Hold The Caddy!

In the course of your career as a golfer, whether professional, semi-professional or even on the amateur level you are sure to encounter other players who have a caddy and want one for yourself.  But do you really need a caddy, or is this something that you can avoid?  Many players choose to forgo a caddy, but others always insist upon having a caddy available whenever they play.  The choice is ultimately yours, but in order to make the best decision possible you need to have as much information available as possible to help you decide effectively.

While playing on a normal basis it is typically unnecessary to employ a caddy, however if you are playing on a professional or even a semi-professional basis you are going to need a caddy.  In addition, there are times when you may decide to enter a competition and it is at these times when a caddy is necessary as well.  If you are looking at the duties that a caddy should perform there are quite a few typically.  The simplest are easy for a golfer to handle themselves if necessary while some of the tasks are much harder to do and require a much greater amount of skill.

Some of the basic duties that a caddy should perform including cleaning the golf balls that are used as well as the clubs, obtaining the yardage, fixing and replacing divots, taking care to carefully remove the flagstick, and even raking the bunkers as well as sand traps.  If you have a highly skilled caddy, you should also look to them to handle reading the greens for you, helping you choose the appropriate club, and also trying to keep track of any salts so that you can play the best game possible. 

There are typically four levels of caddy’s with each level having different skill levels.  The lowest level is the B level caddy’s these are typically the highly inexperienced caddies, however they are much cheaper price wise and are not as expensive to employ.  They are only allowed to carry a single bag and are generally what you will find on most golf courses.  The next level up is the A level caddy.  This is the caddy that is allowed to carry two bags, however while they have more skills they are still not the ultimate caddy to use.  You may find A level caddies when there are tournaments or competitions going on at a local golf course.

Professionals are only going to use an Honor or a Pro caddy.  Both of these levels are permitted to carry two bags and they are considered the top caddies.  A Pro caddy is the top of the line and is typically, what most professionals will employ.  On occasions, there will be times when an honor caddy is used instead.  The primary reason that professional golfers use Pro and Honor caddies is simply because they tend to have a much better understanding of all of the rules for the game.

As you can imagine the job of a caddy is not always considered easy.  There are so many things that must be done, as well as circumstances that should be taken into consideration in order to make the best decision possible in terms of club selection and appropriate knowledge of the rules.  In many professional circumstances, a golf player can be penalized if their caddy makes a mistake.  This means it is very important to ensure that you are working with a caddy who has the knowledge to ensure that you are following all of the rules, as well as they are following all of the rules.

If you are just starting out playing golf there is no reason to insist upon using a caddy.  However, if you are considering playing a competition or even at a high-end golf course you can expect to have a caddy for the game.  The pay that you are required to pay for the caddy will vary based upon the level of the caddy as well as the golf course that you are playing at.  Checking with the staff at the course will allow you to make appropriate pay decisions in the event that you do decide to hire a caddy.