This is a big time of year for qualifying events. There are few events bigger than the US Mid-Amateur, and last week I had the pleasure of caddieing for a buddy, Curtis Loop, who is a former colleague of ours and probably the best golfer I’ve got to play with (including pros and former tour winners), in the qualifier at Knickerbocker Country Club in Tenafly, New Jersey.

I knew he had a great chance, and I was incredibly nervous with the serious stakes: Curtis is a member at Sleepy Hollow Country Club, which is the host of the US Mid-Am this year, so this was a qualifier he had circled for years. To set the stage further, Curtis was an accomplished junior player in the area then played at  University of California, Berkeley, when current pros like Max Homa and Brandon Hagy were there, before finishing his career at Georgetown.

Though Curtis missed out by one, we had a great day — and I left thinking that there were a few elements of the day I wish I had thought about beforehand. I’ll list my biggest takeaways below. I hope these things help you the next time you get asked by a buddy to loop in a qualifier with stakes on the line.

Be really good at raking bunkers

Let’s be honest, there were few things I was actually responsible for on the day. This was one of them. Do it poorly, and you might negatively affect competitors behind. If you’ve never been taught the proper way to rake a bunker, try to pick the brain of someone who caddies or used to caddie at a club. Heck, go on YouTube and find a video to educate yourself — but don’t show up to the qualifying without perfecting the art of the bunker rake.

It sounds silly, but cleaning golf balls is probably the most important thing you’ll do

I took this one for granted. No, it ain’t too hard to clean a golf ball … but it does require a wet towel and some elbow grease. Make sure you bring a towel and keep it wet throughout the round. If it resorts to doing a spit shine on the golf ball, you gotta do whatever it takes to get the dirt off the ball.

Knowing exactly the type of things your player wants to hear can be crucial

Be mindful about exactly what motivates your golfer. There’s nothing like hearing the wrong thing right before you’re about to address the ball, such as “remember, there’s OB left”. If you feel your player needs to know something, make sure it’s at the beginning of when they’re starting to strategise. Last-minute advice should be simple as: “OK, put a good swing on it”, or “you got this”.
Curtis isn’t a very analytical player when it comes to data and all the green-reading stuff. I showed him the StrackaLine app the day before, and he quickly looked but handed it back to me — explaining that more important to him was taking his mind away from the grind of competition in between shots. My goal for the day was to treat the down time in-between shots just like any other round, chatting it up with a buddy.

Do some scouting on the greens

I caddied for Curtis at a course where I was fortunate to be a junior member for a few years. So I came in knowing the general breaks and tricks to the greens. But even better was getting out there for a practice round the day before, and there was a tiny red spray-painted dot on each putting surface where all the pin positions would be located the next day. That allowed me to do some advance scouting on the specific spots on the greens. That level of preparation made me more confident entering our qualifying round.

If you want to go above and beyond, make a conforming green-reading book

If there was one thing I wished I did, I wish I had either prepared a handwritten green book based on the specific pin positions we saw the day before. I could’ve created a makeshift drawing for each green with the general breaks. Or, you might find a website or an app that has mapped out all the undulations (StrackaLine is a great one) and print it off to use. (Just double check the dimensions are conforming with USGA rules.)

Bring a caddie bib

Stephen Hennessey bibs it up. Supplied

I underestimated the value of a caddie bib, but I was so glad I had one, thanks to my guy Bryan, another caddie at Knickerbocker who happened to have two bibs. You’re constantly juggling so much stuff the entire day — a rangefinder, a towel, tees and a divot-repair tool, water bottles — essentially anything your player asks, and you can’t push back. I would’ve looked like a buffoon trying to balance that all amid my two shorts pockets, so if I were to caddie again, I’d definitely invest in a caddie bib. Plus, they made me look official.

Know the details of the facility

Curtis started on the 10th hole, which is a solid 10-minute walk from the practice putting green, or a two-minute golf cart ride. So he made sure to be done practising 20 minutes before the tee time. Golfers are creatures of habits, so Curtis found it helpful to know the day before that he should build in an extra 10 minutes into his routine for the trek over to Hole No. 10.

You need to be very clear with your advice — and if you don’t have full conviction, let that be known

Again, an area I struggled with. Though I’ve observed hundreds if not thousands of tour pro-caddie interactions, I’m not assertive in general. I could’ve stepped in and disagreed with Curtis on a few decisions, but I also knew that this was his qualifier, and I was mostly just an observer. Still, I could’ve been clearer about my knowledge of a few greens and how I knew they tilted. And a few times, he asked me if I liked a particular club off the tee, and I could’ve voiced my opinion a little clearer. Next time I’m in this position, I’ll be more decisive with my advice.
Conversely, I think it’s also important to make it clear when you’re not sure about something. If the player takes your advice and it was wrong, but you didn’t make it clear you were just using an educated guess, then that’s on you.

Know before the round, whether your guy wants to know where he stands

We talked about this the day before, so I knew that Curtis didn’t want to look at the leaderboard at all. I decided I wouldn’t either, knowing that maybe something I said or my attitude could give him a clue as to where he stood.
It turned out that it was a little slower on the last two holes, and I was looking at text messages from friends who are asking for updates, so I did end up looking for at the leaderboard over the last two holes and had a feeling he needed a birdie on one of the last two holes. I think I did a good job at concealing the info, but if I wasn’t as subtle, this could’ve really affected his mindset. Make sure you guys are on the same page.

Bonus tip: Stick around till the end.

Especially if your player is in the afternoon wave, have a nice cold drink and wait for the last groups to come in. There’s something satisfying about being there for closure after the emotions you’ve put into the day. Curtis did have to hang around until the end because there was a chance there’d be a playoff for an alternate spot, which didn’t come to be, but we were still happy we hung around to talk to fellow competitors and get that sense of closure.

The post Nine things I wish I knew before caddieing in a serious event appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

By Joel Beall
In 2016 a California court dismissed a class-action lawsuit brought by caddies against the PGA Tour. The core of the matter involved caddies forced to wear bibs displaying tournament sponsors without receiving compensation, along with the threat of explosion from working on tour if failing to comply. Loopers were hoping for a cut of the endorsements, or the opportunity to wear bibs with their own sponsorship. Healthcare plans were also part of the caddies’ suit.

A petition was brought to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, but last week a three-judge panel sided with the original ruling. The summary, which can be found online, asserts the panel’s belief that the caddies were not coerced to sign their consent.

“The panel held that the district court properly concluded that the caddies had consented to wearing the bibs, based on the text of a tournament participation form, considered with the caddies’ concession that the Tour had required them to wear bibs for decades,” wrote chief judge Sydney Thomas. “The district court also did not err in concluding that the caddies failed to allege plausibly that the Tour secured their consent through economic duress. The caddies therefore failed to state claims for breach of contract and quasi-contract relief, California state law publicity claims, a Lanham Act false endorsement claim, or a plausible economic duress claim.

“The panel held that the district court properly determined that the caddies had not alleged plausible product markets to support their antitrust claims. The panel held that, even if advertisements to golf fans constituted a unique product market, ‘in-play’ or ‘in-action’ advertising during professional golf tournaments—either in any format or endorsements alone—did not constitute a unique submarket. Agreeing with other circuits, the panel concluded that the caddies’ proposed product markets were facially unsustainable because they failed to include many reasonably interchangeable products.”

However, the panel did remand to the district court its decision to not allow the caddies to amend their federal antitrust claims, giving caddies a route to continue to pursue their grievances if they wish.

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