If you watch a professional golf tournament, you always see the golfers getting advice from their caddies.
Why? What is it that the caddy knows that the golfer doesn’t? Shouldn’t the golfer be at least as informed about the clubs, the course, and the conditions as the caddy is?
The caddy acts like a combo coach, sounding boards and distance calculators.
Yes the players are capable of knowing the course as well as his caddy, a crapload of info is in that big notepad they all carry in their back pocket. But the player has other things to worry about than whether that tree is 50 yards or 80 yards from the green. The caddy might also be a little more objective on how well the player is hitting his clubs that day.
Also, a good caddy is going to be at least as smart as his player on course management (the strategy of exactly how you want to move the ball down each hole, managing risk/reward deciding between risky or safer shots). So there’s benefits in just hashing out your decisions with someone who knows what he’s talking about.
How does the caddy know the distance from the hole? Is there some gadget that he has?
No, gps units and laser range finders are against the rules for PGA. The length of the hole is a published number, but caddies and players will have various landmarks distanced out and often during the game will walk off distances to cover the gaps in their data.
I believe a good caddy is expected to have considerable skill at reading greens, and most players will consult their caddy before most putts.
Here’s an article about a professional caddy’s yardage book
Aren’t caddies local guys, as opposed to the golfer who goes from course to course ? That would give them a lot more experience with the given course and advice quality than a manual of even extensive but dry datasheet of the course could.
(I know next to nothing about golf, except for you’re trying to push the little ball into the little hole and it’s not porn)
My understanding is that professional caddies will typically walk the course extensively before a tournament (and maybe even before the players arrive), making notes on distances between various landmarks and the tees and greens.
Pro golfers usually have their regular caddie with them. The caddies are paid with some combination of salary and proportion of winnings.
Here’s a neat article from the Los Angeles Times on how PGA tour golfers work with their caddies, and just how important of a role the caddie has for many of them.
The best caddies have prehensile toes for elevating balls in the rough, to provide a better lie.
Those notebooks are mostly the work of the golf course they’re playing at, with the caddy and player making additional notes. I played at a nice course that had just hosted a big deal amateur tournament the week before and they were selling the leftover ones.