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"Eighteen holes of match play will teach you more about your foe than nineteen years of dealing with him across the desk. " |
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 But he hasn't hit a shot in those circumstances. He's watched, counseled, replaced divots, scoped out yardages, given advice when asked and done a lot of heavy lifting. He's a caddie, which, like any job, has its highs and lows. "You don't grow up to be a caddie," said Kerr, who lives in San Clemente and will be caddying for Fuzzy Zoeller this month at Champions Tour events in Newport Beach and Valencia. "But when you pursue this life, you get to travel around the country - around the world - and watch guys play an amazing caliber of golf." The key to success? "Have a good pro," said Kerr, who has looped for players such as Payne Stewart, Fred Couples, Sandy Lyle and Jose Maria Olazabal. "If he's successful, you're successful." Then he added this glum nugget: "Also, show up, shut up and keep up, which are instructions Hubert Green often gives." I recently invited Kerr to Woodland Hills Country Club for lunch and golf. His love for playing instead of watching was evident as we got ready to tee off on the first hole. "Will you look at how this hole sets up?" he said. "This is beautiful. I love this kind of traditional, old golf course. I can always tell where to hit it." Of course, that's his job. But after he crushed his first drive over the huge oak tree that drapes the left side of the fairway, I knew I was in trouble. Our foursome included Dan Moore, a caddie-friend of Kerr's, and Paul Lester, a friend of mine who photographs certain PGA Tour events and charity tournaments. On the first green I left myself a 50-foot putt that I steamrolled 15 feet past the cup. "You got all of that!" quipped Kerr, who quickly added: "Now there's something I could never say to my pro or it would be the last thing I said." The main things I learned from our round was that caddies indeed say very little unless asked, and that the life of a successful looper isn't as glamorous as I thought. Of all the players Kerr has worked with, he said Zoeller, whom he has known for 25 years, is the most pleasurable on and off the course. "Pros can have two distinctively different personalities, and many times they are much more pleasant off the course" Kerr said. "But Fuzzy, in every way, is a great guy, whether you're drinking with him, fishing with him or hunting with him." So are there some all-day pain-in-the-rears out there? "Well, it wouldn't be fair to single out just one guy," Kerr said. "They are all capable of bad behavior playing under the extreme pressure they are." But there also is pressure on certain caddies, who have to pay for travel to events and often don't secure a job until the week of a tournament. And while the high-tech industry has made some things easier, caddies are still responsible for making their own arrangements, which are often done at the last minute. "It used to be a real hassle, but not since the Internet," Kerr said. "We've got a guy named Harry who's a wiz at working travel websites like Priceline. We tell him where we need to be and when and he does everything." Until caddies develop a reputation or secure a job with a player on a regular basis, some have to play the waiting game like they're temporary workers. "You'd see a half-dozen caddies hanging around the parking lot looking a lot like day laborers," Kerr said about some stops in previous years. "A pro would show up and he'd be surrounded by guys trying to catch on." Kerr remembers using a bait-and-switch technique on occasion to secure a job for the week. "I'd be talking with the guys and someone would ask, 'You got a loop?' I'd say, 'Yeah, I've got Tom Purtzer.' Then when Purtzer showed up, no one approached him," Kerr said. "I'd just saddle up along side and say, 'Hey, Tom, how about you and me this week?' It usually worked." Luckily for Kerr, he's got a good relationship with Zoeller, which leads to steady work and some great perks. One of which is the Masters. "It's a 10 in every capacity," Kerr said about Augusta National. "Let's say you have a vintage bottle of wine and the first year you buy 20 bottles. Each year you drink a bottle. When you get to the 20th one and you taste it, it tastes better than the first. That's Augusta." But rating his job a 10 is still difficult for Kerr to do. "A caddie is always one shot away from being fired," he said. Kerr is lucky, though. He's respected in the business and knows his place in the pecking order. "The three things that don't last long," he said, "are dogs that chase cars, pros who shoot pars and caddies who think they are stars." Eric Tracy is also known as The Mulligan Man. He can be reached at eric@themulliganman.com. |
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