Some volunteers really like the job

This week’s LPGA Wal-Mart NW Championship will be using 600 volunteers, but not all of them are from Northwest Arkansas.

“A lot of them are huge golf fans,” said Emily Podzielinski, tournament assistant.

Volunteers get two shirts, lunch, tickets to the event and a bag of P&G products in exchange for this year’s $45 volunteer fee, but they also get to interact with players and the tournament process, she said.

It’s that inside-the-ropes aspect that appeals to Chuck Myers of Helendale, Calif., and Dave Hamada of Arcadia, Calif., who have turned volunteering at LPGA events into a hobby.

“I’ve seen more than the average spectator because I’m inside the ropes,” Myers said.

Players waved and caddies shook hands with Meyers and Hamada as they stood by the caddy tent on Wednesday.

This week marks Hamada’s eighth LPGA event this year and Myers’ sixth. Myers likes to volunteer as a walking scorer and Hamada usually volunteers inthe caddy tent or in scoring. Both men said they have volunteered at more than 100 LPGA events. It isn’t that they have a favorite player making the tournament rounds, but that they get closer to the game they love as volunteers than they would as spectators.

Myers said he might be 10 feet away from players and their caddies as they discuss the slope of the green and wind speed to set up their shot. The players are accurate within feet, but first they must account for outside factors.

Hamada injured his shoulder and no longer plays, but traveling as a volunteer gives him a way to be involved with the game.

“You see a lot of different aspects of the tournament. You’re not just watching the players play,” Hamada said.

Myers starts planning his year when the schedule comes out. He volunteers at about 10 tournaments a year. He looks for cheap airfare and occasionally shares a room with one of the caddies.

“I wish I could afford to really do them all,” Myers said.