By Carole Hawkins, Staff Writer
When The Players Championship golf tournament returns to Ponte Vedra Beach May 6, a few veteran real estate agents will go offline for the week, opting to work the course as volunteers instead.
It’s a good fit, said Barbara Maple, a Realtor with Watson Realty, who’s done it for 15 years. Apparently the personality traits that make agents effective at showing homes transfer well to hosting world-class golf tournaments.
“We’re very friendly and personable. We can talk to anybody,” Maple said. “We really make people feel welcome.”
More than 2,000 people volunteer each year, for jobs ranging from holding sign boards and running entertainment venues to helping people find parking spaces and picking up trash.
Some volunteer to see their golf heroes in person, often getting caps and T-shirts autographed.
Some do it to give back to the community. Volunteers defray the tournament’s costs, allowing organizers to divert millions to charity each year.
Others go to be at the center of the action.
“It’s where everybody is at,” said Maples, who attended the tournament for 10 years before volunteering. “You get to see people you haven’t seen for years. It’s not just the volunteers, it’s all the people walking by.”
Maple works on the facilities patrol committee, which means, among other things, holding up the ropes that keep the crowds segregated from the players. Her favorite post is the fifth-hole restroom — a “rest-stop” where players can pick up bottled water, yogurt bars and other snacks.
Though a simple job, it does provide its brushes with fame.
“Tiger? Of course. Tiger’s caddy always came by,” she said. “I’d keep my eye on his bag. It had a little tiger cover on it.”
Linda George, a Realtor with The Legends of Real Estate, has volunteered for 41 years.
“I love the sport and wanted to be involved with golf,” she said. “I started volunteering when it was the Greater Jacksonville Open. It was a great way to get outdoors and meet people.”
George is chairman of the 17th-hole hospitality zone, a place where a lot of partying happens. Corporations rent whole or partial tent space to entertain their VIPs with food and beverages.
Besides being near the end of the course, spectators are drawn to the island-like 17th hole by the drama of seeing players land golf balls in the water.
George’s team checks credentials in the zone and makes sure people are generally enjoying themselves. In the years before the tents had glass walls, one important job was to hold up “Quiet, please!” signs to keep conversations from distracting the players.
The work keeps George busy. She remembers the time she saw Fred Couples hit a hole-in-one at the 17th. But, other moments are lost.
“One year a bird picked up golf ball that landed on the 17th and flew off,” she said. “I missed the whole thing, I was doing something else.”
Clare Berry, by contrast, gets to see a lot of action, or at least a lot of players.
A Realtor with Berry & Co, she registers every golf-pro who plays in the tournament as chairman of the Player Services committee. Her team also runs a concierge-like service that makes sure the players’ and their family’s needs are met throughout the tournament.
That can mean anything from a dinner reservation, advice on tourist attractions, a baby gift, or a dentist appointment. Berry’s team is supported by a community that will do almost anything to make the players feel welcome.
“It’s the one week of the year that, when I call, I get whatever I want,” she said. “Everyone is so excited about having the caliber of athlete we have with the Players, they just say, ‘What can we do to help?’”
Berry, a volunteer since 1982, has seen the players and their families grow and change over the years. That doesn’t necessarily make for paparazzi fodder though.
“I know John Q. Public expects these people to have unbelievable egos and needs,” she said. “But, I find them to be so much like you and me. They’re quite serious when they get here because that purse is enormous. They really fine-tune their focus.”
The Realtors’ love for The Players tournament is unquestionable. Their love for golf itself is more ambiguous.
George lives, sells homes, and plays golf in a golf community. But she admits, “I’m no good at it at all.”
Berry said she loves the beauty of golf courses, but she doesn’t play.
“I’ve done the 9-holers at Marsh Landing a couple of times and my favorite part was lunch,” she said. “I’ve learned after trying twice that it’s just not my game.”
Maple enjoys playing the game, but said watching it on TV is as interesting as watching paint dry.
“I find it very relaxing when I’m home and my husband has it on TV, because I can read a book,” she said. “I look up every once in a while if there’s a good shot.”
Fortunately, The Players tournament holds benefits for its volunteers that extend well beyond golf. Berry said as a home town girl, she’s proud to have her community host the event.
“It’s like one big family. We raise literally millions of dollars for local charities,” she said. “When I ask, what else could I do that would have a similar impact, I can’t think of a single thing.”