When traveling across the pond, the value of a good caddie simply can’t be overstated. Of course, no one would agree with that notion more than the caddies themselves. While a caddie’s guidance around an unknown and sometimes puzzling links is certainly worth its weight, it’s the stories of their shenanigans that often prove invaluable. In our quarter-century of delivering Golf at its Finest and Life at its Best, we’ve heard some real doozies from our Expeditionary Forces. A few of those tales, along with several others shared on our community on Facebook, come together to form this tribute to the omnipotent, clairvoyant, salt-in-wound pouring, one-liner delivering and, most of all, memory-making caddie.
A good caddie is more than a mere assistant. He is guide, philosopher and friend. ~ Henry Longhurst
“After hitting my drive on the first at Troon, my caddie convinced me to hit a full 5 iron from 125 that landed 15 ft from the hole. At the end of the day, his communication skills had either fallen off some or he had stopped caring, but he just handed me my 8 iron from the middle of the fairway. I proceeded to take a full swing and bounce the ball off the newly renovated clubhouse roof. Oops! But the last highlight had to deal with the grouch of our tour. Julie advised me there was always someone who gets fussy and this guy was it. Troon was our 3rd round of the trip and he had played horrifically in the first two. He probably started off at Troon +8 through 4! In an attempt to cheer him up, his caddy starts talking about drinking. Our man mentions to his caddy that when it comes to alcohol, he is a scratch handicap. At that point, another caddy catches up to them and interrupts to say “oh yeah? Well I’m a plus-2!” What made it even better was he said that while pulling out his flask and taking a swig – at 9 am!”
~ CJ Carder
Stuart Lee of Sioux City Country Club with his caddie, Pierce. At just 13, Pierce was making his first unsupervised loop of Portstewart.
“I had the great misfortune of being paired with a particularly ill-tempered chap from The Colonies during an otherwise splendid afternoon on the links of Tralee. This gentleman’s caddie endured more than his fair share of abuse during the round, and by the time we reached the par-3 16th his patience had worn thin. As he stepped onto the tee, and without consulting with the caddie, the gentleman boldly declared “I can get there with a 4 iron. Give it to me.” With that he proceeded to drop it in the deep fescue at least 20 yards short of the green. He turned to the caddie and asked, “Why did you let me believe I could get there with a 4 iron?” To which the caddie replied, “Well, truth is you can if you hit it often enough.”
~ Major Basil Haversham, OBE
“My caddie at Gullane – Duncan – had forgotten more about golf than I’ll ever learn.” ~Matthew Huddleston
“In 2006 our Expeditionary Forces traveled to some wonderful courses on the East coast, one of which was Royal Aberdeen. It was a marvelous course with many memorable holes. But as it turned out the star that day was my caddie. As our group awaited caddie assignments from the starter, a couple of the younger kids that we had been talking with said to me “oh you got Richie, you got Richie!” Ok I said sheepishly, I got Richie. Didn’t know whether it was good or bad. Turns out it was Richard Ramsay, then a college senior and two time Walker Cup player for GBI. He casually mentioned that he was headed to the States later in the summer to play some tournaments, but wasn’t really sure he wanted to try to make a career out of professional golf. After we returned home a friend who was on our trip called and said “hey I think that’s your caddie on TV”. Turns out Richie was In the quarterfinals of the US Amateur! Of course he went on to win. I sent a letter of congratulations to his club along with a hat from our club. He sent back the photo and autograph in the photo. Still keep in touch on Twitter as he moves up the European Tour.”
~ Scott Glazier, Deerwood Country Club
This members of Pinecrest CC were expertly guided around the Barry Burn.
“Several years ago at the Ailsa Course at Turnberry, myself and a partner noticed our caddies were betting on our games. We each played well and they gambled and talked trash about their caddy skills to each other. We should have held out on 18 and negotiated a deal with the winning caddie.”
~ Tom Houlihan via Facebook
“Better you than me, sir.”
“Nicest young man and hardest working caddie of the 14 we enjoyed recently. A member of the junior golf team at Cruden Bay, he was an amazing ambassador for the game at age 16. Cheers to young Mr. Bruce.”
~ Scott Price, Fountaingrove Golf & Athletic Club
The Prices with young Mr. Bruce.
“We were on a trip to Scotland and we’re playing Carnoustie for one of our stops. On this day Justin Timberlake was playing ahead of us. As we made our way to the 18th fairway, one of the caddies says,”Look at all the pretty girls behind the green waiting for Justin.”
Another caddy, who had been making quips all day long, chips in , ” Well, the girls can’t be from Scotland!”
~Matthew Barnes via Facebook
“Just a simple up and down here.”
“My good friend Dick Davis was having the round of his life as we approached the 17th at the Old Course. He was on pace to break 80 for the first time in his life, and this on the famed Old Course at St Andrews at that. He stepped up to the 17th tee box and put a full swing on the ball. Unlike his other tee shots that day this one was a high booming slice. His caddie immediately screamed, “fore on the roof”!!! As we looked up we saw Dick’s ball smash into the roof just above a mother and her child sitting out on the 5th floor sun deck. Thankfully the mother and child were OK because we immediately broke out in laughter.
The saying “fore on the roof” became the war cry for the rest of the trip. In spite of Dick’s errant tee shot I’m happy to report that he did break 80 that day.”
~ Gregg Goodwin, San Gabriel Country Club
Just moments before the infamous tee shot…
“My foursome was the 1st group and as we approached the 18 hole the marine layer had lifted just a bit; enough that we could see the Swilcan Bridge from the tee but not enough that we could see the tee shots landing. I teed off well right down the middle as did the 2nd and 3rd player in the group. The 4th flared his tee shot way right and the next thing we heard was a loud crash; like the breaking of glass. It was the breaking of glass. He had knocked a hole out of a car window parked along the street adjacent to the 18th fairway. We approached the car to examine the damage. Sure enough the ball had broken the rear driver’s side window, remember the drivers side is opposite our cars, and his ball was lying in the back seat; we had to identify the ball of course. Since the weather was bad, the large crowds around the 18th fairway and green were not present so we asked our caddies what we should do. They told us the golf course had been here far longer than there had been cars and that the owner should have known better than to park next to a golf course!”
~ Dr. Jim Woods, Country Club of Paducah
The ball was positively identified in the back seat.
“One of my first caddies at Muirfield was an older gentleman dressed in a blazer and tam o’shanter. When asked, he told me he was 72 and the retired postmaster in Gullane. When I asked if he’d lived in Gullane all his life, he replied, “not yet”.
~ Sam Baker, H&B Founder & CEO
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