A good caddy

The value of a goody caddy, whether you are a professional or a part-time golfer can never be underestimated.

A good caddy will provide the information and support during your round and will be key to you shooting a lower score. The player of course, makes the shots, but it is the caddy who often provides the basis for shot itself.

But what makes a good caddy? In what must be an unparralled sporting relationship today’s top flight players and their caddies are almost team-mates. Gone are the days when a caddy just carried the clubs.

A duty of a good caddy often overlooked is the ability to keep their golfer focused and not waiver psychologically from the task at hand. This is clearly the toughest of all caddy skills to learn and it requires a great deal of experience and understanding of the game of golf. A caddy that can positively impact the psyche of their golfer, especially if the golfer is not consciously aware of what the caddy is trying to do, can be extremely valuable. Golf arguably relies on mental aspects of the body more than any other sport in today's world and if the mind is not comfortable, calm, and focused, disaster is likely to occur. A crucial factor in performing the psychological duties of a caddy is that to be as effective as possible, the caddy must know the golfer very well. This is typically only possible if the caddy is on the pro tour, a family member/friend, or works regularly for the same member at a country club. Psychological caddying can be as simple as distracting the golfer as you walk down the fairway after a poor tee shot by talking about something the caddy knows will make the golfer be happy or laugh. While this may sound superficial, it can have an amazing effect on the mental state of the golfer as they enter into their next swing. The caddy might also try talking out exactly how the golfer wants to hit the next shot because positive visualization can be the difference between a birdie and a bogey.

Other psychological duties that a caddy may partake in would be slight swing corrections. Obviously out on the golf course is not the time to completely change a golfer's swing but if the caddy has seen the golfer shoot multiple rounds under par and multiple rounds in the 80's, it is likely that there are slight tendencies that change within the golfers swing which drastically effect their scoring ability. If the caddy is skilled enough, discussing these changes can often make the golfer aware of something they did not even realize they were doing. Good examples of slight changes in a golfer's swing that could make an enormous difference in their score would be the speed of their take-away, early hip movement, a shoulder dip, too much wrist action, a retraction of the arms, poor balance, and a rushed or sloppy follow through.

It should be noted that all psychological duties should only be acted upon by the caddy if he/she feels very comfortable with their golfer and believes that their knowledge and experience is sufficiently reliable.