\u201cRow 1! Hole 7! Red 1!\u201d Dennis Raetzke yelled up toward the scoreboard on Oakmont Country Club\u2019s 16th hole.<\/p>\n
Raetzke, 68, a Rochester Hills, Mich., resident, was the captain of the leader board and \u201cThru\u201d board on the hole Friday morning. He\u2019s one of the many volunteers spending the week at the U.S. Open, where he was the point man of a five-person team responsible for manually updating a large scoreboard to the left of the 16th green.<\/p>\n
\u201cI like golf, that\u2019s all,\u201d Raetzke said. \u201cThe history of it, how difficult the game is, just the fun of playing it.\u201d<\/p>\n
He used a small digital device, about the size of a smart phone, that updated him with scores throughout the course, and he relayed scoring changes to his fellow volunteers.<\/p>\n
While the scores were updated on the boards, relationships were built behind them.<\/p>\n
\u201cMeeting all the volunteers [is my favorite part],\u201d Raetzke said. \u201cWe\u2019ve got young guys here, older people, and we just mix and talk golf and watch golf and appreciate what\u2019s going on.\u201d<\/p>\n