Leader of the pack
August 24, 2011
By Dan Catchpole
Snoqualmie’s Gary Kerr coordinates thousands of Boeing Classic volunteers
Today, the Boeing Classic runs seemingly like clockwork. Tens of thousands of spectators flock to Snoqualmie Ridge to watch some of the golfing world’s greatest competitors.
But behind the long drives, chip shots, birdies and bogeys is an army of volunteers. They are the meat and the muscle of the three-day tournament on the PGA’s Champions Tour.
Snoqualmie resident Gary Kerr has been one of the Boeing Classic’s key organizers from the beginning. By Dan Catchpole
For most of the Classic’s existence, one Snoqualmie resident has been leading the tournament’s all-volunteer army. Perhaps more than anyone else, Gary Kerr has helped shape how the Classic functions.
The 65-year-old Kerr is a latecomer to golf. He took up the game when he and his wife moved to Snoqualmie Ridge in 2001. They moved into a house on the eighth hole of the golf course at TPC Snoqualmie Ridge, which hosts the Classic.
Kerr joined TPC and took to the links in his free time.
In 2005, Kerr saw that the Boeing Classic was coming to Snoqualmie, and thought it would be fun to volunteer at the event. So, he called Chuck Nelson, the tournament’s organizer at the time.
“I didn’t know what I was getting myself involved in,” Kerr said.
When he called, he didn’t expect to become such an integral part of the tournament’s organization.
Building the organization
At the time, everyone was trying to figure out how best to organize the tournament. There was no model and no one to go to for advice.
“We didn’t really have a sounding board, so that was more stressful,” Kerr said.
He and other organizers had to take their organizational experiences — mostly from the business world — and translate them to a three-day tournament with television coverage and some of the golfing world’s biggest names.
Kerr started out as head of the Shot Link Committee, which was responsible for measuring the distance of each shot and how far players were from the hole, and transmitting that data to the Golf Channel’s commentators.
As with everything else, there were no previous examples of how to organize the dozens of volunteers he was overseeing. Kerr created templates to efficiently schedule and position the volunteers. The templates worked so well, an official from the PGA Tour sent them to other tournament organizations.
“That was a situation where I was flying by the seat of my pants,” Kerr said.
The next year, Kerr found himself at the head of the Boeing Classic’s volunteers.
By 2007, he and other organizers had begun to document how to manage the volunteers.
“We have our organization and plan down pretty well, so it operates very efficiently,” Kerr said.
Still, in the beginning, the organizers had to get by with less. The tournament didn’t draw 1,000 volunteers but 500 or 600. That required a lot of juggling between responsibilities and roles.
The structure has grown as well, from 13 committees to 22. Organizers found it was better to have committee co-chairs rather than a single head for each one.
What to knowGary Kerr’s tips for organizing volunteers 1. Develop and document the plan for the volunteer effort, and communicate it to committee coordinators. |
People keep coming back
Getting good people involved and keeping them has been critical to the Boeing Classic’s success.
Kerr sought people with organizational and people skills. He also worked to get people to return year after year. He did that, in part, by making sure volunteers understood how they contributed to the tournament’s success. It doesn’t hurt that most of the volunteers have fun, too.
About 55 percent of the Boeing Classic’s volunteers return from one year to the next.
“That means they’re having a good experience,” Kerr said.
Volunteers for the tournament actually “pay” for the experience. Many people take a week of vacation to volunteer for the Classic.
The return rate is even better among the volunteer committee co-chairs. About 75 percent of them come back from the previous year. Having experienced organizers come back makes things run much smoother.
“We’re privileged to have those people return each year,” he said.
Being a volunteer co-chair is not a small commitment, either. They begin meeting in March and put in hundreds of hours. As the Volunteer Committee co-chairman, Kerr spent 500 to 600 hours a year working on the Boeing Classic.
The activity really picks up in June.
“The emails are flying,” he said.
The buzz of activity only grows as it gets closer to the actual tournament.
Kerr’s role doesn’t leave him much time to watch the event in which he has invested so many hours. Each year, he is usually able to take a little while to watch the leaders on the 18th hole, often the best place to watch. The Boeing Classic typically is not decided until the last couple holes of play.
Working on the tournament has been a labor of love for Kerr, and an opportunity to show off his adopted home to the world.
The Golf Channel broadcasts the Classic, and its camera operators make good use of the sweeping views from Snoqualmie Ridge and other shots from the Valley.
“If you think of all those eyeballs — it goes worldwide,” Kerr said. “It brings great attention to this area.”
Dan Catchpole: 392-6434, ext. 246, or editor@snovalleystar.com.
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