Some pretty intense thunderstorms last night dumped about an inch of rain on the golf course, delaying practice rounds to just after 10 a.m., roughly three hours later than normal.

Additionally, it closed down the volunteer parking lot due to flooding. My lot is no more than an alfalfa field with some gravel roads laid down, so it was a sea of mud. However, my volunteer shift didn’t start until 3 p.m. today, so by that time the sun was out and the lot had been opened.

The entire area is so large they were able to park cars in areas that were not used the day before, so the mud was minimized.

For me the difference is a five-minute shuttle ride to the course, versus a 35-minute trip if I had to use the general public parking area.

I was stationed at the same fan services location today as I was yesterday, doing the same function. My schedule said practice range but when I checked in I was asked to fill in at the fan services area right inside the main gate.

The U.S. Open has its own downloadable app with lots of features, and I help the ticket holders with the download if they haven’t done it, help with registering their account if they have downloaded but not registered, and telling them about the features available on the app which will make for a good fan experience.

My favorite feature is the interactive site map, where you can choose any hole, and the app will tell you who happens to be playing on that hole at that particular time. You can also “like” your favorite players and it will track them wherever they are on the course. Once Round One begins Thursday the app will post the scores of your favorite players in real time.

There are scoreboards on the course, but not on each hole, so this is a nice feature for those who need to know scores as they happen. The app also contains all of the player interviews that take place during the day. On practice days, that seems to be all day long. During the actual tournament I am sure interviews will all be post round.

The most enjoyable aspect of my volunteer service is meeting all the people involved in the U.S. Open Golf Championship. Frequent visitors to my location are employees of the tech firm contracted by the USGA to handle all the data collection and distribution that powers the interactive app I am demonstrating and the real time scoring and player tracking that is available.

Also, the USGA employee who actually developed the U.S. Open app, and various other USGA staff, all of whom are open, friendly, and freely share who they are and what they do on behalf of the USGA.

Today a member of the USGA Executive Committee stopped and introduced himself, and talked for a bit about how excited the USGA is to bring the U.S. Open to Erin Hills.

Later in the day, a USGA intern stopped just to see what we were doing, as fan services was not one of the areas he was working in and he was curious.

A resident of Philadelphia and a recent graduate of Temple University, he has been in Wisconsin since February working on the tournament logistics, particularly the scheduling of the 5,300 volunteers doing about 65 different jobs in variable shifts over seven days of the tournament.

He disclosed that the permanent USGA staff directly responsible for this tournament have been on site for two years, working toward this week.

My two volunteer colleagues today were a very nice retired couple from Tacoma, Washington. This is their second US Open they have volunteered to work and won’t be their last.

During the slower times (mostly late when fans are headed to the exits) we shared what it was like living in our respective states and also our previous golf tournament experiences. I have not met anyone who didn’t love golf and wasn’t thrilled to be here for this outstanding event.

I am not scheduled to work the next two days, so tomorrow I plan to watch some of the players play a practice round, and on Thursday see the tournament get up and running with round one.

There is rain forecast at times each day for the rest of the week, so it will be an opportunity for flexibility to avoid being caught out on the course if and when bad weather hits.

 

Rob Habicht, of Edwardsburg, is one of hundreds of volunteers who are working at the 2017 U.S. Open a Erin Hills in Erin, Wisconsin.