The Caddy Chronicles

Alright, settle in. You know the drill by now—another absolute belter of an episode from the boys. This time, they're diving into something a bit special and are calling it The Caddy Chronicles.

Now, when you think of a caddy, what comes to mind? Someone to lug a heavy bag around for 18 holes, rake a bunker, and hand over a towel? Yeah, nah. Get that out of your head right now. The caddy is the unsung hero, the silent assassin, the psychologist, the windbreaker, and the guy who talks you off the ledge when it‘s all going pear-shaped on the back nine on a Sunday. They don’t just carry the sticks; they carry the hopes, the doubts, and often, the strategy.

In this episode, the boys are getting stuck into the most iconic player-caddy combos of all time. The partnerships that weren't just working relationships but were the secret sauce behind trophies and major wins. We're talking about that unique bond, the trust, and the moments of genius that only happen when a player and his looper are truly on the same wavelength.

So, whether you've had a brilliant caddy save your round or you’re just fascinated by what goes on inside the ropes, this one’s for you. Get the head phones on, crack open a tinny, and have a listen. It’s a great podcast, this one. Get stuck in.

To learn more about us or to get in touch head to: tommydoesgolf.com   

Transcript

SPEAKER_02 0:00

Welcome to Tommy Does Golf, the podcast where three old timers give you our opinions on everything golf. I'm Tommy Long, joined by fellow PGA professionals James Morgan and Paul German. With over a hundred years and counting in the golf industry between us, we are well into our back lines. We'll do our best to stay on topic, but just like our tea shops these days, this podcast could go anywhere. We're hoping you enjoy the banter, and maybe, just maybe, we'll share a few pearls of wisdom along the way. Let's get into it. Most of us will have heard the line that caddies are just bag carriers, someone to keep up and shut up. Apart from being disrespectful, anyone who knows anything about this game knows that simply isn't true. If that was the case, why would players give up to 10% of their paychecks, sometimes equating to hundreds of thousands of dollars, to someone who just carries a bag? The truth is, these guys and girls are worth their weight in gold. They are the buffer, the bubble that a player can wrap themselves in to shut out the world and take on the golf course. Many of these caddies are phenomenal golfers. Most of them can read greens as well as anyone on tour. They'll sit in on their players' coaching sessions, spending hours upon hours learning their players' swings, and they have to have the confidence to say, you think it's a six, I think you need one more, or the wind's changed, step away. They're not scared to be the coach, the psychologist, the dietitian, everything on the golf course, so that the player can just stand there and hit the shots with confidence. In critical moments, they need to be able to assess whether their player is in the zone or whether they need to tell them to back off and take a few extra seconds to focus and commit to the shot. That's hard to do. You've got to have a massive pair of kahunas, balls of steel, especially in the big moments when you're under the pump. The job is brutally hard. It's not just turning up and carrying a bag. The travel is relentless, the hours are long, and the emotional toll is huge. You've got to be a strategist, a weatherman, and a best friend, all whilst walking 60 odd miles plus per week. In this episode, we're going to celebrate these unsung heroes and focus on some of the greatest player caddy combos of all time. So let's get stuck into what we're calling the caddy chronicles. James, I'm gonna start with you. Who have you got for us?

