I've gone round the earth once already with the bags, and am on my second trip heading west, just approaching the shores of Japan...I've caddied for a President, a King, superb players, former champions, international culture celebrities from sport, entertainment...
...but 95% of my rounds have been spent in service to Mr (and Mrs.) Average Private Club Golfer and that public is so vast in its evaluation of a caddie, what they desire a caddie for, that there can be no one dogma about their worth or value to the game.
Such broad things can be said about individual caddies and individual experiences, but they can fizzle or be refuted by the very next experience.
I don't know everyone on this list or how the recreate in this sport; I can say this from what I've read here (and in past threads that touch on this issue)....
The more frequently one has used a caddie and been part of a club/course culture where caddies are used, part of the woodwork, the more value and the more ardent defense they give for their value in principle...
WHILE
The more sporadic or infrequent the exposure to caddie usage (whether by chance or design), the more complaint and aversion that player has to the concept. The less they use them and the more they practice avoidance of them (on an economic and/or disdain for any guide - "basis") the more entrenched they become in that opinion.
Most talk of "equating" caddying with some type of labor market, in either "how hard it is" or "hourly rates," "independent contractors vs employees" is spoken by people who don't have much experience in the club millieu (here in the premium golfing districts of America) because the range and the ad-hoc, daily changing nature of the beast doesn't comport with any general scale.
I've received several hundred dollars for sitting in a cart with a person and pouring them drinks for three and a half hours and I've received $30 for six hours of rain-soaked, back out back in rain delayed rounds. I've received a $150 for caddying nine-holes in the snow, holding four clubs and sharing brandy and I've received $60 for shepherding a player to US Open Local qualification. I've received $200 for a player who had to withdraw with injury on the very first hole of a tournament and I've received $0 for driving two hours to a course only to find my group didn't show. In those case I've had to lay out $30 in gas. We need not talk about rain, course closures, renovations etc.
Sometimes it's as hard as the Roman salt mines and somedays its a walk in the park.
cheers
vk