Caddie Golf Tours

2015 St Andrews Caddies Outing, Charleston GC The annual St Andrews Caddies golf outing takes place tomorrow Sunday 28th August at Thornton Golf Club  We have 9 tee times from 11:00 - 12:20pm and the weather is set fair on this lovely parkland course 50 minutes south of St Andrews and 35 caddies taking part. The coach begins the pick ups at 8am in Dundee then onto St Andrews followed by the towns of Cupar and Leven arriving at Thornton GC around 10am. Morning Beers will be supplied for caddies on the coach. The new St Andrews Caddie Trophy for Champion Golfer A new Trophy, a Claret Jug replica, has been purchased with contributions from the St Andrews Caddies for the Champion Golfer amongst us. We also have a wonderful accumulation of prizes donated from local businesses that include Old Course Hotel The Dukes Golf Course Kingsbarns Whisky Distillery Dunvegan Hotel Aucherterlonies Golf Shop St Andrews Links Trust The Royal & Ancient Golf Club  the legend...

Today I was called up to  1st tee of the  Old Course St Andrews, 12:20pm tee time, to caddie for Mr. D, an R&A member, playing in the E uropean Tour's annual staging of the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship that is golfed on the great links golf courses of Carnoustie, Kingsbarns and the Old Course and this was the final practice round for the golfers participating in the event. I had been in Mr D's company in past years through a few R&A matches so I was scratching around my head to remember a bit of his game and shape of shot. It turns out that he has a lovely 5-10 yard fade from the tee with a low penetrating ball flight and pretty much the same with his irons. This is roughly (in my dreams) a similar game to the one I currently possess...my golf does fluctuate a wee bit and the fade can get a little extreme! Mr D shot a 68. We had one slice of good fortune on the 1st after a decent drive the approach to the green hit the retaining wall of the Swilken B...

The newly elected R&A Captain, Mr Gavin Caldwell, drove from the 1st tee of the Old Course at 8:00am as the ceremonial cannon was fired at the same time. My old friend and St Andrews caddie +Oliver Horovitz caught the Captain's golf ball as it slipped through the hands of numerous caddies on its way down the 1st fairway of the Old Course. Oliver receives a gold sovereign from the new Captain in exchange for his golf ball. This was the 3rd time that Oliver has managed to retrieve the Captain's golf ball and I may suggest to him to deliberately miss catching it next year! Oliver is the author of the book 'An American Caddie in St Andrews' that came out a few years ago detailing his growing up in St Andrews and at Harvard University while working as a caddie on the Old Course. The following link takes you to the R&A website for more details about the New Captain and the Drive In Ceremony: http://www.randa.org/en/RandA/News/News/2015/September/...

There had been talk for a number of years about the suitability of the Old Course Caddie Pavilion and the number of caddies that use it day in, day out, whether it really was 'fit for purpose' now that we are into the second decade of the 21st Century. There will be 140-160 registered caddies working the St. Andrews golf courses during the height of the season and this wee building has had its' day. It was demolished at the end of the 'official' 2013 golf season, in November, and a temporary pavilion has been installed 100 yards down the right side of the 1st fairway. A little bit of the romance may have disappeared, but it is temporary. I have known this old building since the spring of 2002 when I first came, anxiously, strolling past the R&A Clubhouse and 1st tee of the Old Course to be accepted, hopefully, into the ranks of St Andrews' caddies. With a score or more guys hanging around the outside of the pavilion, and another 20 or...

St. Andrews held the 100th playing of the Town Match on Saturday 14th September. This historic event is played between the local & international members of the Royal & Ancient Golf Club against the two main local golf clubs in the town: St. Andrews Golf Club and the New Club. 1st tee Old Course at St. Andrews Scotland There were 171 foursomes matches played over the Old Course, New Course, Jubilee Course and 1/2 dozen or so were even were golfed on the Strathtyrum Course. This amounts to 684 golfers in what must rank as one of the largest one day golf competitions in the world. The R&A Team view the 8th Jubilee Course Our match was played on the Jubilee Course at 3.20pm in great conditions as can be seen by the few photographs taken while we waited to tee off on the Par 4 8th. My playing partner Mr. Thomson The Par 4 8th fairway, Jubilee Course Putting out on the Par 4 8th green, Jubilee Course The game was played in good spirits, as it should be,...