The Caddy -- 1950's

1950'S THE CADDY by Letty Stapp Watt

It would be impossible to share our history of golf without including the role of the caddies who have perpetuated the game over the last two centuries.

Depiction of Slammin Sammy Snead, who began his career in golf as a caddy.

 

It is important to know that before 1870 caddies carried clubs in their arms with out the benefit of a bag. A retired sail-maker who was the clubhouse attendant at England's Westward Ho! fashioned a strip of canvas to keep the grips from getting wet. Among the wealthier members, this chore of toting the loose clubs was delegated to the caddie.  Because of course conditions (Links-lands and public space for man and beasts) and the caddy's intimate knowledge of the course, they began to advise the player on club selection, distance, direction, and hazards. By the nineteenth century many caddies where known as "professionals." My father, like so many professionals of his era, began his career as  a caddy in Wichita, Kansas.  (THE WORLD OF GOLF by Charles Price, 1962)

1932

1932 June 19 mdnr reports that John Ballard, Custodian of the golf shop will reduce cold drinks by 50 percent. Golfers may now quench their thirst for a nickel. Golf balls are also cheaper this year and caddies made the rounds at considerably reduced fees.

1932 August 2 mdnr  reports that during the club championship between Clarence Gordon and Luther Sheldon, that Sheldon knocked his tee shot into the ditch and rolled under the bridge on hole #4. Caddies who were in a position to watch the ball declared that it bounced back and forth under the bridge before it flopped out and up for several yards on the fairway.

1932 July 11 MNR The annual tournament of caddies of the Rockdale CC is under way this week. The matches being played so far show: McCorkle winning two up and one to play over Breckinridge; Andy Gump winning five up over E. Warner; Glen Heath over Hank Eagle two and one to play; Virgil Pryor winning over Irvin Heath three up and two to play. The semi finals are scheduled to be played the first of this week.(No follow up on the winner.)

In the 1930's the Western Golf Association built a "caddie kit" for golf courses to purchase. 1. Know all 14 clubs;2. Hand player the club he selects; 3. Stand still; 4. Watch the ball; 5. Keep p with the player; 6. Keep quiet; 7. Replace all divots; 8 First n the green takes the flag; 9 Smooth sand in traps; 10. Memorize yardage of each hole; 11. Never swing clubs; 12. If you don't know--ask.  

There were also "Four Things to Do" if you are the player: 1. Know your caddy's name; 2. Cooperate fully with the caddy committee by observing all club caddy rules; 3. Give your caddy constructive advice and suggestions; 4. Help your caddy earn the WGA Honor Caddy badge. 

1942

Linda Neal Reising shares this story about her her father, Leroy Neal. 

My father worked as a caddy at the Miami Country club when he was young. He always told the story about Bing Crosby coming to the course. The boys drew straws to see who would be his caddy. Unfortunately, my father did not win. The boy who received the job to caddy for Bing Crosby was given a fifty dollar tip from Mr. Crosby. That was a fortune. 

To read the story of when Bing Crosby played golf at Miami please click on this link: Bing Crosby

1947 to the early 1950's 

Hermann Childers shared his memories of caddying at the Miami Country club in the early 1947. The pro before your dad came on board after the Scotsman, Jack Guild, left. He was there when I started to caddie in 1947 (Guild 1939-1952). Some of the caddies who worked there were Jack Horner, Larry Warner, Jim and Larry Parker, Ken and Jr. Walker, Ron Edwards, Bob Furnish. There were the Huddleson Brothers, there were five who lived in Commerce worked regularly as caddies. Ernie Warner, and others whose names I don't recall worked as caddies through the late 1940's and early 1950's. 

Those were the good times. We always made good money for hauling those clubs around the course. On Saturdays and Sundays we made $2.00 a day or more. That was great money because we could go to the movies for 10 cents. Ice cream "double dip" was 5 cents and hamburgers were 10 cents at Roy's Lunch and Tucker's Lunch. Those were the days.  

 

James Taylor recalls many stories about the Miami Country club. He writes that the old cement building for caddies stood off to the right of hole #1. It was a block house with benches to offer shade. Caddies would wait until they were called, I believe Ernie, a Sr. Caddy in his thirties, managed them. However, I did caddy and spent a little time in that house. Mostly caddies played poker and gambled while waiting. Conversations were similar to the dialogue in the movie "Caddy Shack." 

James writes, when I was 14, I was going to the CC to practice and observed a dozen or more people grouped around someone hitting golf balls in the range next to hole #1. As I walked over there, I saw Ben Hogan hitting balls and watched him for 60 plus minutes hit seven irons to Ernie. Hogan's forearms were Popeye liked, and those shots were carrying about 155 yards or so. Erie hardly ever had to move other than a step and bend over to pick up the golf balls.

Another treat was when Hogan hit 25 or so shots with just his left arm. Those shots had the same trajectory and were 15-20 yards shorter than his normal shot. Hogan was a good friend with George Coleman, Jr.  George brought Ben to Miami more than once when he visited his mother. George is who also put together the four ball team of Hogan and Nelson that defeated the undefeated team of Ward and Venture as described in the book THE GREATEST MATCH EVER PLAYED by Mark Frost. 

James writes, Johnie Stapp and my father, Gob Taylor, were good friends. Once when I was caddying for John Robinson I overheard John F. and Johnie Stapp discussing activity at the dance at the Miami CC. It must have been a good story.

I also carried double at Southern Hills for Johnie and Doc Baron. Pat Temple and I went double for Johnie, Doc Baron, Jackie Meyers and Doc Jackson at Southern Hills when I was 14 years old and Pat Temple was 15. Southern Hills is hilly and a wonderful challenging course. I only recall I was totally exhausted after the round, going up and down those hills, as was Pat. Johnie took a little pity on us and as did the rest of the foursome and asked after the round if we could go another 18. I almost died at the question as the event was in July and 95 degrees with no wind, but then he just laughed and said, "Just kidding Jimmy" and I thanked the Lord. 

