Citrus: Caddies come to Citrus County

Caddies come to Citrus County

El Diablo Golf and Country Club is providing caddies for hire, unlike most publicly accessible courses that require golfers to lug their own bags or use a cart.

By JIM ROSS

CITRUS SPRINGS -- These days, the only place most golfers will see a caddie is on TV.

Touring pros employ caddies, and some private clubs keep a few on the payroll. But the typical duffer usually can't hire someone to carry his clubs, even if he could afford to do so.

The reason: Most publicly accessible courses have no caddie program and don't allow players to bring their own. So, golfers either must lug their own bags or load them onto the back of a cart, whether motorized or pulled by hand.

El Diablo Golf and Country Club is one of the few exceptions to the rule. For the past month or so, El Diablo has provided caddies for players to hire. The going rate is $40, not including tip or greens fee.

Nathan Pyles, general manager at El Diablo, said the idea originated with his father, Steve, a co-owner of the course.

"He loves caddies. He likes to walk," Nathan Pyles said of his father.

The elder Pyles also noticed that many of the nation's top accessible courses -- a category in which El Diablo would like to be placed -- offer caddies for hire.

So Nathan Pyles placed classified advertisements and put out the "help wanted" sign. He now has 10 caddies available to help golfers, who must give 48 hours' notice to the golf shop if they wish to hire a caddie.

So far, the program has been a hit.

"There are a lot of people who want to walk this course but can't," Pyles said. Still others simply enjoy having a caddie help them measure yardages and read putts.

Don't expect any of El Diablo's bag carriers to resemble the goofs portrayed in the movie Caddyshack. Pyles insists his caddies act professionally and be well-versed in the game's rules and etiquette standards.

Some of the caddies are quite experienced. Take Bonnie Perry, 49, an El Diablo maintenance worker who also has served as a caddie in Palm Beach Gardens and elsewhere.

Perry has caddied five times at El Diablo and looks forward to more outings. "It's a long course," he said, "but (I) know the shortcuts from the greens to the tee."

The secret to being a good caddie? "You give him (the player) the best of your knowledge," Perry said. "Ain't nobody perfect but one man, and that's Jesus."

Perry has played El Diablo just once. He shot 80 from the back tees. At one time, he boasted a 2 handicap.

Perry has two stepdaughters in college, so he enjoys the extra income he derives from caddying. And all the money goes to him. Even though El Diablo loses revenue whenever a player chooses to hire a caddie instead of rent a golf cart, the course does not take a cut of the caddie fee.

"It doesn't bother us," Pyles said.

And the policy hardly bothers the U.S. Golf Association, which encourages walking when possible. But it's difficult to convince course managers that carts -- which provide revenue and encourage fast play -- shouldn't be mandatory, at least some of the time.

"The caddie has become somewhat of a dinosaur, particularly at public courses, and a lot of that is driven by the cart issue," said Marty Parkes, senior director of communications for the USGA, which is the game's governing body in this country.

The USGA's foundation provides grants for courses that wish to establish caddie programs. It also encourages its 800,000-plus members to walk when possible. Caddies certainly can help in that department, especially with players who would have trouble lugging their own bags.

"Caddies are alive and well, and we do what we can, financially and otherwise, to try to encourage good caddie programs throughout the country," Parkes said.

There's one other advantage. Pyles, the general manager at El Diablo, said he thinks his performance improves when someone is carrying his bag.

For one thing, walking gives him more time to think about his next shot. And if he hits a bad shot, he has more time to blow off steam.

"I play better with a caddie," he said, "because you're not running from one golf ball to the next in a cart."