Rich Langston and Mike Boster were half-a-country apart and hanging out with decidedly different age groups last week, but you can bet the two Coloradans had that same smile that comes with doing something you love and are passionate about.
Langston and Boster were both on the golf course, but their joy came not from playing, but from what has become their avocation over the years — being volunteer on-course rules officials.
Langston (pictured in white shirt above) was in his element working with junior players as the chief rules official at the Junior America’s Cup tournament that the CGA was hosting at Hiwan Golf Club in Evergreen. And Boster was in Toledo, Ohio, handling rulings for players at the other end of the experience spectrum at the U.S. Senior Open.
“This is a great game and I’ve said for years that I’m not going to make a contribution with a club in my hands; I’ve got to do it another way,” Boster said. “So this is how I’m doing it.”
Said Langston: “I’ve been doing this for 19 years, and the bottom line is that it’s 19 years I’ve really enjoyed. It’s been fun. I wouldn’t do it if I didn’t enjoy it. That’s the No. 1 thing — if you don’t enjoy it, don’t do it.”
Langston and Boster are two of about 75 on-course rules officials the CGA and CJGA draw upon to cover the many, many tournaments the associations oversee during the spring, summer and fall. The CWGA similarly has a pool of volunteers it uses.
But in each case, there is a core group of rules officials that goes well beyond the call of duty in volunteering their time. Langston and Boster certainly fall into that category. Langston said he’s typically on course serving as a rules official between 50 and 60 days each year, while Boster (pictured at left) estimates he’ll work more than 60 days in that capacity this year. And that doesn’t even count the time they spend serving on various CGA and CJGA committees.
“We couldn’t do what we do without them; it’s that simple,” CGA executive director Ed Mate said. “Their knowledge of the rules and their dedication to doing the job right is exceptional. Those two guys are what a volunteer golf association is all about.”
Given that he’s been volunteering since the early 1990s — long before he shut down his construction business six years ago — Langston said he “may hit 900 days” as an on-course rules official before the year is over.
Langston is now 70 years old, but his fascination with the Rules of Golf dates back to his days as a kid.
“I got an interest in the rules when I lost a tournament when I was 8 years old,” he said. “I incurred a two-stroke penalty for improving my lie, not really knowing that I was improving my lie. Afterward, I was bitching and moaning, and my dad just said, ‘I suggest you learn the rules a little better’ and he gave me a rule book.”
But it wasn’t until 19 years ago that Langston took the first step toward becoming a rules official. After a rules seminar at Riverdale Golf Club in Brighton, he sought out then-CGA executive director Warren Simmons, and that started Langston on the path.
Over the years, Langston has taken particular interest in working junior and college events, spending about 80 percent of his officiating time on those tournaments.
At the Junior America’s Cup pre-tourney dinner, “I made the comment to the players and coaches and captains and parents, ‘I do not enjoy being on the golf course with a bunch of kids, but I love being out there with young players, and there is a difference,'” said Langston, who was also the chief rules official at the 1999 JAC held in Colorado. “These players want to be here, and it’s so much fun to be out here and see these youngsters. But the real payoff comes 10-15 years later when you evidently touched some player enough to where they send you a wedding announcement or an announcement of the birth of their first child. That’s been pretty special.”
Langston’s rules-official volunteerism extends far beyond the CGA and the CJGA. He also works Colorado PGA events; several college tournaments, including the Big 12 Championships; three or four AJGA invitationals, a state high school tournament … You get the idea.
“It doesn’t make a whole lot of difference what the initials (of the organization are), I feel very honored when I get invited to something,” he said.
Langston obviously has much more free time to devote to being a rules official now that he’s retired, but he didn’t skimp when he owned his construction business in Denver.
“I had some really good people (working for him), so I could take off a day, two, three or four if I needed to,” said the former Texan. “But there were a lot of times I got to the office at 4 in the morning, got to the golf course at 6 in the morning and went back to the office at 6 in the evening and left at midnight. If you sign up to do something, you go do it.”
Boster, a CGA governor and chairman of the CGA Rules Committee, is in a similar situation. He’s retired now, but he spent many years volunteering as a rules official while his business as a lawyer was still in full swing. He started volunteering in 1999 by going to a two-days rules seminar and told former CGA director of rules and competitions Warren Wilson he’d like to get involved.
“What started me in it was I was playing in the Fox Hollow men’s club, and I was paired with a rules official named John Wood,” Boster said. “He called a penalty on himself for something I didn’t know was wrong.
“Volunteer rules officials are a great group of people. You’ll never meet a finer group. They care about what they’re doing, and they’re unselfish with their time.”
Last week at the U.S. Senior Open, Boster unknowingly was doing his job in the national limelight. During the second round, he was doing a temporary immovable obstruction ruling with Damon Green, the caddie for Zach Johnson who was competing in the national senior championship. Boster wasn’t aware of it at the time, but he was on the live national telecast of the tournament.
“If I had known, you would have heard my voice shake,” he said.
Boster has been assigned to quite a few USGA championships, including the Senior Open, U.S. Junior Amateur, U.S. Women’s Open, U.S. Amateur and the U.S. Women’s Amateur. While he enjoys them all, he particularly like the Women’s Amateur.
“The young women cheer for one another,” Boster said. “It’s not nearly as tense as some other events.”
Like Langston — his fellow Lakewood resident — Boster serves as a rules official at a great variety of championships. Besides CGA and USGA tournaments, Boster works events for the Colorado PGA, Big 12 and Mountain West Conference Championships and some Colorado-based college tournaments. This year, he even helped out at the new National Pro Golf Tour event at Buffalo Run.
“I’m a gun for hire,” the 68-year-old said with a chuckle.
And, yes, Boster and Langston are buddies. They may have considerably different personalities, but they share a love for what they do to help the game of golf.
“Mike is one of my best friends,” Langston said. “I was on the phone with him for almost an hour (while he was at the U.S. Senior Open). Sometimes we’ll go three or four weeks without talking, then we’ll pick up right where we left off.”
How to Volunteer: The CGA is hoping to bolster its number of volunteer on-course officials. Those interested can contact CGA director of operations Briena Goldsmith at 303-366-4653 ext. 106, or by e-mail at brienag@cogolf.org. The CGA will provide the necessary training.
“We’re not replacing the real stalwarts” of the rules officials, Mate said, “and you’ve got to start them somewhere. If we have a bigger pipeline, the Mike Bosters and Rich Langstons will find their way to the top.”
