practice areas.
At 8:00am, made my way to the 10th tee for Rickie's tee-off, and ran into my wife Mary and daughter Jill.  I'd secured guest passes for that day and was pleased to find them among the thousands in the crowd.  I directed them to the practice tee nearby to get pictures and to autograph the DBC pin flag I gave them.  Marshals are prohibited from seeking autographs or pictures while in DBC uniform.  Mary and Jill were  psyched in their goal to get Dustin Johnson's attention.
I found out that mobile marshaling appeared to be a combination of fore-caddying, crowd control, and roving DBC ambassador for fan support.  Especially during the pro-am, we were allowed to go anywhere, but were primarily walking outside of the ropes due to the many wayward shots of the amateurs. I had fun locating some pretty awful shots into the woods at various times, but the amateur players were always appreciative of our help in ball location. Although I was assigned to Rickie's group, I spent just as much time approximately 250 yards ahead of him, seemingly closer to Villegas' group.  He was taking the pro-am very seriously, constantly marking his yardage book, and often sitting on the beverage cooler at each tee box studying as if for an impending final exam.  He had minimal interaction with the amateurs in his group.  Rickie was the exact opposite, one of the most personable players I'd ever seen on-course, both then and in subsequent years.  It became routine for him to sign 15-20 autographs as he exited every green, as well as pose for loads of pictures with fans.  It often got to the point where his caddie had to politely grab him by the arm and steer him to the next tee.  He was new to the PGA TOUR and I was frankly prepared to find fault with his day-glow Puma outfit as being indicative of a player who expected special treatment, but he couldn't have been more humble and a joy to be around.

Rory McIlroy

Tiger Woods

Matt Kuchar

Ninety-five degree heat was taking its toll throughout our 5 1/2 hour round, but I had access to water from the coolers located at each tee box, and my running shoes never gave out, thankfully.  I met up with Mary and Jill at the 13th green/14th tee area, where they'd found a shady spot to ask players for autographs.  They'd gotten 17 players to sign the DBC flag, including Dustin Johnson, Kuchar, Bubba, McIlroy, Fowler, Mahan, Rose, Snedeker, Day, Scott, Furyk, Harrington, Crane, Leonard, Holmes, & Villegas, plus lots of pictures.  Jill was thrilled having a short conversation with Padraig Harrington, the Irishman, mentioning her junior year abroad in Dublin at Trinity College, to which he replied, "You must have really enjoyed that."

Padraig Harrington

They later said Kuchar, Snedeker, and Bubba Watson were quite willing to chat with them since Mary and Jill were in a very small group of fans at the ropes.  The pro-am is definitely the day to go to DBC to get up close and personal with the players, before they get down to the business of competition in the tournament from Friday through Monday.

      
    

Day 4    Monday    September 7, 2009

Last day of Deutsche Bank Championship, Labor Day Monday finish.  Went to TPC with my wife Mary, using the guest pass included in the volunteer package of benefits.  Told her to set her expectations low as I wasn't sure how much fun she'd have tagging along during my 6 hour assignment.  Thankfully I was assigned to the 12th green, which I'd found was the most interesting venue from the standpoint that this is where the players linger the longest.   We walked from the tee down to the green, accompanied by another marshal, who had become one of my buddies over the past few days at DBC.  Very personable guy, chatty without being a blowhard as a few of the other hole marshals turned out to be.
 Mary got a prime viewing spot at the 12th green, where I knew the players would pass close by on their way to the 13th tee.  She said she was tempted to make comments about their clothes, this being the beginning of the era of the well dressed young golf stud. Thankfully she restrained herself, mostly. The morning got off to a slow start, the galleries eventually building with name players including Rose, Donald, and Boo Weekly.  Was great being so close to the players, to clearly hear their discussions with their caddies in lining up putts, Boo's Southern twang, Rose's English accent.  The gallery accompanying Phil Mickelson and Brandt Snedeker numbered well over 1000, which presented the challenge of maintaining quiet after Phil sank his birdie putt and commented, "It's been 78 days, 13 hours, and 29 minutes since my last one," to the delight of everyone there.  We both really enjoyed seeing every player pass literally within 5 feet of our position at the rope, including Love, Gay, Bubba, Villegas, Perry, Yang, Toms.  The ultimate was the approach of the Tiger / Glover gallery, beginning to build at least 2 pairings ahead of them and eventually reaching 6-8 people deep along the fairway and around the green.  Thankfully they quieted sufficiently for Lucas and TW to make their putts, although it took us 4 hole marshals, plus the 6 mobile marshals accompanying them to make this happen in a relatively calm atmosphere.  Having Tiger pass by within touching distance was a surreal experience as he exited to 13.
My assignment officially over, we made our way over to the 18th green.  It was surrounded by a massive crowd, with the players a long way off, a much different vantage point than we experienced on 12 right at the rope.  Mary agreed that the live golf tournament was worth the trip, and that she planned to come back next year, and could I get an extra guest pass for her friend Amy?  I agreed I would try to get back next year but I had a change of assignment in mind having seen the mobile marshals accompanying the most notable players and providing extra crowd control.  Had to check that out, might be a tough assignment to get into.      

