The Caddy Chronicles

Tommy Does Golf - The Podcast

EPISODE 12
SEASON 01
26th May 2026

Tommy: Welcome to Tommy Does Golf, the podcast where three old timers give you our opinions on everything. Golf. I'm Tommy Long, joined by fellow PGA professionals, James Morgan and Paul Charman. With over a hundred years and counting in the golf industry between us, we are well into our back nines. We'll do our best to stay on topic for just like our tee shots these days.

This podcast could go anywhere. We are hoping you enjoy the banter and maybe just maybe we'll share a few pearls of wisdom along the way. Let's get into it.

Most of us will have heard the line that caddies are just bag carriers, someone to keep up and shut up. Apart from being disrespectful, anyone who knows anything about this game knows that simply isn't true. If that was the case? Why would players give up to 10% of their paychecks sometimes equating to hundreds of thousands of dollars to someone who just carries a bag?

The truth is these guys and girls are worth their weight in gold. They are the buffer, the bubble that a player can wrap themselves in to shut out the world and take on the golf course. Many of these caddies are phenomenal golfers.

Most of them can read greens as well as anyone on tour. They'll sit in on their players' coaching sessions, spending hours upon hours learning their players' swings, and they have to have the confidence to say, you think it's a six? I think you need one more. Or the wind's changed step away. They're not scared to be the coach, the psychologist, the dietician, everything on the golf course so that the player can just stand there and hit the shots with confidence in critical moments.

They need to be able to assess whether their player is in the zone or whether they need to tell them to back off and take a few extra seconds to focus and commit to the shot. That's hard to do. You've got to have a massive pair of kahunas balls of steel, especially in the big moments when you're under the pump.

The job is brutally hard. It's not just turning up and carrying a bag. The travel is relentless, the hours are long, and the emotional toll is huge. You've gotta be a strategist, a weatherman, and a best friend, all whilst walking 60 odd miles plus per week. In this episode, we're going to celebrate these unsung heroes and focus on some of the greatest player caddy combos of all time. So let's get stuck in to what we are calling the Caddy Chronicles

James I’m gonna start with you. Who have you got for us?

James: I have got New Zealand's, Steve Williams and Mr. Tiger Woods. Now Steve Williams before Tiger, started off his career as a schoolboy. When, the Aussie tour used to come to New Zealand and he started caring for Pete Thompson, well renowned Ian Baker Finch.

He had Greg Norman's bag for a long time, and Greg Norman fired him because they were getting too close and he wanted to have a bag, man, that wasn't his friend. And they're still friends now because Greg just goes too friendly. I wanna, I wanna have a professional relationship with you. He then moved on to Ray Floyd, another amazing American.

And in 1999, tiger Woods, fired Fluff Cowan 'cause fluff. Cowan was making money off being Tiger's, Caddy, and Tiger didn't like that his name being used. So Tiger's coach approached Ray Floyd and said, is it okay if Tiger approaches Steve Williams and Ray Floyd's career was of drifting off.

Ray Floyd's gone go for it. So, steve Williams gets invited along and then the rest is history. And the funny thing is that Steve Williams wrote a book a few years back called Together we Roared, and it was the Roar of the Tiger Roar, the Crowd. But a lot of that success can be put down to Steve Williams.

And so when you look at their stats, together they won 72 PGA titles, 13 majors and the tiger Slam from 2000 to 2001. So for those of you that dunno what the Tiger Slam was, so a grand slam is when you win all four. And no one's ever done it in a, in a calendar year.

Tommy: Mm-hmm.

James: But he held the three majors. So at that time it would've been the US Open, the Open, and then the US PGA championship. And he had to wait all the way around until April before he then won the US Masters. So to hold all four at the same time. No one's ever done it since. It was just unbelievable.

Steve Williams guided him through a whole lot of stuff, and I think when he got fired, that's when a lot of the stuff sort of started to come out about how much Steve had actually guided him. Whereas not a lot was really written before then. And I think Steve was very, very bitter about that.

But I listened to a podcast of Steve Williams the other day. 'cause once he got over the initial bitterness, it took him a few years to do that. 'cause when he won the Masters with Adam Scott, he turned around and said, that's the best major that I've ever, ever won.

He won 13 with Tiger and being on the bag with Tiger must have been pretty damn special.

