[Nick Pozaric]

Say you go to a new course for the first time, which do you prefer?  Do you like to walk and carry and kind of go into it alone or do you like a caddy to carry and for company and insight into the golf course?

[peter_mcknight]

Need to take a caddy and support caddy programs across the country, so long as the caddy program exists.  Kill all golf carts!

[wsmorrison]

Nick,

I'd take a competent caddie if at all possible otherwise I'd walk and carry or use a bag carrier to promote the caddie program.  I hate carts almost as much as Lloyd Cole, except when I am playing with elderly friends and then I'd rather have the companionship during such rounds.

By the way, it can be spelled caddie or caddy, right?  Derived from the French word cadet.

[Tom Huckaby]

I gather the assumption is that caddies are available?

That rather puts it into the upper echelon of courses right there.

For me, if a caddie is available, I like to take one at least once.  It's fun.  But cost factors into it as well.  If a good yardage guide is available for $5 and the caddie costs $75 (normal at places like this), the extra $70 has to be well-considered.

I guess it all depends on the place, the traditions, what others are doing, etc.  I surely have no hard and fast rules o this.  And it's an issue for a tiny percentage of the golf I play.

Now make it walk v. ride and that's a more relevant question....

I tend to walk first, but if the course is hilly or has long hikes from green to tee, I'll ride.  I have nothing to prove.  I do hate carts on path though...

TH

[wsmorrison]

Tom,

I avoid courses with long walks between greens and tees.  Though I don't mind hills for some reason...must be used to it from playing Rolling Green.

[Brent Hutto]

Given the choice my preference would almost always be to walk the course with bag on my three-wheeler. If I can't have a three-wheeler a two-wheeler will do. If not a two-wheeler then I'll carry my bag (probably leaving out a couple clubs).

I'd only choose to use a caddie at a once-in-a-lifetime special course and perhaps not even then if the caddies weren't very, very good. For instance, the two guys our foursome were assigned at Cypress Point were amazing. They earned every penny of their fee by what they added to the experience. That's the only time I've felt that way out of the handful of caddie experiences I've had.

I'd only choose to use a cart if injured (and if I'm too injured to walk I'm probably too injured to hit a golf ball) or if the course were laid out in such as way to make keeping up without a cart literally impossible. I generally do not like those kinds of course but there are exceptions to everything, I suppose.

[Mike Hendren]

Walk and carry.  I am too cheap to hire a caddy.  

Mike

[Tom Huckaby]

Tom,

I avoid courses with long walks between greens and tees.  Though I don't mind hills for some reason...must be used to it from playing Rolling Green.

Wayne, if I have a choice I avoid those as well.  Many times that choice isn't part of the marital negotiation (ie that's where the boys are playing, that's my chance to play).

I don't mind SOME hills... but we have some serious MOUNTAINS out here... courses where only complete fools would bother trying to walk.

Some of such fools participate on this site!

 

[Craig Disher]

Let me walk and carry - preferably on a nice day so I can use my little collapsible bag rather than the big 2-strapper with umbrella, rain gear and an extra pair of shoes. 8 pounds vs. 25. And I'd rather not do it alone. Seeing a pair of golfers walking off the first tee with their bags on their shoulders is a very pretty picture.

[Evan Fleisher]

For me personally, look to the left...


<---------------------- BINGO!

[Bob_Huntley]

For all of you zealots who decry the use of carts, I want to be around when you have just a whiff of an injury or a touch of arthritis, or even a hang nail. You sound like a bunch of religious nuts, proud of your hair shirts.

I happened to have been all round sportsman as a young man. I have a rich history of orthopedic complaints stretching over a number of years. These include a twice fractured lateral malleolus, a fracture of the right leg, and a bunch of other stuff that is too boring to relate here.

I walk whenever possible,when it becomes uncomfortable to do so I ride. I do not denigrate those who choose to their own method of locomotion.

Bob

[A.G._Crockett]

Walk and carry.  Golf almost passes for exercise if you do that.

[A.G._Crockett]

For all of you zealots who decry the use of carts, I want to be around when you have just a whiff of an injury or a touch of arthritis, or even a hang nail. You sound like a bunch of religious nuts, proud of your hair shirts.

I happened to have been all round sportsman as a young man. I have a rich history of orthopedic complaints stretching over a number of years. These include a twice fractured lateral malleolus, a fracture of the right leg, and a bunch of other stuff that is too boring to relate here.

I walk whenever possible,when it becomes uncomfortable to do so I ride. I do not denigrate those who choose to their own method of locomotion.

Bob

Bob,
In all seriousness, I agree with you and empathize.  I've spent a lifetime in competitive sports, and now, at almost 54, have some ortho problems myself.  Plantar fasciitis kills me, and I have a hip problem that takes a lot of fun out of walking.  I've started using a pull cart at least some, and am much less disappointed when I find myself at a carts only situation.
I'm still battling it though, and hoping that the decay rate is reversible or can be slowed with pilates, yoga, beer, etc.

