ROGERS : Golf fans go 1st class on coaches
Posted on Friday, July 4, 2008
ROGERS — Sylvester James could’ve traveled from Northwest Arkansas to somewhere beyond Albuquerque, N. M., in the time he spent Thursday driving a shuttle bus.
James, of Tulsa, was scheduled to drive 13 hours as he motored between dropoff points at the LPGA P&G Beauty Northwest Arkansas Championship at the Pinnacle Country Club.
He expected to cover just a little more than 100 miles by the end of the day.
“I just drive in one big circle,” James said with a laugh while wearing gold-rimmed aviator sunglasses.
James is one five paid bus drivers shuttling volunteers and spectators to and from the tournament and various parking lots for New Jersey-based Country Club Services.
More golf fans are expected today, so the fleet will grow by an additional seven buses, said Country Club Services manager Kevin Sparks.
The company specializes in transportation for golf tournaments and other events.
At an event like the LPGA tournament in Northwest Arkansas, the fleet will use about 1, 000 gallons of diesel fuel and cost tournament organizers between $ 70, 000 and $ 80, 000, he said.
Good equipment and prompt service are essential for the shuttles’ success, but the drivers are essential to well-run tournament transportation, Sparks said.
“They’ve got to be friendly and outgoing,” he said.
From the captain’s seat of his purple-striped motor coach, James chatted about politics, traveling, the weather and the tournament with riders who shuffled in and out of the vehicle.
Quips and conversations evolve only so much within the 1 3 / 2 minutes it takes James to drive from the spectator parking lot on Promenade Boulevard to the spectator drop-off and pickup area on Champions Boulevard. A school bus driver by trade, James admits the short ride makes it hard to make a connection with his passengers. Not that he doesn’t try. Desinee Bottorff of Bella Vista joked with her father about looking for a seat belt when she boarded the bus Thursday morning. “You don’t need one,” James told her, looking over his shoulder from the driver’s seat. “You’re that good, huh ?” she said, and the two began laughing. James recognizes faces of passengers he’s driven before, but the ones he jokes with — such as Bottorff — make the day go by faster. “They’re the ones you remember,” he said.
To contact this reporter: aotoole@arkansasonline. com
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