SPEAKER_01 2:19

I have got New Zealand's Steve Williams and Mr. Tiger Woods. Now, Steve Williams, before Tiger, started off his career as a schoolboy when at the Aussie Tour used to come to New Zealand and he studied canning for Pete Thompson, world-renowned, Ian Baker Finch. He had Greg Norman's bag for a long time. And Greg Norman fired him because they were getting too close. And he wanted to have a bag man that wasn't his friend. And they're still friends now because Greg just goes, We're too friendly. I wanna I wanna have a professional relationship with you. He then moved on to Ray Floyd, another amazing American. And in 1999, Tiger Woods fired Fluff Cowan, because Fluff Cowan was making money off being Tiger's caddy, and Tiger didn't like that his name being used. So a Tigers coach approached Ray Floyd and said, Is it okay if Tiger approaches Steve Williams? And Ray Floyd's career was sort of drifting off. Ray Floyd's gone, go for it. So Steve Williams gets invited along, and then the rest is history. And the funny thing is that Steve Williams wrote a book a few years back called Together We Roared. And it was the roar of the tiger, roar of the crowd, but a lot of that success can be put down to Steve Williams. And so when you look at their stats, together they won 72 PGA titles, 13 majors, and the Tiger Slam from 2000 to 2001. So for those of you that don't know what the Tiger Slam was, so a grand slam is when you win all four. And no one's ever done it in a calendar in a calendar year. But he held the three majors. So at that time it would have been the US Open, the Open, and then the PGA Championship. And then he had to wait all the way around until April before he then won the Masters. So to hold all four at the same time, no one's ever done it since. It was just unbelievable. Steve Williams guided him through a whole lot of stuff. And I think when he got fired, that's when a lot of the stuff sort of started to come out about how much Steve had actually guided him, whereas not a lot was really written before then. And I think Steve was very, very bitter about. But I listened to a podcast of Steve Williams the other day because once he got over the initial bitterness, it took him a few years to do that. Because when he won the Masters with Adam Scott, he turned around and said, That's the best major that I've ever won. Well, he won 13 with Tiger, and being on the bag with Tiger must have been pretty damn special. Yes. But he turned around and said, When Tiger had adrenaline, he would hit the ball five to ten yards further. So what he used to do was adjust the yardage that he would give Tiger. So say Tiger hits a seven iron 170 yards, and he's now going to hit it in Steve's eyes 180. He would tell him the yardage was 160, so Tiger would hit the 7 iron thinking that was the right yardage. So he'd actually adjust this. Now that takes an awful lot of balls to make that. To do that, so he did it. The first time he did it, he said was the 17th in the 2000 PGA. And on the 17th hole, he told Tiger to hit the 60 degree, and there was a bunker to carry, instead of hitting the 56 degree, he carries the bunker by two yards, skips it down by the flag, holes apart for Birdie, goes into the playoff with Bob May and wins it. Wow. Now that was the first time he tried it. He goes, if that ball plugs in the lip of the or the face of the bunker, he goes, I'm over. Then he told Tiger about it. So Tiger turned around to him and trusted him and said, I trust you. You've read me. If you need to adjust the yardages at any point, I trust you. That's incredible. That is incredible. That Tiger, now you see all the players, the players will have their own yardage books. They work it out for themselves, and so do the caddies. Yes. So you then look at that relationship. You see the two of them, the chip in at 16 at Augusta. Yeah, where the ball rolls back in, and you see the branded logo of the ball and it just falls in. The two of them are high-fiving it. They've called the shot beforehand, they've they've worked through all that. So I it would have to be one of the most iconic.

SPEAKER_02 6:39

For me, that is the most iconic shot I've I most memorable shot ever. Most memorable shot, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 6:44

But there's always Steve Williams high-fiving him, getting just as excited as Tiger. Sure. And that must have been just such a buzz to be on the way. But then why did Tiger go to Steve Williams? Because he was the best at the time. So his preparation, like players turn up to events on a Monday, practice round, Tuesday, Wednesday. If it's a major, a lot of the caddies, and Steve Williams was one of the first ones, he'd fly into the event two, three weeks beforehand. He would know every sprinkler, every position, he'd know every tree. He'd know a yardage from everywhere. He'd sussed the golf course out beforehand so that when they played the practice round, it was already he'd already talked to Tiger about where the ball needed to go. And so they came up with a game plan that they worked on together. And I think that was what made the relationship so good. And again, if you turn round to the best player in the world and you tell him what club you want, and you say to him, right, Tiger, this is this is what we want. We've practiced this shot. Here's the club. And then you've got the best player in the world, and he goes and hits the shot. Well, Buzz, that must be for you as the caddy. Absolutely. But then the trust that came back from Tiger to him. So I think then when the relationship ended, I think Steve Williams was heartbroken. Yes. Because he was just dumb. And so he got quite a bit after that the next few years. But now I think he's now calmed down and he's he's far more respectful of their relationship. But again, I think maybe Tiger is as well.

SPEAKER_02 8:04

Yes.

SPEAKER_01 8:04

Yeah. There's so many stats you could go through, but they're all they're Tiger Woods stats, but a lot of those are down and Steve Williams.

SPEAKER_02 8:10

Yeah, they were both extremely competitive. 100%. I mean, you don't put that level of work that you've described in unless you you want to be the best, and you want to be the best caddy, you know, with the best golfer. So that's a just unbeatable combo, and it did prove to be so, didn't it, for a number of years.

