NEWTOWN SQUARE, Pa. — There are a few places at Aronimink Golf Club where lines have proven to be a problem. The tee box at the par-3 No. 8 is where I’ve seen the most backup—between the difficulty of the hole and the green’s proximity to the 10th green, there’s a lot of traffic, resulting in a lot of holdups.
But while the players on the course might be stuck in line, fans waiting for concessions for the most part are not. At the PGA Championship, food, snacks and non-alcoholic beverages are all available to be picked up for free, and thus, the span of time between a fan wanting a burger and physically having burger in their hands is impressively short.
That quick in-and-out nature is by design, and the result of years of tinkering with the process, Eric Babcook, vice president of operations for the PGA of America told me. Babcook works for the Patina Group, a restaurant management and hospitality group that serves as the catering partner for the PGA of America. “We’re a logistics company that does fine dining,” he explains.
The free concessions program has been in place for several years, but its most recent iteration is as open as its been. “The turn times are just incredible,” Babcook said. He’s not wrong—other than right at the lunch rush, there was no point in the tournament where my journey into and out of the concessions setup took longer than a minute, and most of that time was spent deciding what I wanted to get.
It is an impressive operation, featuring more than 800 hourly associates between cooks, bartenders, attendants and all the other jobs that are necessary behind the scenes to make the experience more seamless.
I spent a good amount of time on Friday asking fans attending the tournament about the food setup, and the most common answer I received, by an incredibly wide margin, was a delighted, “It’s pretty good!”
The burgers, chicken sandwiches, Italian sausages and hot dogs available for grabbing are by no means fancy fare. The burger is not the best burger you will ever have in your life, but it is a decent burger, and has more weight to it than you would expect. The chicken sandwiches are not some chicken patty, but a real, hefty piece of grilled chicken with a scoop of coleslaw adding a cool crunch. The hot dogs are, well, hot dogs. But the baseline of every sandwich I have tried has been a solid 6 out of 10, and it’s easy to imagine that number jumping up to a 7 if I was exhausted after following a group and I hadn’t eaten, and an 8 or higher if I had been drinking all day on top of that.
Waiting on the first fairway for Bryson DeChambeau’s group to play their second shots, fans Pete and Chris told me that while the food itself was good enough, the setup was “perfect.”
“No one’s looking for a gourmet meal,” Pete said. “Just get your carbs and get out.” While he laughed at the idea that the food was “free” given the price of tickets, the convenience the system allows for pays dividends. Anyone who has missed two innings of a baseball game waiting in line for some local delicacy knows just how frustrating a line for concessions can be.
“I’ve been to some other [PGA Tour] events. The food is the same quality, but you’re paying $10 or $12,” Dylan told me on the 6th green. “With no lines you can get in and get out.”
As we waited for McIlroy & Co. to have their turn at the tee box at No. 8, fans Jackson and Tom agreed that two things stood out above all else about the food: 1) it was quick and 2) it was always there. They noted the breakfast offerings were especially satisfying, and while the chicken biscuit was “a little dry,” still surpassed expectations. Who amongst us hasn’t had a breakfast chicken biscuit turn out a little drier than desired? And when that breakfast chicken biscuit didn’t cost us an extra dime, would any of us complain? Nay.
“You’re not worried about staying hydrated. It’s completely taken that away,” Babcook said. Part of that success, again, is the reps they’ve had at pulling this off. Babcook said that they watch the forecast all week, as every five degrees over 80 the temperature is set to be on a certain day translates to roughly 20 pallets of water that need to be supplied. Whoever has been doing the math has been doing a good job of it, as I have not seen an empty fridge in my time here.
“I think where there’s a massive, massive opportunity is probably football,” Babcook said. “You have maybe 10 games, 81,000 people, up to five hours they’re in the stadium.”
Knowing the numbers you are working with ahead of time goes a long way in making the concession plan possible, and with the consistent sellout rates of big college and NFL football games, there may be a path to a new, free concessions future. Some colleges are already on board—Coastal Carolina adopted the practice last season, and more may soon be on the way.
After experiencing the process at the PGA Championship this week, this feels like a future we should be moving towards as sports fans. I do not need any more pickle dogs or other shock-value treats from MLB stadiums, but I do need a hot dog, and fast. The consistency and ubiquity of the food made walking the course this week feel a bit like a cookout—the food is by no means the star of the show, but is a key ingredient of helping all have a good time. And it is always available for the taking.
More Golf from Sports Illustrated
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- Inside Aaron Rai’s Unconventional Journey to PGA Championship Glory
- Aronimink Deserves to Get Another PGA Championship As Soon As Possible
- Why PGA Championship Winner Aaron Rai Uses Covers on His Irons
This article was originally published on www.si.com as Why Free Food and Drinks at the PGA Championship Make So Much Sense.
