Clueless spotters

[Cal Seifert]

I was a marshal on the 4th at Shinnecock a few years ago. It can be difficult to see the ball if the person with the paddles on the tee box is not on their A game.

Cal, were you told to watch the paddler and then find the ball in the air? If so, that's a near-guarantee of lost balls under many sky conditions. It's very difficult to find a golf ball in the air after it's been hit. Thus the need to follow it from the strike itself to get a better track on it. I've stood in enough landing areas to realize that's the way to go.

Extremely difficult to pick the ball up if you don’t see it off the face. If you lose it, I’d imagine the paddles would help to give you a side to start looking. Usually you can look at the guy on the tee, if he’s leaning left he’s missed it right and vice versa.

Correct, I tried to follow the ball the whole way and the paddles helped if I happened to lose sight of it. It was a downhill tee shot so I was spectating from below the tee box. I think that made it more difficult as the only thing behind the tee box to give any contrast were the trees separating NGLA and Shinny.

[A.G._Crockett]

For perspective:

Working at my course in the Drive, Pitch, and Putt contest for kids, there is a grid on the driving range to measure driving distance; the volunteers then radio back the distance.  A girl hits a ball and we never see it at all, and assume that it has come nowhere close to the grid, which we radio back to the director.  He tells us the ball went right at us, and we finally find it; it had gone over our heads, despite all three of us trying to watch it off the club.  Her total distance was something like 230; we were standing at the far end of the grid and just never saw it.  She was 12 years old, I believe.

Playing in a charity scramble, there was a Long Drive Tour guy on the tee of one of the par 5's.  For a group contribution of $100, he would hit a tee shot that you could play as your tee shot, which we did.  He told us he would hit balls until he had one that we would like, and that we wouldn't be able to follow the ball because of the speed off the club.  On his third or fourth swing, he told us that he'd put one down the middle; none of the four of us had seen a single ball, and we were standing BEHIND him and watching carefully. 


Spotters at a pro tournament are standing at a distance that is likely to be the landing area for most players, and then reacting to the motions from the guys with the paddles on the tee.  I guarantee you that the don't see the golf ball until it lands on 99% of the shots, and nobody else could either.  It is, after all, a golf ball in the sky coming down from over 100' and going FAST.  You only notice those guys when somebody hits one into a weird place and they are sort of in the way.  None of them can see the ball.

[Jon Sweet]

For perspective:

Working at my course in the Drive, Pitch, and Putt contest for kids, there is a grid on the driving range to measure driving distance; the volunteers then radio back the distance.  A girl hits a ball and we never see it at all, and assume that it has come nowhere close to the grid, which we radio back to the director.  He tells us the ball went right at us, and we finally find it; it had gone over our heads, despite all three of us trying to watch it off the club.  Her total distance was something like 230; we were standing at the far end of the grid and just never saw it.  She was 12 years old, I believe.

Playing in a charity scramble, there was a Long Drive Tour guy on the tee of one of the par 5's.  For a group contribution of $100, he would hit a tee shot that you could play as your tee shot, which we did.  He told us he would hit balls until he had one that we would like, and that we wouldn't be able to follow the ball because of the speed off the club.  On his third or fourth swing, he told us that he'd put one down the middle; none of the four of us had seen a single ball, and we were standing BEHIND him and watching carefully. 


Spotters at a pro tournament are standing at a distance that is likely to be the landing area for most players, and then reacting to the motions from the guys with the paddles on the tee.  I guarantee you that the don't see the golf ball until it lands on 99% of the shots, and nobody else could either.  It is, after all, a golf ball in the sky coming down from over 100' and going FAST.  You only notice those guys when somebody hits one into a weird place and they are sort of in the way.  None of them can see the ball.

In all my time the best spot to track the ball is roughly 150 off the tee with a clear view of the club coming off the ball. Never had a paddle guy.

[Jeff Evagues]

I used to be a tournament official with the Long Island GA and half the job was spotting. I used binoculars to pick the ball right off of the club and could follow it the whole way.

[Jon Sweet]

I used to be a tournament official with the Long Island GA and half the job was spotting. I used binoculars to pick the ball right off of the club and could follow it the whole way.

