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Chapter 4

What Was It Like Caddying for Them?

Without a doubt, a caddie’s two favorite holes are the first and the eighteenth hole. Coming down from the caddie barn, this is the time to get your game on and meet the guests. Sometimes your players are there at the podium watching you walk to the tee and make their first contact with you. Everyone gets the same strut, the ringing of the wet towel, proper clean dress and style. “Hello, my name is James, I will be your caddie today. Pleased to meet you.”

The caddie master did not often tell you who was coming up next or down the line, and that was cool with me. It kept the line of caddies going and just the right chance of working with the right guest that day. If a caddie steps back on a loop and you go down to the tee, meet your player, pick up the bags, and the name tag is from LA Country Club, you get pretty pissed.

On my why down on this day, I was doing the normal routine: the wringing of the towel, dressing up, and strut. “Hello, my name is James, pleased to meet you.” And the player went wild. This is someone that knows what he is doing; this is the way it is done, he told the starter at the podium. The starter is one of the shop guys, so at best he would write this day down as a good thing.

“Thank you, sir, nice of you to say that. Welcome to Pebble Beach Golf Links.”

The player just looked at me and told me his name.

“My name is Len.”

“Pleased to meet you, Len,” I said.

“I’m Len from the show Dancing with the Stars,” he explained. Not thinking so much about who he is, I could only think of the compliment he give me a minute ago, that this man is a judge of presentation and dance. I could only think about exceeding his expectations the rest of the loop, and said to myself that if Len liked that he was going to love this loop.

I was treated like a star. He was very coachable, and the loop went well. Of course I had to tell Len I liked his show and how much my mom liked the show, and she especially liked him, so I ask Len for an autograph for me mom.

When I’m in the moment on the job, or even around someone with an accent, I tend to start to get a little accent myself and I mean all of the accents from around the world: Chinese, Spanish, Samoan, and all the English accents: American, Bermudan, and the queen’s English, whatever. So it was only proper of me that I asked for an autograph from Len for “me mom, please,” in the queen’s English.

All the loops start the same: the hello and greet-and-meet moment where you only get one chance to make a first impression. That is the first and most important moment in looping for anyone. As a caddie, you are there to help in the round: carry the bags or do a single bag or caddie for four players, whatever. Keep busy: clean clubs as you meet them, and before you tee off check the clubs to see if they have all their clubs, and let them know if there is a club missing or that they have an extra club. It’s always a good start—most players appreciate that, and know you are there for business.

After that, caddying for anyone and everyone is the same. I have a job to do, and they often let me do my job. After that, it is not “What it is like caddying for them?” That is the question; it is more for me to have them enjoy what it is like to have me as their caddie; that is what matters to me.

Being a caddie is more than just the bag on your back; it’s spending four hours with a player, a guest of the course that you are looping at, and there is a tip involved. The tip is part of my fee. The better the tip, the better the pay for the day, no matter how the players play. Our sixty dollars, no holler, that is two of the end-of-a-day sayings for how did your loop go today, comebacks between caddies.