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Any do’s and don’ts for folks like myself who’ve never played a round of golf with a real caddy before? Last thing I want to do is unintentionally annoy whoever is looping for me lol
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Offer them a snack and beverage at the turn. Make sure they get their water. Generally just be a good gui and it’ll be good.
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Can say from recent experience on both sides, make sure your bag isn’t heavy and verify the integrity of your straps ahead of time.
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That’s a big one. Don’t be the guy with 3 dozen golf balls, 4 water bottles, and a six pack of Busch light
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Everything mentioned so far is spot on. And obviously @StatGuy can directly speak to the caddy experience at EH. The one thing I’ll add is, listen to your caddy! They know the greens way better than you. Trust their reads and all other advice. My bonafides: I caddied at the Stanwich Club for 15 years
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Easy one: Remember, you suck, it’s not their fault you suck. Don’t take it out on them in emotions or in tips.
Harder one: They’re going to give you club advice, angles on approach, and reads on putts you don’t believe with your own eyes. Before each stroke, you need to make a decision and commit, are you going with their version, or yours? You don’t HAVE to go with theirs. They do this for a living they know the math but only you know your game and how you feel in that moment. Either option works, but trying to split the middle and doing some kind of half-baked attempt at your vision combined with theirs is going to turn into a mess.
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This is a more general comment but I’ve found good caddies are generally picking up what you’re putting down. If you want to grind out there and have Bones/Greller there beside you, they are up for it. If you want a nice walk and a good conversation, they often have some fantastic stories and makes for a great day of chatting. As said above, keep the bag light and your mood positive, and treat them well.
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It is double bagging - you can help out by being an independent golfer. If you know what club you are going to hit, just get it and go to your ball. Pace of play with double bag caddie requires golfers to be a bit more independent. You most likely don’t need a consult on every shot, and it may not help you anyhow, since you usually don’t have someone else in your head.
Especially on the greens - it is easy to point out a line, but really difficult to talk about speed. Most longer breaking putts have a lot of different lines that will go in with different speeds. You can tell the caddie at the beginning of the round what types of golf related conversations you prefer and/or how much advice or not you think will result in the best time on the course (which includes playing well).
For me I’ve said things like below to caddies at beginning of rounds (I think have not pissed at least some of them off considering I’ve had beers with them afterwards and kept in touch):
- “I like to read the putt myself before getting any other input. If I ask you what you think about my read and it’s roughly what your read is, just reinforce my read as being good”.
- “Part of my joy of golf is deciding the shot I’m going to hit, I’ll probably ask you sometimes what options you see, but I prefer not to be told what to do unless I specifically ask for what you would decide.”
- “I’m more interested in hearing what’s in front of me than direction to hit a specific line. Back to the decision making being something I like doing.”
I have had to say to a caddie after a few holes: “that’s way too much information, I need way less information”. The other person with the double bag was thrilled with all the information they were getting, and even swing advice. The caddie adjusted to give me way less, and it was great for us both.
In general, the double bagging means you can help everyone out by being more independent than you might be with a single bagging caddie.
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11 days!
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@StatGuy what’s the general caddie consensus on vessel bags? I’m worried mine might be too heavy for a double bag.
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Second this… communication is king. For your first time you might not know exactly what you want but you’ll figure it out as you go. For example, my typical first tee conversation with a caddy is something like “I’m dogshit at reading putts but can usually start it on line so I’m happy to take any help you can offer on the greens”. With that being said, your caddy could be tied up raking a bunker or assisting another player so you have to maintain some level of independence because you don’t want to hold up the group.
Also remember, they have dealt with hundreds of golfers over the summer and have seen it all. Don’t get self conscious about your game. I went through that the first time I played with a caddy… felt like I was letting them down or creating work for them if I hit a bad shot. As long as you have a good attitude they will be fine.
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So a caddy relationship is just like being married. Yippee.
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Most caddies don’t “like” to changeout, but will not hesitate if we have too. I don’t think Vessel bags are bad at all, I love the strap. But like Ashton said above, just take the dumb shit out of your bag.
The only bags I like “auto” changeout just based on the bag itself, not anything in it is: Cart bags, no legs, damaged legs, bad straps, and literally any Nike bag. But if you fit the criteria of these, don’t worry, that’s literally why we have changeout bags. You’ll be fine, costs nothing, keeps the caddie happy.
The first four holes at Erin have a red penalty area, but aside from #1, none of it should be in play. You don’t need more than 6 golf balls, 9 if you’re not a trusting person. If you’re on a golf trip and you’ve got all three dozen balls in the big pouch … don’t. Or of the forecast is sunny and 90º, and you’ve got an umbrella and a rain suit in there … don’t. Common sense should prevail in packing a bag.
Following up to Craig’s & Aaron’s bits (which is all spot-on) : Sometimes people are paralyzed by too much analysis. If it’s a 3-footer for net bogey … don’t expect a read. I say “you’ve made this a million times back home.” Works 99% of the time.
Also, I repeat this rant from Patrick Ewing almost every round because a player tries something they don’t do on a hard golf course: “HAVE YOU SHOT THAT SHOT?!” Patrick Ewing what kinda shot is that? - YouTube
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Edit: “no legs” doesn’t mean we don’t like Sunday bags! I’m bringing mine! MacKenzies/Jones/Caminos all great
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Glad you clarified here. I always thought it would be annoying as hell for a caddie, especially one double bagging it, to have to toss a bag on the ground and pick it up almost every shot.
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Shit!. I have no problem at all if the caddy wants to change it out and will certainly offer now. It’s my first bag since I picked up golf again 5 years ago and knew nothing.
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I’m probably bringing my moonlite cause I’m gonna hoof it myself on Tuesday.
Unspoken rule: if you turn down a Sunday bag for that reason, you’re lame. Some guys insist on “being level or having two legs.” Any caddie that turns down a sunday bag is an idiot, IMO.
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