Martin tells us the first tee on the Old Course can do funny things to people. The history and the occasion of teeing it up at the Home of Golf can turn confident single figure golfers into quivering bags of nerves, happy just to make contact with the ball and hopeful of at least staying in bounds and reaching Granny Clark’s Wynd a mere hundred yards from the tee.
If you’ve had the good sense to engage the services of a caddie you’ll be in good hands: a reassuring presence at your side. Try not to be nervous. He (and there are female caddies too) will want you to play well and in any case is unshockable having already witnessed every conceivable form of duff, top, shank, miss and horror imaginable.
It’s not a bad office for the likes of Martin and his fellow caddies. In fact, starting your working day at the first tee in the shadow of the Royal & Ancient’s clubhouse and finishing some four and a half hour’s later in front of Old Tom Morris’s' shop and the red sandstone splendour of the Hamilton Grand behind the 18th green takes some beating.
When taking a caddie at St Andrews you quickly realise that there’ more to it than you might have thoughts. These guys are among the very best in the business. In addition to all the basics such as carrying the bag, keeping your equipment clean and raking your bunkers (no mean feat if you end up in Shell bunker on the 7th) his job is primarily to navigate the course for you in as few shots as possible. He’ll quickly get to grips with your game: how far can you hit it? What’s the shot shape and trajectory? What’s the likely miss? And will advise accordingly. He’ll chart the best route to the hole or present options for discussion. He’ll give you yardages; advise on the strength, direction and effects of the wind; advise on club and shot selection giving you lines off the tee and targets for our approach shots and when you get to the green make sense of a host of undulations to read your putts. It’s impressive stuff. Rely on his knowledge and experience and you’ll be well rewarded. The Old Course is a course like no other. You can’t stand on the tee and intuitively see the strategy. You’re playing blind. Sometimes you can’t even see the fairway. And there’s certainly bunkers you can’t see (laughably at the 12th, there are six bunkers all invisible from the tee and your caddie might direct you into the rough). And then as if that’s not enough there’s the history lessons, the homespun philosophies and what the Scots call the banter: the chat and camaraderie between the pair of you.
Deny yourself a St Andrews caddie and you might experience the Old Course but you won’t EXPERIENCE the Old Course.
Reach out to us by email if you want our recommendations or advice on taking a caddie at St Andrews.