Don’t Forget Your Caddie

We all know about the famous caddies that are the right hand men of the global stars, Fluff, Bones, Steve Williams, Billy Foster, Terry Mundy, Craig “the wee man” Connelly, etc. but what about the guys at the clubs looking to make an extra few bucks?

For past couple of years I have volunteered my services for an annual event at Gleneagles that requires every player to have a caddie.  As previously I was a playing member at Gleneagles, these experiences gave me a look from a different perspective on the game, and the difference between players and caddies.

As host to the Ryder Cup, Gleneagles is a spectacular venue, and on arrival, players are treated like the pros with a spacious locker room, sauna, power showers and space to relax.  The caddie hut is much smaller, with lots of us cramped into a small room, waiting for the call to go on one of the courses.  There is always a good mix of professional caddies and us volunteers, as we look to the professionals for guidance, as in where to stand, who takes the flag etc.  The staff do a great job in allocating you a player as nobody wants to be sitting around for hours!  And that’s where as a run of the mill caddie your job starts.

From the moment you walk up and introduce yourself, you have to in a single moment make a connection with your player and for the next 4/5 hours be their best friend, coach and therapist.  In addition your fellow caddies are your friends, as some players walk with their caddies; others walk with their fellow players.  After first introductions your eyes wander to his bag, does it look heavy, is there a cart, a buggy, and is it a double strap bag??

The good thing is you don’t have first tee nerves, once you find out from your player how they hit the ball, left to right etc., all you have to do is provide your player with his driver (or 3 metal) then provide some yardage (placement of bunkers etc), where he has to aim (aim for that bunker and your fade will bring it in etc), best place to be (left side of fairway for going at the flag etc.), and a small word of encouragement, your swing looks good, plenty fairway to hit etc.

Usually from the opening tee shot you know if you’ve been allocated a decent player, a weekend hacker, or someone that plays three times a year, and you set your mind to how you will work with him to make sure he gets the best out of you.  From providing distances, slopes of the greens, placement of shots or just an area to hit to with yardages between x and y depending if he hits good or bad!!

From walking up to the ball, you then have to work out if he wants to chat, if he is in the zone and only wants info when he’s at the ball, does he ignore you and chat to his playing partners, you have to be able to chat when he wants, striking up conversation with someone you have just met, so there are a few of the usual topics of conversation, sports especially soccer in UK, 99% of guys will have watched the latest match, work, what do you do before work?, family, holidays planned are a few good ones to kick start any conversations, as well as how are they finding the course, have they played it before, the hotel accommodation, the food, etc.

Also with it being Scotland, the weather is a major factor in any round, and you have to be prepared for all four seasons in a single round!  I’ve been fortunate to have caddied in lovely sunny weather, where the caddies are in shorts, and sun cream was needed!  While everyone is in a better mood, during these conditions its important to make sure both your player and yourself have plenty of water, so the bag was filled prior to the round, then added to during the round as water had been provided, also when caddying in the sun, my player was scoring well, not a big hitter, but I just kept saying to him, keep it on the fairway, use your handicap and breakdown the hole into a set of shots, drive, long iron, leaving about 100 yards, pitch and two putts for a net par, so he scored well making it an enjoyable day for both of us, also he was easy to caddie for as not much time was spent looking in the rough!

But when the weather wasn’t great, light rain and wind, in addition my players game was struggling, he had not played for a short time, and his swing wasn’t smooth, trying to force every shot, so I knew a long day of going after and replacing divots, raking many bunkers, sometimes three shots from same bunker as his confidence was gone when in the bunker, no matter what advise I gave him!  This is where I have a tip for all players that use a caddie, always walk back over your footprints where possible, so remember that players, don’t give your caddie extra work!

For the next 4/5 hours you are gauging your player, so chat when you feel your player wants to chat, so you have to be able to read the player, how is his mood, and how he is playing or scoring, keep up the advice on lines to hit, club selections, putting lines and in general keep giving him good vibes.

The most awkward part for any caddie is after the 18th, you have just spend the majority of your day in his company, you have gave him advice for every shot, advised every club, praised every good shot, words of encouragement with the bad ones, picked up and replaced every divot, cleaned every club after each shot, raked the bunkers, cleaned his ball and so your final role is for one last carry of his clubs to the bag store or locker room or car, you may have been lucky with the weather, it may have been lovely sunshine, and made sure he has plenty water, it may have been wet remembering a caddie doesn’t use an umbrella, he only holds the players one when playing his shot, taking all this into account it’s the moment of truth…what will he tip!!!

To all players out there, whenever you are on a course and get a local caddie, the caddie plays a big part in your round so “don’t forget about your caddie.”

Cover Photo by Felix Mendoza on Flickr