SPEAKER_01 8:25

But then without Steve Williams, we would never have had Tiger Woods play New Zealand. I mean, whilst it nearly bankrupted Paraparible Golf Club and uh New Zealand Golf, I mean, I I got to see Tiger Woods like from five feet away. So you you know, Steve Williams brought him here for his wedding. They were racing, they raced on TV in stock cars. Yeah, and and Tiger's agents going, What are you doing? Yeah. And he goes, I'm having fun, I'm racing my mate. But guess what? Those two were trying desperately hard to beat someone. They wanted to win. You know, so there was that drive that was really, really important, I think.

SPEAKER_00 8:59

Do you think that's quite unique in a caddy player relationship?

SPEAKER_01 9:03

No. You look at Justin Rose with his caddy, Fuchs was ill, and then as soon as he's right, he's ceddying for him, you look at guys like Tommy Fleetwood and his caddy. You know, there's gonna be other people that we come on to. I think that there's quite a few caddies will look at Rora. Well, his best mate is his caddy.

SPEAKER_02 9:24

Yeah, the thing is you've summarised that really well because let's be honest, we could do a whole podcast on Tiger Woods and Stevie Williams. And we might do at the end of the track, but it's hard to argue against the fact that that's probably the best, most successful player caddy combo of all time, really. Yeah, anything else to add?

SPEAKER_01 9:41

So he's canning for Adam Scott, first playoff hole on the tenth hole. Adam Scott said, Have a look at the putt. And Adam Scott thinks it's one cup outside the right. But Steve Williams has been there that many times for Kluger, knew the pimp placement, and goes, go, no, double it. Now, that's a putt to win the Masters.

SPEAKER_02 10:00

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 10:00

You know, and Steve Williams had the confidence to turn around and say to him, I'm right, do it. And as it goes in and you see Adam Scott turn around point, yeah. Pointing at the time.

SPEAKER_02 10:11

So he didn't just carry the tool bag, he carried his massive cojones round the golf course with him, Steve Williams.

SPEAKER_01 10:16

But he knew he was right.

SPEAKER_02 10:17

Yeah, but you see, the thing is, is that's the funny thing, isn't it? If your Haddy tells you it's outside left and you think it's outside right, how many people are here to outside left? If they genuinely in their mind, so to have the trust, you know, I mean it might have helped that Steve Williams was a unit. He's built like, you know. Um but Adam Scott, obviously, the confidence came, I guess, in the fact that he'd been there, done it with Tiger, done it with Greg, done it in the past. Let's do what he says. Oh, hello. Thanks. Put that jacket on me. Give me a little grin. Thanks, Greg. Thanks. All right. Okay, well, Pauly, difficult one to follow, but I just want to ask you, have you got a player caddy combo you want to talk about?

SPEAKER_00 10:53

Yeah, I've got more so a caddy. There is a combo, and the link is actually Billy Foster and Sevi. But Billy Foster, in his own right, is a unique human being and a unique caddy. He started out in in the good old days where caddies were literally nothing but mud on the bottom of a spike golf shoe. You know, they were travelling around Europe in tents and buses, all together, all of them, trying to save money, the cheapest motels that they could find, going from tournament to tournament to tournament. And that's the way that Billy Foster started out. He actually wanted to be a golf pro. You know, but there was so little money, unless you were actually playing the game, as an assistant pro, as probably you and I remember, on about £35 a week when we first started Shirley Park with Hogan Stott, those were the good old days. But there were many, many assistant professionals or good golfers, good amateurs, who thought to themselves, you know, what would actually not be a bad life would be to caddy for somebody. And Billy Foster falls into that sort of category. You know, he started out caddying for a friend of his, Gordon Brand Jr. But while he was caddying for Gordon Brand, it just so happened that uh Gordon Brand was drawn uh with Sevy in a particular tournament. And for Billy, this was amazing because Sevy was his childhood idol. He idolized Sevy, as did most of us from that era. And if you haven't already watched it, go online, look up Billy Foster. There are so many amazing stories about his career and about who he's caddied for. He's an amazing person to listen to. He's just got one of those personalities that you can just sit there and listen to stories that he's got. But there's this one story he's walking over this bridge and he can hear this distinct clink, clink, clink of spiked golf shoes, and he knows that Sevi is right behind him. And Sevi goes up to him and he says, You know, I I I like you. You're a good kid. You know, give me your address and you know, I'll send you a letter before phones and all that sort of stuff. I think you know we could be a good partnership. And he went, Yeah, yeah, whatever. Like dismissed it. Like, you know, he had his bag, he had his boss, and Sevi's idol approached him and he dismissed it. And that was all he'd wind up. That night he didn't sleep. He did not sleep. And the next day he went up to Sevi with a little note in an envelope on the back of a card with his address, and that was it. And he went back home for Christmas, and a letter came through the door, and it was a letter from Severiano Balesteros, basically saying, I want you to carry for me. These are my terms and conditions. And you know, you talk about, you know, keep up, shut up. It was literally, do not talk to the press. The press are not our friends, do not say anything to the press. These are my terms and conditions, and I will see you in January. This is the first tournament that I want you to get to. And in a way, that set up an amazing relationship for Billy Foster with Sebi Balesteros. You know, it didn't lead to any majors. I think it's amazing how you talk about someone like Steve Williams and you look at this job that he's had, which has allowed him to be present uh in a certain unique moment with a unique player. And you look at somebody like Billy Foster, who's caddied for so many amazing players, you know, Darren Clark, Savioros, Westwood. The only major he won't was with Fitzy.

