The players gathered around the table in the locker room enjoying refreshments and settling the afternoon’s wagers. Foremost’s mind was wandering. Although he had won a few dollars with his team, it was hard to enjoy the victory since he hadn’t been allowed to keep score. (The other team was justified in wanting to handle the scoring after discovering F had given them a best ball 7 on a hole on which they had scored a birdie 3).

A passerby asked the players if a Rules violation had occurred. “No,” someone answered. “Pretty solid golf all around …no issues.” But F had a nagging concern in the back of his mind…

Facts

It was scorching hot outside, so blaming his knees, F had elected to ride while the rest of the group walked. Caddies N and C split the carry bags with one carrying two bags on the front nine, and the other swapping and carrying two bags on the back nine. Both caddies assisted F from time to time — raking bunkers (often); giving yardages; and reading putts. They seemed to be swapping bunker and flag duties from hole to hole.

Assistance in reading putts from two different caddies was F’s concern, a concern which he quietly voiced to opposing team member, TM. “Isn’t there a rule that a player can only use one caddie?”

“I want my money back,” said TM.

Issue

May a player take advice from different caddies during a round? Must a player declare who his caddy is, if there is a division by the caddies of responsibilities?

Ruling

A”Caddie” is “one who assists the player in accordance with the Rules…” (See Def).

F is confident a player can use two caddies during a round. He recalls an experience years ago of Reader RR who was following Brandt Snedeker playing with Mathias Gronberg at the St. Jude’s Classic in Memphis. Gronberg erupted after the Caddie misclubbed him on the 4th hole. Gronberg fired him on the spot, and looked at the gallery and asked if anyone wanted to carry his bag. Reader RR, although recovering from a night at the Rendevous and the dogtrack and other venues, raised his hand and was handed the bag. His instructions from Gronberg were clear. “Don’t go anywhere near the greens.”*

Indeed, a player may use more than one Caddie, provided however, he uses only one Caddie at a time.(R6-4). Further, he is entitled to receive advice from the Caddie he is using at the time. (Dec 6-4/7).(But note, players could not briefly swap caddies solely for the purpose of exchanging advice. See, Dec 8-1/26, citing Equity).

F finds, therefore, that his accepting advice from a single different caddie on different greens as to the break of the greens during a stipulated round is not a violation as long as the rotation of the caddies was by their agreement and not at his own insistence, and the other Caddie was not engaged at the time in his behalf.

The result might be different, however, if both caddies had actually assisted F on the same hole. In Dec 6-4/2, a friend who simply transported a player by driving him in a cart was deemed to be his “Caddie” even though the friend performed no other functions of a Caddie.

F would acknowledge that on certain holes one Caddie might have raked the bunker after his play from said bunker, while another Caddie helped read his putt on the green. Certainly, a Caddie holding the rake (See Def, “equipment”) during F’s shot would be deemed to be F’s Caddie at the time. (See further, Def. “Caddie”), as would the other Caddie reading the putt.

If, in fact, that happened (with apologies to TM, F regrets his faulty memory), F would have to conclude that he did violate the “one Caddie” rule, and should have been subject to a two-stroke penalty on each occurrence in stroke play.**

As usual, all comments and corrections are welcome!

Respectfully submitted,
F

*For the record, RR says it was a 100 degrees in Memphis that day; he was carrying a Rodney Dangerfield-size bag; and he badly wanted a cold beer, so he quit at the turn. He said he had made one feeble attempt at conversation, asking Gronberg if he knew Tiger’s wife who was also from Sweden. Gronberg said he did not. “Why would I know her? There are 17 million people in Sweden.”

(See, RR historical note, Sports Illustrated article attached).

** The Penalty for using more than one Caddie is a graduated penalty like using too many clubs