Listening to Eldon Rondeau this past long weekend was like listening to someone read out the numbers to the world's longest security code.
“Four, blank, three,” he'd say, pausing briefly, allowing friend Rick Rohatyn a chance to write the numbers down. “Five, six, four... four, three, six...”
And so on and so on.
By the end of the weekend, Rondeau had read out well over 2,000 numbers from golf scorecards to Rohatyn, who was writing them on the scoreboards at the TS&M Woodlawn Golf Course for the Frametech Classic. Rohatyn, a former schoolteacher, meticulously wrote them in four or five different colours, so the colours told their own story of the weekend – red for a birdie, black for a regular score or bogey, and so on.
The rhythm of the golf tournament was in the cadence of Rondeau and the sure hand of Rohatyn.
“Aren't you bored?” I was asked as I watched and listened to the precision of men who have clearly been doing this for years. Nope.
After the numbers were up for each golfer, they would sometimes briefly interrupt their counting to actually look at the scorecard. “Dave got an eight on 15,” one would say, shaking his head.
As the participants would gather to watch their scores and their competitors scores get put on the board, they'd have to endure the light razzing from Rondeau and Rohatyn.
“Anyone who stands too close has to read out numbers,” Rohatyn would say.
These men have performed the exact same task at a number of golf events at the club this year and many others. In fact, one of the most enjoyable parts of covering tournaments there is the ability to watch them do their work. They have a dizzying number of golfers coming in, have to check their scorecards, have to triple check the addition and whether or not such and such a hole is a birdie.
They weren't alone, as one helper organized the scorecards and counted and read them first before handing them off. But they are the ultra volunteers, whose work goes beyond the mere counting and printing of numbers. It is they whose work has ensured the smooth running of tournaments throughout the years, and they're as much a part of the golf course itself as any lateral hazard or tree.
I honestly tried to think about the tournaments that I've been to at Woodlawn, thinking about how dull and colourless they'd be without Rohatyn and Rondeau. They would likely be the first to admit they're among the course's old boys, merely giving back to a club and a community that has provided them with so much.
There's volunteering, and then there's super-volunteering. And these guys are super.
Either or both of them could just simply stop, enjoy their respective retirements and golden years and not have to deal with peering eyes staring over them for hours at a time, not have to deal with the headaches that come from the other aspects of organizing events with dozens to over a hundred participants. It would be so easy for them to simply watch golf on TV, rather than spend hours in a boardroom or on a deck, standing and counting.
Instead, there they are, at more tournaments than not, helping to spread their love of the game to younger players, perhaps hoping that someone will be inspired to take up the torch in the future.
But not yet. They're clearly still enjoying themselves and the fellowship of the course and contributing in a not-insignificant way.
So from now on when anyone reads out numbers, I'll always think of these guys writing down fifth or sixth flight scorecards, simply because they enjoy the opportunity to give back.
“Five, six, five...”
