How often do you play with a Caddy?

My bet is that there are lots of players who have never played with a caddy, and very few that do so on a regular basis. I have and can tell you that a good caddy can save you half your handicap at a minimum if you listen.

The reason for the inquiry is that I believe professional golf is no longer anything like what 99% of golfers actually play. No one else uses caddies.

If I can't use my own golf cart or rent one, I don't play. I have no ball spotters downhole to show me exactly where my ball lies. No one cleans my clubs. No one repairs my divots. No one tell me yardages. No one checks the wind and elevation change and advises me which club to use. No one holds an umbrella for me. No one advises me on my putts.

I haven't played with a caddy in 25 years and in those 25 years I have played numerous TPC courses and high-dollar resorts with greens fees of several hundred dollars that simply had no caddies.

And the seniors tour is disgusting, carts and caddies.

There is no sport in walking 18 holes; no one ever won a tournament by being the best walker.

I say take away the caddies and give them a cart, and let them compete using their own skills. If not, give the caddie half the prize money and an identical 1st place trophy for the "team win" and equal TV time. Oh, and 2 green jackets for the Masters.

I have to disagree. Golf is intended to be a walking game, and the professional game should reflect that intention. Part of the test is being able to play at a high level while dealing with heat, cold, wind, rain, etc. On a hot, humid July day, they ought to arrive at the 18th tee tired and sweaty. IMO, the Champions Tour shouldn't allow carts any more than the PGA Tour does, but the bleeding heart judges blew that one out of the water. In other sports, when they can't pull the load, they retire from competition. In golf, they just get to keep playing while riding in a limousine.

I'm 61... I still walk and carry my own bag most of the time. And I don't have the incentive that those guys have... meaning millions in prize money.

To answer your initial question, no I've never played where a caddy was even available, but my first job ever at 12 years old was caddying at the White Bear Yacht Club north of St. Paul MN. I learned the etiquette of the game (and a bit about honor and sportsmanship in general) at caddy training... and those lessons have served me for almost 50 years now. It's an opportunity that kids rarely have these days.

I would like to experience what it would be like to play a course with a caddy. Pinehurst No. 2 has caddies and when I go back I intend to play with one.

Does a caddy from caddychicks.com count ?

The local club in my town uses caddies exclusively. I am not a member, but play there 3-4 times a year with friends. I love to walk, I feel it is better mentally for me, but I am not a big fan of having a caddie. Mostly because, in my experience, they have been useless... wrong yardage, bad reads. No pride in the service they offer. (that being said, every once in a while you will get a good caddy, with good course advice, which can save a lot of strokes, but that is rare)........... I would prefer a course to provide those electric pull carts with remote.

I've never played with a caddy and probably never will. I'm on a real tight budget right now (just got married) so the nicer courses that provide caddies are out of the question. I would walk the course when I play but I am always on a time crunch. I work a lot of hours during the week and my weekends are always to short for what I need to get done.

I never had a caddy, and unforunately, my friends never play with me on tournaments.

When we are practicing in the course, we allways help each other during the rounds: we have all the same disnatance (more or less) so we actually say play x or y iron, we sort of align each other putts... In the practice rounds we usually score in the high 70's, but during the tournaments we can get up to the low/middle 80's. We just don't do in the tournamnents what we do on the practice rounds...

I've played with a caddie twice. Once was fairly recent, at Chambers Bay. My caddie was a pro who carried for, and had seven wins with, Rosie Jones. He was absolutely awesome. I shot a 92 my first time out on a very difficult course, a score that easily would have been 10 shots higher without him guiding me around. As a 21 hcp at the time I was thrilled with that score. So yeah, I can definitely see the benefit in having a good caddie, something most of the pros have.

That said, most of the caddies at a place like Chambers Bay are just local high school kids. They don't know the game, the course, or their job well enough to be of much benefit to anyone. All they do is pack your sticks.

I agree with the statement that Tour Players are playing a different game than 99% percent of the population, but it is not because of caddies. Their game is different because of the skill level. It would be like comparing major league baseball with a rec program. It's the same sport, but it is a different game.

The guys on tour do get the benefit of advice about the course, but for most of them it is a tour perk. Before the tour most of these guys were playing in college or on mini-tours where there were no caddies and they were figuring their own yardages. Does the caddy help their game? Sure it does, but by how many strokes?

A good caddy for an amateur is like playing a course with a long term member. They can tell you where to hit it, what to avoid, how to calculate elevations and how to read the green. I have used a forecaddie before and he was helpful in locating balls, raking bunkers, and reading greens. While it wasn't totally necessary, he did help us navigate the course.

