The Association needs your help, please volunteer

  Have you seen the 2009 Golf Association of Philadelphia schedule?

  As always, there are the GAP Team Matches; events for all age groups and skill levels, and, of course, our Major Championships like the Amateur, Open, Patterson Cup, Senior and more. The schedule begins in April and ends in October. That is – IF – we have the volunteers to work all our events.

  Currently, 18 are from Sandy Run Country Club, and another six each from Hershey’s Mill Golf Club and the Philadelphia Publinks GA. That means roughly 20 percent of the Association’s 142 volunteers come from three of the organization’s 138 Member Clubs.

  What does that tell us? It seems to say that the volunteer spirit is alive and well at Sandy Run and a few other Member Clubs but dormant in many others.

  Why is that so? According to Bob Fitzgerald, this year’s Volunteer of the Year from Sandy Run, it is because fellow club members hear from one another about the benefits of working a Golf Association of Philadelphia event and they want to get involved.

  With that thought in mind, I would like to pick up on Fitz’s comment and explain to all of my fellow Association Members why volunteering is the way to go.

  As a Golf Association of Philadelphia volunteer, you can work as a starter, a live-scorer, a rules official or a course rater. You will have the pleasure of getting to know and work with the GAP staff – Mark [Peterson], Kirby [Martin], Chris [Roselle], Marty [Emeno] and Cory [Reighard] and the many others. Oh, and the satisfaction of knowing that you have given back to the game which means so much to all of us.

  In addition, you will spend time at some of the most beautiful, and, in some cases, storied golf clubs in the world. The Association will provide you with a bit of training, an official GAP shirt, a complimentary meal each time you volunteer for an event as well as a chance to work with some of the nicest people you will ever meet.

  And the cost is nothing more than a four-hour block of time, one Saturday morning at the volunteer’s seminar and transportation to and from the event. That’s it.

  Our goal is to get at least one volunteer from each of our Member Clubs. That would allow us to cover all of the events without overburdening any of our volunteers. So, here’s your opportunity, perhaps to be the first at your club to be a GAP volunteer and to be the guy to explain to all of his fellow members why being an Association volunteer is so great. It’s a win, win, win deal for you, your fellow GAP members and our organization.

  Just ask Bob Fitzgerald.