I’m going to come straight out and say it: I think that having caddies in the professional game of golf is an absolutely ridiculous concept.
What other sport allows athletes to be accompanied by what essentially amounts to a butler, carrying their equipment so they don’t get tired, cleaning their clubs, feeding and watering them, and generally advising them on how to play?
You don’t see LeBron James at the free throw line with someone polishing and passing him the basketball before advising him on the air density in the arena, do you?
To me, this is just yet another example of long-held concepts and practices that no one has bothered to question or revisit in the modern era, and it is about time we did.
I would love to see the likes of Rory McIlroy and Scottie Scheffler lugging their carry bags or pushing their trolleys up the hill on the 18th at Augusta National, before gathering their own yardages and executing their approach shots without the help of their exceptionally well-paid on-course PA.
Not only would it add an extra physical element to a game that is often dismissed as a ‘game’ rather than a sport, but I genuinely believe that it would speed things up.
I have grown weary of the ridiculously lengthy caddy/player conversations that seem to take place on every hole to discuss even the most basic of golf shots, and I certainly don’t feel that it does anything to enhance the product of professional golf to the consumer.
In most lower-level professional events and the elite amateur game, players in the main ‘self-caddy’ by carrying their own bags and calculating their own yardages – I would know as I spent several years playing elite amateur golf and on the mini-tours.
In both of these cases, rounds are generally significantly faster than the PGA Tour, so there is a precedence for this.
There is also a wider optical issue at play here, with many people still seeing golf as an elitist sport for the wealthy. The sight of players essentially utilizing assistants to do the cleaning and administrative jobs they don’t want to doesn’t amount to a great look in my opinion.
To those of you who enjoy a game at a fancy country club and the luxuries that come with employing a caddie for the day, I am not taking a swipe at you here, I absolutely think that can enhance the enjoyment of someone's recreational day. Knock yourself out!
My problem is that I don’t believe this is a luxury that should be permitted in top-level sports. I am adamant that players should be out there fending for themselves with outcomes solely dependent on their competency, decision-making and execution.
Let’s go back to basics here and test the player's all-around abilities more by increasing the physical demands, putting an emphasis on personal decision-making and taking away the unnecessary safety blanket of the caddie. Rant over!
