ever been,” Gayle Parpart recalled. “I wish I
had had gloves.”
PRICELESS EXPERIENCES
Because they ride together from where they are
staying, the Parparts, Sangstons, Moores and
Manson work the same shifts. Volunteers are
responsible for checking guest credentials at
the entrance to the massive corporate hospital-
ity village. A guest has to present the right badge
on the right day at the right place. The Saun-
ders’ merchandise tent schedule is different.
MSG Promotions Inc., not the USGA, runs
the corporate hospitality committee. Its found-
er, president and chief executive officer is Mimi
Griffin, who made her name as a pioneering
women’s basketball broadcaster for ESPN and
CBS Sports and is a 2014 inductee of the Wom-
en’s Basketball Hall of Fame.
“Talk about a dynamic personality,” Larry
Parpart says. “[MSG] interns meet with Mimi
every day in the morning, and she gives them a
motivational talk.”
Larry, the basketball coach, has expressed an
interest in attending one of those talks. Having
gotten to know Griffin and most of the MSG
staff through the years, Parpart is likely to join
in at Erin Hills.
“We meet a lot of good people,” Jim Sangston
said, and Ann added, “We see them year after
year. It’s a great experience for retirees. They’re
doing the same thing we’re doing.”
Despite the cold weather, the Pebble Beach
experience remains a highlight for the Parparts,
Sangstons and Moores. Their volunteer assign-
ment on the second floor of the clubhouse gave
them full clubhouse access. They stayed in a
house that overlooked the Pacific Ocean. The
men played golf at Pacific Grove Municipal Golf
Links, which has been dubbed “the poor man’s
Pebble Beach.”
The Parparts and Jim Sangston worked the
U.S. Open at Merion in 2013, which led to an
unforgettable experience.
“We were working the early shift (7–11 a.m.),
and we were walking to our station on a prac-
tice day when we ran into Tiger [Woods],”
Larry said. “Dummy me said, ‘Tiger, good luck
today.’ He turned around and said, ‘Thank you
very much.’”
Said Gayle, “We were just so shocked that
he turned around and acknowledged someone
had spoken to him.”
The four couples all worked the U.S. Open at
Pinehurst in 2014, and with the U.S. Women’s
Open on the same site the following week,
Larry and Bill stuck around to complete the
double. Parpart has only missed three Opens
since his first volunteering assignment—Beth-
page in 2009, Olympic in San Francisco in 2012
and Chambers Bay in Washington in 2015.
So how long will their run continue? Housing
costs on Long Island might make it tough to
commit to Opens at Shinnecock Hills (2018)
and Winged Foot (2020). Pebble is on the sched-
ule again in 2019. That makes this year’s trip to
Erin Hills even more special for the group.
Regardless of what the future holds, Gayle
Parpart says, “It’s been a lot of fun.”
2007: Oakmont CC, Oakmont, Pa.
Volunteers:
Larry Parpart, Ben Wilkerson
2008: Torrey Pines GC, La Jolla, Calif.
Volunteers:
Larry Parpart, Ben Wilkerson
2009: Bethpage Black,
Farmingdale, NY
Volunteers: N/A
2010: Pebble Beach Golf Links,
Pebble Beach, Calif.
Volunteers: Larry and Gayle
Parpart, Jim and Ann Sangston,
Bill and Stevi Moore.
2011: Congressional CC,
Bethesda, Md.
Volunteers: Larry Parpart,
Jim Sangston, Bill Moore
2012: The Olympic Club,
San Francisco, Calif.
Volunteers: Jim and Ann Sangston;
Charles and Porcilla Saunders
2013: Merion GC, Ardmore, PA
Volunteers: Larry and Gayle
Parpart, Jim Sangston
2014: Pinehurst CC, Pinehurst, N.C.
Volunteers: Larry and Gayle
Parpart, Jim and Ann Sangston,
and Bill Moore.
2015: Chambers Bay GC,
University Place, Wash.
Following The Rules
Volunteer: Bill Moore
2016: Oakmont CC, Oakmont, Pa.
Several Virginia State Golf Association staff members and volunteers have qualified to
serve as rules officials at the U.S. Open.
The VSGA staff members are executive director Jamie Conkling and assistant
executive director Matt Smiley.
The VSGA members are Lew Blakey, Galen Hill, Mark Newell, Grover Walker,
Richard Wight, and Clyde Luther, a noted rules expert who was a member of the
inaugural class of the Virginia Golf Hall of Fame. Lee Coble has worked as a rules-TV
committee escort for NBC.
vsga.org
A DECADE OF
U.S. OPEN
VOLUNTEERING
Volunteers: Larry and Gayle
Parpart, Jim and Ann Sangston,
Bill and Stevi Moore, Mary Virginia
Manson
2017: Erin Hills GC, Erin, Wis.
Volunteers: Larry and Gayle
Parpart, Jim and Ann Sangston,
Bill and Stevi Moore, Mary Virginia
Manson
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