Tournament Volunteer Experience- Northern Trust Open

Two weeks ago Ryan Borris and I were fortunate enough to have the opportunity to volunteer at the Northern Trust Open, which was hosted at Riviera Country Club in Pacific Palisades. We worked Sunday-Sunday. It was truly a great experience, and I am very grateful to have had the chance to participate. It was an experience that will help us both as we begin preparing for the Fresh Express Classic, which is just around the corner.

I've included some photos from the tournament to show a little bit of what went on in preparation for the Northern Trust Open.

After the welcoming meeting on Sunday we went straight on the course to work. Ryan and I filled fairway divots as we got familiar with the front 9, which is where we worked the rest of the week.

Had to a get a photo in front of the sixth hole, which is a Par 3.

Ryan in front of #6 Green

There were two vans that shuttled the volunteers from our accomodations to the golf course, we left at 3:30 a.m. in the morning for the early shift which lasted until approximately 7:30 a.m.  and returned at 1:30 p.m. for the afternoon shift which generally ended about 5:30-7 depending on the day and assignment. 

We all got together in a tent outside of the maintenance facility for the morning and afternoon meetings, this is where we got the assignments for our shift. For the event there were a total of 35 regular staff members and 35 volunteers.

The greens were immaculate, which shows how much hard work and time was put into preparing for this event.

I mowed Fairways on the front 9 during the event. This is a photo on number 8 where I am mowing a cross cut with a triplex.

Ryan spent most of the week rolling greens on the front 9, which looked like a lot of work. But the results were great with smooth fast greens.

I took this photo after finishing up on the ninth fairway, I cannot really take a lot of credit for the line here. Everything was dialed in upon our arrival, but I did take pride in doing the jobs I was given to the best of my ability.

Moving boards for the greens mowers in the morning. If we did not mow fairways I helped the greens mowers move boards. Which are used to reduce stress on the turn, and to prevent any marking from the rollers when turning.

Boards on #6 Green

Mowing #6 green

In the afternoons we would cross cut the fairways(3/9), but in the mornings we would sweep the fairways and mow from tee to green. As shown in the photo above and this was done with 8 triplex's on each respective 9.

I was intrigued by the divots on the 6th green, which is a result of people chipping over the bunker in the middle of the green.