Tommy: Yes,

James: But he turned around and said when Tiger had adrenaline, he would hit the ball five to 10 yards further. So what he used to do was adjust the yardage that he would give Tiger. So say Tiger hits a a seven iron 170 yards, and he's now gonna hit it in Steve's eyes, 180.

He would tell him. The yardage was 160. So Tiger would hit the seven arm thinking that that was the right yardage. So he'd actually adjust this. Now that takes an awful lot of balls gut to make that, to do that. So he did it. The first time he did it, he said, was the 17th in the 2000 PGA, and on the 17th hole he told Tiger to hit the 60 degreer and there was a bunker to carry.

Instead of hitting the 56 Degree And he carries the bunker by two yards, skips it down by the flag, holds a apart for birdie, goes into the playoff with Bob May and wins it.

Tommy: Wow.

James: Now, that was the first time he tried it. He goes, if that ball plugs in the lip of the, or the face of the bunker, he goes, I'm over. But then he told Tiger about it. So Tiger turned around to him and trusted him and said, I trust you. If you've read me. If you need to adjust the yard at any point, I trust you.

Tommy: That's incredible.

James: That is incredible. That tiger. Now you see all the players, the players will have their own yardage books. They work it out for themselves and so do the caddies.

Tommy: Yes.

James: So you then look at that relationship. You see the two of them, the chip in at 16 at Augusta, you know where the ball rolls back in and you see the branded logo of the ball and it just falls in. The two of them are high fiving it. They've called the shot beforehand. Yeah. They've they've worked through all that. Yeah. So it would have to be one of the most iconic

Tommy: relations for me. That is the most iconic shot I've. I most memorable shot ever.

James: Most shot.

Tommy: Yeah.

James: But then there's always Steve Williams high fiving him getting just as excited as Tiger.

Tommy: Sure.

James: And that must have been just such a buzz to be on the play. Oh, but then why did Tiger go to Steve Williams? Because he was the best at the time. So his preparation, like players turn up to events on a Monday practice around Tuesday, Wednesday, if it's a major. A lot of the caddies and Steve Williams was one of the first ones, says he'd fly into the event two, three weeks beforehand.

He would know every sprinkler to every position. He'd know every tree. He'd know a yardage from everywhere. He'd sus the golf course out beforehand, so that when they played the practice rounds, it was already, he'd already talked to Tiger about where the ball needed to go. And so they came up with a game plan that they worked on together.

And I think that was what made the, the relationship so good. And again, if you turn round to the best player in the world and you tell him what club you want and you say to him, right, tiger, this is, this is what we want. We've practiced this shot, here's the club, and then you've got the best player in the world. And he goes and hits that. Yeah. What buzz that must be for you as the caddy.

Tommy: Absolutely.

James: But then the trust that came back from target to him. So I think then when the relationship ended, I think Steve Williams was heartbroken.

Tommy: Yes.

James: Because he was just dumped. And so he got quite bitter after that for the next few years. But I now, I think he's now calmed down and he's. He's far more respectful of their relationship. And again, I think maybe Tiger is as well.

Tommy: Yes.

James: But you know, there's so many stats you could go through, but they're all, you know, they're Tiger Wood stats, but a lot of those are down to Steve Williams.

Tommy: Yeah. They were both extremely competitive.

James: A hundred percent. I mean, you don't put that level of work that you've described in unless you, want to be the best and you want to be the best caddy. You know, with the best golfer. So that's a just unbeatable combo. And it did prove to be so, didn't it for a number of years. But, but then without Steve Williams, we would never have had Tiger Woods play New Zealand. I mean, whilst it nearly bankrupted Para Golf Club and the New Zealand golf. I mean, I got to see Tiger Woods like from five feet away. So, you know, Steve Williams bought him here for his wedding. You know, they were racing, they raced on TV in stock cars.

Tommy: Yeah.

James: And, and Tiger's agents going, what are you doing?

Tommy: Yeah.

James: And he goes, I'm having fun. I'm racing my mate. But guess what? Those two were trying desperately hard had to beat him each other.
They wanted to win. Yeah. You know, so there was that drive that was, really, really important I think. Do

Paul: you think that's quite unique in a caddy player relationship?

James: No, you look at, Justin Rose with his caddy, Fu was ill. And then as soon as he's right, he's back caddying for him. Yeah. You look at guys like Tommy Fleetwood and his caddy. Yeah. You know, there's gonna be other people that we come onto. I think that there's quite a few, caddies. Well look at Rory.

