We’ve seen Jim “Bones’ Mackay, Steve Williams, and Joe LaCava on TV for years looping for golf’s best players. Sometimes they get almost as much air time as the player it seems. But what does a middle of the pack caddie make on the various Tours?
Understandably those on the PGA Tour would figure to make the most based on the large size of the purses, but what kind of range are we talking about?
Well for starters, most pay for their own expenses and have a baseline of what they’ll make at a PGA Tour event that week.
“I think 2,000 a week is pretty average, but everything is worked out between you and the player,” veteran caddie of over 25 years Brennan Little said. “After a few years you’ll get a raise. Or you’ll get bonuses at the end of the year. It just varies by the player. I think generally if you were looking for a number it would be $2,000 a week, and then 7 to 8 percent and 10 percent.”
The latter two figures represent 7 percent of whatever the player earns that week (sometimes it’s 8 percent) and then 10 percent for a win.
“It’s not something that a lot of us discuss often, except for my close friends. I know what they make,” Little said.
But isn’t that what it’s like for us in the real (non-golf) world as well? Discussing our salaries in casual conversations is not something that exactly rolls off the tongue over a pint of beer. Now job security in the caddie world isn’t exactly as solid as other professions most of us may have, so how do these caddies deal with the variables thrown at them? For starters, it’s not easy, but Little shares this advice.
“I think in this business you’re going to have ups and downs, whether your player goes on a bad streak or whatever it is. But you have to manage your money.”
And that goes as well when your player gets injured.
“If a guy is hurt for a couple of months, if you want to find another job for a couple of weeks I’d say you probably could. Some guys don’t have full-time guys, some players change,” Little said. “Chris Kirk is moving around,…
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