I come with good news about the future of the game’s soul. Don’t worry, this won’t be the overwrought gushing of a former humanities major who’s been lucky to have a career in golf typing. This is real math, man.
The National Golf Foundation recently completed a market study of caddieing in the United States, and the findings will shock anyone who assumed the old gig was dying. Total facilities with caddies have increased 65 percent since 2018, or from 775 courses up to 1,282. Much of the growth is tied to the boom of high-end development in places such as south Florida and South Carolina, yet standard facilities—defined as courses with a peak weekend green fee between $50 and $79—that offer caddies have quadrupled to 234.
There’s something happening here.
If your familiarity with caddieing pulls mainly from that classic movie with Rodney Dangerfield and the gopher, don’t let those numbers give the wrong idea. Today’s caddies don’t sit at picnic benches for hours hoping to work, nor do they burden the oversight of some dodgy caddiemaster with one eye on the racing sheets. Most courses don’t want the expense or hassle of hiring that guy anyway. More and more, third-party apps are assigning loops. Of all the technology platforms that have ever pitched themselves as “like Uber,” apps like Club Up and Caddie Now, both under the Troon umbrella along with CaddieMaster, are very much that. There are differences, but the commonalities are: 1. Facilitating transactional and on-demand communication; 2. Deflecting employment liability; and 3. Allowing caddies more control of their schedules to better fit school, sports, another job, life.
As such, the total can come across as a bit inflated. Just because a course is within a network of service doesn’t mean there’s a bustling caddie scene. Even with the surge, only 9 percent of courses offer caddies, and only 5 percent of golfers took a caddie in the past year.
Donald Miralle
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Other key findings: The national average fee for a bag, including tip, is $113 for an adult caddie and $86 for a youth. Among courses with caddies, two in five have a blend of adult and youth loopers, with the rest basically split one way or the other. Fifty-nine percent of golfers say they prefer an adult caddie, citing the reliability of useful information to score better as well as liking the idea of supporting a real livelihood. Only 11 percent of golfers say they prefer a youth caddie, though this group strongly likes the mentorship aspect and perceives going around with a kid as “more fun.”
Despite all these good vibes, course operators are reluctant. The NGF reports only 8 percent are interested in adding caddie services in the future and name all the usual drawbacks: Lack of golfer interest mostly due to financial constraints, loss of cart revenue, employment law risks and difficulty training.
Yet, here’s the wonderful white space. Nearly one-third of golfers say they wish their home course had caddies. In other words, the folks running courses are significantly underestimating the demand! Also, there are people they can call for help if simply enrolling with a third-party app doesn’t feel like the right fit for their course.
The Western Golf Association in conjunction with the Evans Scholarship Foundation, an entity that is amply funded for the mission of changing lives through youth caddieing, has a task force. For free, the WGA/ESF will send representatives to your town to recruit kids from local schools, train them and solve any logistical issues in getting started. It’s worked with 107 clubs across 27 states on new or reinvigorated caddie yards, from private BraeBurn Country Club in Houston to the public University of Maryland Golf Course.
“The common thread with a lot of these courses is a desire to positively impact their community and be a force of good,” says Bill Kingore, the executive vice president of the WGA/ESF.
Wakonda Club in Des Moines, Iowa, had a caddie yard that went defunct decades ago. To coincide with a full restoration of the course in 2024, the club decided to resurrect the yard to complete the makeover. Version 2.0 operates off the Forecaddie mobile app, but caddies are also employees of the club, so they can accept a $9/hour wage and free meals. The club bills members $30 per loop and encourages a gratuity of $15-$20. This spring, 59 boys and girls of mixed golf experience signed up.
Only 8 percent of course operators are interested in adding caddie services, yet nearly one-third of golfers wish their home course had caddies.
“It’s some work on the upfront, but it’s super rewarding and will add a lot to your club,” says Aaron Krueger, director of golf at Wakonda. “It’s hard to express how much fun it’s been for me being around these kids, and our members love teaching them the game.”
At Papago Golf Club in Phoenix, one of the best value municipals in the country with 7,380 well-conditioned yards, there’s another model that’s working. In 2023, Brandon Rogers and his wife, Christie, formed a non-profit called AZ Caddie and Leadership Academy. “We raise money to compensate the caddies, so the players don’t have to, although they can add a gratuity if they like. We pay $50 per 18-hole loop, and so a caddie typically earns $60-$80 all-in.” In the past six months Papago has done more than 250 loops. The course uses ClubUp integrated with another piece of technology, Quick18 by Sagacity, for a smooth online booking process. Rogers has also joined the WGA/ESF.
It’s hard to say who in the player/caddie relationship benefits more. Almost nothing enhances the experience of a round as much as having a caddie, and few jobs provide equivalent money for healthful outdoor work while opening doors of possibility. An overblown spot of friction is that youth caddies and adult caddies are somehow locked in competition—that one side is taking the jobs of the other, depending on your point of view. The NGF survey indicates there is plenty of opportunity for all.
Seventy-five percent of ClubUp’s “providers” are under age 18. Michael Granuzzo, CEO of the sister company, CaddieMaster, isn’t surprised. “Call it a cliché, but golf is a game that believes in its values. … I’m optimistic on caddieing’s continued growth. It’s such a differentiator for a course. It’s getting to the point where if you don’t provide caddies, you’re falling behind.”
The very elite clubs and top resorts will continue with adult caddies who provide ultimate service every day of the season and command $150 per bag and more. And that’s great. Youth caddies can coexist as their mentees grabbing the stray single bags, or dominate the looping at courses whose customers don’t want to pay premium and/or really like the idea of grooming lifelong lovers of the game.
If you’ve never played with a caddie, ask your local course to investigate third-party technology or email Brian Bianchi at [email protected]. It’ll change your golf life for the better.
This article was originally published on golfdigest.com
