Today was the final round of the Valero Texas Open which means it was also my final day of volunteering for the tournament. I’m happy to say the tournament today announced live on air it reached it’s charitable goal of $100 million since the exception of the event. On the Day 1 post below, I laid out why I enjoy doing this for four day in the sun and one of the reasons was the money that goes to local charities. I’m glad they made their goal and I feel like I contributed just a bit.
Valero Texas Open Volunteer Experience: Day 1
Valero Texas Open Volunteer Experience: Day 2
Valero Texas Open Volunteer Experience: Day 3
Today I had a different role then the previous three days. Today I was tasked with standing on the seventh and then the 13th tee boxes and call back club selection by the players when they were going to them on TV. It was a quite fun and entertaining job and I am glad I got to do it. In all honesty, there were really only 10-12 players who were showed live on TV so I didn’t have to call back every club. But here’s the breakdown of each hole:
7th hole; 209 yards uphill, cross wind 15-20 mph
- 5-irons: 13
- 6-irons: 21
- 7-iron: 1
I saw 12 groups come through for a total of 36 players. Only one player did not give me their club.
13th hole; 231 yards downhill, straight into a 15-20 mph south wind
- 5-wood: 2
- 3-Hybrids: 3
- 2-iron: 1
- 3-irons: 11
- 4-irons: 6
On #13, I saw eight groups coming through for a total of 24 players, and the same player from above didn’t provide a club again.
These guys hit the ball so pure it’s unbelievable. Being up so close and listening to the sound of the ball off the club is amazing.
It was a really great week of golf and I am glad I was able to volunteer. I am such a golf nut that this is just so fun for me and I plan on participating again next year. Next year some changes might be in store, with the WGC Dell Match Play moving to this date right up the road in Austin. The rumors around the volunteer campaign are the Valero will move to the week before THE PLAYERS next year, so it will almost certainly move to a CBS broadcast instead of NBC.
From what I understand, a CBS Golf broadcast is much different from an NBC Golf broadcast. First, a lot of the jobs we do as volunteers are actual paid CBS employees so there is not as many volunteers needed. Second, CBS only uses spotters as volunteers so there are not many chances to try out different tasks.
It will be interesting to see what happens next year and I look forward to being right back out there again, rubbing shoulders with the pros… Okay, I really don’t rub shoulders with them!
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