The Caddy Banquet

[J_ Crisham]

This Tuesday we will be hosting our Caddy banquet. It is a very nice evening where many members come to our club and spend an evening with our corp of faithful caddies. The caddies are rewarded for the number of loops they worked and as such the more active caddies receive some very nice gifts. Some 30 plus years ago when I was a boy caddying at Beverly I used to get excited because of the reward for a hard year of looping. My 1st year I received a set of Toney Penna woods. My best year I received a set of Toney Penna irons. I must add that our pro emeritus was Toney's brother Charlie Penna. The number one caddy received a full set of clubs plus a TP bag-what a night for a young man! Our fellow GCA Paul Richards was a top caddy with me at Beverly and as I recall made it into the top 5 one year- quite  an accomplishment with 300 caddies! What stories do you have to share of what your clubs do and your memories of the caddy banquet?  Some great times of my youth,                     Jack     

[Bill_McBride]

I caddied quite a bit the summers of my 15th and 16th years.  Marin Golf Club had just opened south of Novato and the old pro, George Splane, took a liking to me and taught me the basics and sent me out for loops.  There weren't enough, so I made my way up to the Meadow Club where there was an actiive caddy program in the late '50s. 

As the new kid, I typically got two older ladies with heavy bags who played Army golf and were lousy tippers, so I soon made my way back to Novato and bagging at the grocery store, where I made more money even at a measly $1.50 an hour.

I've never regretted the caddying I did or what I learned about the game from carrying other people's clubs.......and wish every kid could do so today.  I feel the same way about compulsory national service of one kind or another.

[mike_malone]

 A friend of mine's son caddied at Merion a few years ago. He told me about their tradition of having the caddies tell their favorite stories about caddying that year  at their year end caddy banquet. This was the winning story that year.

   The caddy was weighed down by an excessively heavy bag. A few holes into the round he was telling the other caddy about his plight. They unzipped the ball section to find 100+ old balls. At the famous #11 where the tee shot is blind the other caddy said he would take the heavy bag down and dump most of the  crappy balls in the creek, which he did. The caddy stayed at the tee.

    The owner of the offending bag drove his ball near the creek where his bag was being kept. When he walked down to his ball  he looked into the creek and said

   "  LOOK AT ALL OF THOSE BALLS; PUT THEM IN MY BAG! "

[J_ Crisham]

A friend of mine's son caddied at Merion a few years ago. He told me about their tradition of having the caddies tell their favorite stories about caddying that year  at their year end caddy banquet. This was the winning story that year.

   The caddy was weighed down by an excessively heavy bag. A few holes into the round he was telling the other caddy about his plight. They unzipped the ball section to find 100+ old balls. At the famous #11 where the tee shot is blind the other caddy said he would take the heavy bag down and dump most of the  crappy balls in the creek, which he did. The caddy stayed at the tee.

    The owner of the offending bag drove his ball near the creek where his bag was being kept. When he walked down to his ball  he looked into the creek and said

   "  LOOK AT ALL OF THOSE BALLS; PUT THEM IN MY BAG! "

Mike,  That story is priceless. It is interesting how we should treat our caddies as we would want our children to be treated. We actually have a sign on the wall of the men's lockerroom as you exit at Beverly that states that.             Jack

[mike_malone]

 Jack,

    I always smile when I get a chance to tell it. I think the funniest part of it is one's imagining the  guy who owned the bag

[Bill_McBride]

A friend of mine's son caddied at Merion a few years ago. He told me about their tradition of having the caddies tell their favorite stories about caddying that year  at their year end caddy banquet. This was the winning story that year.

   The caddy was weighed down by an excessively heavy bag. A few holes into the round he was telling the other caddy about his plight. They unzipped the ball section to find 100+ old balls. At the famous #11 where the tee shot is blind the other caddy said he would take the heavy bag down and dump most of the  crappy balls in the creek, which he did. The caddy stayed at the tee.

    The owner of the offending bag drove his ball near the creek where his bag was being kept. When he walked down to his ball  he looked into the creek and said

   "  LOOK AT ALL OF THOSE BALLS; PUT THEM IN MY BAG! "

Mike,  That story is priceless. It is interesting how we should treat our caddies as we would want our children to be treated. We actually have a sign on the wall of the men's lockerroom as you exit at Beverly that states that.             Jack

Jack, does that include those crusty old alcoholics? 

