How did you become involved with the FSGA?
I've always had an interest in the rules and wanted to be able to solve rules discussions when playing golf with others. I reached out to the FSGA for guidance on learning the Rules and certification, and eventually branched out to volunteering in 2008.
During my first event, I watched Jim Demick start on the first tee at the Senior Amateur Championship hosted by Old Corkscrew in 2008. I enjoyed this great experience learning from Jim’s prestigious starting skills.
Why did you decide to become a Tournament Chairman?
Chuck Phillips and Dick Young convinced me to take on TC responsibilities when I lived in Naples. Phillips and Young assured me that I would enjoy it with my rules knowledge and love for golf.
How did golf become a part of your life?
Before I started playing golf, I had a weekend house on the Delaware River in Pennsylvania, where I would fish. After three years of fishing and catching only one fish (a catfish), I decided to take up a new hobby – golf. I started playing golf right before I turned 50 years old.
Hobbies, family, still play the game?
I play a ton of golf with my wife, who took up the game right after I did so that we would have something to do together for many years to come. She has five hole-in-ones, while I have none.
I also enjoy wine and pairing the appropriate wine with our meals. (See the video below for a tour of Marc's wine cellar)
Favorite memory volunteering?
The first time I was trained in TC duties by Dick Young and Chuck Phillips, at Old Corkscrew, when they were setting up for a US Open qualifier. We got done picking hole locations and went in for some lunch. One of the players, who was playing a practice round behind the three of us setting up the course, came in the restaurant and told us that the hole location was unfair and impossible on the 18th hole.
I was the only one who brought a putter, so Dick and Chuck told me to go out to the 18th green with the player and test out the hole location. The player told me to putt from two different locations that he deemed “impossible” and I made both putts.
Then the player picked a difficult putt, 50 feet away, where it looked like there was no way you could keep the ball on the green and I made the putt.