SPEAKER_02 14:45

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 14:46

With Matty Fitzy. Incredible that, eh? But you look at the his if if you were to look at the timeline of his career and who he was caddying for at this particular time, you would have thought Billy Foster, he's got at least four or five majors under his belt. Yeah, it didn't quite work out. It didn't quite work out.

SPEAKER_02 15:05

But they didn't define him, did they?

SPEAKER_00 15:07

No, they didn't define him. Yeah, you know, he carried for Darren Clark. He said in one interview, he said Darren Clark was the most demanding player I have ever caddied for. And the person interviewing said, Well, I would have thought that would have been Sevi. He said, No, no. He said Sevi was demanding, but he said in a special way. He said he wanted things to be his way. So if you said to him, I think it's a seven iron, had he said, I'm gonna hit six, but you said hit seven, he would have been really annoyed because you put doubt in his mind. If you had said, Yeah, Sevi, it's a six, go for it. It's a six, Sevi, hit your six, he would have knocked it into ten foot, hold it, and everybody would have been happy. Because you said actually, no, it's a seven iron, Sevi would still take the six iron, he'd still take the six, but now you know you are going to get the absolute biggest bollocking for putting doubt in his mind. Darren Clark was demanding because at one point Billy had to teach Darren how to play bunker shots because his bunker play was so bad that he said, Here's a seven iron. I want you to just spend three days in the bunker with a seven iron, getting the seven iron out of the bunker. And he said, That's actually what I learnt from Sevy. I was gonna say, it had to be seven. He didn't sevy, but but so he told him everything. He told him what club to hit, where to land it, how much role it was. This was with Darren Clark. This was Darren Clark, you know. And then of course he went on to caddy for Lee Westwood, who was number two in the world at the time, and then he got injured playing football. This is Billy Foster. He got injured playing football, missed a huge chunk, what potentially could have ended up being lucrative and potentially major winning moments. Sure. Playing football, injured himself. Billy Foster will say that he witnessed the greatest shot in goal. And we've talked about this before, behind the wall, Crance du Sierre, you know, and Billy's going, Sevi, chip it out sideways, but please, just just please knock it out sideways. And Sevy goes, No, no, I I see a I see a hole in the tree, it's uh muddy size of my plate. He's a wood, he's a good shot. I can I can hit this. And Billy's going, no, mate, listen, it's okay, we've got this in the back. Chip it out sideways. Mike get on playoffs. Mike, Mike, what we'll be there. So he goes, No, give me a club. And yeah, and Billy goes, he says, actually, I honestly thought Sevi had lost it. He says, I honestly thought Sevy had lost the plot. Five minutes later. Five minutes later, it's the green. Chips it in. His genius, yeah. Finish it off then, Paulie. Go on. I was just gonna say, you know, he actually caddied the Tiger Woods as well, which is very presidents.

SPEAKER_01 17:56

Do you know where that came from? I don't was his so that that came from people. Need to Google it and and and listen to Billy's story of the toilet paper. Yes. So he won't he looked after him. Yeah, it's let's just say look so Google Billy Foster, uh, Tiger Woods, toilet paper, and you'll hear the story.

SPEAKER_02 18:16

And it's worth it's worth listening to. It's worth listening to. And on that note, before I get into the caddy combo, that I've got, I mean, how much is he gonna command for after dinner speaking, Billy? I mean, he's gonna be just natural. Or commentary craft.

