Caddies - Why do you like 'em? Why don't you?

[Adam Clayman]

Anthony. that depends on the level of interaction prior to the first tee. Caddies should always have the right to refuse a loop. I once had a guy with a Louis Vinton (sp?) golf bag. He wanted me to lug this piece of luggage around Pebble. When he resisted changing it out, I informed him I could do it. but. I'd have to take two weeks off afterwards. Since he choose to ignore my first bit of advice I sent him packing. I think he took a cart.

[Anthony Gray]

  On a personal note. When you take a caddy especially in a poor country you are helping people out. My father-in-law looped in the Dominican Republic for years. They stil have no hot water or electricity in the house at night. I know other caddies there and have been to their homes,the same thing. In Bandon several of those guys used to be loggers but that dried up. Caddying is one of the few other sources for income there. The guy I use never golfed before.

  Anthony



  

[Mike Vegis @ Kiawah]

Local knowledge is hugely important here at The Ocean Course.  You stand on the tees on many holes and don't see how big the fairways are.  The caddie is able to give players the preferred target lines that would give players the best attack angles into the greens.  This is something player's won't intitavely know without the help of someone with experience.  For the person playing The Ocean Course for the first times, it can mean an 8-10 shot difference in scoring...

  Mike,

  When I played the caddy was a former basketball player at West Virginia my alma mater. Do you remember his name?

  Anthony

 

  That's him Mike. Great guy. Is he still there?

  Anthony



Brooks Berry?

No.  He's no longer at The Ocean Course...

[Jason McNamara]

Anthony. that depends on the level of interaction prior to the first tee. Caddies should always have the right to refuse a loop. I once had a guy with a Louis Vinton (sp?) golf bag. He wanted me to lug this piece of luggage around Pebble. When he resisted changing it out, I informed him I could do it. but. I'd have to take two weeks off afterwards. Since he choose to ignore my first bit of advice I sent him packing. I think he took a cart.

Do you mean Louis Vuitton?  If that's the case, you'd have been right to refuse the guy even if it was a Sunday bag.

[Adam Clayman]

Yes, the one with the LV's all over the place. Complete with gold hardware.

[Dean Stokes]

The complaint that surprises me the most from members on this site is the 'double bag' issue and having to wait at your ball. I have never had to wait at my ball for more than20/30 seconds for a caddie to arrive. That gives me time to get my glove on, smell the roses, have a good look around, appreciate the architecture, size up my shot then get the info off the caddie - not an issue at all. In fact almost a bonus I feel.

Dean

Here are the ten top reasons to not like being double-bagged when paying $100+/bag:

10.  In order to double-bag, the caddy rips all the clubs out of your bag and puts them into a smaller bag that suits him rather than you.
  9.  If your playing partner/double-baggee happens to hit the ball in different directions and or different distances, you not only have to wait for him to come to you (more than likely much more than 20-30 seconds), you have to watch him carry his fat ass back and across and up and down the fairway all day
  8.  Due to 9. above, the round is much slower than it should be
  7.  Due to 9. and 8. above the caddy inevitably plays favorites and the poorer player gets shafted (luckily, I have never been the poorer player in such situations, but I have felt the pain of my fellow double-baggees who get no love from the caddy)...
  6.  By the time the caddy gets to your ball you have already figured out what shot to play and he hasn't got a clue as to what you are thinking, so whatever advice he might give is irrelevant.
  5.  On the greens, 6. above is magnified as he has to run from side to side to make sure he reads both your and your double-baggees putts, often taking too little time over each.
  4.  The Keystone Kops images of two caddies running backwards and forwards across the fairwyas and green makes the overall experience for the baggees more burlesque than sublime.
  3.  The caddy demeaningly has to try to extort money from more than one person at he end of the round.
  2.  Due to all the folderol above, it is much more difficult to have an enjoyable game with your friends, which is the main prupose of golf after all.
  1.  Lou Duran and his obnoxious caddy at Cypress who said something to the effect of "If you think I'm going to waste my time replacing your divots, Lou, you have a lot to learn!"  Lou was 2-3 under at the time.......

Hope this helps

Rich

Rich, the last thing I wish for is an argument on GCA but I have to tell you this does not help me whatsoever. As I mentioned above I have both caddied and taken caddies and I have never witnessed one of the 10 points you offer here. Sorry.

I suspect if any of the 10 points you have made occur regularly there would be no club caddie industry in the world.

Hope this helps.

[Dean Stokes]

  Adam,

  Can a caddy size a player up on the first tee and predict if the player is going to be good to carry for for?

  Anthony

A good caddie can do that on the range Anthony!

[Bob_Huntley]

The complaint that surprises me the most from members on this site is the 'double bag' issue and having to wait at your ball. I have never had to wait at my ball for more than20/30 seconds for a caddie to arrive. That gives me time to get my glove on, smell the roses, have a good look around, appreciate the architecture, size up my shot then get the info off the caddie - not an issue at all. In fact almost a bonus I feel.

