PEBBLE BEACH, CALIFORNIA | Tournaments don’t run without volunteers. They’re the marshals, the shuttle drivers, the men and women putting range balls out in the morning and collecting caddie bibs in the afternoon. They fill the coolers on the tee boxes and take down the gallery ropes when a tee shot goes awry. Most weeks they’re a quiet bunch, especially in the pitch-black darkness just before dawn.

But not this week. On the 5:30 a.m. bus to the staging area at Pebble Beach, one woman stood up and said, “I just want to say, we’re from Portland and I can’t believe we’re here. I volunteer at the Portland Classic every year and I’ve never been this excited.”

A man piped up with, “We’re from Illinois and we feel the same way.”

That’s the consensus. Far and wide, the group that paid their own way to get to Northern California couldn’t be happier with their investment.

Among them are 37 women whose labors will be on full display all week.

“The grounds crew here has done a tremendous job in getting this golf course prepared for the championship to begin tomorrow,” said Shannon Rouillard, senior director of women’s championships for the USGA. “But to conduct a championship of this magnitude, we also need volunteers. For the third year in a row, we have Women in Turf, 37 women from that industry here helping on the grounds crew. This is an enthusiastic group that loves women's golf, loves their profession, and loves the Women's Open.”

turf She wasn’t wrong. One of those volunteers, Kayla Kipp, a certified equipment manager at Nemacolin Woodlands Resort in Pennsylvania and a member of the Golf Course Superintendents Association of America, said, “This is my third time volunteering. I’ve done (the Opens at) Olympic Club and Pine Needles and then one of the other girls couldn’t make it this year, so I got the call. I was like ‘Oh my goodness, Pebble Beach. I’m in.’ So, yeah, it’s exciting to be here.”

Kipp grew up around equipment. Her father was an auto mechanic in Maryland and Kayla followed him around the shop. With no money for college, she joined the Air Force where she was a heavy equipment mechanic. Six years later, she joined a golf course maintenance crew.

“They found out that I had wrenching skills and were like, ‘You’re going to learn how to grind reels.’ That’s how I got here,” she said. “Now, I love the game. I love playing, and I love maintaining it. I’m taking lessons this year in the hopes of getting better.

“The biggest surprise when I got into the business was how intricate everything is, down to the thousandth of an inch. I love that attention to detail, the perfect lines. To have that clean edge between the intermediate cut and a fairway, or the green, people love that, and I love giving it to them.”

turf2 She also loves the sorority of women who have made a habit of volunteering at these big events. Half of the 37 are first timers. The rest, like Kipp, are making it a yearly habit.

“To be surrounded by this many women at one time in this industry is phenomenal,” she said. “We don’t get the chance to do this all the time. And the friendships we forge here are quality, near and dear to my heart. Whenever I get to come (to an Open) and spend time with them, it’s hard not to be smiling all the time.”

According to Shelia Finney, GCSAA senior director of member programs and a former superintendent herself, “What makes this such a huge deal is that with all the golf courses in the United States – 14,700-something – out of all those courses, there are fewer than 80 female superintendents. That means that while you’re aware that there are other women in the industry, they usually aren’t where you are. You don’t get to meet them and create these bonds. That’s what makes weeks like this, where they are together, so special.”

“Yeah, this has been a great week so far, and it’s going to be a great week going forward,” Kipp said. “And after this, I can’t wait to do it again.”

Sorority of the Turfgrass: 37 Women Keeping Pebble Pristine

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