U.S. Open week is here and the best players in the world have arrived in Monterrey, California and the Pebble Beach Golf Links for the 110th playing of the U.S. Open Championship. While the players are getting ready by playing practice rounds and fine tuning their swings on the practice tee, Rules officials are also preparing for the role they will be playing in the championship.
I have been fortunate to work several USGA national championships as a Rules official and each time I have learned a great deal from the experience. The USGA does a great job getting the course ready for their championships. Greens speed, rough height, tee placements and even architectural alterations are all highly publicized by the media covering these events. What is not so well known is the amount of time the USGA spends preparing for all of the potential Rulings that could occur during the week of a championship. Included in this preparation is marking the golf course, preparing the notice to competitors which includes establishing any local rules for the event, setting the pace of play guidelines, preparing the hole-by-hole notes that define every conceivable hazard, obstruction or other permanent or temporary course feature that could come into play, and otherwise coordinating all of the materials for the Rules officials.
Because of all of this “behind the scenes work” and detailed preparation, the job of the Rules official is to do the same””remain “behind the scenes.” All of this preparation makes it very easy for Rules officials to do their job which is to apply the Rules of Golf. Since everything on the course has been so well defined there is very little room for judgment or subjective decision making. What is left is to study the materials, know the golf course, and be ready when called upon to assist players with any Rules questions that arise. This year the USGA developed a new online training course called “Officiating 101″ and asked all of the volunteers who work their championships to take the course and answer a 100-question test on the material covered in the 9-part course. All officials have already passed the 100-question Rules of Golf exam (by scoring 92 or higher) so knowledge of the Rules is a given.
The purpose of the officiating training is to cover the other half of being a good Rules official””taking your Rules knowledge and applying it in a courteous and efficient manner. Unlike other PGA and LPGA tour events which are officiated by a small Rules staff that covers the course in “zones” the USGA places a referee with every group. Having a referee in each group is not intended to have “big brother” watching the players. The walking referee is there to quickly resolve any questions that may arise and position him or herself to assist the players so that Rules infractions (and time spent waiting for a Ruling) can be minimized.
All of this work is not for someone who thrives on the spotlight. If all goes well, the Referee is never seen or heard from. Not since the invention of camouflage has so much effort been put into not being noticed.
