They’re More Than Merely Caddies, They Are People

No sport has a relationship as unique as that between a golfer and a caddie. It’s a worker-boss situation, no doubt about it. But a caddie on the PGA Tour is also a friend, a coach on the course and a psychologist.

And, on another level, kids carry a bag at the local club for a few bucks and a chance to play a few rounds for free.

It’s a great way to learn the game and learn how to behave around the game.

The uniqueness of the relationship between caddies and players was demonstrated several times at the PGA Championship.

Jeff “Squeeky” Medlen gamely carried for Nick Price despite having leukemia. Two caddies defied the no-shorts rule because of suffocating heat and humidity. And Tom Watson lamented the replacement of caddies by golf carts, something he thinks will hurt the future of the game.

First and foremost, there was Price walking at his usual brisk pace while a thin, frail-looking Medlen shuffled along at his side, chatting constantly in his high-pitched voice.

Medlen will have a bone marrow transplant in the fall, and even then will have only a 50-50 chance of surviving.

“The only break I think he gets from it is the fact that he’s out on a golf course, and he can forget about it for a while,” said Price, who desperately wanted to win for Medlen.

“I would say that would be my main motivation,” Price said before the final round. “To win would be the best thing that I could do for him in terms of his health.”

Medlen wanted to caddie for Price in the PGA as much because he was worried about Price’s game as because he wanted to take his mind off his own illness.

“He’s my best friend,” Medlen said about Price. “I’ve known other people longer--from high school--but he’s my best friend.”

It makes you think. These are people, more than merely caddies.

Early in the week at Valhalla Golf Club, before the heat and humidity broke, there was a rebellion over the policy that prohibits caddies from wearing shorts. The PGA Tour says they can’t. The PGA of America says they can’t. And the USGA says they can’t.

When both temperature and humidity were in the 90s and the heat index made it feel like 120, it seemed a very silly rule.

“I feel for them,” Nick Faldo said. “It’s 97 degrees. They’re carrying 30 pounds of bag. What if they stipulated what pair of shorts they are allowed to wear?”

A good point. Why not just let them wear shorts that meet the club’s dress policy?

The PGA of America, however, missed its chance to come off as a forward-looking organization.

“We see no compelling reason, although we have some heat, that this be changed,” PGA of American CEO Jim Awtrey said of the no-shorts rule.

There was something just a little bit too much on the side of the worker-boss relations in that statement, it seemed.

It makes you think. These are people, more than merely caddies.

The day before the tournament started, Watson was asked where he saw golf heading at the end of the century.

“The only dark cloud is that we don’t have caddies anymore to introduce young people to the game,” Watson said. “Cart revenues have taken over club policy. The budgets can run off of $150,000 in cart revenues for the year vs. none off caddie revenue.”

Many people got their introduction to the game as caddies, from Ben Hogan and Byron Nelson to Lee Trevino and Watson. It was a way to expose to golf kids whose parents were not country club members. Now that avenue of entry to the game is disappearing because riding carts are everywhere.

“I think that’s hurting the game of golf,” Watson said, “because you are not bringing young people into the game to be able to caddie.”

Watson said the golf establishment has to look at the issue of caddies vs. carts as more than an economic issue. It involves the future of the game.

“Golf affords a kid a place to go,” Watson said. “It teaches the rules that you play.”

It teaches them the rules of the game and the rules of life--a sense of fairness and honor.

It makes you think. These are people, more than merely caddies.

As much as they carry the bags they also carry on the tradition of the game. They are the past, present and future of golf.

And they deserve to be treated as a precious resource threatened with extinction.