Imagine if you Will: The PGA Tour Without Caddies

Give them push carts or similar and let them have staff bags to carry in them whatever they’d like. They can use whatever non-riding conveyance they want.

As far as caps the caddies wear, is it customary for a player to keep the money when the caddie wears the player’s brand?
 
As far as caps the caddies wear, is it customary for a player to keep the money when the caddie wears the player’s brand?

Depends on the player/caddie but usually is the Caddie's money. For some of them that is their consistent paycheck.
 
Caddies have been such great tradition in golf and on tour, would be sad to see them go. But after some getting used to, I would be okay with it.
 
I don’t see it happening. While I’m sure they all want to win this is not a tour event and no points. They are out there having a good time. As mentioned earlier 5-7 days in a row carrying and these swing speeds I see more injuries.
 
It's going to slow down play and shorten careers. Not seeing the upside here.
 
I don’t mind the caddy carrying the bag because the players need to save their backs but I would love to see the caddy banned from helping read putts. After watching some of those putts yesterday, I want to see them struggle on the greens more.
 
I can’t imagine it.
It may have looked like they were having fun on tv but there’s no way.
Can you imagine bushwood with no caddies? No...
 
No caddies? Spieth would have to talk to himself. Time would literally stop. Who would be Reed’s bodyguard? Tiger cleaning balls and clubs? This is like a Star Trek show where they go to an alt universe.

Haha. The part about Spieth was the first thing I thought about. Dude never shuts up! I would think it would have to speed up his painfully slow pace.
 
It's going to slow down play and shorten careers. Not seeing the upside here.
The entire thought behind this thread was based on watching how quickly four superstars were playing a course carrying their own bags and getting their own yardages. You can't just come in and say "it's going to slow down play" and leave without any elaboration.
 
The entire thought behind this thread was based on watching how quickly four superstars were playing a course carrying their own bags and getting their own yardages. You can't just come in and say "it's going to slow down play" and leave without any elaboration.
In a format in which they were competing among just themselves - nobody else on the course. There were no situations where they could possibly be waiting. You also saw them not hit precise shots - perhaps because they didn't (weren't allowed to?) take the time to figure out the exact number they wanted to carry it. Do you think the players won't try to get an exact number in a US Open? Or at Bay Hill?

So, the players are now going to get to their ball, drop off their clubs, find a sprinkler, walk it off, consult the greens book, check the wind, pull a club, go through their routine, and then hit. And we think that's going to be faster than the current state of things?

On top of that, we also criticize coverage for not giving us more Player-Caddie discussions because it's really interesting to hear the thought process that goes into certain shots. Well, we can say goodbye to that as well.

The best proxy we have for what pace of play would be like is college tournaments where we have high level players and no caddies. Those rounds take FOREVER. Rounds in the 5.5 to 6 hour range are not uncommon. Hard pass on bringing that to the Tour.
 
I can imagine no caddies, but I can't see it happening.
 
They already do it on the lesser tours... if they'd televise that more maybe everyone would be happy?
 
I definitely enjoyed seeing the pros playing without caddies. When the Tour returns next month, will there be caddies? Yes. Do I think that is an irresponsible move in this time of social distancing? Absolutely. It’s a bad example the tour is setting when the USGA and all state golf associations are encouraging socially responsible golf. Golf courses are allowed to be open because of their actions to present a safe environment for patron to play golf.
The Tour, on the other hand, will employ less restrictive measures I’m sure. And, I believe they are setting a horrible example in doing so. They are displaying golfs typical elitist attitude for the world to see.
Unless you mask up the player and caddie since they’re with the 6’ radius, gloves on the caddie handling clubs and balls, they are opening the opportunity for spread.
Just my opinion.


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I don't see the caddies ever going away. But I also don't have a problem with caddies. What I have a problem with is the 5 minute conversation for every shot between the player/caddie and it doesn't even start until their playing partner has hit.
 
I think over 4 days having a caddie helps the player play better golf. Not having a caddie would also increase the importance of fitness. When weather is bad having a caddie makes it much easier to keep your hands and clubs dry and enables better golf.

I think the pace of play yesterday was more a reflection of the players involved. Those guys tend to play quickly. There was some conferring with partners over putts when needed. In addtion while the guys wanted to win they weren't playing for their own money they were playing for charity.
 
I think the pace of play yesterday was more a reflection of the players involved. Those guys tend to play quickly. There was some conferring with partners over putts when needed. In addtion while the guys wanted to win they weren't playing for their own money they were playing for charity.
I think the pace of play was also just a reflection of the number of players on the course. It took 4 guys on a wide open course about the same amount of time to play 18 holes as it takes the final group on Sunday at Augusta (final pairing goes off just before 3 and the Green Jacket Ceremony is "scheduled" to be at 7).
 
The entire thought behind this thread was based on watching how quickly four superstars were playing a course carrying their own bags and getting their own yardages. You can't just come in and say "it's going to slow down play" and leave without any elaboration.
Comparing the charity event yesterday to a tour event is really not plausible. 4 players in the course period. Compared to players at every hole, throw in fans and now they have to clear gallery’s at times, get rules officials at times. I just don’t see how you can compare them. Not to mention it looked to me like they were having a casual fun day. Taking some risks they would not normally take. Completely different in my opinion.
 
I think the pace of play was also just a reflection of the number of players on the course. It took 4 guys on a wide open course about the same amount of time to play 18 holes as it takes the final group on Sunday at Augusta (final pairing goes off just before 3 and the Green Jacket Ceremony is "scheduled" to be at 7).

Part of me wonders if they didn't slow them down a bit at some point to make sure they filled the TV time. The last thing they wanted was for those guys to blast through the round in 3 hours and have time on TV to fill.
 
No caddies, let them use carts. We're told "they're just like all golfers"... then they should play like all golfers.
 
While I appreciate the idea of no caddie's and think it would be a blast to see tour pro's hacking it up just like we would, I just don't see it happening. I'm sure if it were a scheduled event on tour it would take some serious money/points to attract golfers. What I would like to see instead, is go back to the days where Augusta gave you your caddie. Have a "lottery" system setup where you don't know who you're getting and all they are there for is to carry your bag, clean your clubs, and give you a ball when you need it.
 
Doubt the players would want it, doubt the caddies would want it (obviously), and the tour prefers longer rounds anyway (more advertising time). If the tour cared about round times, they would enforce the rule that's already there. Lack of effort on enforcing it means they do not care, and putting someone "on the clock" is more for show anyway to make people think they care.

So while yes, I could imagine it, I don't think anyone involved would prefer it or want it. Plus, people went absolutely bonkers when they said they could leave the pin in. Now no caddies? Yikes.
 
I was thinking the same thing. Let the players carry their own bags and let the decision making and shot planning be 100% on them.
 
I think no caddies would absolutely speed up the game. Or let them have caddies to carry the clubs but they're not allowed to talk to them if you think the weight of clubs over 4 rounds would be a disadvantage for the older players. You'd see rounds decrease in time dramatically.
 
It definitely would be interesting after seeing how badly these guys missed on putts yesterday in the live event.
 
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