Tommy: Hmm. Well,

James: his best mates is his Katie.

Tommy: Yeah. The thing is, you've summerized that really well because let's be honest, we could do a whole podcast on Tiger Woods and Stevie Williams and we might do down the track, but it's hard to argue against the fact that that's probably the best, most successful, player, caddy combo of all time really.

James: Yeah.

Tommy: Anything else to add so he's canning for Adam Scott. First playoff hole on the 10th hole. Adam Scott said, have a look at the part. And Adam Scott thinks it's one cup outside the right, but Steve Williams has been there that many times for Tiger knew the PIN placement and just go, no, double it. Now. That's a putt to win the masters. Yeah.

James: You know, and Steve Williams had the confidence to turn around tum. I'm right. Just do it. And as it goes in, and you see Adam's got term, big

Tommy: balls. Big balls

James: point,

Tommy: yeah.

James: Pointing at himself.

Tommy: So he didn't just carry the tour bag, he carried his massive kahunas around the golf course with him, Steve Williams.

James: Because, but he, but he knew he was right.

Tommy: Yeah. But you see, the thing is, is that's the funny thing, isn't it? If your caddy tells you it's outside, left, and you think it's outside, right? How many people are here? The outside left. If they genuinely in their mind, so to have the trust. You know, I mean, it might have helped that Steve Williams with your unit, he's built like, you know, um, but Adam Scott, obviously the confidence came, I guess in the fact that he'd been there, done it with Tiger, done it with Greg, done it in the past. Let's do what he says. Oh, hello. Thanks. Put that jacket on me.

James: Give me a little green

Tommy: jacket. Thanks very much. Thanks Paul. Alright, okay. Well, Paul, difficult one to follow, but I just wanna ask you, have you got a Player Caddy combo you wanna talk about?

Paul: Yeah, I've got, more so a caddy. There is a combo, and the link is actually Billy Foster and Severiano Ballesteros

Tommy: Mm-hmm.

Paul: But Billy Foster in his own right is a unique human being and a unique caddy he started out in, in the good old days where caddies were literally nothing but mud. On the bottom of a spiked golf shoe. You know, they were traveling around Europe in tents and buses all together, all of them trying to save money. The cheapest motels that they could find going from tournament to tournament to tournament. And that's, the way that Billy Foster started out. He actually, wanted to be a golf pro. You know, but there was so little money, unless you were actually playing the game as an assistant pro, as probably you. And I remember on about 35 pounds a week when we first started, how much, you know, Shirley Park with Hogan Scott those were the good old days. But there were many, many assistant professionals or good golfers. Good amateurs who. Thought to themselves, you know, what would actually not be a bad life would be to caddy for somebody?

And Billy Foster falls into that sort of category. You know, he started out, caddying for, a friend of his Gordon Brand Jr. But while he was caddying for Gordon Brand, it just so happened that Gordon Brown was drawn with Sevy in a particular tournament. And , for Billy, this was amazing 'cause Sevy was his childhood idol. He idolized seve as did most of us from that era. And, if you haven't already watched it, go online, look up Billy Foster. There are so many amazing stories. About his career and about who he's caddied for he's an amazing person to listen to. He's just got one of those personalities that you can just sit there and listen to stories that he's got. But there's this one story. He was, he's walking over this, bridge and he can hear this distinct clink, clink, clink of spiked golf shoes.

And he knows that Sevy is right behind him. And Seve goes up to him and he says, you know, I, I, I like you, you're a good kid, you know, give me your address and you know, I'll send you a letter before phones and all that sort of stuff. I think, you know, we could be a good partnership.

And he went, yeah. Yeah. You know, like, dismissed it. Like, you know, he had his bag, he had his boss, and Seve, his idol approached him and he dismissed it and

Tommy: wind up

Paul: that night. He didn't sleep. He did not sleep, and the next day he, went up to Sevy with a little note in an envelope on the back of a card with his address. And that was it. And he went back home for Christmas and the letter came through the door and it was a letter from Ano Ballesteros basically saying I want you to caddy for me. These are my terms and conditions. And you know, you talk about, you know, keep up, shut up. It was literally, do not talk to the press.

The press are not, our friends do not say anything to the press. These are my terms and conditions, and I will see you in January. This is the first tournament that I want you to get to. And in a way that set up an amazing relationship for Billy Foster with se Ballesteros.

