Review by: Brandon "Caddie book" Cackowski-Schnell

My approach shot was wide, a fact I knew the minute I heard it. Sure enough the “thwack” of my iron hitting the ball was soon followed by the dull thud of my ball nestling deep within a bunker to the right side of the green. I had a one stroke lead heading into the 18th at TPC Sawgrass and doing my darndest to lose the whole thing.

“Don’t worry” my caddie said, as I approached the ball “this isn’t a bad lie. You can get out of this.” Really caddie? Because from where I’m standing, I might as well have an umbrella and a view of the ocean. “Hit a smooth shot and watch your percentage.” Hey, if you say so caddie. I followed his advice and miraculously, the ball climbs out of its sandy resting place, takes a lucky bounce and rolls within feet of the cup. “You can do this. I have confidence in you” my caddie said, a strange notion given how poorly I’d been putting all day. Strange, yet oddly comforting. I bear down, concentrate and putt. Again I pull right and it looks like my caddie’s confidence is about to be misplaced when the ball skirts the right edge of the cup, pauses and then drops. Par on the hole, one under on the day, another tournament under my belt.

It’s easy not to think of golf as a team sport. After all, with the exception of a few events, tournaments are won and lost by individual players all working through their own roaring comebacks and spectacular collapses. What we don’t see though, working silently in the background is the caddie. Part coach, part groomsman, part master strategist, a good caddie elevates a golfer’s game more than any fancy piece of equipment ever could. At least mine did.

I can’t tell you how I met him, he was just there, from the first Tiburon Open where I shot +5 on the 8th to end at 11 over on the day, yet miraculously was asked to join the EA Amateur tour, through the Nationwide Tour, Q School, the PGA and finally the Masters. At every hole he’d open his caddie book and give me as many options as he saw. Here you can be aggressive and try and split the fairway or layup and take the safe shot. Here you try and dial back your swing and aim for the flag stick or punch it and go for the center of the green. Here you have no choice but this one. Sorry kid, try your best and don’t screw up. Most of the time, his advice was great, although I always had the option of ignoring it for my own custom shot, or shunning him completely and being alone with my planning, but doing so made the experience so much less, I don’t know, personal.

My caddie learned the courses as I did, offering better advice as I met course objectives, making the fourth round of the Hawaiian Open a completely different game than the first. Best of all, my caddie’s confidence in me was unwavering. Whatever the shot, whatever the distance, he cautioned me, encouraged me and believed in me, however misplaced that belief was. It was he and I against the world and we took on all comers.