Charity Abounds at THE PLAYERS

Shortly after the sun rose in the east over the Atlantic Ocean and within distance of its gentle cooling breezes a man walks down the edge of the fairway. He strides with contemplation and determination. Behind him his footsteps leave a line of distinction in the morning dew for others to follow.

For this is “stake and rope” day the Friday before the world of golf’s “fifth major” THE PLAYERS Championship at TPC Sawgrass in Ponte Vedra, FL the home of the PGA TOUR.

All of the world’s best golfers both in skill and quantity come here to comprise the toughest field assembled in tournament golf. So too come the world’s more ardent golfing spectators. The challenge is simple this first day of May 2009 to keep the golfers separated from the spectators and vice versa.

The gentleman’s name is Les and he is simply known as “the one and only.” He is the leader of the pack. The lead person that marks the path upon which stakes are driven into the earth, ropes erected, and if we are lucky the “twine” shall never meet.

But the golfers and the spectators do meet as that is the attraction to attend the premier golfing event after the Masters but before the U.S. Open, the British Open and the PGA Championship.

The planning is done. Tee shot dispersion charts annotated with last year’s gallery rope locations and knowledge from the previous 27 PLAYERS’ competitions at the world renowned Pete Dye Stadium Course.

No need to rope off the right side of the par-five 16th hole where eagles have won previous PLAYERS Championships or the iconic island green of the par-three 17th hole where Sergio Garcia secured the biggest win of his golfing career last year or the entire left side of the difficult par-4 18th hole where only Steve Elkington in 1991 has been able to birdie the closing hole and win the tournament by one stroke.

Pete Dye’s friend “water” has already taken care of gallery control in those areas.

As the “one and only” marches down the fairway he visualizes the galleries of next Thursday and puts himself in the shoes of the 144 professional golfers who will compete to be their own champion—THE PLAYERS Champion.

What are their sight lines off the tees? If not in the fairway where will their tee shots land and likely roll to a stop?

How will galleries get from an infinite number of Point A’s to an infinite number of Point B’s on the 418 acres of swampland now transformed to golf course Masterpiece. The only other course to host a world-class golfing event each year is Augusta National the home of the Masters.  

The word from the PGA TOUR and the Tournament Committee is “we want it tighter and closer this year.” The ultimate spectator experience is the ultimate challenge for Les. Nothing is out of reason or out of the question here. The “Tiger Chute” extends about three football fields from the ninth green to the 10th tee.

A set of parallel metal fence sections about ten feet apart to allow the spectators close enough but not too close for the comfort of the players. After all this is their office where they need to get the work done and completed correctly before any fame and fortune is to come their way.

Right behind Les is Rusty with a left armful of three-quarter inch metal rebar stakes. As he follows Les’ line exactly he pierces the ground with a stake using his right arm much as a downhill skier plants his pole to make a turn.

Rusty’s strength and muscular frame was a college football player of the '70s era. The three pound stakes appear to be toothpicks to him.

While Les is concerned with direction and angles of rope lines Rusty is focused on the exact placement of each pole. Ten paces apart through the expansive fairway areas and five to seven paces apart around the greens and tees where galleries are denser and in need of more finite control.

Poles are placed on the tops of knolls and in the bottom of swales to insure as containing and consistent a rope line as possible. There is a science to staking and roping a golf course.

Keeping up with Rusty are the pole feeders. They take them from the bed of a crawling John Deere Gator utility vehicle and continuously feed poles to Rusty in a bunch of five. It takes two feeders to keep up with Rusty’s voracious appetite for stakes.

Right behind Rusty and the feeders are the “pounders”. They pound the stakes into the ground approximately six to eight inches. First they straighten the lightly affixed pole to insure it is absolutely vertical.

Then they slip on the weighted cylindrical “pounder.” At 10 pounds in weight with the top end closed all they have to do is lift it a few inches and release it to “pound” the stake into the ground. Two pounders follow two feeders that follow the staker Rusty who is following the leader of the gang Les.

The feeders and pounders are student athletes from nearby Nease high school. Big guys- football players earning some community hours for graduation. They are Tebow fans and listen to stories of Rusty playing Gator football. Though it is a day off from school there are lessons to be learned here on the golf course.

After the poles are erected along comes Ann driving the rope golf cart streaming miles of rope along the way following pole after pole. Then come the ropers who push the rope through the eye at the top of the pole and loop it around the top end to secure it.

Ropers use a handy tool called a fid to loop the end of the nylon rope to itself where gates are needed to open and close the rope line for golf course equipment or gallery movements. “Fid-” now there is a handy word for Scrabble with some good points.

Les barks in his unique loving manner at the Gator driver to get closer to Rusty so the student athletes aren’t carrying the handful of heavy stakes more than a few paces. What sense does it make to them carry them when the Gator can do the same thing.

Staking and roping a course is a full day of work, and we want to keep the horses fresh for the afternoon.

The lesson of a golf tournament can easily be missed or misunderstood by those not intimate with it. In today’s distressed economic times, it is easy for politicians to point to companies entertaining clients in corporate hospitality tents and say we can’t afford that. What they miss is the charitable contributions to the community and the exposure of young people to some pretty good role models.

It might take 15 or 20 years for these youngsters to reflect back and understand or even realize Les was looking out for their benefit. He genuinely cared about these youngsters.

Maybe that is the lesson in life that comes from a community coming together to host a tournament- we are all in this together and good people whether young or old really do care about other people and are willing to help them.

Thanks to the support of the First Coast community, dedicated volunteers and community partners, THE PLAYERS Championship generated $3 million for local charities and scholarship aid in 2008. 

Nearly 100 organizations benefited from the 2008 tournament. Last November, THE PLAYERS held a "Giving Back" week where TOUR players and staff reached out to the community and personally visited many of the organizations.

By the way Rusty, Anne and others in the gang of Les are all past and future Tournament Chairman of THE PLAYERS Championship. The “Red Coats” as these volunteer leaders are known were the deciding factor for then Commissioner Deane Beman to relocate the PGA TOUR Headquarters to the Jacksonville area.

He knew their support of the Jacksonville Open would transition to his vision for THE PLAYERS Championship. All these years later there is no question that he was absolutely correct.

Maybe the lesson to national politicians and heads of corporate organizations is to get involved truly serving the local community. Through the process of “inversion” where leaders really do jobs throughout the organization serving others and where all parties benefit.

Why shouldn’t a CEO go down to a plant and run a production line for a day to know the people and business he or she is leading?

Maybe “stake and rope” Friday at the PLAYERS is a way for these youngsters and old-timers to “give-forward.” The common interest of a community is not whether you are giving or receiving but if there is a need the need is met.

All the world’s best golfers are coming to compete to earn the right to be called “THE PLAYERS’ Champion.” The spectators will be there to watch Sergio Garcia defend the title against the likes of Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson, Geoff Ogilvy and Padraig Harrington. The golf course is staked and roped off to safely keep order as best as possible.

More lessons that meet the eye are being learned this year at THE PLAYERS Championship.

Andy Reistetter is a freelance golf writer. He follows the PGA TOUR volunteering for the tournaments and working part time for NBC Sports, CBS Sports, and The Golf Channel. He resides in Jacksonville Beach, FL near the PGA TOUR headquarters and home of The PLAYERS Championship at TPC Sawgrass in Ponte Vedra Beach.

He enjoys pursuing his passion for the game of golf and everything associated with it. He can be reached through his website www.MrHickoryGolf.net or by e-mailing him to [e-mail]