"When your golfer asks if he should use a 3 iron or a 4 iron, you'd better have the right answer."
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You'd really only enjoy the movie, "Loopers," about the history of golf and golf caddies if you have a) played golf, b) are into sports documentaries, or c) like to go deep on niche topics.
I'm d) all of the above.
My friend and I started playing golf in college to try to meet boys. Sitting in the movie theater listening to the slice of clubs through freshly mown grass and the THOWK of club face meeting ball made me miss my senior year, when I'd briskly walk the cheap course at Purdue, playing through foursomes of boys I'd never date.
Maybe I would have met someone golfing if I'd taken a caddy every now and then, but that wasn't included in the $10 student greens fees.
I probably wouldn't have appreciated having a caddy, then, anyway, though.
I do now.
"In no other sport is the coach, mentor, advisor, equipment manager allowed on the field of play with an athlete."
Did you think of a caddy as a coach, mentor, advisor, and equipment manager? You might have thought about the caddy as only being the person carrying the bags. Yes, they do that, but they're so much more. Or, at least the good ones are. A great caddy can make the difference between a player winning or losing. It's their job to know the course, the distances, their player's swing, and, yes, whether he or she needs a 3 iron or a 4 iron for that specific shot, in those specific conditions, on that specific course.
"A caddy's job is to show up, keep up, and shut up."
That was the joke that the old time loopers in the movie kept repeating — with a little wink and a smirk, all of them — because they know it's not really true. They know that, when allowed, a caddy does make a big difference in their players' performance.
Who's your caddy?
If you pay someone to help you, you have a caddy. If you have a contractor that's
- Building your website
- Managing your email program
- Creating your social media calendar
- Strategizing business growth
- Writing copy
- Applying SEO to your website
- Editing your book
- Designing a flyer
- Maintaining your website
you have a caddy. And it's your caddy's job to help, give advice, manage projects, and so forth.
Here are some questions to ask yourself about your caddies:
- Do you seek their recommendations? If you don't, you are probably not benefitting as much as you could from what they know.
- When you ask for a recommendation, do they give you the right one? (As in, do their recommendations turn out well, once implemented? This only counts if you implement the recommendation.)
- When you ask for a recommendation, do you implement what they recommend? If you don't, why don't you? Maybe you're too tired, you don't believe them, they don't understand your business, or maybe you don't understand what they're recommending and why? The answers to these questions are important so that you can make sure you have a caddy that will help you win!
How to Win the Masters on your First Appearance
In 1979, Fuzzy Zoeller won the Masters during his first time at the tournament. He was only the third person to do so and the first since 1935. Nobody else has done it since. His secret: caddy Jerry Beard. Beard knew how to read the greens. He knew the golf course inside and out. He was the EXPERT on Augusta National. He did have to learn Zoeller's stroke so he could match his course knowledge. They walked a 9 hole practice round, giving Beard the chance to learn Zoeller's style. After a couple of holes Beard didn't miss a beat pulling the right clubs. At tournament time, Zoeller listened when Beard told him what to do and they won.
They. Won.
A good caddy wants his or her player to win because a win for the player is a win for the caddy.
A good caddy will do everything he or she can to make that happen.
Reviewing the Scorecard
Ask yourself, does your caddy know the right clubs to pull, when? (Which tools and data sets that will get you the right results?) Do you listen to your caddy?
If the answers are no, it's time to get a new one or two or three.
If the answers are yes, well, you have room for growth. Now's a time to go over your schedule for next year with your chief coach, mentor, advisor, and equipment manager and plan where you want to go next.
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