1953 October 7 mdnr  "Pros Women caddies in Paris"

The American Ryder cup golf team confessed to a man today that it is slightly nettled over one aspect of European golf. It is the women caddies.  The American Professionals are here for a match with a European all-star team from six countries. At the suburban St. Cloud golf course they discovered that women were used to carry clubs. Walter Buerkemo's caddy confided in him she's expecting the blessed event in about five months. 

"You know," said the Detroit pro, "I just feel like going up to her and saying, "Ma'am I'll carry that bag".

 

Bob Hill relates his memories of caddying for Ky Laffoon and Jackie Myers, local hustler. It was not uncommon for them to play 18 holes, for which Bob caddied double, then after winning or losing a large amount of money, they would head over to hole #1 and play the hustle game. 

On hole #1 they'd go to a spot on the hole, perhaps a 60 yard pitch or chip shot, throw out a dozen balls each and hit to see who got the closest to the hole. These were of $100+ bets (1950's). Then they'd walk over to hole #2 and perhaps throw down a dozen balls each in the bunker, and again play for who hit the closet shot to the pin. 

During the hustle game Ky would play with his Championship bag of clubs. The special bag contained 5-6 different types of clubs because he was superstitious, and kept only the clubs that he hit the best. In reality they were often the only clubs left in his bag after a round of golf. His temper cost him not only tournaments and money but it cost him many golf clubs (and gave golf historians many outlandish stories to tell.) 

Bob relates that during the hustle round of 9 holes in 3 1/2 hours he was required to keep score 11111,1111.  In the end Jackie Myers owed Ky $9.00

One year when Ky was visiting Miami course, he carried a MacGregor set of irons and copper plated inset on the grooves of each iron. 

Bob Hill retells caddying for Harvey Ward during the 1958 U.S. Open at Southern Hills. Ken Venturi also played in the practice  round group. (This is the same pairing from The Match by Frost.) Mike Souchak and Frank Stranahan were in the foursome with Ward and Venturi. Bob was 16 years old in 1958. *Stranahan was a very wealthy young man, who turned pro just so he could play with the pro's. He liked that level of golf. (read in a golf story.)

In order to learn how to caddy for a pro in the US Open, Bob and other men were required to go to caddy school for 6 weeks on a Monday in Tulsa. Bob's folks took him out of school and drove him to Tulsa to learn the rules that caddy's needed to know.

It seems that Harvey Ward and Ken Venturi were on the rolls as working for Eddie Lowry in his California car dealership, when in essence they never worked a lick, but Eddie paid for their amateur tournaments. Because this was illegal Harvey was forced to turn pro in 1958, Venturi had already turned pro. 

In the 1958 US Open Bob caddied for Ward on the practice round (Wednesday), then 18 on Thursday, 18 on Friday, and 36 on Saturday. $35,000 was the entire purse with the winner Tommy Bolt taking home $8000, and unknown man named Gary Player, placed 2nd.

 

Tommy Bolt, celebrating the win on hole #18. There is a skinny little kid in the background, Bob Hill. (pic posted on Facebook 3/30/22) Tommy Bolt, US Open Champion 1958

In the late 1950's Bob often traveled to Springdale, Arkansas for a big Pro-am with Doc Jackson, Johnie Stapp, Jackie Meyers, who was the gambler.

Charlie Dawson writes I worked in the golf shop with Johnie Stapp in the late 1950's and early 1960's. In my last event, Bob Dickson who went on to play the tour was in my threesome. Johnie arranged for me to caddy for Mickey Mantle and George Coleman, Jr. when they played at Miami CC. When Coleman left Miami to live in California he was connected with the celebrities out there. I think he was an investor in the Ben Hogan company. 

If it weren't for the role of caddying in the 1920's my father, the next professional to come to Miami, would never have learned the game of golf, nor learned a profession other than janitor, as his hands were twisted and scarred from serious burns he received in his early teens, while working on a car.  The doctor and nurse suggested that dad learn to hold a golf club as therapy, which then opened the door to golf courses and caddying. 

On a personal note:

 I recall caddies being regular hands at the golf course in Independence, Kansas when I would have been 3,4,5 (1951, 52, 53).  There were no gasoline golf carts, so the caddies carried one or two bags and perhaps used a push cart if the player requested. They were there from sunup to sundown and many an afternoon I played out back in the sand pile where the caddies sat around when they weren't working. I remember that they each had cigar boxes, some painted, most just labeled. Inside they kept their cash or other belongings. The cigar boxes were stored at the Bowling Alley when the caddy was working.  I watched them play marbles and tried my best to sit on pop bottles like they did.

My most fascinating memory was from the snakes and fishes in the big lake on the golf course, not far from our home or the putting green.  The boys, dad, and some of the members often fished in the lake. One day the caddies raked out a great long black snake and cut it open. In all of their excitement I left my home and ran down to the lake. There I discovered with my own eyes a number of rotten golf balls in the snake's belly. The balls don't digest, they just lay in the belly and rot!

*Note: As I finish this story on the role of the caddy, The Master's golf tournament is 'live on television' this week. The role of the caddy is immeasurable as we watch these men walk the six miles daily up and down the lush hills of Georgia. I hope some of our readers have had the opportunity to watch The Master's in person or another women's or men's professional golf tournament. Being in the crowd and watching this game live is incredible. 

**The story of Pappy Stokes, Grandfather of Caddies explains all of the roles that a caddy carries on his/her shoulders.