[John_Conley]

Our caddy banquet was very nice every year.  Over dinner in the clubhouse the esteemed pro shared some kind words about the importance of the caddies.  A bus took everyone to a Twins game with great seats.  (Owner Carl Pohlad was a club member.)  Afterward first year caddies were splooshed - a hazing ritual where you were thrown in the lake on #9.  (Not too bad...it was then I learned the water was only a few inches deep...I'd never really thought about it before!)

Top caddies in terms of number of loops (the "caddy race") were given a cash award, quite generous.

The night also usually involved a great deal of underage drinking.  Anyone with crazy stories to tell probably does so as a result of this.

[Bob_Huntley]

Jack,

I found this from a post in 2005 in answer to a query from Jim Sullivan.

This was years ago at Nchanga, Northern Rhodesia. Once a year we played a tournament where we not only hit alternate shots, but after hitting your shot, you carried the bag to the ball for your partner to hit the next one. As we all had regulars loopers it was done with great fun and a few bets.

However, there was among us one particular irrascible Afrikaaner who was not what you might call liberal minded in matters of race relations. We cajoled him into playing  by the thought that his caddie was the best player in the shack. Gondwe, the caddies name, had taken a ration of grief all year but wouldn't drop his player as the pay wasn't bad and it sure beat working underground. But this was pay-back time.

The Member hit off first, Gondwe hits an indifferent shot, Member gets it on the green, Gondwe knocks it past three feet, Member misses. It goes on like this for another few holes, by which time the caddie has made every mistake imaginable. The fifth hole crosses the Nchanga stream twice. Member tees off, Gondwe hits ball into stream, Member crosses stream to fairway, Gondwe knocks it into the stream. Member, in high dudgeon instructs Gondwe to find the ball, Gondwe fails to do so. Member says "You're playing like s**t you may as well throw the f***ing clubs in the river." He did so and the last we saw him was running at full speed for the exit.

Of course, all the equipment for the matches belonged to the Members.

Bob
 

 
 

[J_ Crisham]

John,  You caddied at Interlachen, I assume. We played up there this past Summer and the house behind the short par 4 tee #7? was Mr. Pohlad's. I did not realize the water on 9 was so shallow-we put  a few in in there unlike Bobby Jones in a memorable event. Funny stories,     Jack

[J_ Crisham]

Jack,

I found this from a post in 2005 in answer to a query from Jim Sullivan.

This was years ago at Nchanga, Northern Rhodesia. Once a year we played a tournament where we not only hit alternate shots, but after hitting your shot, you carried the bag to the ball for your partner to hit the next one. As we all had regulars loopers it was done with great fun and a few bets.

However, there was among us one particular irrascible Afrikaaner who was not what you might call liberal minded in matters of race relations. We cajoled him into playing  by the thought that his caddie was the best player in the shack. Gondwe, the caddies name, had taken a ration of grief all year but wouldn't drop his player as the pay wasn't bad and it sure beat working underground. But this was pay-back time.

The Member hit off first, Gondwe hits an indifferent shot, Member gets it on the green, Gondwe knocks it past three feet, Member misses. It goes on like this for another few holes, by which time the caddie has made every mistake imaginable. The fifth hole crosses the Nchanga stream twice. Member tees off, Gondwe hits ball into stream, Member crosses stream to fairway, Gondwe knocks it into the stream. Member, in high dudgeon instructs Gondwe to find the ball, Gondwe fails to do so. Member says "You're playing like s**t you may as well throw the f***ing clubs in the river." He did so and the last we saw him was running at full speed for the exit.

Of course, all the equipment for the matches belonged to the Members.

Bob
 

 
 

Bob,  What a great story -illustrates how good we have it in this country even when caddying. I hope you are still playing the game with vim, vigor, and vitality-as I recall you have a significant birthday in the not so distant future-congrats!   Wish you well,  Jack

[JC Jones]

I caddied for 3 years at Walnut Hills Country Club in East Lansing, Michigan.  Never once did we have an end of the year anything.

[Jordan Wall]

No caddy banquets at Seattle CC.

However, at Cypress Point, there is a large caddy best ball tournament comprised of teams of four.  At the end of the round there is a large gathering for food and [lots of] beer, and many prizes.  There are cash prizes, and many other miscellaneous little gifts members throw in.  Families are allowed to attend the picnic, and in fact several of the caddy's were allowed to have a guest walk the course with them.  In the morning there were donuts before we teed off.  It makes for a wonderful day.