You know, it didn't lead to any majors. I think it's amazing how you talk about someone like Steve Williams and you look at this, job that he's had, which has allowed him. To be present in a certain unique moment with a unique player and you look at somebody like Billy Foster, who's caddied for, so many amazing players. You know, Darren Clark, Lee Westwood, the only major he won,

Tommy: Matt Fitzpatrick

Paul: was with Fitzy.

Tommy: Yeah.

Paul: With Matt Fitzpatrick Yeah.

Tommy: Incredible. A hey.

Paul: But you look at, it's

Tommy: incredible,

Paul: his, if, if you were to look at the timeline of his career and who he was, caddying For sure. At this particular time, sure. You would've thought Billy Foster, he's got at least four or five majors under his belt.

Tommy: Yeah,

Paul: it didn't quite work out, you know? Yeah. It didn't quite work out. But they didn't define him, did they? 'cause I mean, no, they didn't define him.

Tommy: Yeah.

Paul: You know, he caddied for Darren Clark, he said in one interview, he said, Darren Clark was the most demanding player I have ever caddied for.

Tommy: Did he really?

Paul: And the person interviewing said, well, I would've thought that would've been s He said, no, no. He said, se was. Demanding, but he said in a special way, he said he wanted things to be his way. So if you said to him, I think it's a seven iron, had he said, I'm gonna hit six, but you said hit seven, he would've been really annoyed because you've put doubt in his mind.

If you had said, yeah, se it's a six, go for it. It's a six heavy hit your six, he would've knocked it into 10 foot. Hold it and everybody would've been happy, but because you said, actually no, it's a seven iron, sevy would still take the six iron. He'd still take the six, but now you know you are going to get the absolute biggest bollocking for putting doubt in his mind.

Darren Clark was demanding because at one point Billy had to teach Darren how to play bunker shots. Because his bunker play was so bad that he said, here's a seven iron. I want you to just spend three days in the bunker with a seven iron, getting the seven iron outta the bunker and he said, that's actually what I learned from seve.
Yeah. But, he told him everything. He told him what club to hit where to land it. Yeah. How much role it would get. This is with Darren Clark. Clark. This was with Darren Clark.

Clark. This was Darren Clark, you know? Yeah. And then of course he went on to caddy for Lee Westwood, who was number two in the world at the time. And then he got injured playing football. This is Billy Foster. He got injured playing football. Missed a huge chunk of what potentially could have ended up being. Lucrative and potentially major winning moments.
Playing football, injured himself. Billy Foster. Will say that he witnessed the greatest shot in golf, and we've talked about this before, behind a wall crown. Yep. You know, and Billy's going seve. Chip it sideways bud, please just, just please knock it sideways. And Seve goes, no, no, I, I see a, I see a hole in the tree. It's about the size of a plate. It's a good, yeah, it is a good shot. I can, I can hit this shot. And Billy's going, no mate, listen, it's okay. We've got this in the bag. Chip it out sideways.

Tommy: Might get into a playoff.

Paul: Seve goes, no, you know, give me the club. And and Billy goes, he says, actually, I honestly thought SEVE had lost it. He says, I honestly thought SEVE had lost the plot.

Tommy: Five minutes later.

Paul: Five minutes later, He’s a genius. Hits it to the front of the green. Chips it in.

tommy: He was a genius. Yeah. Finish it off then. Paul, go on.

Paul: No, I was just gonna say, you know, he actually caddied for Tiger Woods as well. at The presidents cup ,

James: do you know where that came from?

Paul: I don't, was his,

James: So that, that came from People need to Google it and, and, and listen to Billy's story of the toilet paper. Yes. Google. Billy Foster Tiger Woods toilet paper, and you'll hear the story.

Tommy: it's worth listening to.

James: worth listening to.

Tommy: And on that note, before I get into the caddy combo that I've got. I mean, how much is he gonna command for after dinner speaking, Billy? I mean, he,

Paul: he, he, he's natural. He's a natural. He's a natural.

Or commentary, you know, commentary, sitting in a, sitting in a booth talking about players and shots and hundred percent who's done this and who's done that? He was gonna make fortune.

Tommy: It will do. Alright. Well look, my one, my one I guess is a little bit sterile, a little bit boring if you like.

