Playing with a caddie.
Your caddie is working, not waiting on you. Treat the round as two people playing it together and the rest follows.
Lighten the bag
If your caddie is carrying, take out whatever you don’t need for the round — the spare dozen balls, the rain gear on a clear day, the cooler. They’re walking five miles with it.
Be respectful
They’re a person doing a job well, not a service. Say hello, use their name, and thank them at the end.
Say what you want early
On the first tee, tell them how much you want: numbers only, numbers and a read, or a club in your hand. Some players want a caddie to talk and some want silence, and they can’t guess which you are.
Let them do the job
Don’t race them to your bag or rake your own bunker. It looks polite and it gets in the way of someone who has a rhythm.
Keep pace
A good caddie keeps you moving. Being ready to play when it’s your turn is most of what makes that possible.
Cancel early if you have to
Plans change. Telling them the night before costs you nothing and lets them pick up another loop. Inside four hours, a cancellation charge applies — they turned down other work for your tee time.
Tipping
Tipping is customary and entirely optional. Looper takes none of it: whatever you add goes to your caddie. You’ll be offered the choice when you rate them after the round.
Caddying well.
Nobody expects a tour looper. Be early, stay useful, leave the course better than you found it, and you’ll be asked for again.
Beat them to the ball
Get to your player’s ball before they do and have a number ready. A yardage waiting for them is the single most useful thing you do all day.
Clean their clubs
Wipe the face after every shot and hand the club back clean. It is a small thing done forty times a round, and it is the detail that separates a caddie from someone carrying a bag.
Leave no trace
Rake every bunker, replace every divot, and fix pitch marks on the green — yours, your player’s, and any you come across.
Be still and quiet
When anyone in the group is about to hit, stop moving and stop talking. Stand out of the eyeline of the player hitting — not directly behind them, not on the line, and never in their peripheral vision as they swing.
Tend the flag
Pull the flag on the greens when the players ask, and be ready to tend it for a long putt. Know where to stand so your shadow isn’t across anyone’s line.
Watch every ball
Not just your player’s. Marking where a stranger’s drive finished saves the whole group five minutes, and it’s the thing groups remember about a good caddie.
Turn up early
Twenty minutes before the tee time, bib on. Introduce yourself, ask how much input they want, and find out whether anyone is walking or riding.
Advice when asked
Give the number every time. Give a read or a club when they ask for one. A caddie who talks a player out of a shot they wanted is a caddie who doesn’t get asked back.
Phone away
Silent and in a pocket for the whole round. The exception is the Looper chat before the round, to find each other on the first tee.
Necessary supplies
Three things you need every round, and a couple worth having.
- Need Rangefinder Your numbers have to be your own. Pacing off sprinkler heads is slow and it shows.
- Need Towel Clubs get cleaned after every shot. A damp towel on the bag is how that happens.
- Need Your Looper bib It tells the course and the group who you are and that you’re meant to be there.
- Optional Scorecard and pencil Keeping the card is a nice touch, and some players will ask.
- Optional Water and sunscreen Five miles in the sun is longer than it sounds.