One a glorious morning at the first tee at Pebble Beach I found myself staring at a man who had just put a $100 bill into my hand... I was left with a delemna.
As one of the Starters at Pebble Beach for 2+ years I was able to see a fair number of interestings things happen. The year was 2001 (before 9/11) and business was jumping. We had just hosted the 2000 U.S. Open, the 2001 AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am and the golf course was just named the #1 Golf Course in the US. The rate was $325 to play golf, tee times where sold out 18 months in advance and the waitlist to get on the golf course was 20+ deep every day.
As the First Assistant I was responsible for many number of things; customer service, pace of play, management of the caddie program etc. The one duty I truly enjoyed was the Podium Position. Every day a Golf Professional would be responsible for collecting the groups together, introducing the caddies, getting the players carts and the such. The Podium position also maintained the waitlist for players hoping to play Pebble Beach.
Controling this list was a bit like acting like God. You were able to make a person's year by getting them on the golf course.
While on the Podium there were any number of temptations with desparate players attempting to play. Company policy, that I adhered to strickly, was that nothing could be accepted prior to performing a service (that was looked upon as bribe) but could be accepted afterward (looked at as a tip).
Back to that man at the 1st tee. I hadn't done anything for him. He hadn't asked me to do anything. But we both knew what he was expecting... I felt like I was involved in a far dirtier proposition!
As luck had it there were no other players waiting to play golf. He would be the first on my waitlist. Yet, there was no open tee times for me to fullfil my part of the contract. I turned down the $100 offer and told him, "Sir, I have nothing open at the moment. If you'd like to proceed to the Gallery Restaurant(over looking the first tee) and have a bite to eat if something should open I will come and get you."
He retired to the balcony and ate lunch.
As my luck had it the 12:10 tee time was only a 3 some. I found my player as he was finished his meal and gave him the good news.
Later, after he paid for his green fees and warmed up and as he headed to the first tee he turned to me and handed me a stack of bills. A stack of bills? What is this I asked myself as I shoved them into my pocket?!
I found a quiet place in the back to investigate the stack of bills. When I pulled them out I had $78. $22 short of the $100 I had in my hand just a few hours before.
It seems that I, the starter at Pebble Beach, had found him a spot to play that day AND bought him lunch....
No comments:
Post a Comment