More Golf Clubs Should Have A Caddy Program
posted in My Golf Stories |I think it is too bad that most golf courses have to rely very heavily on the cart revenue for survival. The youth of this country would be served really well if they had the opportunity to caddy at their local clubs. I can remember the first time I caddied and almost fifty years later that experience brings fond memories. In my home town which was in the middle of the east Texas oil field a large oil industry golf tournament was played each summer. Players came from all over the united states and there was a large calcutta with the golf tournament that also included the cream of the college crop each year. I was encouraged to go to the local club by some of my friends that caddied in years past and see if I could pick up a loop.
When I got to the course I was lucky that there were players looking for caddies so I got a job. The gentleman that asked me to caddy introduced himself and told me he was from Chicago. Well for a ten year old I thought Chicago was about as far away as you could get from east Texas. After the round my player gave me five dollars and asked if I could be back the next day and do it again. That night at supper all I could talk about was that my player was from Chicago and could you believe I got to caddy for someone so far away.
If more young people had the opportunity to caddy I believe they would develop a better understanding of the game and learn some valuable people skills dealing with a variety of people. Most of the early greats of the game got their first taste of the game as a caddy. They got to play sparingly and spent their free time practicing with hand me down clubs and more often than not had to improvise with the one and only club to make a variety of shots. Many stories have been written about Ben Hogan, Sam Snead, Byron Nelson and most recently Sevy Balesteros, all great players who started as caddies. All of these great players learned how to hit different shots with different clubs because they hardly ever had the opportunity to play with a full set.
The clubs could have inter club competitions among the kids that were in the caddy program. A caddy master who would probably be one of the assistant pros could teach the youngsters the finer points of caddying that would help them become better players and hopefully develop a love for the game that can last a life time.
See you on the next tee.