What I’ve taken from this is the USGA is cheap with their volunteers to maximize profit and most likely not terribly organized in placing people properly. I don’t have terribly steady hands. I can’t imagine using binoculars. Buddy of mine suggested using electronic tracking to help.

[Tim_Cronin]

I used to be a tournament official with the Long Island GA and half the job was spotting. I used binoculars to pick the ball right off of the club and could follow it the whole way.

What I’ve taken from this is the USGA is cheap with their volunteers to maximize profit and most likely not terribly organized in placing people properly. I don’t have terribly steady hands. I can’t imagine using binoculars. Buddy of mine suggested using electronic tracking to help.

Binoculars do work. So does a telephoto lens on a camera, once you get the hang of the general flight path. TV does it well, but those guys are pros, and can switch in a crosshatch pattern on their monitor to make the ball stand out.

[JohnVDB]

I used to be a tournament official with the Long Island GA and half the job was spotting. I used binoculars to pick the ball right off of the club and could follow it the whole way.

What I’ve taken from this is the USGA is cheap with their volunteers to maximize profit and most likely not terribly organized in placing people properly. I don’t have terribly steady hands. I can’t imagine using binoculars. Buddy of mine suggested using electronic tracking to help.

I’m guessing that there are less volunteers than most years due to COVID restrictions. As for placing them, that is typically the hole captain’s job, who is also a volunteer.  The rules official assigned to a hole will also try to get them in good locations.I’d also bet that most of the volunteers this week also work the Farmers and should have experience.

You say the USGA is cheep. For around $100-$150 (I don’t know what the cost is these days but probably about that) you get something like a Ralph Lauren shirt, a windbreaker, a hat and a water bottle as well as lunch and other food and drinks when you’re working, plus admission to all the days of the championship.  Typically over the seven days you might have to work 4 or so. I think that seems like a pretty fair trade off.  Also, if you don’t charge for the gear what’s to stop people from just saying they’ll work, get their free goodies and not show up or just use their ticket to come to the event.

I would note that most tour stops use the same setup.

[Mark Smolens]

I’ve been a spotter at Northwestern’s golf events many times over the years. I don’t bother asking to spot for the guys as they hit the ball so hard I can’t come close to seeing them. As for the women, I recall keeping track one year at the Glen View Club on a par 4 with a blind landing area (think it’s #3) - two women missed the fairway out of the entire field.

[Mike Worth]

Just pay people a living wage instead of relying on the generosity of rubes.

Wait. There is no shortage of volunteers. Perhaps just make sure they’re watching the ball or have the physical capability to track it.

I was a spotter at the USGA Senior Amateur at Hidden Creek NJ in 2015


Spotting is not as easy as the original post suggests.  It’s not in any way, shape, or form the same as watching your own tee shot when you’re playing. So perhaps go easy on the volunteers!


I learned very quickly some of the lessons explained here.  It’s impossible to see the ball coming off the face of a club so you have to position yourself about 190 yards out from the tee. Then, train your eyes on specific spots up the fairway based on local knowledge. The direction the spotter on the tee gives with his paddles is important.


Hidden Creek has very wide fairways and the club managed to get a enough volunteers to put a spotter on each side of the fairway. 


We didn’t get any specific training before hand. So in the beginning I thought it would be easy by simply standing 250 yards out from the tee and follow the flight of the ball. Unfortunately it doesn’t work like that because you can’t see the ball once it goes above the tree line and into the blue and sunny sky

[Jeff Kallberg]

 I was a spotter for the USGA Women's Amateur at Rolling Green in 2016, and didn't have any particular problem following the ball from the tee to (usually) the middle of the fairway.  (Those women were good.)


This may have been a skill I developed as a teenager caddying at Bel Air CC.  Bel Air didn't have a range, and for lessons, they had carved a tee into side of the hill between the 17th and 18th fairway:  the member would hit the practice balls out into the 17th fairway, with a caddy stationed out there to pick up the balls.  For some reason, Eddie Merrins used to like to tap me for this job.  It was kind of like playing center field - you had to learn how to pick up the ball quickly off the club, both because if you didn't, you risked getting beaned, and because Mr. Merrins didn't like having practice balls just sitting out there in the fairway.  I had to hustle to pick up the balls, and the job went faster the better I could estimate where the ball was going off the club.

