The Caddies of Pinehurst

Jimmy Steed handed Sam Snead the clubs he used to win three North and South Open titles from 1941-50, finish second three more times and traveled with him to Greensboro to work most of the eight Greater Greensboro Open championships Snead collected. “Sam had a great many talents, but one of them was NOT selecting clubs,” says Bill Campbell, a noted competitor of the era. “Jimmy had the knack of giving Sam the right clubs.”

Jerry Boggan dressed like a peacock and trouped through the pine forests chasing Billy Joe Patton’s errant shots during Patton’s three North and South victories from 1954-63. Boggan delivered newspapers starting at 2 a.m. and then would show up at the golf course to lug Patton’s bag, dressed for the weekend in a green suede sweater, green alligator shoes, yellow pants and a yellow and green plaid cap. “I’m ashamed,” Patton would say. “My caddie looks better than me.”

And they take the game back to its roots—when Scotsmen walked the links and had time between shots to converse with their playing companions, to give thought to the next shot and to properly inhale the nature. That’s even more important on a course like No. 2, which allows golfers to take carts but restricts them to the extremities of each hole

“You get to the ball too fast when you’re riding,” says Willie McRae, at 82 the most senior caddie at Pinehurst in 2015. “There’s no time to think.”

“This golf course was not meant to be played out of a golf cart,” adds Tom Harmicar, a veteran of the staff. “On this golf course if you get in a cart, you’re just wasting your time. It’s like going to (Baskin-Robbins) 31 Flavors and ordering vanilla.”

The caddie business has changed throughout golf and in Pinehurst over the last 100 years. Pinehurst used to have more than 500 caddies on staff in the 1920s and sometimes on busy days the caddiemaster would dispatch a wagon to the local schoolhouse to get more boys. Resort management has been steadfast in the face of escalating “cart golf” over the last half-century to keep the caddie staff intact. In 1997, Caddie Master Enterprises Inc. took over Pinehurst’s caddie operation and has approximately 100 caddies on staff during the busy spring and fall seasons.

“Our job is to enhance the experience of playing a wonderful, historic golf course,” says Eddie McKenzie, a 25-year member of the caddie staff who grew up in Southern Pines and whose experience stretches to the PGA and LPGA Tours. “We help golfers with the subtleties of the greens, with playing the right shots around the greens.

“A good caddie also relaxes the player. The point is, we’re out here to play 18 holes and have fun. This is a hard golf course. It takes its toll. I tell a guy if he’s disgusted with the last hole, ‘Hey, it’s like your first girlfriend. Unless you marry her, she’s history. She’s done. Forget it and enjoy the rest of the day.’”