Inside the ropes at the 2023 US Open: Day 1 direct from Los Angeles Country Club

The 2023 US Open begins June 15 and will be played at the Los Angeles Country Club for the first time. The world of golf is buzzing with the new LIV-PGA agreement and fans and players alike are looking forward to seeing the unique layout for the third major of the year. We’ll be talking to professional caddie and TV spotter Shawn McMahon for some insight on and off the course in LA this week.

So Shawn, what exactly is it that you have to do as a spotter?

As a spotter I follow a group of golfers. 3 players on Thursday and Friday and 2 players on Saturday and Sunday. If they are in contention and being followed on TV the producers want to know who and when the certain players will be hitting so they can get the cameras on them. They also want to know what shot they are hitting and when on the green what they are putting for. I wear a radio / walkie talkie and relay this information to them. If I’m with a group who isn’t really in contention, I tell them if they hit a really good shot or really bad shot so they can put that on the air.

Lately I’ve been working yardage. This means I’m with an on-course reporter and I write down on a sticky note how far the players have to the front of the green and how far they have to the pin and hand the on course reporter this note. I then radio the production truck this same info so they can put it on the TV screen and this way the reporter and the tv screen have the same info. I also signal the reporter the clubs the players hit and also radio this info into the truck so they can display it on screen. Most of the caddies will signal me the clubs and then I signal the reporter. All this is done on one hand. For example three-fingers is a 3-iron or an 8-iron. If they have 170 yards you know it’s an 8-iron and not a 3-iron because of the distance.

How long have you been doing it?

I was at a practice round at Chambers Bay for the US Open in 2015 and had a friend who worked there. He said: “Shawn, do you want to work for fox sports this week? They’re looking for people.” It was the first big event for Fox Sports after getting the contract and I said sure. That week I mostly stood on the Par 3s and would tell the producers what clubs the players hit so they could put it on the screen and so the announcers knew. After that I moved up the ranks a little and after Fox sold their rights and got out of their contract I got connected with NBC Sports and the Golf Channel.

What kind of qualifications do you need?

As you can see from my above answer, not a lot. You just have to know golf etiquette and how golf works.

Is it volunteer work or do you get paid?

It is mostly paid. Sometimes they also pay for my hotel and they feed us well. The pay is usually just hourly minimum wage in the state you are working in.

What are your first impressions of the course?

The course looks great. The atmosphere should be pretty electric being in LALA land with all the celebrities and the fact LA hasn’t hosted a US Open since Hogan won at Riviera a long time ago.

Any insight into who could win this week?

I really think anyone could win. It’s golf but usually the cream rises to the top. I’m betting on Rahm though.