So, this is the Midwest after all. A steaming 85 degrees. There was a breeze on the practice range and
the humidity did not even register awful.
That said, it was HOT! And not a
tree in sight. Thank heavens the USGA
got over themselves and now provide “hydration stations” so people can fill
their water bottles that they of course buy.
Used to be it was $4.00 a pop for a bottle of water. Guess they heard what happened at Whistling
Straits when they ran out of water.
C’mon man!
The good news is we zipped up in less than an hour, the
volunteers’ parking lot is less than 15 minutes from the course and, unlike
other years, we were dropped close to the front gate. All the cool stuff is right when you walk in
so we dropped $$ at the merchandise tent, sent our purchases out UPS and got
our pictures with the trophy. We
accomplished all we needed to do in less than an hour.
Yesterday we received emails that we had been ‘promoted’ to
Lead Marshals. How sweet is that? It means you get to be cool and have the radios
and headsets. And you can tell people
when they can go home. It also means
that you are the LAST ones to leave. By
the time we left the practice range there were zero players on the range and 3
volunteers sitting in the stands. And a
guy who had an hour conference call.
Seriously.
Truth be told the practice range is relatively boring. Just so you know it is possible to hit shot
after shot after shot that is/are (can’t decide) perfectly straight. And they go so far you cannot see them come
down. I hate these guys. A lot of the
guys we saw had just finished their practice round and here they in this heat
pounding balls for 60 to 90 minutes.
Many of the players that were scheduled 18 played only 9. For example, Jordan Spieth played the front
this morning. Tomorrow afternoon he is
playing the back. 18 holes for practice
is a killer unless you go out at 7 when it is cooler.My co-marshal Richard is local. Played here several times. The course is said to measure 7600+ yards. He told me his step meter over the 18 holes measured 10.5 miles. My Fitbit today measured 11K steps and we basically didn’t go out on the course. We walked a little past 9 green and back which is pretty much as close as you can get to the front. Tomorrow we are at 6 green which means we will walk the 1st nine. Wednesday when we are on 16 green we will walk the 2nd nine. Typically, we walk the whole course the first day we can. Thinking that is not happening here.
And then there is the weather. We were on storm watch from about 3 pm
on. They give us little cards to tell us
what to say to the people in the stands if they are required leave due to
impending thunder and lightning.
Really? People get out now! Therein lies the problem…there is no shelter. Leave the grandstand and pray. I was thinking – whatever. That was until we were driving home when a
storm hit. OMG! We PNW people know about rain and lots of
it. But this rain was ridiculous. When Jeff pulls off the road because of the
rain it must be really bad. And then it
hailed. Then there is the
lightning. If a storm like this hits
during the afternoon this week there will be thousands of people that are
drenched beyond description. We are
taking towels and a change of clothes to leave in the car so if this happens again
we will not have to sit in soaking wet clothes for the hour drive back.
Oh by the way, we volunteered for this.
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