Pro Golf Now
Fansided

Caddie-blaming over Club Selection… What’s the Deal?

By Matthew Hirst

OAKVILLE, ON - JULY 23: Bubba Watson reacts to his shot from the 18th tee during round one of the RBC Canadian Open on July 23, 2015 at Glen Abbey Golf Club in Oakville, Canada. (Photo by Vaughn Ridley/Getty Images)
OAKVILLE, ON - JULY 23: Bubba Watson reacts to his shot from the 18th tee during round one of the RBC Canadian Open on July 23, 2015 at Glen Abbey Golf Club in Oakville, Canada. (Photo by Vaughn Ridley/Getty Images) /
facebooktwitterreddit
Prev
3 of 5
Next
Jon Rahm and his caddie
CARNOUSTIE, SCOTLAND – JULY 19: Jon Rahm of Spain chats with his caddie Adam Hayes on the 16th hole during the first round of the 147th Open Championship at Carnoustie Golf Club on July 19, 2018 in Carnoustie, Scotland. (Photo by Andrew Redington/Getty Images) /

Anti-Blaming the Caddie:

  • Ultimate Responsibility – This is probably my biggest issue here. For whatever results occur, the golfer is responsible because he is the one hitting the shots. It’s silly to pretend that there isn’t a division of labor between player and caddie, so I’m not really sure how you could ever blame the caddie for a physical swing mistake.
  • Unless maybe they yelled at you to chose a club you were uncomfortable with and for some reason you listened… Frankly though, if that is the case, you have bigger issues to address with your caddie. That leads me to my second point.
  • It’s a Conversation – From what I understand, the caddie-player relationship is supposed to be about building mutual confidence and having another mind to bounce options off of. It’s about having an entity there to know your game and help you think through game management decisions on (and sometimes off) the course.
  • What I don’t understand is this: At what point in that relationship could anger towards the caddie for giving you the wrong club actually make sense for the greater good? And as a player in that scenario, what were you thinking about during the rest of the shot preparation and routine if not yardage?
  • Furthermore, isn’t that negative emotion and transferal of power away from yourself a bad thing?
  • Integrity – Lastly, and really this is going back to the first bullet point, there’s a certain excuse-making aura that players blaming their caddie puts off. Blaming somebody else for your poor execution is like keeping an eject button in your back pocket so that you don’t have to own up to a poor performance, despite knowing that you’re trying your best. Bad look.
Home/Golf Lifestyle