Dean

Here are the ten top reasons to not like being double-bagged when paying $100+/bag:

10.  In order to double-bag, the caddy rips all the clubs out of your bag and puts them into a smaller bag that suits him rather than you.
  9.  If your playing partner/double-baggee happens to hit the ball in different directions and or different distances, you not only have to wait for him to come to you (more than likely much more than 20-30 seconds), you have to watch him carry his fat ass back and across and up and down the fairway all day
  8.  Due to 9. above, the round is much slower than it should be
  7.  Due to 9. and 8. above the caddy inevitably plays favorites and the poorer player gets shafted (luckily, I have never been the poorer player in such situations, but I have felt the pain of my fellow double-baggees who get no love from the caddy)...
  6.  By the time the caddy gets to your ball you have already figured out what shot to play and he hasn't got a clue as to what you are thinking, so whatever advice he might give is irrelevant.
  5.  On the greens, 6. above is magnified as he has to run from side to side to make sure he reads both your and your double-baggees putts, often taking too little time over each.
  4.  The Keystone Kops images of two caddies running backwards and forwards across the fairwyas and green makes the overall experience for the baggees more burlesque than sublime.
  3.  The caddy demeaningly has to try to extort money from more than one person at he end of the round.
  2.  Due to all the folderol above, it is much more difficult to have an enjoyable game with your friends, which is the main prupose of golf after all.
  1.  Lou Duran and his obnoxious caddy at Cypress who said something to the effect of "If you think I'm going to waste my time replacing your divots, Lou, you have a lot to learn!"  Lou was 2-3 under at the time.......

Hope this helps

Rich

Rich, the last thing I wish for is an argument on GCA but I have to tell you this does not help me whatsoever. As I mentioned above I have both caddied and taken caddies and I have never witnessed one of the 10 points you offer here. Sorry.

I suspect if any of the 10 points you have made occur regularly there would be no club caddie industry in the world.

Hope this helps.

Dean,

If you have not come across one of the things out of the ten mentioned, then you must been caddying in the Elysian Fields. I have seen several   incidents mentioned by Rich, some of them at courses treasured by contributors to this site.

BOB

[Dean Stokes]

Bob, maybe I have just always been fortunate to caddie with good caddies and have always played with good caddies.

I could go through the ten points and explain why I have never seen any of them but I just don't have time.

The two I really like are 9 and 10 though.

I have NEVER EVER seen a caddie try to 'demeaningly extort' anything from a player, especially money. laughable.

As for the guy at Cypress. I know if any of the caddie masters I worked for heard such a story, and it was proved the caddie was doing his job in such a manner, that particular caddie would be gone and would proabably never have been there.

[DMoriarty]

able.
As for the guy at Cypress. I know if any of the caddie masters I worked for heard such a story, and it was proved the caddie was doing his job in such a manner, that particular caddie would be gone and would proabably never have been there.

I was there and may have even been sharing the guy with Lou.  (I've definitely had the same caddy but can't remember for certain if it was that day.)   I think it was on the 2nd hole so don't think Lou was 2-3 under yet, but he certainly said something like that.    The caddie had probably seen a few of my shots by then and knew he had his hands full.

[Sean Leary]

able.
As for the guy at Cypress. I know if any of the caddie masters I worked for heard such a story, and it was proved the caddie was doing his job in such a manner, that particular caddie would be gone and would proabably never have been there.

I was there and may have even been sharing the guy with Lou.  (I've definitely had the same caddy but can't remember for certain if it was that day.)   I think it was on the 2nd hole so don't think Lou was 2-3 under yet, but he certainly said something like that.    The caddie had probably seen a few of my shots by then and knew he had his hands full.

and it must have been his advice to have you lay up on 16. 

[Rich Goodale]

Dean

I respect your experience and your point of view and I hope you will respect mine.  My double-baggeed experience is entirely related to games at top-20 in the world courses, and very limited (less than 10 rounds in total).  When I used the word "demeaning" it related to the tally up at the end of the round, where you and your fellow double-baggee had to decide how much to pay the looper, and as nothing was written and each of you probably had a different experience (sometimes very different) and might want to tip more or less, it was an uncomfortable ending to what had been, in all of my experiences a very great day.  That's all.  Loopees are people too....

Rich

[DMoriarty]

able.
As for the guy at Cypress. I know if any of the caddie masters I worked for heard such a story, and it was proved the caddie was doing his job in such a manner, that particular caddie would be gone and would proabably never have been there.

I was there and may have even been sharing the guy with Lou.  (I've definitely had the same caddy but can't remember for certain if it was that day.)   I think it was on the 2nd hole so don't think Lou was 2-3 under yet, but he certainly said something like that.    The caddie had probably seen a few of my shots by then and knew he had his hands full.

and it must have been his advice to have you lay up on 16. 

Nope.   Most caddies tell you want they think you want to hear and apparently no one wants to hear that even when it is sound advice.

[astavrides]

Jerry  West? Hot Rod Hundley?



HAHAHAHA  I had to laugh at that  

But would you have believed White Chocolate? 

Is that a Jason Williams reference? 

jonathan,
thanks.  i think you are the first person  to ever admit in public to laughing at something i said on GCA (when I was actually trying to be funny).  George Pazin did IM me once to say that a had made a good funny.

Dr. Chocolate 'attended' Marshall and Florida (getting kicked out of the latter for 4 drugs infractions), but never WVU.