The KPMG Women’s PGA Championship will be held June 18-23, 2019 in Chaska, Minnesota, at historic Hazeltine National Golf Club. Echo! Echo! Echo!

Yes, golf fans; this is a big deal! The 2019 KPMG Women’s PGA Championship, one of five majors on the LPGA, will feature the best women players in the world testing their skills at the 2016 Ryder Cup venue. When the dust settles Sunday evening, June 23, 2019, a KPMG Women’s PGA Champion will be crowned, and fans will remember that they witnessed exciting golf by great players.

Yet members of the gallery probably won’t give a thought as to how this wonderful event was staged. They will not thank the 32 individual committees and nearly 70 committee members who organized more than 1,500 volunteers to make the event run like a Swiss watch. But a well-run golf event depends on each volunteer knowing their job and executing it to perfection.

The sense of “team pride” that volunteers feel at the end of a successful golf tournament is a unique feeling. Just like the athletes who emerge victorious, the regular folks who give hours of their time forget the process of getting there and remember only the rewarding results.

Adding to the sense of satisfaction is the fact that the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship is much more than “simply” a golf tournament. Every Championship also hosts the KPMG Women’s Leadership Summit. Held on-site during Championship week, the Summit is an investment in the next generation of women leaders by providing content, tools and networking to encourage their advancement to the C-suite. The Championship also promotes the participation of young people, allowing each adult ticket holder to bring up to four children age 17 and younger to the tournament free of charge. That means families can attend one of the most prestigious women’s golf championships in the world for the price of a night at the movies.

The Championship continues its commitment to youth, encouraging young people between 14 and 21 to volunteer in very important and visible jobs. Young women will be the standard bearers for each group of players on the golf course, walking inside the ropes while carrying a scoreboard – a “standard” – that shows spectators the current score of each golfer in the group. .

Boys and girls will work with adults on the big leaderboards located around the golf course. As scores are reported, names and numbers are constantly adjusted on the magnetic boards. At the “Monster Board” – which records each leaders score hole by hole – the boys will dance their scoring samba in front of the gallery. As they keep the crowds up to date on the players’ progress, many of the young volunteers will appear on television, becoming famous for a day as they dutifully fulfill their critical tasks.

There are many other volunteer opportunities available, for adults as well as youngsters. Hole marshals are assigned to every hole, ensuring crowds are quiet at the proper times and helping control the rope lines. Some volunteers will work closer with the players and the people who travel with them, providing day care, transportation, and other vital but unseen services that allow the players to keep their minds focused on their work, mastering the golf course.

Junior volunteer opportunities are still available for the 2019 KPMG Women’s PGA Championship. Most of the other slots are already filled – the turnout to volunteer has been amazing – but Eric Wilkinson, Manager of Volunteer Operations, encourages potential volunteers to register and get their name on the wait list. “Just like any event or Championship, we will have volunteers that need to withdraw from their duties. If you get your name on the wait list there is a good chance we can find a spot for you as we move forward.”

A number of volunteers in 2019 will be repeats from the 2016 Ryder Cup, including Keith Winters, a SuperValu executive. Keith first volunteered at the 2009 PGA Championship at Hazeltine, and since then has worked every PGA Championship. “Volunteering for Major championship golf tournaments has become what I do for my vacations,” Keith told me from his hotel room in Paris where he worked as a marshal on hole #11 at the Ryder Cup. “It has actually become a family affair. During the PGA Championship at Bellerive, near St Louis, I had my son and my son-in-law work with me as volunteers. It gets even better than that: For the 2016 Ryder Cup, we had our whole family out as volunteers – two sons, our daughter, a son-in-law, and a daughter-in-law. Oh, yes, I can’t forget my wife. She was a volunteer, but did not wear a uniform: She baby sat for the group.”

As Keith Winter and his family prove, volunteering creates memories that last a lifetime. And the 2019 KPMG Women’s PGA Championship is a wonderful place to start.

All photos courtesy of the PGA of America.