Tents line the fairways.

Trucks by the dozens are tucked in corners.

TV towers, ropes and bleachers are all around.

But on the first Sunday evening at the U.S. Senior Open in Hutchinson, an important gathering of individuals took place in a small tent next to the Prairie Dunes Country Club Turf Maintenance Facility. Some 75 men from various backgrounds held an orientation meeting and formed the Golf Course Maintenance Turf Team.

This team is charged with maintaining the golf course so that when the best senior golfers in the world embark on practice rounds today and proceed to play through Championship Sunday, they will be greeted by the best test the course can offer.

The Turf Team consists of trained professionals: golf course superintendents and assistant superintendents, agronomic professionals, professionals from various golf industries and skilled golf course maintenance members. Any challenge, weather conflict, or playing-surface need will fall upon this group, and it didn’t take long for the first challenge to arrive. Just as the meeting was concluding, a thunderstorm was beginning.

As the Turf Team was dismissed, course alerts were sounded to clear the course. A flurry of activity broke lose, and within minutes, the course was vacant. The first test of the tournament passed with flying colored golf carts.

As a volunteer on this team, I have the great fortune to be a caretaker this week of a golf course playing at its best.

I will have the opportunity to be involved in the behind-the-scenes action as it relates to the golf course, its playing conditions, its maintenance and how it all affects play.

As the week unfolds, I will be able to watch the best in the business in action, up close and personal. I am not, however, only referring to the golfers.

True, they make up many of the best golfers in the world. Being able to see them attack a magnificent golf course will be a thrill. But I must include the Turf Team as well. These men are scientists, artists and sometimes it even seems like they are magicians.

There will be over 2,100 volunteers to serve this 27th United States Senior Open. All of us have important tasks to do. As you watch the tournament and wonder how the players are able to do what they do, don’t miss the stunning beauty of the golf course, and enjoy watching it in championship form. There is great wonderment in what the Golf Course Maintenance Turf Team do as well.