I have never played with a caddie. I wouldn't mind trying it out. I don't think i have ever played a course that allowed caddies either, so that might be part of the reason for never playing with one.

I have use caddys in a couple of important matches (mostly county matches etc) and aslong as you get on with them I think its the most helpful thing a golfer can have, you have someone to talk to when you have hit a bad shot, and someone to help give a different point of view on shots you can play etc, IMO though either everyone or NO one should use them in competitions, you should either be required to have a caddy, or not allowed to have a caddy, which stops unfair advantage being gained.

I have never played with a caddy. They are not offered at my club, although years ago, before I played ( alas ), they were. I would like to do so if the caddy is experienced and can really assist with club selection, help with one's aim for blind shots, etc. There is one particular course in Memphis I play from time to time that offers a caddy service and I am tempted to try it one day. The idea of walking and playing with a caddy holds great appeal to me.

When I was ten years old ( 1968 ), I was a kid small in stature ( not much has changed in that department, I'm sorry to say ). My family belonged to the town's country club. The club had a nice course and held several tournaments each year. That summer, I discovered that one could go to the golf pro shop, a shambly sort of structure that was kind of dark, smokey and mysterious on the inside, and sign up to be a caddy for those participating in the tournaments. I was told a kid could make a lot of money doing this: maybe $5 or $10! My head reeled with the possibility of having five or ten dollars to spend on comic books or candy or picture show tickets. I signed up as fast as I could.

The first tournament was in July. The early morning temp was already in the high 80s and the humidity made the air thick and heavy. Our players were chosen by lottery. A grinning beheamoth of a fellow, with a shock of blond hair, wearing tight bell bottomed sansabelt pants, greeted me and informed me I was to be his caddy. I was fine with this arrangement until I saw his enormous, bright orange vinyl tour bag. When I approached it, I came eye to eye with his pom pom covered driver. At that time I weighed about 75 pounds; that bag looked as if it weighed a hundred. Determined to show I wasn't intimidated and with visions of lots of money in my pockets, I grabbed the bag and almost fell over. Steadying myself, I proceeded to carry the bag seventeen and one half holes. After my player's tee shot on eighteen, my fine golfer apparently saw me perspiring heavily and weaving dizzily as we walked from the tee box to his ball. After he hit his approach, he looked at me, grinned and grabbed his bag. He picked it up like it was a hand towel. With his bag on one shoulder, he put his other hand around me and we walked to the green. He finished the hole and allowed me the dignity of huffing and puffing my way with his bag back to the bag drop area.

At last, our round was over. I could think of nothing other than getting a cold Coke and getting into anything that had air conditioning. I looked up. My player was towering over me. He seemed to be at least twelve feet tall. He looked down at me and seemed to be assessing my miserable sunburned, sweaty, stinky self. He then reached into his pocket and pulled out a wad of bills. It seems he did rather well on several bets with fellow golfers that day. Instead of paying me the usual five or ten dollars, he pealed off a twenty, handed it to me and just smiled. I smiled weakly back and mumbled, "Thanks."

I had never before earned twenty dollars doing anything. I was amazed and extremely pleased and totally exhausted. My dentist was also pleased later that summer when he repaired my first ever cavity. He wasn't surprised when I told him I had eaten more candy in two months than I had the previous ten years -- and that was almost the truth. That twenty dollars bought a hell of a lot of gum, Zagnut bars and other assorted delectables.

After that summer, I discovered tennis and didn't return to a golf course for almost thirtyfour years. But I have often thought of what it would be like to walk a course on a beautiful day with a real caddy, knowledgable and helpful, pointing out things about the course as only one could who was intimate with that venue. I think that is the kind of day to which I shall look forward.

If you come to Tedesco CC then I hope you will take a caddie!!

By all means! I really will, at some point, use a caddie, either at the Memphis Country Club or at one of the others in the region. By the way, how do you like your 775s? Holy moley!! I just looked at your public profile and saw that you list as your profession that you're a caddie! How cool! I must have missed that in your original post. I guess you're the man we should be checking with about all things relating to that profession.

Good Story! I have caddied a few times for different people, but have never had a caddie myself. I would love to do it one day, but there isn't a single course in my area that has a caddy program. .

p.s. Nice paragraphs Shortgame85!

Thank you very much.

Shortgame85 - The last time I played with a caddie was at the Chickasaw Country Club in Memphis and all of their caddies were full-time, career caddies.

Thanks for the info, Sir Milton. I've never played Chickasaw. I understand that it is a rather tight city course, similar to the Memphis Country Club. My club has reciprocal arrangements with the MCC, but I don't think that is the case with Chickasaw. Alas.