Q&A: What’s a course marshal’s job? Volunteer Nate Dosch knows the ropes.
Nate Dosch is passionate about the game of golf. The 38-year-old attorney from Menomonee Falls competed collegiately at North Dakota State and played 83 rounds last year. Somehow, he found time to be a course marshal for the U.S. Open at Erin Hills this week and answer some questions from the Journal Sentinel’s Jeff Maillet.
Q. Why did you choose to be a volunteer for the U.S. Open at Erin Hills?
A. Truth be told, I didn’t choose to volunteer. My wife, Karyn, submitted an application on my behalf after seeing something on Facebook. She did let me know shortly after applying so it wasn’t a complete surprise. Eventually we learned that our club, The Legend Clubs, had marshal responsibilities for Holes 4 and 5 so it worked out perfectly.
Q. What exactly is your title and responsibilities?
A. I was assigned to be a Hole 5 marshal. For my weekend shifts, I’m also taking on captain responsibilities for that hole. Marshals run the length and width of the hole starting with crowd control as the players leave the prior green and walk to the next tee box. On any given tee box you’ll see 3-4 marshals. One marshal has the yellow directional paddles and others focus on crowd control. The paddles are, arguably, the most important part of “job” as they are the only way to communicate with the crowd and the other marshals. As you rotate from tee to green, the marshal’s responsibilities continue to change to include running the crosswalks, crowd control and assisting players with locating errant shots in the fescue. The captain is primarily responsible for coordinating the 12-15 marshals working that hole.
Q. What kind of training or orientation did you have?
A. The USGA held a marshal training session in early May. We also met as a group for 15-20 minutes before our first shift to review roles, responsibilities and rotations throughout the hole.
Q. What’s the most unusual/unique thing you’ve seen so far?
A. I am surprised by a couple things when I watch pro golfers during their practice rounds. First, they are all very approachable and laid back during these rounds. The players are giving autographs to fans of all ages. The other surprising item is how different each player treats his practice round. Some guys are in foursomes and they are playing for something other than practice. Others play alone or with one or two other close friends. Most will truly use the round for practice by dropping multiple balls around the green to chip and by putting to multiple potential hole locations on the green.
Q. Have you interacted with any players? What was discussed?
A. One interaction was with Sergio Garcia’s group on Hole 5. I had rotated down the hole to the second crosswalk. Garcia hit and yellow direction paddles start signaling my direction, and then we hear a thud about 25 yards away. I went up there expecting the worst with Erin Hills’ rough. The three spectators in the area gave me a general area to search, but as I got to 5 yards away I could already see the ball amazingly sitting up in a 3x3 foot area where the fescue wasn’t growing. I put the marking flag in the ground and two seconds later Pat Perez tees off and pulls one even further left onto the spectator walkway. I run down, flag it and start moving the spectators back so Perez can hit his shot. I return to Garcia’s ball and tell his caddie that the ball is sitting up. He laughs and says, “yeah right.” Then he gets to the ball, sees that I was right, says “holy cow” and proceeds to compute yardage for the shot. Garcia approaches his ball expecting the worst, I tell him the same thing I told his caddie. Garcia doesn’t believe me too. Then he gets up to the ball and yells over to Perez, “I’m quite fine here actually!” Garcia proceeds to knock his ball in the front bunker after hitting a 7-iron 200 yards. He then recovers to make par.