Some people view caddying as a vestige of a bygone era. With carts having long since established an impenetrable foothold in the game of golf, caddies are going the way of the horse and buggy.
Or, at least, so the thinking goes.
But while caddies in the U.S. are certainly less prevalent than they were 50 or 75 years ago, they’re far from disappearing. In fact, in Colorado the numbers reflect a slight upswing in their usage in recent years.
And, by the looks of things at the third annual Colorado Caddie Summit, held Tuesday at Lakewood Country Club, there’s certainly some room for hope for those who care about a venerable institution of golf.
For the second straight year, about 70 people gathered for the event, many representing a variety of Colorado clubs that utilize caddies. Some have huge programs, some very small, but they all think enough of caddies that they take time out of their busy schedules to meet for about four hours and share data, best practices and other information that assure that this golf tradition will continue in the modern era.
“I think we’ve had some pretty good movement with the health and growth of caddie programs in the state,” George Solich, one of the namesakes for the Solich Caddie & Leadership Academy at CommonGround Golf Course, noted earlier this year.
And the Colorado Caddie Summit has helped in that regard. Attendance at the event has grown by multiples since the inaugural summit was held two years ago.
“This Caddie Summit has been a big, big factor in the whole deal because it’s brought awareness to a lot of clubs, a lot of golf professionals, a lot of members within clubs in the state,” said John Ogden, the head professional at Cherry Hills Country Club, which features one of the largest and most successful caddie programs in the state. “It’s been a slow, grass-roots program. This is the third (summit) we’ve had. I remember the first one, two years ago at Denver Country Club, we just had two or three tables (of people). We had it last year at Cherry Hills and it’s just kind of expanded.
“You get more and more people involved — just get them here and hear the stories — and I’ll tell you what, that’s been the key factor in the whole thing. That’s created some momentum, in my opinion.”
More than 20 golf clubs in the state include caddie programs, and the ranks are growing gradually. For instance, Columbine Country Club in Littleton had a thriving caddie program decades ago. But after it died out, it’s been revived in the new millennium and in 2013 it produced more than 1,100 caddie loops.
In addition, the overall number of caddie loops reported in Colorado is on an uptick. The total shared with the CGA through the 2013 caddie survey was 32,085, a 2.7 percent increase over 2012.
“The feel and the vibe and the energy and the excitement around caddies is exponentially greater than when I started working for the CGA,” said Ed Mate, executive director of the CGA and a former caddie himself. “It’s night and day. Look at Columbine Country Club. That’s a great example. Year over year, I think we’re continuing to see positive momentum, but in the last 20 years, it’s unbelievable how much we’ve seen.”
Cherry Hills is among the clubs that has seen growth. It’s always had a large caddie program, but in the last six or seven years, it has gone from seeing 27 percent of all its rounds featuring a caddie, to seeing that number jump close to 50 percent, according to Ogden.
All of that certainly doesn’t mean caddie usage is suddenly going to skyrocket in Colorado. With carts often providing a major revenue stream for clubs, and with the cost of taking a caddie usually exceeding that of using a cart, there are some non-deniable headwinds. But with some commitment from golf traditionalists — and those who believe that caddying can teach kids invaluable lessons — some headway can be made at the margin.
“We’ve gotten a number of additional clubs who are interested in giving (caddie programs) a try,” said Bob Webster, state chairman for the Western Golf Association, which sponsors the Evans Caddie Scholarship. “Whether that ultimately catches on (and there’s a significant resurgence in caddying), time will tell.”
What may help give caddying in Colorado a lift is the fact that the 2014 BMW Championship PGA Tour event is being played at Cherry Hills in the first week of September. The WGA runs the BMW Championship and all of the tournament’s proceeds benefit the Evans Scholars Foundation. In other words, more than any other week on the PGA Tour, caddies are at the forefront during the BMW Championship.
“The P.R. that will be done at the BMW and on TV with the BMW Championship will help open some eyes as far as the benefits of caddying and the possibility of being an Evans Scholar,” said Webster, himself an Evans Scholar alum. “I would be very surprised if we didn’t see a surge next spring — a year from now — in the number of kids going to clubs wanting to caddie.”
The CGA and CWGA, being partners with the WGA in the support of the Evans Scholars and the scholarship house at the University of Colorado, are particularly cognizant of the spark the BMW Championship can produce for caddying in the state.
“It’s a great opportunity to draft and use the bully-pulpit of that kind of exposure to talk about caddying and the Evans Scholarship,” Mate said. “It’s just going to raise awareness; it’s that simple.”
The Evans Scholarship pays full tuition and housing for each recipient. If renewed for four years, it’s estimated to be worth more than $70,000. To be considered for an Evans Scholarship, applicants must have excellent and extensive caddie records, very strong academic results, show outstanding character and leadership, and demonstrate financial need.
In another sign that caddying might be on an upward trend in Colorado, both the number of Colorado teenagers awarded the Evans Scholarship this year (14) and the number of applicants (43) matched or exceeded the most in more than two decades.
But beyond such possibilities, Ogden sees another benefit of bolstering caddie programs.
“With all the data on people getting out of golf and that sort of thing, a lot of that kind of corresponds to the dying of the caddie programs,” he said. “So if you can slowly bring that back — you can’t do it overnight, but you can make small steps — you can make a difference. If you get the young kids exposed to golf, more than likely they’re going to start playing.”