SPEAKER_00 18:30

You know, he wants you sitting in a sitting in a booth talking about players and shots and who's done this and who's done that, it was gonna make a fortune. It will do. All right.

SPEAKER_02 18:38

Well, uh, my one I guess is a little bit sterile and a little bit boring, if you like. I'm gonna talk about Nick Faldo and Fanny Sunnison because it is an iconic partnership. The first female caddy that won a major, certainly on the minst tour, was on the bag for a major winner. That partnership began in 1989. Obviously, Fanny Sunessen from Sweden joined forces with Nick Faldo. At the time, Faldo was already a two-time major winner, but he was looking for a dedicated world-class caddy to help him reach the next level, along with the swing changes and everything else that he was putting in to kind of become, well, ultimately what he became an absolute legend of the game. And their first major together came at the 1990 Masters, a monumental victory, because, like I said, she became the first female caddy to win a major in men's golf. So in that moment, she broke a significant barrier in the sport. The partnership was incredibly successful. She won four major championships: the 1990 Masters, obviously the 1990 Open, the 92 Open Championship, and the 96 Masters. She caddied for him for approximately 10 years from 1989, back end in 89, because obviously Faldo did win the Masters in 1989. But yeah, she did 10 years with Faldo, and her dedication was legendary. Henrik Stenson once commented that she said to him that when TV people that were on course were asked him what yardage he had and what club he was going to hit, she just blocked him out. She wouldn't talk to them because she was so focused on the job that she was doing with Nick Faldo. She was a highly accomplished player. I don't know if people know that, but she played to a plus handicamp. She yeah, was the Swedish junior champion and she had an amazing understanding of the game. She actually gave up caddying in 2012 due to a back injury. She had certain stints after that where she caddied for Stentson a few times, but now she's working in golf course design, which is interesting, isn't it? As a caddy, you do no golf courses, and so who better to design a golf course than someone that's been on the bag of a six-time major champion having carried his bag for four of those major wins? And she is heavily involved in the Stenson Sunnison junior challenge, which is the junior golf tournament that she runs with Henrik Stenson in Sweden. So, yeah, I just think Fanny Sunnison stands out because she was the first real high profile female caddy in the men's game.

SPEAKER_01 21:03

And now I would say name another female caddy that isn't a partner. She broke the mole.

SPEAKER_02 21:09

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 21:10

And I what I'm really surprised at is that why aren't there more female caddies? Yeah. I find it astounding in this day and age. I think that's quite a sad indictment on the game, really. Yeah, that there aren't more female caddies out there. Because whenever you see them, that's the wife or the partner because their caddy's ill or whatever, and they've got the little small bag. Bandy Sinnerson carried around that enormous Mozino bag, and he had everything. Yeah. He had the kitchen, he was so well prepared. That thing weighed an absolute fortune, and she just used to keep up, do her job. She was she was amazed.

SPEAKER_00 21:47

You also have to, you know, part of a caddy is to actually get into the psyche of the player. It's not simply just about giving a number or a club or an advice, but this story is about Faldo and Fanny. Walking down the last hole at the open. And Fanny, she can sense that he's not quite right. There's something about his demeanour, how fast he's walking, something is not quite right. And she knows that she has to break whatever it is in his head. So she goes up to Faldo as they're walking down the fairway on the last hole of the open. He's got to make par. And she says, I'm thinking about buying a Labrador. What do you think? Do you think I should go for the golden Labrador, or do you think I should get a black one? And Faldo was so taken aback by this question that he was stunned. Stunned into refocusing.

SPEAKER_02 22:52

Yeah, he got it.

SPEAKER_00 22:53

Refocusing.

SPEAKER_02 22:55

I've heard it and it is a true story. It's like, you know, it's just amazing.

