A Caddy’s Revenge which failed

[Melvyn Morrow]

and why a Scotsman tends not to use them.



In distance threads I am always told that a Caddy is a source for distance information, may well be true but I have never seen the need to use one, not to mention the expense. Why give money for information that I perhaps already know, as for preselecting my clubs for me why would I bother to play, half the fun would have already been eroded.

Did you notice the name of the Caddy in the above article, related to some well know golfers of the day but this time not with my family

Melvyn

[Anthony Gray]

  Melvyn,

  O those rascals from Dundee.

    Anthony

[Melvyn Morrow]

Anthony

Book me then pay me, but getting money out of a Scotsman, clearly some of our fellow countrymen don’t succeed either. Get it wrong go to jail, so I am looking forward to my promised pint next year or 10 days for you in jail my good man.

Melvyn

[Rob Rigg]

Melvyn,

The Caddy discussion is a very interesting one. Someone pointed out on the "GPS" thread that a caddy CAN DO all these things that we now have modern equipment for - distance, club cleaning, ball washing, bag toting, etc. - which is a fair point.

Who uses caddies in GBI - is it tourists, locals, professionals, wealthy members, etc.?

Is there a sentiment in GBI that using a caddy is not playing the game in its "purest" firm.

I used to caddy for family members in Ireland, which basically meant I carried their clubs around for a couple quid. They knew their home course like the back of their hands so they picked their own clubs and determined distance for themselves. I was little more than a mule.

Sidenote - When I described you as 0.01 percent of the golfing population - it was in reference to the number of golfers in the US who probably do not use distance aids in any way, shape or form. Thus, GPS would not help them because they have no interest in knowing distance. If a higher percentage of the golf population play without distance in GBI then that is wonderful, I wish we were in the same situation on this side of the pond.

[Brian_Ewen]

Anthony
What makes you think the "rascal" was from Dundee ?

[Anthony Gray]

  I have been to Dundee.

  Anthony

[TEPaul]

"but I have never seen the need to use one, not to mention the expense. Why give money for information that I perhaps already know, as for preselecting my clubs for me why would I bother to play, half the fun would have already been eroded."


Melvyn:

Clearly many of us have very distinct ideas about certain things to do with golf and others have very distinct ideas that may be almost the opposite, and I see nothing at all wrong with any of that.

On the subject of a caddy, I can tell you that during most of my competitive career in amateur tournament golf I pretty much had a caddy who was there with me through just about all of it. There were a number of others out there on the circuits I played that had the same thing. The relationship between a golfer and caddy, and I believe very definitely in tournament golf, can be one of the most special in the entire gamut of the game and one of the most specialized in life. I think we both understood the importance of the symbiosis all those years we were out there doing it and when we look back on it all now it's sometimes even more gratifying.

[Ken Moum]

On the subject of a caddy, I can tell you that during most of my competitive career in amateur tournament golf I pretty much had a caddy who was there with me through just about all of it.

A delightful as that sounds, and as certain as I am that everything you describe about it true, I am forced to point out that some of us can barely scrape together the money to pay entry fees and travel costs to go to a handful of tournaments a summer--if that.

In today's world, paying a knowledgeable caddy to accompany me on a three- or four-day tournament would cost me as much as I make in a week.

Or used to make, now that I have been let go by my employer of 10 years.

My one experience in Scotland in 2006, where my wife had a caddy for nine of the ten rounds she played (And had one for two of 12 rounds) convinced me of their value, especially on linksland courses. But only if the caddy is really knowledgeable.

And I felt some pain at having to pay them the equivalent of what I make in a day four hours on the course.

Ken Moum

[TEPaul]

"A delightful as that sounds, and as certain as I am that everything you describe about it true, I am forced to point out that some of us can barely scrape together the money to pay entry fees and travel costs to go to a handful of tournaments a summer--if that."

Ken:

I realize that and I think everything you say on your post is appropriate. I didn't mean to have what I said about the caddy I had be something about economics or one's place in life and times and such. It was just a wonderful symbiosis in the context of golf itself.

Actually, playing alone----carrying your own bag in anything resembling fairly high level tournament golf was pretty rare in my experiences---eg we could almost never use carts in all my tournaments.

I saw it every now and again but it was very rare and perhaps the most memorable (and really rare) was Phil Mickelson in the US Amateur at Merion in the 1980s.

It was really really really hot and those top flighters in the tournament like Mickelson had just gone through some kind of grueling stretch of tournament golf what with the Walker Cup just preceding the US Amateur.

I think it was during qualifying and I was done with whatever I was doing there and I saw him coming down #7 with his little bag on his shoulder. He looked some kind of hot and when the right moment arose on that hole I went up to him and told him I knew the course well, I was a scratch player and I'd be happy to carry his bag the rest of the round.

He seemed really surprised and taken off guard and didn't answer for a moment. Then he said he could go on alone. He and his group teed off #8 as I stood on the tee and they all walked off down the fairway. He was about fifty yards out and he turned around and walked all the way back to the tee and told me that it was really nice of me to offer that and he really appreciated it under the circumstances but that he had always carried his own bag in everything and that he knew he could make it without any problem.