Macomb Man's Love of Golf Leads to Opportunities of a Lifetime
A Macomb man whose life has been filled with years of golf gets to go – in the immortal words of Happy Gilmore – to his 'happy place' every year when he serves as a marshal for a professional golf tournament.
Jim Miner came into the sport when he was 10 years old and was a student at the Western Lab School. As part of summer school, Western Illinois University coaches would offer a variety of afternoon programs, and the young Miner signed up for golf with the late, great WIU Golf Coach Harry Mussatto.
After morning classes, he'd head to his aunt's house on Riverview Drive that backed up to the 9th tee box on Western's what was known then as the O.L. Champion 9-hole golf course, wolf down a PB&J sandwich for lunch, grab his clubs from her garage and cross the street the golf course. There, Coach Mussatto would teach his young charges and Miner soaked it all in. It was that stellar experience under the legendary coach that led him into a lifetime of golf, which eventually led to serving as a marshal for the Professional Golf Association (PGA), mostly at Pebble Beach in California and Jack Nicklaus' Memorial Tourney in Ohio, for 18 years.
'It was really Harry that got me into golf and what the sport does for kids,' Miner added.
Miner got a small scholarship to play golf at WIU after he graduated from high school, but a bout of mono sidelined him and that was that with his team playing career. He veered into student activities and spent more than 30 years leading student activities and student recreation at Western. It was his retirement in Spring 2005 that pushed him into making a 'post-retirement bucket list:' volunteering as an assistant coach for the Macomb High golf team ... check, serving as a marshal at Pebble Beach ... check. And working as a greensworker at the WIU Harry Mussatto Golf Course ... check. This part-time post-retirement gig from 2005-2019. While Miner had his first foray into marshaling at the John Deere Classic in the Quad Cities thanks to his friend and colleague, the late Jim Keeney, when he was still working full-time, his ultimate dream was to walk on Pebble Beach.
'We had an active First Tee chapter at Western (a nationally-known youth golf program), and First Tee sponsored a Pebble Beach tournament for young golfers and PGA senior players, so I volunteered to work at the First Tee tournament,' Miner shared. 'They needed marshals so I bought the uniform and flew out to California for the tournament in Fall 2005.'
Marshals do not get paid other than a lunch while they are working. They also pay for their uniform, lodging, food and travel when working tournaments. The real payment, Miner said, is working alongside golf greats.
'I had marshaled a few years at the John Deere Classic, so I had some experience, but you still take part in training and orientation the day before a tournament. It's really not difficult; I equate it to being an usher on the golf course, and you're really trained on the job,' he said. 'We usually will work the Pro-Am part of the tournaments first, so we get a feel for the course.'
That first time he fulfilled his dream of walking on Pebble Beach was in September 2005.
'It was like 'Whoa, I'm here.' I'd been golfing since I was 10 years old, and I had the chance to be at the highest level inside the rope with Tiger Woods, Jack Nicklaus and other greats,' Miner recalled. 'It was a dream come true.'
And once you're in at Pebble Beach, they keep asking you to return. Miner would get postcards with all the tournament dates, so a few months later, in February 2006, he was back in California for the Pebble Beach AT&T Pro Am. The tournament was looking for a larger number of marshals as the tournament took place over three courses. Miner drew the luck-of-thedraw and was again at Pebble Beach, as well as Spy Glass Hill, this time for the Celebrity Pro-Am, a part of the professional tournament.
'I got the postcard and thought about February in Illinois and California in February,' he laughed. 'Suzi (Miner's late wife) was very supportive' For 18 years, he was consistently at Pebble Beach in February and with Nicklaus' Memorial tournament in Ohio in May. In 2007, Miner created a 'Marshal Bucket List,' which included the U.S. Open, Ryder Cup and President's Cup … check, check and check. He worked in the President's Cup in 2009, the U.S. Open at Pebble Beach in 2010 and The Ryder Cup in 2012 when it was held in Chicago.
'To marshal the pinnacles of the professional golf meant the world to me,' Miner said matter-of-factly.
After working a Solheim Cup in late summer 2021, Miner was set to go back as a Ryder Cup marshal in Wisconsin, but his heart changed his plans. He went in for stents, with intention of heading to Wisconsin a few days later. Instead, he ended up having a quadruple bypass, which put the kibosh on the Ryder Cup. After healing and rehabbing, Miner made his way to Toledo, OH for the LGPA Solheim Cup. He finished marshaling for Pebble Beach and the Nicklaus Memorial Tournament three years ago.
'Marshals are typically an older group of people. I thought I'd done it, and I didn't really want to travel much anymore,' he explained. 'I'd done it for 18 years and it had lost some of its luster.'
However, the luster isn't entirely gone … there's still a little glimmer left, so he's not out of the marshal biz just quite yet. Miner just returned from Las Vegas where he marshaled for the LGPA ARAMCO Tournament at Shadow Creek Golf Course. He started marshaling that tournament in 2022 and plans on continuing with this once a year for as long as he can.
'That's the only reason I'll keep doing this because of Shadow Creek. It's like sirens calling to you. The course is just soooo beautiful,' Miner said.
Marshals can be assigned with a whole team to a specific hole for a tournament, or they can be 'roving marshals,' which Miner prefers. Those who are assigned different holes each day during the tournament get a chance to see more of the course, and meet more people along the way. What exactly are the responsibilities of the 'ushers of a golf tournament?' It's all about facilitating movement and safety, he explained.
'It's getting the players around the course consistently, helping a golfer find a wayward ball, and making sure the noise, gallery movement and safety of the gallery during errant shots are under control,' Miner said. 'It's an honor to be there to help the sport and the golfers. These tournaments also provide so much to charities and I get to play a small part in making that happen.'
While the Master's, which Rory McElroy won two weeks ago for the second consecutive year, would be the ultimate marshal experience, Miner noted you have to know someone who knows someone who knows someone 'born into the privilege.' That said, Miner had the ultimate 'Taj Mahal' of golf experiences when a WIU alumnus who worked with Miner in student activities surprised him with a four-day 'all-inclusive' pass to the crème de la crème of tournaments in 2015 (Jordan Spieth won that year).
'Unless you win the ticket lottery, which is a one-day ticket and are very hard to win, you're not going to the Master's unless you know someone,' Miner said. 'Brian O'Connell, who is a very successful grad, was back for Bill Brattain's funeral and he asked me if I was still a golf nut and when I told him I was, he said he was going to send me something.
'I knew he had connections, but I had no idea of the extent of his connections,' Miner said with a laugh. 'A few months later, I got an 8.5 x 11 manilla envelope in the mail and when I opened it, there were four tickets – one for each day of the Master's – and passes for the VIP House, Berckman's Place. It was an indescribable experience.'
While the Master's gave him an up-close look from the fan's perspective – one he could just sit back and enjoy as he wasn't on the job – he's had the opportunity as a marshal to be in the presence of golf icons like Nicklaus, Spieth, McElroy, Scotty Sheffler and others he admires, along with celebrities, like Bill Murray, Tom Brady and Peyton Manning. Even though Miner has been around the legends, he can't morph into a 'super fan' as part of the expectations of being a marshal is to be respectful and professional – that means no photos, no autographs, no videos.
'I've just been happy to be in the same universe with them,' Miner said. 'All of this has been a pretty incredible experience for the kid who wasn't a 'gym rat,' but a 'course rat.'