SPEAKER_01 23:00

Just before we finish on that, I've just got a quick Faldo story that I love. And again, this is probably the truth or not. Uh so he turned around to his second wife and said, So, what would you like for your birthday? Would you like a new dharma ring or a car or something like that? She goes, I want a divorce. And he turned around and said, I wasn't expecting to spin quite a bit. Yeah, exactly. Brilliant. Whether that was true or not, I don't know. It's probably true. Um I would say. So I do have a ceddie story which actually relates back to one of our other pods with regards to the open championship, where in the old days you had a bag of your own balls, and nowadays all the balls are provided, and the type of ball that you use, you get that, etc., and they're all picked up for you. So in the old days, you used to hit the balls and your caddies would pick them up. In Wooslands, Keddy used to have baseball baseball glove. You just stand there, one bounce on the catch in the bag, never move. So qualifying at Little Stone for the open. I had real trouble with my driver. I could not keep it on the planet. So anyway, at Little Stone had a massive practice fairway there. So all the keddies are out there. You'd wave them in, like I hit a few wedges, bring your keddy in. So I hit my keddy quite often. Seven hours, he was running around a little bit. Anyway, so I waving back for the driver. I had a bit of a slice going. Anyway, I've started this thing 30 yards right of him, and it's probably cut another 30 yards. And I've screamed four because it's heading straight at this caddy, who is seven players down. It's gone one bounce and hit him on the arm. And of course, he's now seeing it. Who did that? Why didn't you anyway? So I pick up the next one and I pull hook it, probably the same distance. I'm screaming four! One bounce, boom, hit another caddy. Anyway, so my caddy then pretends to pick up a ball. He goes, I'm good there, Jane, for about five minutes, and you didn't get one within 30 yards of me. So we played the practice round, and this was why I said, I'm not too sure about hitting driver. We get to the first team, I look at my bag, and my driver's gone. He put it in the boot of the car. Caddy. Caddy put that in the boot of the car. Brilliant. He said, You will hit one iron or three wood or unless why you hit one iron all the way around. No, so I said one iron because I could I could hit these low drillers, tiny little draw. Fantastic. Yeah, but yeah, so so those two caddies that are nearly killed. I'm really, really sorry.

SPEAKER_02 25:18

That is a good story. All right. So James, go again. Did you have another one? Or another combat?

SPEAKER_01 25:24

I have another iconic combination. Phil Milkelson and Jim Bones McKay. Okay. Iconic partnership, spanning 25 years from 1992 to 2017. Together they won 41 PGA tour titles, five majors, and competed in 22 consecutive Ryder Cup and President Cup teams. So known for their really close long-term relationship. And again, there's another sort of friendship. Now, the thing that stood out was the fact that Phil Mickelson was always right. It was never wrong. And the pair famously had a veto course where Bones could override one of Mickelson's decisions once per year. Huh. Seriously. Once per year. It became a running joke between them. And Bones would not use it unless he really felt like he had to in the masters. He saved it for majors. And that was his thing. So he knew he was the candy. But Bones Mackay from all accounts, looking him up, one of the nicest guys out there. And it was the sort of thing that Phil McCelson needed. He just needed a yes man on the bag, but meticulous with yardages, meticulous with everything. So whatever Phil wanted and needed, he got. But he was the yes man. And then eventually, when they split up, there's a bit of animosity at the end of it. Now the rumors are that they'd had a verbal agreement on bonuses for majors, and it came to about 900,000, and Mickelson never paid him. That's the rumour. It might just be a rumour. But Bones then moved on to become an on-course commentator, and then he went to Kelly for Justin Thomas. And Justin Thomas turned round to Bones Mackay and said, If you think I'm going to hit any of those shots that Phil could hit, you're having a laugh. Because Mikkelsen could shape the ball from anywhere. Spin a short game. His short game was legendary, wasn't it? Yeah, he was intelligent. He was intelligent. You put him in the same class as Sevi, the Vision, etc. So he just goes, if you think I'm doing those, just don't get rid of doing it. But yeah, another classic player caddy combo that had great success. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 27:37

I wonder, just on that very quickly, I wonder with that short game, if you're caddying for a film with the same rock, I wonder if that took the pressure off you as a caddy a little bit because you're thinking, well, this is the rainbow is short. We might park. Because like you said, you know, Sevy, Hem, Tiger, there's a number of players out there that, unless they hit it out of bounds, they just had that ability to get up and down and escape, right?

SPEAKER_01 28:02

But then do you not think that Michelson then took on too many shots that he shouldn't have taken on because he felt like he'd get himself up and down? Yeah, true. It's a good point.

SPEAKER_02 28:11

It's a good point. Alright, well, Paul, I'm gonna give you one more. Have you got any more combos?

