[tlavin]

These days I caddie for my kids and wife during our 3 hole "rounds" at our club before retiring for chocolate milkshakes at the clubhouse.  Unforunately I have not been paid for such services to date!

That might be one of the best job descriptions I've seen in a while.

[Mike_Cirba]

Bill,

Beautiful!

[Jed Peters]

Bill,

Beautiful!

Truly.

I enjoyed that tremendously.

[John_Cullum]

In the south, they were actually not considered caddies, but tagged along as "jam boys".

Horribly disgusting, but true.

I have been around golf at private clubs in the deep south for as long as I can remember, almost 50 years now, and I never heard the term jam boy used until today,

Don't believe everything you read.

I had a young black boy caddy for me at East Lake about 6 years ago, he was only 13 or 14. I thought he did an excellent job. He was polite, carried the bag, stayed out of the way, and spoke very little-only when I would try to start a conversation with him about various and sundry things. I have always thought he was probably the best caddy I ever used

[Doug Wright]

I didn't, which I consider a childhood deprivation, to tell you the truth.  A number of my nephews have caddied, including a pair of twin 13 year olds who started this season at Beverly.  I had them in my loop on their first day on the course.  It went great, until one of them got hit while fore-caddying (don't even get me started on this ridiculous and dangerous practice) on the 18th hole.  He got hit in the shin and refused to take the bag off his shoulder, saying he'd rather "walk it off".  A keeper.

No kidding, Terry.  You should do a show on that on that Chicagoland show of yours.

Forecaddying is not only dangerous, it's also stupid.  I'd much rather have the kids on the tee with us than out there.  Yeah, maybe they have to track a few more yards, but BFD.  I hate forecaddying.  In my day (boy, I sound old saying that), only ONE kid forecaddied (the kid whose player holed out first).  The other three caddies went to the tee.  It's downright silly to have all the caddies out there on every hole.  End rant. 

Until the next one, that is...

I also forecaddied once--for Arnold Palmer at an exhibition match. Easiest job I ever had.

[Dean Stokes]

McArthur, Seminole, Castle Pines and Friars Head. Cameos (tournaments) at Jupiter Island, Bears Club, Jupiter Hills, The Floridian and The Creek.

Not always enjoyable, especially with a raging hangover, yet you meet many fine people, learn a lot about people and see many fine golf courses.

[Mark Smolens]

Naperville Country Club while in high school.  A couple of times for local pros in last few years, including Billy Rosinia in last Western Open local section qualifier -- we got in.  I did not carry the bag for the Western, however, for fear that I might screw something up and piss off one of the guys who actually was in the tournament to make a living.  Guess I should've stayed on the bag. . . Billy finished dead last by a bunch.  Great fun on Mon, Tues and Wednesday being inside the ropes at a PGA Tour event. 

Shame on Tim Finchem for killing the second oldest tournament (a topic addressed on this site which I will not revisit here).

[Martin Del Vecchio]

I caddied at Burning Tree in Maryland when I was in junior high and high school.

The best golfer I ever caddied for, and the nicest guy too, was Dan Quayle.

I caddied for a bunch of Senators and other big-wigs.  Most were very pleasant to us.

I saw Ken Venturi there once, and George H.W. Bush when he was the VP, but didn't caddy for them.

Good money in the early 1980s, and we got to play the course on Mondays until 12:30p.  My friend and I used to get 36 in regularly, and 45 some times.

[Sam Morrow]

I caddied for a couple of years at Point O' Woods in Benton Harbor, Michigan.  Home of the Western Amateur.  Never had anyone special.  Probably because I was 13.

I can't believe you walked...let alone carried a bag.

Casey is a physical speciman, I've seen him do a push-up.

[Bill Brightly]

Cliff,

I guess your caddying experience at Baltustrol was far different than mine. No doubt that Baltustrol has some very wealthy people and those kids didn't need the money. But my club has a really long tradition of members' kids caddying and it is really very cool. Since I am now 51, many of my former caddies are now members and our friendships have long roots. The downside is you have to watch what you say, but really, if you can't say something because a members' kid is around, should you really be saying it at all???

Members kids absolutely do not get preference, and both of my boys have spent 4 +hours there with no loop, just the phone call to Mom to pick them up.... Our caddy master calls those days "character builders." But as my oldest got better, (and became a single digit handicap,) he worked his way up the pecking order and people began asking for him.

Geeze, if we didnt allow members' kids to caddy, Jimmy McGovern would not have carried my bag when he was in college, and I would not have received his lesson on how to hit out of fairway bunkers!

[Tommy Williamsen]

Caddie?...I've never mowed a lawn.  That's a no.

If you come East, I can get you experience at both.

[Peter Pallotta]

Mike S - thanks for the story. I could've hoped for better from old Sam, but I guess I wasn't  really expecting it - they were tough birds back then.

By the way, I forget where I read it, but do you know the story of Jimmy Demaret trying to get Ben Hogan out for one of the early senior tour team matches. It went something like:

Jimmy: How about teaming up with me, Ben?
Ben: No, Jimmy. I can't do that.
Jimmy: Come on Ben, it'll be like old times.
Ben: Sorry, Jimmy. I couldn't help you much.
Jimmy: So what? You never did.

Peter

[Mike Boehm]

I caddied for about 9 or 10 years at Bloomfield Hills Country Club in metro Detroit.  I started in 6th grade and stuck with it through college.  It was a great job - I'd happily do it over again.

