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I spend a lot of time reading in this job and some of the best material I come across tends to be on golf related internet forums. While they have their flaws I find that forums, by their interactive and generally non-commercial nature, give a very different take on the issues that concern golfers at the grassroots level.
Recently I have been following a thread on a particular overseas forum about the demise of the traditional caddie programs that were such a part of the fabric of the game in a bygone era.
You don't need to go too far back to find a time when it was common place for junior members at private clubs, and even just local kids, to generate some pocket money by carrying clubs during Saturday competitions. There's a lot to be said for that old system, not the least of which is the number of youngsters introduced to the game because of it (Ben Hogan and Byron Nelson may be the two most famous examples of kids who started as caddies and ended up becoming part of the folklore of the game) and the valuable lessons those kids could learn by being around adults apart from their own parents.
For all sorts of reasons caddies have become a thing of the past but it struck me recently that if some of these issues could be overcome then now might be as good a time as any to try to re-introduce such schemes. As I understand it the arrangement of old was pretty straightforward: Kids would get a small amount of guaranteed money for each bag carried plus the added incentive of a possible tip from their player. Free or reduced membership rates at the club were standard at a lot of places as was a weekly "caddie" day when they would have free access to the course.
As a side benefit it also meant a bunch of potential future members were introduced to, and became familiar with, notions such as etiquette and rules plus the experience of seeing good players up close and the benefits to their own game which flow from that.
In the modern era issues such as insurance, employment laws and, possibly the biggest of all, the revenue generated by golf carts, all work against the humble caddie ever making a meaningful comeback. But who knows, maybe it is possible if there was enough demand. Would you take a caddie if they were available in your weekly comp rounds at your home club? What if it was offered as an alternative to a golf cart at a resort course?
With falling memberships and many clubs now offering incentive schemes to attract players under 30 to join, the caddie could be a part of the long term solution to problems currently being faced by the golf industry.
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