Oh, and I completely forgot, the shack to the left of the eleventh tee is stocked supremo.  Free drinks, lots of food, and the oatmeal raisin cookies can't be beat.  Several members drive around the course in carts stocked with goodies.  The two older ladies were my favorite - they made us eat and eat and eat - wonderful!

That and the fact you got to play Cypress made it one awesome day.

For the record, my team was fifth (I think) with a score of -7.  That was the last round I played out there.  Hit 16 and was two feet from driving seventeen.  Easily one of the most fun days I've ever had.  The atmosphere is wonderful.  For those fortunate enough to play Cypress, I highly recommend asking your caddy of some caddy stories.  It's worth it.

Cheers,
Jordan

[Mike_Trenham]

Nowadays we have a caddie tournament on a Monday in August.  It needs to get revitalized a bit into something with a bit of tradition.  I like the Merion tell the best story of the year tradition.  

Back when I was a teen and caddying we had a Lady Caddy Tournament, BB of partners net format.  It ended when the tough old bird of a member that ran the event for years passed away.  There were some complaints of members wives socializing with caddies and nobody strong enough to fight the tide of canceling the event.  Trophy was a pewter beer stein, perfect.   Handicaps were based on the scores caddies claimed to be able to shoot (always exagerated), or 80% of your official handicap if you were also a members kid.   I almost won the event but three putted #18 from 6 feet and lost to Matt Doore.  The trophy is up in the club office today.  The highlight of the event back in the 1980s was the chance to play the 6 holes across the street which were always off limits on Mondays and are some of the better hole on the course.

When my father came to the club in the 1960's as the head professional they had a Christmas Dinner where the members waited tables.  First year he was there Eppie passedout facedown in his plate of mashed potatos.

[Jaeger Kovich]

At Quaker we also have Caddy-Lady Day, but it is normally in late July. We play a 5 person scramble, with  2 ladies and 3 caddies per team. Everyone is on carts! After the tournament we get treated to lunch on the patio with the full spread: burgers, chicken, sushi and sundays! Top 3 teams get prizes that range from wedges to golf bags, a dozen pro-v's and rain jackets. This year everyone got an engraved beer mug... All the caddies look forward to this day all summer long. Some of the guys start asking about the teams a week in advance, begging to get on a team with some of our A players, and of course the good looking ladies! Caddy lady day was absolutely some of the most fun I have ever had playing golf my first year at the club in 08.

Quaker also has an annual softball game that is held in August. Caddies v Members! The club rents out a little league field down the street, with dugouts and fences. They even have t-shirts made up for the game, its the real deal! They also hire an ice cream truck, so all the members bring their wives and kids and make a nice afternoon out of it. The game is played in honor of a member who passed away, MVP trophies are handed out in his honor. I played for the first time this year and had a blast. And of course the caddies won.... about 1/2 our team is from the Dominican Republic so that always helps!

[Patrick Hodgdon]

Our caddy banquet was very nice every year.  Over dinner in the clubhouse the esteemed pro shared some kind words about the importance of the caddies.  A bus took everyone to a Twins game with great seats.  (Owner Carl Pohlad was a club member.)  Afterward first year caddies were splooshed - a hazing ritual where you were thrown in the lake on #9.  (Not too bad...it was then I learned the water was only a few inches deep...I'd never really thought about it before!)

Top caddies in terms of number of loops (the "caddy race") were given a cash award, quite generous.

The night also usually involved a great deal of underage drinking.  Anyone with crazy stories to tell probably does so as a result of this.

I arrived at ICC a bit after John but did wear swimming trunks to my first ever end of the year caddy banquet/party. Luckily for me my first year was also the year that they stopped "splooshing" the "flys" (the nickname for all the younger single caddies) for whatever reason. We always had the party at the caddy shack which included beer, a prize raffle, beer, pizza, more beer and usually a big cash poker game. My first beer was a "Special Export" at the age of 14 or 15 and I think I had two sips before I was done. The raffle was always fun as inevitably a ticket or two was lost by caddies who claimed that the number called was their's and our drunk caddiemaster berating them before giving them the prize anyway. Usually there was about 1k-2k worth of pro-shop gear highlighted by a new bag or club drawn last along with member donations like restaurant gift cards and Twins/Wild/Gopher tickets.

Back when the caddy shack was at the corner of the member's parking lot in an old garage we also had an annual roof-ball tournament. (Roof-ball btw usually accounted for about $300 of my summer income and yes I'm still bitter they tore that shack down and moved us to a shitty old house on the first fairway.) I did however win the final roof-ball tournament and am still co-defending roof-ball champ (the tournament was always two-man teams) until they get smart and build another shack with a good roof for playing on.