I'm gonna talk about Nick Faldo and Fanny Sunesson because it is an iconic partnership. The first female caddy that won a major, certainly on the men's tour, was on the bag for a major winner. That partnership began in 1989. Obviously, Fanny Sunesson from Sweden joined forces with Nick Faldo

At the time, FALDO was already a two time major winner, but he was looking for a dedicated world class caddy to help him reach the next level. Along with the swing changes and, and everything else that he was putting in to kind of become, well, ultimately what he became an absolute legend of the game. And their first major together came at the 1990 Masters, a monumental victory because like I said, she became the first female caddy to win a major in men's golf.

So in that moment, she broke a significant barrier in the sport. The partnership was incredibly successful. She won four major championships, the 1990 Masters, obviously the 1990 open, the 92 open championship. And the 96 Masters. And she caddied for him for approximately 10 years from 1989 backend in that 89.

'cause obviously Faldo did win the Masters in 89. But yeah, she did 10 years with Faldo and her dedication was legendary. Henrik Stenson once commented that, she said to him that when TV people that were on course. And ask him, what yard did she had and what club he was gonna hit.

She just blocked him out. She wouldn't talk to them 'cause she was so focused on the job that she was doing with Nick Faldo. She was a highly accomplished player.

Yeah. I dunno if people know that, but she played to a plus handicap. She was a Swedish junior champion. And she had an amazing understanding of the game. She actually gave up caddy in 2012 due to a back injury.

She had certain stints after that where she caddy for Henrik Stenson a few times, but now she's, working in golf course design, which is. It is interesting, isn't it, as a caddy, you do know golf courses and so Yeah, for sure. Who better to design a golf course than someone that's been on the bag of a six time major champion having carried his bag for four of those major wins. And she's heavily involved in the Stenson Sunesson Junior Challenge, which is the junior golf tournament that she runs with Henrik Stenson in Sweden. Yeah, I just think fanny Sunesson stands out because, She was the first real high profile female caddy in the men's game.

James: And now I would say name another female caddy that isn't a partner . She broke the mold.

Tommy: Yeah. Yeah.

James: And what I'm really surprised at is that why aren't there more female caddies.

Tommy: Yeah.

James: I find it astounding in this day and age. I think that's quite a sad indictment on the game, really. Yeah. Mm-hmm. That there aren't more female caddies out there, because whenever you see them that it's the wife or the partner because they're caddies Ill or whatever, and they've got the little small bag.

Fanny Sunesson carried around that enormous Mizuno bag. And he had everything in there. Yes, he had the kitchen. Yes. He was so well prepared. That thing weighed an absolute fortune and she just used to keep up, do her job. She, she was amazing.

Paul: She was. You know, part of a caddy is to actually get into the psyche of the player. It's not simply just about giving a number or a club or advice, but this story is about Faldo and Fanny walking down the last hole at the open, and Fanny she can sense that he's not quite right.

There's something about his demeanor, how fast he's walking something is not quite right and she knows that she has to break whatever it is in his head. So she goes up to faldo. As they're walking down the fairway on the last hole of the open, he's got to make par and she says, I'm thinking about buying a Labrador.

Yes. What do you think? Do you think I should go for the Golden Labrador or do you think I should get a black one? And Faldo was so taken aback by this question that he was stunned, but stunned into refocusing. Yeah. He got it outta his head. Refocusing. Sure.

Tommy: I've heard it, and it's a true story. Yeah. But that comes back to the big kahunas again, doesn't it? Yeah. It's like, you know, it's just amazing.

James: Just before we finish on that, I've just got a, a quick Faldo story that I love, and again, this is probably the truth or not.

Uh, so he turned around to his second wife and said, so what would you like for your birthday? Would you like a. New diamond ring or a car or something like that. She goes, I want a divorce. And he turned around and said I wasn't expected to spend quite that much.

Tommy: Yeah, exactly. Brilliant.

James: Whether that was true or not, I dunno,

Tommy: it's probably true, I would say so.

James: I do have a caddy story, which actually relates back to one of our other pods with regards to the open championship, where in the old days, you had a bag of your own balls, and nowadays all the balls are provided and the type of ball that you use, you get that, et cetera. And they're all picked up for you.

So in the old days, you used to hit the balls and your caddies would pick them up. Ian Woosnam’s Caddy used to have baseball glove, just you stand there, one bounce on the catch in the bag, never moved. So qualifying at Littlestone for the open.