[Frank Sullivan]

My 4 years in high school - Valhalla

[Thomas MacWood]

Yes, for several years and I wasn't very good, although I still play with the same irons I bought with my caddie procedes. I did caddie in two NCAA tournaments which was the highlight of my caddie career. My second NCAA tourney I caddied for a decent fellow from Temple, but I'm affraid the Scarlet was too much for him and I was no help. Four or five years earlier I caddied for a first team All-American Greg Powers from Memphis St. How he got stuck with me should be investigated. I was a poor man's Eddie Lowery - a very poor man's. After two difficult rounds he did shoot the low round of the tournament (67) in the 3rd but he was never really in contention. But it was fun (more interesting than fun) to play in the same group with Lanny Wadkins and John Mahaffey in the early rounds, the other favorites. I think Mahaffey won it.

[JSlonis]

Count me as a YES.

Caddied at Tavistock CC & Pine Valley during my High School years.

[Cliff Hamm]

Cliff,

I guess your caddying experience at Baltustrol was far different than mine. No doubt that Baltustrol has some very wealthy people and those kids didn't need the money. But my club has a really long tradition of members' kids caddying and it is really very cool. Since I am now 51, many of my former caddies are now members and our friendships have long roots. The downside is you have to watch what you say, but really, if you can't say something because a members' kid is around, should you really be saying it at all???

Members kids absolutely do not get preference, and both of my boys have spent 4 +hours there with no loop, just the phone call to Mom to pick them up.... Our caddy master calls those days "character builders." But as my oldest got better, (and became a single digit handicap,) he worked his way up the pecking order and people began asking for him.

Geeze, if we didnt allow members' kids to caddy, Jimmy McGovern would not have carried my bag when he was in college, and I would not have received his lesson on how to hit out of fairway bunkers!

Bill, thanks for the response.  I can only refer to my own experience and certainly don't dismiss that at other clubs the experience could be different....Very few members kids caddied. When they did though the rest of us looked askance.  They would walk in, often with dad who would introduce them to one of his buddies, and off they went.  Need I say more?

At the same time my experience at Baltusrol was wonderful.  I learned more about the world than from anywhere else.  Got to know the professional caddies who took the bus to the course and then returned to their plight in the city.  In the winter they caddied in the south.  Got to know the wealthy for better or worse.  Got to watch John Mitchell and Richard Nixon, Bob Hope, the Duke of Windsor.  The Duke of Windsor was a great loop.  He would play 3 holes, which returned to the clubhouse, and tip big...Got to see the gamemanship of some of the members.  One guy would a few times a  a round compliment a great shot of his competitor, knowing full well it would catch a bunker.  At the same time we indicate that he missed one and watch it roll 10 feet from the pin. I could go on and on with my education from caddying.

As for a love for the game.  Is there any better beginning than on a course with the history of Baltusrol?  The respect the members had for the game wore off on many of us.  My interest in golf course architecture began there.  Interestingly, just as Baltusrol is at the top of the heap, so to speak, the caddies also tended to look down a bit on friends who caddied at lesser clubs.  Little did I know than than Baltusrol would not be respected on this board.  Anyway, we all have different experiences and always important to show respect for those experiences.

Again, thanks for the response...

[D_Malley]

caddied for 13 seasons at merion, started at age 12 in 1981.  also caddied in many local events in phila area, including a satelite tour event that used to go through here every year.  in that event i have looped for john daly, duffy waldorf, mac o'grady, steve elkington and a few others.

[John Mayhugh]

Never caddied.  No real opportunity in Kentucky when I was growing up.  I never even touched a golf club until I was 19.  The good thing about starting golf in my college years is I can always claim I would be good if I had started when I was a kid.

[Jonathan McCord]

Absolutely!!!  Looping has got to be one of the best ways to meet contacts and to network!  The people you can run into on a regular basis on the course are an invaluable resource for any future prospects, regardless of the reason.  I would recommend it to anyone, if not only for the enjoyment of the great outdoors.  Places I've had the privilege to caddie:

          Spring Hill Golf Club - 2004
          Robert Trent Jones Golf Club - 2005
          Kingsley Club - 2007

[Cory Lewis]

I caddied all the time when I was a kid, mostly for my friends.  When we were in the same match play tournament whoever lost would caddie for the other guy in the next round.  We did that with US Junior Amateur and Amateur qualifiers as well.  My personal highlight was caddying in the PGA Club Professional Championship at Crosswater in 2001.  The player I was looping for ended up in a playoff for the last spot in the PGA Championship so I was on the golf channel for a few minutes, my fifteen minutes of fame, lol. 

[Doug Wright]

I also caddied for Brad Swanson at the Dixie Cup at Cuscowilla. He wasn't a very good tipper [emoticon omitted in deference to Dan Kelly].

[Ken Moum]

This thread says a lot about the makep of the membership here on GCA.

I got my first golf clubs 57 years ago, have played several times a week for about 45 years, and competed in upwards of 300 golf tournaments.

And I, except for the Tours, have never even seen a real caddy on a golf course in the U.S. (By that I mean someone who did it regularly, not just a one-time deal for a friend or family)

I think it must be the East Coast bias. LOL

Ken

[Michael Wharton-Palmer]

I had the privelage of caddying for Hal Sutton at the British Open at Royal Birkdale, when Watson won there about 1985 or sonething..what a thrill
We had practice rounds with Nicklaus,Watson,Trevino,Norman, Crenshaw,Weiskpof...it was terrific..a true inside the ropes experience.
Too many cool stories to tell alot of which should be duly censored...those guys back then Ballesteros, Stewart and many others really liked their ladies...great fun though..the players for the most part where very accomodating and nice to be with....one notable exception that I dont mind naming...Lanny Wadkins...

[Michael Wharton-Palmer]

Wow what a huge surprise JK NEVER CADDIED..now that is earth shattering..
I can picture it now a young teenage JK on the bag of the clubs captain and the cheeky young lad discussing some politically incorrect topic on the first tee and been sent back to the caddie shed......
just kidding JK..

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