Did I really just do that!

[Slab]

As mentioned on the pro golf thread..

I've spent most of this week as a caddy on the DPWT European Tour event being held locally to me and while the player didn't make the cut for the weekend it has still been a fantastic week that will live long in my memory

Yeah yeah I know as ET events go it doesn't attract the top guys to appear, especially this close to Xmas, but it's still a full tour event and there's a real buzz its being held at my home course

Being held so close I and many others naturally answered the call for volunteers, marshalls etc to help out but I was asked if I'd consider caddying instead!
I was a bit hesitant but said sure and as time got close I was incredibly fortunate to be picked to carry for Tour and Ryder Cup winner Nicolas Colsaerts!

Kinda gobsmacked to say the least but exciting too

He's an absolute gent and this post isn't really about a particular player so I won't be posting gossip etc

We had a practice round on Tues then pro-am Wed before things got properly underway on Thurs & Fri

Some of you will know but let me tell you a ladden tour bag is freakin heavy.
Around 20kg best guess and for a guy like me who 18 months ago was too fat to go shopping without getting breathless I can tell you I had some anxiety hefting it onto my shoulders and heading out for the practice round but I coped and the more holes I did the more I realised the techniques needed to make it 'easier'

We had plenty showers on Thurs so I got the full experience of juggling brolly, towels , clubs, bag so when the sun shone on Friday it felt easier all round

Lots of you will have heard a Pro hit a ball but to stand 3ft away it just produces what I can only describe as a huge 'crack' sound that's like no other golf shot I've ever heard

Gutted that I'm not still out on course for the weekend but it was a privilege to 'take part' in the tournament to the extent I did

I won't endlessly drone on with a massive post but if anyone wants to know anything I'll answer best I can

... Yup I changed my avatar

 

[arnieboy]

As mentioned on the pro golf thread..

I've spent most of this week as a caddy on the DPWT European Tour event being held locally to me and while the player didn't make the cut for the weekend it has still been a fantastic week that will live long in my memory

Yeah yeah I know as ET events go it doesn't attract the top guys to appear, especially this close to Xmas, but it's still a full tour event and there's a real buzz its being held at my home course

Being held so close I and many others naturally answered the call for volunteers, marshalls etc to help out but I was asked if I'd consider caddying instead!
I was a bit hesitant but said sure and as time got close I was incredibly fortunate to be picked to carry for Tour and Ryder Cup winner Nicolas Colsaerts!

Kinda gobsmacked to say the least but exciting too

He's an absolute gent and this post isn't really about a particular player so I won't be posting gossip etc

We had a practice round on Tues then pro-am Wed before things got properly underway on Thurs & Fri

Some of you will know but let me tell you a ladden tour bag is freakin heavy.
Around 20kg best guess and for a guy like me who 18 months ago was too fat to go shopping without getting breathless I can tell you I had some anxiety hefting it onto my shoulders and heading out for the practice round but I coped and the more holes I did the more I realised the techniques needed to make it 'easier'

We had plenty showers on Thurs so I got the full experience of juggling brolly, towels , clubs, bag so when the sun shone on Friday it felt easier all round

Lots of you will have heard a Pro hit a ball but to stand 3ft away it just produces what I can only describe as a huge 'crack' sound that's like no other golf shot I've ever heard

Gutted that I'm not still out on course for the weekend but it was a privilege to 'take part' in the tournament to the extent I did

I won't endlessly drone on with a massive post but if anyone wants to know anything I'll answer best I can

... Yup I changed my avatar

What a great experience!

 

[Lord Tyrion]

Fabulous

Did you just carry the bag or did you have to provide yardages?

How often did he change his ball?

Was there much chat, either between you and the player or you and the other caddies?

Could you relax or were you afraid of making a faux pax?

I'm thinking there could be a GM article in this experience ?

 

[HeftyHacker]

I'm thinking there could be a GM article in this experience ?

This, would be fascinating from a to hear from a complete novices point of view!

 

[bladeplayer]

Fabulousl



I'm thinking there could be a GM article in this experience ?

Be class article ,i tagged Mike in a tweet bout this post Slab . Hope thats ok , in hindsight i shoulda asked first so apologies

 

[Imurg]

Great bag to have..
An unforgettable experience you jammy bugger

 

[Larry long dog]

Good stuff?did he chuck you a couple of quid for beers?

 

[need_my_wedge]

Must have been a great couple of days. Colsaerts has always been one of my fav European players, had high hopes for him once upon a time. What a fabulous experience.

 

[JonnyGutteridge]

Incredible experience - very jealous! I think most pleasing thing to hear is that he was a top bloke (minus missing the cut of course! ?)

Does he have a regular caddy who had decided to take the week off, or is he accustomed to having a caddy assigned to him?

Somehow I would have thought if caddies are required, there’d be a selection of “experienced” tour caddies on hand to stand in. Have you caddied before as a job?

Completely agree about how the tour players hit the ball - it’s literally an entirely different process to how the rest of us hit a golf ball.

 

[sunshine]

Fantastic experience, thanks for sharing.

Does he have a regular caddy and where was he?

As it’s your home course did you give the player any advice or distances? Or were you purely a bag carrier?

 

[patricks148]

I'm surprised you found him a good guy, his behaviour is seen was pretty poor.
A friend's young son asked for his autograph at Castle Stuart and he pushed the kid out the way. He and Marcel Siem were playing nairn on another occasion before the Scottish open and he wouldn't sigh and autograph s or even speak to anyone, Marcel on the other hand was very friendly professional and let's lots take photos with him he even too some of the young lads onto the practice ground with him.