I had real trouble with my driver. I could not keep it on the planet. So anyway, Littlestone had a massive practice fairway there, so all the caddies are out there. You'd wave them in, like, I'll hit a few wedges, bring your caddy in. So I hit my caddy quite often. Seven iron he was running around a little bit anyway, so I wave him back for the driver. I had a bit of a slice going. Anyway, I've started this thing 30 yards right of him and it's probably cut another 30 yards and I've screamed four 'cause it's heading straight at this caddy who is seven players down. It's got one bounce and hit him on the arm. And of course he's now seathing Who did that?

Why didn't you shout? Anyway, so I peg up the next one and I pull, hook it probably the same distance, and I'm screaming four one bounce, boom, hits another caddy. Anyway, so my caddy then pretends to pick up a ball because he goes, I'm stood there, James for about five minutes, and you didn't get one within 30 yards of me.

So we played the practice round and We get to the first tee, I look in my bag and my driver's gone. He put it in the boot of the car.

Tommy: Caddy.

James: Put my Driver in the boot of the car.

Tommy: Brilliant.

James: He said, you will hit one iron or three wood or,

Tommy: and that's why you hit one iron all away.

James: That's why I hit one iron, because I could, I could hit these load drillers. Tiny little drop.

Tommy: Fantastic.

James: Yeah. But yeah, so that's, so that's a good story. Those two caddies that I nearly killed, I'm really, really sorry.

Tommy: That is a good story. Alright. Okay, so James, go again. Did you have another one or not?

James: I have another iconic combination, Phil Mickleson and Jim Bones Mackay.

Tommy: Okay.

James: Iconic partnership, spanning 25 years from 1992 to 2017 and together they won 41 PGA tour titles five majors and competed in 22 consecutive Ryder Cup and President Cup teams. So known for their really close long-term relationship.

And again, there's another sort of friendship. Now, the thing that stood out was the fact that Phil Mickelson was always right. He was never wrong, and the pair famously had a veto clause where bones could override one of Mickelson's decisions Once per year,

Tommy: huh? Seriously?

James: Once per year. Wow. It became a running joke between them.

And so Bones would not use it unless he really felt like he had to In the masters, he saved it for majors and, that was his thing. So he knew he was the caddy but Bones mackay from all accounts looking him up. One of the nicest guys out there. And it was the sort of thing that Phil needed.

He just needed a yes man on the bag. But meticulous with yardages, meticulous with everything. So whatever Phil wanted and needed, he got. But he was the yes man. And then eventually when they split up, there's a bit of animosity at the end of it. Now, the rumors are that, they'd had a verbal agreement on bonuses for majors, and it came to about 900,000 and Mickelson never paid him.
That's the rumor. Okay. It might just be a rumor, but Bones then moved on to become an On Course commentator, and then he went to caddy for Justin Thomas and Justin Thomas turned round to Bones Mackay and said, if you think I'm gonna hit any of those shots that Phil could hit, you're having a laugh.

Because Mickelson could shape the ball from anywhere. Spin it short game. His short game was legendary, wasn't it?

Tommy: Yeah. He was

James: Yeah, he was talent. He was, you put him in the same class as Seve, the vision, et cetera. So he just goes, if you think I'm doing those just don't expect me to do anything like that.

But yeah, another classic, player caddy combo that had great success.

Tommy: Yeah. I wonder, just on that very quickly, I wonder with that short game, if you are caddying for a Mickleson. I wonder if that took the pressure off you as a caddy a little bit, because you're thinking, well, even if he misses the green, with his short game, we’re still making par.

Because like you said, you know, him tiger, there's a number of players out there that unless they hit it out bounds, they just had that ability to get up and down and escape. Right.

James: But then do you not think that Mickelson then took on too many shots that he shouldn't have taken on because he felt like he could get himself up and down?

Tommy: Yeah. True. That's a good point. That's a good point. Alright, well Paul, I'm gonna give you one more. Have you got any more combos?

Paul: Yeah, just an obvious one I suppose. Langer, Pete Coleman.

Tommy: Yep.

Paul: It's an interesting one because, again, a career that not necessarily was devoted to one player, Pete Coleman, he caddied for Norman, for Seve, caddied for Monty. But it was with Bernhard Langer, that he won more than 30 professional tournaments, including of course two Masters 85, and 95. They parted ways in 2003. But his first bag was with Tommy Horton.

James: Wow.