Day 3    Sunday  September 6, 2009

Left for DBC at 7:30am, what a difference from prior mornings when I was driving to the TPC Boston before dawn.  Went to the practice tee to find that the first player of the day, Ben Crane, was just making the turn so I hustled out to the 12th tee.  Was initially assigned as spotter in the landing area along the right side of the fairway but was quickly replaced after Crane hit, since I'd told Doug, the 12th hole Captain, that I wanted to be on the green today.  Learned that one of the perks of serving as a volunteer, without pay obviously, was enhancing your experience by making your goals known in a polite way.

Watched Crane make an 8 on the par 4 twelfth by hitting 2 balls into the hazard to the right of the green. I guess if you're in last place it doesn't matter as much.  He seemed to take it well, with a smile. I had a great time marshaling at the green, so close to the action on this windy, sunny day, very challenging to players trying to land on the green and stay out of the hazard. Had lots of interaction with spectators standing at the ropes, answered lots of questions and heard lots of comments. People  want to connect with someone officially working the tournament.  Several asked who was in the lead, but with no score board in site, you lose track quickly, sometimes having to rely on other spectators who were wearing the single-ear headphone radios being given out at one of the corporate pavilions.

Being a marshal is often an opportunity to see the pros act in ways that let you know they're sometimes just guys playing golf and doing things on a golf course that we all do every once in awhile.  (Like seeing players take a leak in the woods).  They also do things we'd never do, like giving the ball they've just putted out with to a little kid at the rope as they exit the green to go to the 13th tee.  I love that every time I see it done.

The day continued with varying size galleries coming through, especially following Phil, Sergio, Camillo, and Singh.  Was rotated back to the tee box as we got word that the largest gallery of the day was approaching, Tiger and Glover.  When I arrived at the 12th tee, I could see Tiger's gallery, an unbelievable crowd of at least 1000+, packed the entire length of the par three 11th hole.  Its one thing to see it on TV, but to be inside the ropes and hear the buzz of a Tiger gallery is unreal in person.  To be right there as Tiger walked within 5 feet of me as I stood at the tee was an experience.  My first impression was that he's taller than I thought!  As he walked onto the tee he looked right at me, or so I thought, then teed it up.  Getting the gallery to remain quiet and stationary was tough, partly due to the location of the 12th teebox, immediately adjacent to the concession stand at the 11th green, which is a hub of activity.  Also, since people are standing 5-6 deep around the tee, those in the back tend to take longer to settle down so that play can proceed.  We had about 6 marshals placed around the tee, all giving the "Stand please" command to get the gallery to remain motionless and quiet.  For the rest of the afternoon, we had a large gallery pretty much taking up residence at the 11th green-12th tee-concession stand-scoreboard complex.  After the final pairing came through,  (Furyk and O'Hair), I joined the massive gallery as it moved along with them to finish 12.  I then walked outside the ropes as a spectator to finish up the back 9, ending up at the 18th grandstand, which was SRO.  I was eventually able to squeeze into a section due to the kindness of a grandstand marshal.  It was very impressive watching the last 2 pairings finish in the stadium-like atmosphere of the 18th green.   A terrific but very tiring day.  Learning that standing for over 6 hours was tough on the legs.              

Day 2   Saturday September 5, 2009

I was again up at 4:30am to leave before 5, not much preparation necessary as I know what to wear, the DBC volunteer uniform, and I get breakfast on-site.  Went to the practice range and sat in the grandstand to watch Charles Howell, Marc Leishman, Scott McCarron, and Kevin Streelman practice.  These guys are at the bottom of the leader board so they're teeing off early.  Walked out to the 12th hole, a very pleasant late summer morning, in the upper 50's at 7am.  Stopped to watch the TPC grounds crew setting the pin on the adjacent 11th green.  I observed the process used by the PGA TOUR official in testing the green speed with the Stimp-meter.  Evidently this green was playing noticeably faster yesterday; this morning registering 13 on the meter.  To slow it down to a more uniform 12 speed throughout the rest of the course, the grounds crew watered the green for about 20 minutes.

Began today's assignment at the lower crosswalk, near the 12th green, manning the ropes.  After 9 pairings passed through, was rotated back to the tee box.  Was a bit shocked when my Cape Cod buddy Degs appeared outside the ropes with his brothers and father.  I was eventually rotated down to the landing area along the left side of the fairway, near the Shotlink crew.  Degs came along with me and no sooner had I gotten into position when a wayward drive by a player landed in the rough, 20' off the fairway.  I located the ball, keeping far enough away from it so as not to disturb the lie, and placed one of our orange spotter flags about a foot away from it.  The player came up to the ball, a disgusted look on his face, grabbed the marker flag and threw it in my direction, with a gruff "Thanks". (Picture a lawn dart landing near my feet!)  I learned later that the pros don't necessarily like having attention drawn to their less than perfect shots by placing a marker nearby.  That was the one and only time I ever flagged a ball in my subsequent years of marshaling.  This player then proceeded to chunk his 2nd shot, then tomahawked his iron into the rough.  Not sure if he made the cut.

Definite different vibe overall inside the ropes now that the competition was for real, a more intense atmosphere than I experienced during the pro-am.