 

[Slab]

Fabulous

Did you just carry the bag or did you have to provide yardages?

How often did he change his ball?

Was there much chat, either between you and the player or you and the other caddies?

Could you relax or were you afraid of making a faux pax?

I'm thinking there could be a GM article in this experience ?

Sorry late replying but naturally spent the whole day at the course for the final day...I'll run down the questions...

On the practice and pro-am days I could help a bit with course orientation since most players hadn't played there before and that was one of the reasons a few of us were asked to caddy, but he had the yardage book and rangefinder on those days too. On tournament days he paced off himself from the fairway markers (can't really blame him for that, why entrust that kind of stat to a rookie)
It was cool seeing them work out almost instantly on practice round where all the pins would be even though they didn't have the sheet yet, so they'd hit a few putts into those spots
It was also staggering to see the distance control with the wind well up each day
Plenty to keep me busy just taking care of the bag, clubs, flag, drinks etc and cleaning the ball on the green. Weirdly I got a more of a kick than I thought I would when he tossed the ball to me on the green for cleaning/checking for damage rather than handing it to me (always handed it back rather than throw it)

He didn't really change balls too often tending to stick to the one in play most of the time

More chat that I thought there would've been. The two practice days gave me a chance to get to know him a little bit and we chatted away. For tournament I (mostly) kept quiet unless he initiated any chat but when I did ask him about xyz shot/club choice he'd played, he was more than happy to talk through his thought process
We also had Brandon Stone in our Thurs/Fri 3-ball and they knew each other pretty well so plenty chat/banter going on. Brandon had his usual tour caddy with him (good bloke) and he was plenty understanding that there was two 'rookies' in the group and I quickly sussed out the 'flagstick handover' routine

I was very aware that while I was unlikely to save him any shots I could easily cause him to collect a penalty if I screwed up in any one of a dozen ways (just standing in the wrong place when he was putting etc) but I relaxed just fine after the first hole on Thursday

Incredible experience - very jealous! I think most pleasing thing to hear is that he was a top bloke (minus missing the cut of course! ?)

Does he have a regular caddy who had decided to take the week off, or is he accustomed to having a caddy assigned to him?

Somehow I would have thought if caddies are required, there’d be a selection of “experienced” tour caddies on hand to stand in. Have you caddied before as a job?

Completely agree about how the tour players hit the ball - it’s literally an entirely different process to how the rest of us hit a golf ball.

He has/had a regular caddy but not here for whatever reason. I suspect the bloke needed another bag while Nicolas had been ill earlier this year and hadn't planned to be available this week. Most of the 'names' did have their regular bag carriers with them and a bit less than half the field needed locals
I haven't done it before and was really pleased to be asked.
The local caddies were either lads from nearby courses who usually caddy for tourists or AM's like me who knew the course well enough. I'm sure he could've picked up the phone and found another 'tour' caddy and fly them in but I also saw that after 20yrs on tour he isn't fazed whatsoever doing a bit of DIY and his pre-round routine was obviously so second nature to him having done it thousands of times before that it was very natural

Fantastic experience, thanks for sharing.

Does he have a regular caddy and where was he?

As it’s your home course did you give the player any advice or distances? Or were you purely a bag carrier?

See above for regular caddy Q & advise etc

Once I knew who I was carrying for my expectation was it'd mostly be as bag carrier. Couple of my mates had younger players or players from Sunshine Tour and they offered more info on lines etc but it was pretty obvious that it would've been pointless for me to do that after he was orientated on practice days, as I say it was really cool to see him work it all out so rapidly

I'm surprised you found him a good guy, his behaviour is seen was pretty poor.
A friend's young son asked for his autograph at Castle Stuart and he pushed the kid out the way. He and Marcel Siem were playing nairn on another occasion before the Scottish open and he wouldn't sigh and autograph s or even speak to anyone, Marcel on the other hand was very friendly professional and let's lots take photos with him he even too some of the young lads onto the practice ground with him.

Weird right enough. I can only say what I saw and he couldn't have been more inclusive to the point of introducing me to every other player/media person that he talked to that week (& there was a lot) and I didn't see him decline any request for pics/sigs all week, but as you say that wee fella doesn't seem to have seen that side of him that day
And while he had no need to he even asked me to eat with him in the players lounge pre/post round, and since he usually ate with Thomas Bjørn that's how I spent breakfast/lunch just listening to the two of them shoot the breeze

 

[Slab]

I like my new GM forum membership description
Thanks Mods

 

[Canary Kid]

What an experience! Brilliant.

 

[clubchamp98]

I like my new GM forum membership description
Thanks Mods

I think Occasional is harsh.
You are.

 

[Newtonuti]

Insanely jealous bud! I'd definitely love to read a full article.

 

[Tashyboy]

Bloody hell Slab, Have you had a serious bout of dysentery. When I saw you in 2015, you was a right chunky monkey. You really do look a picture of health now. ?
I played Ananhita on the last day of the Mauritius open when I was there and the course was just immaculate yet brutal. I am sure before we went out I was looking at Colsarts bag back then.
couldn’t of happened to a nicer guy, chuffed for you slab.
When I played on the practice day, me and Missis T ended up playing with some French guys who were over covering for French TV. Saw them interviewing players on the final day I played Anahita the second time.