Paul: He caddied for Tommy Horton, but he also caddied for Nancy Lopez twice. Wow. And for Nancy Lopez won both times. And he's caddied for, as I said before, Greg Norman and Colin Montgomerie Monty, and he won with all of them.

But, you know, just to, to give you an idea of how demanding, cadding for a player like Langer might be. A story about Langer, and a caddy, not necessarily, Pete Coleman, but a caddy was once, converting from. Yards to meters. I think it was probably Langer had gone to the States and he hadn't got his normal caddy and he was converting from European, which would've been meters

James: for him.

It was Langer was in meters.

Paul: Meters to yards. Okay. And his caddy was like frantically trying to work out. And he's obviously gone straight down the 10% route. Right. Okay. And Langer has come up straight away and said, you've just told me 200 meters is 220 yards. And he's gone. That's correct. And Langer goes, that's not actually correct. He said, what you should be telling me is that the actual measurement is 218.77.

Tommy: There you go.

Paul: That's how demanding he was.

James: And another one on that, there was another quote of him, 'cause there were some sprinklers that were about a foot wide. Yeah.

And you turn around to the caddy for the yardage, he goes, is that from the front of the sprinkler or the back of the sprinkler?

Tommy: Incredible. And look at him. Yeah. Look at Langer Turned Pro at 15. And he's still doing it now. Yeah. Unbelievable. Yeah. Golfer. So meticulous.

I mean, the yoga he’s done to keep himself fit, the injuries he's come back from. So you can imagine as a caddy, yeah. Would've been a nightmare. It's brilliant. I'm not going to, sorry James, you were gonna say something? I,

James : so I have a Langer Coleman story where one of my mates, Neil Burke had been playing at a tour event, went out for a practice round, and on the practice fairway was Coleman and Langer.

Langer was known as a slow player. They had a stopwatch, so they'd gone through the yardages . They were practicing handing him a club and, and Peter Coleman had a stopwatch going and it was like 45 seconds. It's too long. Gotta try and get it down to 35 seconds. His pre-shot routine. They stood there for two hours.

He never hit a golf ball in two hours. That's how meticulous he was. Just went through the routine,
just kept going through the routine, go through the routine until he got it down to 35 seconds and then he started hitting balls.

Tommy: That's amazing. That's amazing. Last thing, come on Paul, we've gotta wind this up.

Paul: A little story about, a caddy scenario. I'm caddy master in Dubai. At the creek and a certain Paul Lawrie walks into the caddy shack and he says, Paul, I need a caddy. He says, my caddy hasn't been able to get out here.

Have you got anybody? He says, I want young fit. Don't want to talk. Keep up. Shut up. That's all I want.

Tommy: This is Paul Lawrie.

Paul: This is Paul Lawrie

Tommy: Okay.

Paul: Okay. I go, yeah, I, I said he's young, 17-year-old said his name's Patty Burn. I said, he's a golfer. He plays off about 15. But I said, you know, he's, he's perfect. He'll do a good job.

Anyways, Paul Lawrie in this particular tournament missed the Cut, but Paul likes this kid likes him. He says, look, would you come to Qatar? Would he, do you think he'll come to Qatar? I said, look, I'll ask his old man. I know his old man. Anyways, he says, yes, fine.

Go. So. Paddy jumps on a flight. Paddy's in first class as the caddy. 'cause his old man's minted Lawrie’s in economy. Okay? He gets to Qatar. What happens in Qatar? Paul Lawrie wins the tournament with Paddy on the bag. So he then says to Paddy, listen, I like you kid. You're a good kid. You know? Would you come to Europe?

Do you wanna come to Europe? And caddy for me? What year are we talking about?

Tommy: No,

Paul: 1999.

Tommy: Seriously?

Paul: Seriously. So this kid from Dubai. 17 years old.

Tommy: What was your cut?

Paul: Nothing

Tommy: really. Didn't even send you a card ?

Paul: The Open, US Masters.

Tommy: Amazing.

Paul: Ryder cup. the whole works.

Tommy: No,

Paul: the whole works.

Tommy: Great story.Great. I love it. Alright, fantastic pod really enjoyed it, boys. We'll see you next time.

Yeah.

Tommy: If you've made it this far, we hope it's because you've enjoyed listening to Tommy Does Golf. To make sure you never miss our podcast, please hit follow. For more of our content or to get in touch, head to Tommy does golf.com. So until next time, no matter how you are playing, smile, laugh, and most important of all, enjoy the walk.