[Brad Tufts]

I like to take caddies when available, but this works better if you are in a group.  I've been forced to take a caddy alone a few times, and you end up hurrying.  If the caddy is the only one to talk to, you run out of conversation quick.  I like to figure the course out on my own, often with a yardage book if possible (by the by, if anyone has an extra Apache Stronghold yardage book, I'm in the market for one, as they were out when i was there, and I'd like to refresh my memory of the course).

However, I will admit that if my greens fee include payment for a cart, I will usually get my money's worth and use it.  I won't refuse one on principal, even though I like to walk much more than riding.

And yes, I realize that my being 24/almost 25 years old means that I have no excuse for ever stepping into a golf cart.....

[Jordan Wall]

I personally enjoy walking or taking a caddy.

Actually, I like to actually be the caddy.

But before you guys say how pathetic carts are remember what they can do for people with bad or mediocre health, as in a back or something.  Carts can sometimes be the only way for people to actually play the game.

[james soper]

caddy when available. walk and carry my own bag anytime its allowed.

[John Foley]

I love to walk, especially early in the AM first out, course to myself.

I enjoy riding in a cart & spending time w/ a friend I don't see that often.

If I count up last years rounds (around 20 total) it was probably 50/50 walk/ride.

What I don't understand is the infatuation w/ the caddies. Nothing against those who are, who have been or would like to become. I just don't see why taking one is all it's made out to be. I remember seeing 8 guys walking down the fairways at Bandon and thought how wierd it looked like.

I'm sure I'm the exception, not the rule.

[Bill_McBride]

Assuming no caddies program - pretty good assumption on the Gulf Coast -- it just depends on whether it's June-September or October - May!   Sweaty just begins to tell the tale on the Gulf in summertime.  

If I'm in a dry climate in summertime and it's allowed, I'm walking with that lightweight bag.

[Tom Huckaby]

What I don't understand is the infatuation w/ the caddies. Nothing against those who are, who have been or would like to become. I just don't see why taking one is all it's made out to be. I remember seeing 8 guys walking down the fairways at Bandon and thought how wierd it looked like.

JF - I doubt many take caddies as a regular thing, outside of those members of clubs at which caddies are required.  I have to believe I'm pretty normal in treating it as an extravagance, fun to do those rare times it's offered.  It is kinda cool as a change of pace.

TH

[Bill_McBride]

I got a caddy for Kathleen at North Berwick, she thought she'd died and gone to heaven.  By the time we got to Crail, it was old stuff!

[Nick Pozaric]

What I don't understand is the infatuation w/ the caddies. Nothing against those who are, who have been or would like to become. I just don't see why taking one is all it's made out to be. I remember seeing 8 guys walking down the fairways at Bandon and thought how wierd it looked like.

JF - I doubt many take caddies as a regular thing, outside of those members of clubs at which caddies are required.  I have to believe I'm pretty normal in treating it as an extravagance, fun to do those rare times it's offered.  It is kinda cool as a change of pace.

TH

We have a rather large caddy program at my club and their use is not required.  We have a majority of our members that use them on a regualr basis.  We have some guys that play 2-3 times a week and take caddies every time.  And from one of the earlier post I spell it caddy, due to the movie caddy shack

[Evan Fleisher]

How about this definition...

Is It Caddie or Caddy?

...or maybe this interesting take on the arguement...

How Do You Spell It?

...and one final try...

Word Of The Day

[Tom Huckaby]

Nick - thanks.  Obviously the issues are far different for a member at a club with a strong caddie program.

I could see taking them all the time then - especially if either money didn't matter or it were economically feasible.

My reality - as well as the vast majority of golfers, I'd say - is far different from this.

Thus the treatment of this as a neat extravagance.

As for the spelling of the word, heck we're both right.  Most dictionaries have "caddie" as the first spelling, but list an alternate of "caddy".  There is absolutely no harm going with the best golf movie of all time.

 

[Craig Disher]

I'm honestly curious. Why is mandatory use of caddies necessary to support the caddy program? It seems to me that if caddies were voluntary, the number of caddies would settle at the number actually required at the club. If there's no demand from the members, why keep the program?

I know one answer is that the members would all just hop in carts - but let's say that carts are restricted to just those who have a true medical need. The members either walk and carry - or take a caddy.

[Mike Benham]

I would walk with no caddie or caddy?

I haven't had the greatest of caddy experiences at times although that isn't the primary issue.

Now if the course has no yardage markers, then a caddie would be required.  However, I need to learn to tell the caddie what information, if any, I want from him or her.

I will only take a cart if it is required or if my host is taking one and  not doing so would take away from enjoying the round with him or her.

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