Fifty Questions Asked of a Pebble Beach Caddie. James Hudgeon
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I told Michael about my time at Mid Ocean Club in Bermuda, not sure if he had a home there, when we talked about Bermuda but he does now live in Bermuda.
Typically, most athletes are coachable and easy to caddie for. The Olympic volleyball gold-medal winners from the US, Kary Walsh and Misty May, they had good timing and were no problem to give good clubs to. We just walked and enjoyed the day. I handed them a club and pointed.
Baseball players have good timing to the ball. That good timing helps them hit the ball a long way. A relief pitcher for the Cincinnati reds, Pete Harnisch, is a closer—big and strong with a good move to the ball. He was just a little hard on himself after a mistake, balls and strikes I guess.
Some MLB players came to Pebble Beach and would play for two days. After each round there was a shoot-out; it was a good tournament. Amateur guests can play along with MLB players. I had a guy from Snake Eyes Wedges make the cut to play in the shoot-out.
There was a lot of Players watching that did not make the cut—a nice galley of MLB and guests. My player with the snake eyes put it on them with the spin check roll of the ball. We lasted to the end of the shoot-out: number one, number two, number three, number seventeen, and number eighteen. Hard to remember every shot, but I do remember the shootout win—expectation exceeded.
Chapter 4
What Was It Like Caddying for Them?
Without a doubt, a caddie’s two favorite holes are the first and the eighteenth hole. Coming down from the caddie barn, this is the time to get your game on and meet the guests. Sometimes your players are there at the podium watching you walk to the tee and make their first contact with you. Everyone gets the same strut, the ringing of the wet towel, proper clean dress and style. “Hello, my name is James, I will be your caddie today. Pleased to meet you.”
The caddie master did not often tell you who was coming up next or down the line, and that was cool with me. It kept the line of caddies going and just the right chance of working with the right guest that day. If a caddie steps back on a loop and you go down to the tee, meet your player, pick up the bags, and the name tag is from LA Country Club, you get pretty pissed.
On my why down on this day, I was doing the normal routine: the wringing of the towel, dressing up, and strut. “Hello, my name is James, pleased to meet you.” And the player went wild. This is someone that knows what he is doing; this is the way it is done, he told the starter at the podium. The starter is one of the shop guys, so at best he would write this day down as a good thing.
“Thank you, sir, nice of you to say that. Welcome to Pebble Beach Golf Links.”
The player just looked at me and told me his name.
“My name is Len.”
“Pleased to meet you, Len,” I said.
“I’m Len from the show Dancing with the Stars,” he explained. Not thinking so much about who he is, I could only think of the compliment he give me a minute ago, that this man is a judge of presentation and dance. I could only think about exceeding his expectations the rest of the loop, and said to myself that if Len liked that he was going to love this loop.
I was treated like a star. He was very coachable, and the loop went well. Of course I had to tell Len I liked his show and how much my mom liked the show, and she especially liked him, so I ask Len for an autograph for me mom.
When I’m in the moment on the job, or even around someone with an accent, I tend to start to get a little accent myself and I mean all of the accents from around the world: Chinese, Spanish, Samoan, and all the English accents: American, Bermudan, and the queen’s English, whatever. So it was only proper of me that I asked for an autograph from Len for “me mom, please,” in the queen’s English.
All the loops start the same: the hello and greet-and-meet moment where you only get one chance to make a first impression. That is the first and most important moment in looping for anyone. As a caddie, you are there to help in the round: carry the bags or do a single bag or caddie for four players, whatever. Keep busy: clean clubs as you meet them, and before you tee off check the clubs to see if they have all their clubs, and let them know if there is a club missing or that they have an extra club. It’s always a good start—most players appreciate that, and know you are there for business.
After that, caddying for anyone and everyone is the same. I have a job to do, and they often let me do my job. After that, it is not “What it is like caddying for them?” That is the question; it is more for me to have them enjoy what it is like to have me as their caddie; that is what matters to me.
Being a caddie is more than just the bag on your back; it’s spending four hours with a player, a guest of the course that you are looping at, and there is a tip involved. The tip is part of my fee. The better the tip, the better the pay for the day, no matter how the players play. Our sixty dollars, no holler, that is two of the end-of-a-day sayings for how did your loop go today, comebacks between caddies.
Chapter 5
How Did They Play?
For the most part, a caddie does not judge players or their ability to play each shot perfect. You watch to see what happens during the shot. If you could remember your own golf game and the times you had on the first tee, you will know how that feels—a little nervous to say the least, teeing it up on the first time at St. Andrew’s old course; the first tee is two fairways wide. It was the start of the Caddie Cup, nerves through the roof. I hit a three iron off the tee and laid up for second shot short of the berm, tried to go up and down for par but two putted for bogie. PS: that was not my caddie’s fault, James Brody, aka, Pin High. He put up with my fear but was able to calm me down, and then I give him the reins, and off we went. Thanks, Pin High.
Most guests at Mid Ocean Club during the time I caddied there, over the summer of 1980, were from the US and played similar to most golfers from the US yardage off the tee and thought out the course. I had done my work to mark the course myself and made my own yardage book, with yardage off the tee and in the fairways from bunkers and trees.
Mid Ocean Club did not have yardage books in 1980. I walked the course and made my own yardage book to caddie in the best way that I could, for the guest from the US. The yardage book was not picked up by the Mid Ocean Club, so I had my own secret weapon to help me help the guests.
Other players at Mid Ocean Club were members of the club. Most of these players are comfortable with the clubbing of the caddie; the opportunity to caddie for players that trust your clubbing was a lot of fun and an opportunity to bring your A-game to the job of caddying for different players.
Not all players hit the ball the same way, and this is the fun part of the job, to help each player to the hole in the lowest number of strokes. Often that meant laying up to the next shot, a short wedge or seven iron. Five woods were my favorite club to offer on the type of shots that cover yardage, and five woods are easy to hit.
Laying up and keeping the ball in play helps anyone enjoy the game. When the ball is in play on the hole you still have a chance to save par. The players that were all over the place were another story, and every story needs a good and happy ending. The look and the celebration of the player after a par, a bogie, or just a good shot (the one-out-of-a-hundred shot). I am all in on having a good time on the golf course.
Gene Upshaw came to Pebble Beach with Dave Dolby, Sylvester, and Barr, the kicker. It was a wet and cool day, not much going on as far as a lot of players. I had nothing else to do that day but hustle up a loop and wait for the last chance player to check in.
The Foot, aka, Ray Mednis was also waiting in the caddie barn when two loops popped up. We got Lucy and went down to meet the players. We had our rain gear on, and it was not the GORE-TEX rain gear in those days. The raiders were laughing and ready to play in this weather, so after the customary greetings and “pleased to meet you, I am a Raider fan” and “you guys are the best”