St Andrews Links Blog

The caddies of the Dunhill

As the dust settles on another championship at St Andrews Caddie Manager Robert Thorpe reflects on a week when himself and the caddies find themselves in demand with some slightly different clientele.

 

The Alfred Dunhill Links Championship is a brilliant European tour event played over three fantastic championship courses and we are delighted to be able to showcase our high standard of caddies to the professional and amateur golfing world.

The Dunhill is certainly different from our day to day caddie operation throughout the season although the end product is the same. We had eight St Andrews Links caddies working for professionals and 76 working for amateurs; all with great experience of the three courses and some even having caddied for top pro’s on tour.

A large proportion of our caddies have worked hard and built up a vast list of contacts over their caddying career and in turn find themselves in high demand. There is not one caddie out there who does not want to assist their player and work as a team to reach that final day on the Old Course.

The organisation of the caddies starts prior to the tournament with requests from players coming into the office or to the caddies directly. We then begin assigning caddies to participants playing practice rounds here on the Old Course. Some golfers prefer to have a local caddie at each course to ensure they are receiving accurate local knowledge but others prefer to keep the same caddie throughout the week.

The whole organisation gives their full support to all the caddies out there, all of whom are battling to have the best finish in the tournament. Unfortunately, we didn’t bag David Howell this year but everyone in the caddie shack was delighted to see him clinch victory after another thrilling finish. Many of our guys made it through all four rounds with their amateurs so there’s a real feel good factor in the caddie shack.

With the tournament over, normal service resumes until the end of the season, organising our caddies to bag for visiting and local golfers. If you have the pleasure of a round at St Andrews Links, please remember we accept requests at any time prior to your tee time, however, the more notice we have will give us a better chance of arranging your requirements with our licensed professional caddies.

A St Andrews Links caddie will transform your game of golf into an experience you will never forget and we hope the professionals and amateurs competing at this year’s Alfred Dunhill Links Championship would agree.

 

Words by Robert Thorpe, Caddie Manager