So you want to be a Professional Caddie? You’ve caddied at a country club or at a golf resort but you want to experience being “inside the ropes” at a Professional Tour event. The following is a description of a day in the life of a professional caddie. The images are from the PGA Tour, but the description applies to all professional tours around the world.
Whether it is a practice day, a Pro-Am day or a tournament day the professional caddie’s job/responsibilities are about the same. The exception might be on a Monday when you walk the course without your player, checking yardages in the yardage book ( modern technology has changed this procedure with the addition of rangefinders, but their use is not allowed during tournament rounds ) and adding notes about each hole.
Make sure you know your player’s tee time!
Be there as early as needed to meet your player in the player’s parking lot or outside the locker room. Rule #1 – don’t be late.
CROMWELL, CONNECTICUT . (Photo by Elsa/Getty Images)
Player’s always “warm up” for about an hour before their tee time. On the practice tee, on the putting green, in the practice bunkers, etc. Each player has their own routine that you’ll be expected to adhere to and help facilitate.
After the warm up the plan is to arrive at the first tee a few minutes before the tee time.
Make sure you have your yardage book and several pencils.
Credit: Mark Long Yardage Books
On a tournament day, at the tee you’ll get your caddie “bib”. Make sure you get a pin sheet with the placements of that day’s pins.
Count the clubs in the bag ( no more than 14 ). Make sure there are extra balls, gloves and tees in the bag. Make sure you have a half wet towel for cleaning clubs and balls throughout the round. If bad weather is expected, make sure an extra towel(s), the umbrella and the player’s rain suit are in the bag .
After everyone tees off, with the 30 – 40 pound bag on your shoulder, away you go.
During the round you’ll be getting yardages, talk about wind direction, talk about club selection for the upcoming shot, help create positive thoughts about the shot, clean the club after a shot, replace the divot, rake bunkers when needed, clean the ball after reaching the green, tend the pin when it is your player’s turn to putt. (Some players will ask their caddie to help read putts)
After the finish of the round you’ll accompany your player to the scorers tent to help make sure their score is correctly recorded.
The round may be done but you are probably not done yet. After the completion of the round the player may want to hit more practice balls or work on their putting.
It can be a long day.
As we said, caddieing is a lot more than just carrying the bag.