SPEAKER_00 28:16

Yeah, just an obvious one, I suppose, Langer. Pete Coleman. Yeah. It's an interesting one because again, a career that not necessarily was devoted to one player. Uh, Pete Coleman he caddied for Norman, caddied for Sevy, caddied for Monty. But it was with Bernard Langer that he won more than 30 professional tournaments, including, of course, two Masters, 85 and 95. They parted ways in 2003. But his first bag was with Tommy Horton. Wow. He caddied for Tommy Horton, but he also caddied for Nancy Lopez twice. And for Nancy Lopez, won both times. And he's caddied for, as I said before, Sevi, Norman, and Monty, and he won with all of them. But you know, just to give you an idea of how demanding cadding for a player like Langer might be, a story about Langer and the caddy, not necessarily Pete Coleman, but Caddy was once converting from yards to metres. I think it was probably Langer had gone to the States and he hadn't got his normal caddy and he was converting from European, which would have been metres. For him it was Langer was in meters. Meters to yards, okay. And his caddy was like frantically trying to work out, and he's obviously gone straight down the 10% route. Right. Okay. And Langer has come up straight away and said, You've just told me 200 meters is 220 yards. And he's gone, that's correct. And Langer goes, that's not actually correct. He said, What you should be telling me is that the actual measurement is 218.17. There you go. That's how demanding he was.

SPEAKER_01 29:58

And another one on that. There was another quote of him because there were some sprinklers that were about a foot wide, and he turned round to the caddy, and the yardage he gave me goes, Is that from the front of the sprinkler or the back of the sprinkler?

SPEAKER_02 30:09

Incredible.

SPEAKER_01 30:10

And look at him.

SPEAKER_02 30:10

Look at Langer, turn pro at 15, and he's still doing it now. Unbelievable golfer. So meticulous. I mean, the yoga he's done to keep himself fit, the injuries he's come back from. So you can imagine as a caddy would have been a nightmare. It's brilliant. I'm not gonna sorry, James, you were gonna say.

SPEAKER_01 30:28

I have a Langer Coleman story where one of my mates, Neil Burke, had been playing at a tour event, went out for a practice round, and on the practice fairway was Coleman and Langer. Langer was known as a slow player, they had a stopwatch. So they go, the yardage is 146. They were practicing, handing him a club, and Pete Coleman had a stopwatch going. And it was like 45 seconds, it's too long. Got to try and get it down to 35 seconds. His pre-shot routine. They stood there for two hours. He never hit a golf ball in two hours. That's how meticulous he was. Just went through the routine. Just kept going through the routine, going through the routine until he got it down to 35 seconds, and then he started hitting balls. That's amazing. That's amazing.

SPEAKER_02 31:04

Last thing.

SPEAKER_01 31:05

Come on, Paul Wynus.

SPEAKER_00 31:06

A little story about a caddy scenario. I'm caddy master in Dubai at the creek, and a certain Paul Laurie walks into the caddy shack and he says, Paul, you certainly need a caddy. He says, My caddy hasn't been able to get out of here. Have you got anybody? He says, I want young, fit, don't want to talk, keep up, shut up. That's all I want. This is Paul Laurie. This is Paul Laurie. Okay. Okay. I go, yeah, I said he's young, 17-year-old. Said his name's Paddy Byrne. I said he's a golfer, he plays off about 15. But I said, you know, he's perfect. He'll do a good job. Anyways, Paul Laurie in this particular tournament. Missed the cut. But Paul likes this kid. Likes it. He says, look, would you come to Qatar? Do you think he'll come to Qatar? I said, look, I'll ask his old man. I know his old man quite well. Anyway, so he says, yes, fine. So Paddy jumps on a flight. Paddy's in first class as the caddy because his old man's minted. Laurie's in economy, okay. You get to Qatar. What happens in Qatar? Laurie wins the tournament. With Paddy on the back. So he then says to Paddy, listen, I like you, kid. You're a good kid. You know, would you come to Europe? Do you want to come to Europe and caddy for me? What year are we talking about? No. 1999. Seriously. Seriously. So this kid from Dubai, 17 years old. What was your cut? Nothing. Really? Not a frigger set. Didn't even send you a card. Open Masters. Amazing. Ryder Cup. No. The whole works. No.

SPEAKER_02 32:36

The whole works. Great story. Love it. All right. Fantastic pod. Really enjoyed it, boys. We'll see you next time. If you've made it this far, we hope it's because you've enjoyed listening to Tommy Does Golf. To make sure you never miss our podcast, please hit follow. For more of our content or to get in touch, head to TommyDuzzGolf.com. So until next time, no matter how you are playing, smile, laugh, and most important of all, enjoy the walk.