Weekend Warrior:
The Golf Course Ranger
By Kevin McManus
July 22, 1994
“There’s one group out here, people call them the Roadrunners,” says Frank Reed, 35, steering a golf cart along a fairway. “They get here before the sun comes up, tee off at dawn. They usually finish 18 holes in under two hours.”
If every visitor to East Potomac Park Golf Course played Roadrunner-style, Reed’s services wouldn’t be needed.
But a few golfers play the game sluggishly, clumsily, erratically. They may spend five or more minutes searching for each lost ball, take four practice swings before every shot, chatter idly on the putting green while players behind them fume. All of these behaviors are no-nos and typically cause backups on a crowded course.
To prevent traffic jams, to keep the links peaceful, golf courses employ rangers. Reed is one of the Sunday rangers at East Potomac, where 900 to 1,000 people play golf on a typical summer weekend.
God help the golfer who plays slowly when Reed’s on duty. This guy was a military policeman in the Army for more than seven years. He can handle himself in a scrape. You know what he does to slowpokes?
Reed smiles. “I just ask them politely, ‘Would you mind picking up the pace?’ “
Usually they do. And Reed tools off to some other part of the course, smiling, waving to players he knows. From time to time, he repairs ball marks on greens, replaces divots, picks up litter and reminds people to keep their carts well clear of greens and tees.
In truth, it’s an easy job, so easy that Reed takes no pay for it. Like all of the dozen rangers here, he swaps his time for golf privileges. At the moment, having finished his 6 a.m.-to-1 p.m. shift, he’s playing a round solo. Tink. He strokes a long putt from the fringe around the first green. The ball rolls three feet past the pin. He walks over and taps it in for his par.
Reed, a cabinetmaker who resides in Northeast Washington, has golfed since he was 10 and presently plays to a 5 handicap. Free golf from March to October keeps his swing fluid and his disposition bright.
Even having to rise at 5:30 each Sunday doesn’t bother Reed, an early bird by choice. What about his fiancee? No, the schedule doesn’t trouble her either. “She’d rather have me on the golf course than getting in trouble,” says the ranger, eyes atwinkle. “She figures I’m safe out here.”
Copyright The Washington Post
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