[Carl Johnson]

Wait a minute here.  We have professional golfers . . .  and amateur, volunteer spotters.  What do you expect?  You want good spotters?  Hire them, train them, and pay them good wages.  And make sure they have real good eye sight, for starters. Geez.

[Pete Lavallee]

JVDB was correct, for $150 you got 2 shirts, a hat, windbreaker and water bottle. You were required to work 4 shifts 7-12 or 12-7. I was assigned to hole 12, where Friday we had 8 volunteers and our hole captain; who was selected because he captained that hole numerous times at the Farmers. That placed 2 on the tee, 1 with paddles, 2 on the cross walk, 1 on each side of the fairway landing area and 2 at the green.


I worked the paddles on Tuesday morning and Wednesday afternoon. Hole 12 heads straight to the ocean and at Torrey the marine layer is always heavy on a June morning. On the morning shift I could not follow the ball from the designated area just behind the tee block, the background was too white. I tried shifting to just right and behind the golfer but it didn’t make any difference; seeing the ball was completely background dependent. Once the sky turned blue it was no problem. Marine layer just seems a much more difficult background than clouds for spotting.


Our crew didn’t have anyone under the age of 50, it’s just not an attractive proposition for younger people. In 2008 we did have a 1 hour in person training session. This time around it was done online. Getting the right people in the right spot is solely at the digression of the hole captain.

[Jerry Kluger]

Tournament volunteers are often unappreciated and sometimes even criticized for someone else's screwup.  I was a marshal at the 2011 US Open at Congressional on the 14th hole which plays down from an elevated tee and back up to an elevated green so there was no way to see a tee shot from the landing area.  So a marshal was behind the players indicating direction of the tee shot to a marshal half way down the hill who in turn would signal the marshals down at the landing area so they could locate the ball and warn spectators for an errant shot.  So Mickelson comes to the hole and hits a 3 iron off the tee and dead cold shanks it and it goes into the thick gunk behind the marshal half way down the hill.  The TV announcers are then lambasting the marshals for not knowing exactly where the ball was.


BTW: Most of the marshals on a hole are there to deal with the crowds and they are instructed to face the spectators with arms up when a player is hitting a shot or putting so their being inside the ropes does absolutely no good so far as seeing the play.

[JohnVDB]

To follow up on Pete’s post, some players don’t want the person with the paddles to stand where they can see the ball best which makes it even more difficult. 


Some players, particularly seniors, can be very rude about it.

[Jon Sweet]

To follow up on Pete’s post, some players don’t want the person with the paddles to stand where they can see the ball best which makes it even more difficult. 


Some players, particularly seniors, can be very rude about it.

I always get frustrated with people directly behind me. Especially if I can see them in my field of vision. Seeing it off the club face is critical.

[Kalen Braley]

I think the point has been adequately made that spotting the ball from 175+ yards away is tough, and I would certainly agree being a spotter at a mini tour event years ago.

All the more reason to perhaps pay for a few trained people near greens and/or common landing areas as opposed to assigning it out to some person with coke bottle glasses and $150 in hand.

[JohnVDB]

I think the point has been adequately made that spotting the ball from 175+ yards away is tough, and I would certainly agree being a spotter at a mini tour event years ago.

All the more reason to perhaps pay for a few trained people near greens and/or common landing areas as opposed to assigning it out to some person with coke bottle glasses and $150 in hand.

As a paid and trained rules official over the last 20 years, I can assure you it is just as tough for us as any volunteer. 

[Jon Sweet]

Just saw brooks miss a green on a par 3 left towards a hazard. Ball flew by, spotter looking straight at his cell phone. All time stuff. He was probably reading this thread. Got a great pic of it.

[Rob Marshall]

Maybe you could run the volunteers next year at Brookline.

[Jon Sweet]

Maybe you could run the volunteers next year at Brookline.

We’d have to discuss my rate!

[John Kavanaugh]

Forecaddies never see my partners balls either.