Keeping the order

Course marshals have an important role and are a great resource for information on overcoming course challenges

Golfers aren't stereotypically a rowdy bunch, but that doesn't mean there isn't an enforcer out patrolling the links, making sure everything is running smoothly.

These enforcers are known as course marshals, and it's their job to keep things organized and running like clockwork.

Meet Larry Bell, a course marshal at the Bootleg Gap golf course outside Kimberley, B.C., where he works a few days a week.

A former high school counsellor from Calgary, he moved out to Kimberley after retirement and ended up working at the Bootleg Gap over the last few summers to keep himself occupied.

Free golf as a job benefit is a pretty good perk too, he said.

He has two primary responsibilities: being a resource of information for golfers on the course and making sure the pace of play is always going forward.

Golfers want inside knowledge of the course, as well as tips and tricks to elevate their game—and Bell is the go-to person for such information.

His other important duty is closing any gaps between larger groups that lag behind or choke up the pace of everyone on the course.

If groups are slowing up the rest, he'll politely ask them to speed up play or drive them forward a hole or two.

He once dealt with a group that had given up a 4-hole lead with another party behind them. He moved the first group forward to hole 12 and told them to keep things moving and come back to play hole 10 and 11 after finishing.

As far as any kind of shenanigans go, course marshals aren't really faced with situations you'd find watching the golfing movie classic Happy Gilmore.

He had one golfer hand over a putter that had been found in the bushes near a green, that was a little worse for wear, and figured the owner must've had a bad stroke.

Given the natural setting, he also has to be aware of wildlife on the course, and will use a golf cart to herd any stray moose or elk that are regular guests out on the fairways.

But it's the interaction with people that Bell enjoys the most, and he has a special piece of advice he gives about the last hole on the championship course. Hole 18 dog-legs around a water hazard and he likes giving golfers—especially Albertans—a subtle challenge when he tells them: "You didn't drive all the way out here to play around the water, you've got to try and punch it over."