The last two years the members also got together (after a trip to Whisper Rock and hearing about their's) and started a member-caddy tournament which they named the Donvon Dale cup after the local caddy who was selected to and caddied for Bobby Jones in his win at ICC of the 1930 U.S Open. I have the esteemed pleasure of being the inaugural winner of the event two years ago which was a 2 man team BB with one caddy and one member paired together followed by a buffet at the clubhouse with free booze and cigars as well as a raffle. They also have flag events for each members and caddies. Although my partner and I played poorly in defending our championship we each won a flag event this past year me winning the long drive and him the closest to the pin. Of course I got a box of Pro-V1's and he got an extra, extra large bottle of Bombay Sapphire. A portion of the members entry fee also gets turned into a nice $50 bonus for each of the caddies participating. A very excellent night that really shows the appreciation of the members for the caddies and really adds a lot to the caddy program at ICC.

[D_Malley]

i caddied at merion starting in 1981 for about 12 years.  we always had a year end banquet where every caddy recieved a xmas bonus compliments of the members.  we also recieved awards for the caddy tournaments throughout the year.  many golf shop prizes were given out compliments of the golf shop.

there was a one day stroke play tournament on the east course and the season long caddy match play championship.  the match play championship matches were played on the west course with the final match played on the east.  BTW i was a three time caddy match play champion, and one of my finnest golf memories was beating my older brother in a match on the west course.  for a couple of years one of the members would take the match play champ over to play a round at pine valley.

one of the members used to hold a seperate dinner for all of the recipients of the caddy scholarship, i believe this is where the stories were told.

[Scott Stearns]

JC-what years did you caddie at Walnut Hills?  I grew up there--for a long while the pro (several pros ago) owned the cart concession, and did what he could to encourage the use of carts and not caddies.

He was very kind to me and a great pro in many ways, but a friend of the caddie yard he was not...

[Joe Bausch]

At Gulph Mills in 1931 a caddy got a gold watch.

[Matt Harrison]

I caddied for a couple years at The Dunes Club in Michigan.  They had, and I believe still have, 2 great traditions for caddies.  One is a caddie/member tournament, which I was able to play in 1 year, and had a great time.  The other is a caddie match against the Butler National caddies, which I was never able to play in.  Maybe a Butler member on here can confirm?

By the way, I prefer the ie spelling vs. the y.  Is there a correct spelling?  The ie feels French to me, and for some reason I seem to remember that it goes back to a French word.

[Dan Herrmann]

Maday, Thanks for the great laugh.  Great story!

[V. Kmetz]

As a current caddie in the Met Area and former president of the the Met Caddiemaster's Association, I take great interest in this topic and am delighted to hear that the experiences of caddying in ones life are taken and told so richly.  The main writing project I have well underway is an anthology of stories from my lifetime around the yard.

I especially echo Bill McBride's comments regarding his wish for many more young people to avail themselves of the culture of Golf and life that takes place in service as a caddie.  In addition to all the insights, humor and adult education, if you learn to perform it competently, you have a trade to ply for life - one that has sustained many in this recent econmic climate.

Locally, Winged Foot puts on one hell of a Caddie Day in mid-late August.  There's a best ball tournament in the morning, open play in the afternoon, with beat the pro contests, all the prizes you would expect at a top outing, with a raffle, giveaways, tickets, TVs, golf equipment and an evening Barb-B-Q line staffed by two dozen members.  They also give out a mid-season bonus of $100 - $300 (based on veteran status).  Many of the Met clubs offer a rewarding and fun day for the Caddies and it one of the highlight features of a caddying season, but Winged Foot does it biggest and best.

One of the funniest "Caddie Day" elements of which I participated was at Siwanoy in 1994.  They parked one of the Caddie's old beaters in the left side of the first fairway with a contest sign in massive letters...."Hit Car, Make Par, Win Suit."  The pro sponsored a free rainsuit for any players who made par in which the car was hit.  Informally, when the shotgun siren for that tournament went off, all players (M/W member-players and Caddies) shotgunnned a beer.

cheers

vk

[Anthony Gray]

  Jack,

  Very nice. Respect for caddies as equals is refreshing. My father-in-law was a long time caddy at Casa De Campo and lives in what we would consider proverty in the US. Being mindful and apreciative of the caddies at your club shows great character. Thank you for the thread.

  Anthony