Caddying Research Paper

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Outline

I – Overview

II – Background

III – Personal Interest

IV – Field Research

V – Literature Review

VI – Analysis

VII – Recommendations

VIII – Source List

I – Overview

Caddying is a service that can be traced all the way back to game of golf’s inception in the

fifteenth century. It is considered to be an essential aspect of the game as professionals,

amateurs and most importantly country club members utilize it on a consistent basis. Just

about every Long Island country club provides a caddie service for their members and

there are very little differences in regards to the way the caddies are assigned to their

groups and how they are ultimately paid. Despite this known uniformity of caddying

systems across various country clubs, there is definitely a problem that exists pertaining to

the procedure involving how a caddie generates his/her income. After gaining much insight

through surveys, interviews and Internet research, I have not only determined that the

current system is flawed, but also have developed a possible solution and recommendation

to remedy the issue.

II – Background

“Kid, I’ve been at this place for almost forty years and have seen very little change in the

caddying system. You get assigned to your group then get paid at the end. That’s about all

there is to it” (Horowitz, 11/12/13). Richie Horowitz, veteran caddie at the Glen Head

Country Club, backs up my claim that the caddying system is uniform and shows very

little signs of future change. At the Glen Head Country Club in Glen Head, NY, all caddies

are expected to arrive at 7:15 AM. Upon arrival, each caddie is expected to check in with

the caddie master and then wait in the caddie shack until called upon. Once assigned to a

group by the caddie master, the caddie performs his/her service on the golf course and then

receives payment from the members in the form of a cash only tip. There is no hourly

wage made for the time they spend waiting and the members are permitted to tip the

caddies any amount they deem necessary for the service they provided.

There is also evidence of some discrimination that occurs based on a particular caddie’s

ability and years of experience. Although there is no predetermined order set for when

each caddie will get out, there is clearly factors of seniority that come into play when the

caddie master assigns the caddies. Through my experience caddying, I have noticed that

the caddies that have been employed at the club for many seasons tend to get out earlier

and more often than newer caddies that have yet to establish their service as effective to

the club members. On top of this, the less experienced caddies are typically assigned to

less favorable groups such as older members, less-skilled golfers and the known stingy

tippers. Caddying for a less-skilled golfer only leads to more work for the caddie as they

spend more time raking bunkers and searching for lost balls as opposed to quickly locating

them on the fairways and greens.

At first, my plan was to devote my research towards finding a solution to this apparent

younger caddie discrimination. However, after learning that this system of seniority is

implemented at most Long Island country clubs I decided that any solution I came up with

would most likely not be very feasible. It was at this point in my research process that I

decided to find a solution to a different and more important problem, the ways in which a

caddie is paid.

My proposed solution for this problem was to establish an hourly wage in which caddies

would be compensated for the time they spent waiting to get out. On top of this, I would

also like to implement a “tip floor” or, in other words, a minimum amount that the member

is required to tip to prevent the caddie from not making money for the day. Although most

members understand the typical tip amounts, there have been instances in which I have

seen a caddie get paid very little or even not at all for the service he provided. In order to

determine the exact values I would like to propose, I created surveys and conducted

interviews with different members of the system such as the caddies, the caddie master and

the country club members. I thought it was necessary to get a gauge on everyone’s

opinion on the matter before arbitrarily assigning values myself.

Because caddying is a service that relies on tipping, I also devoted some of my research

towards learning about the labor laws that are involved in tipping industries similar to

caddying. By learning about the laws that pertain to these jobs, I was able to propose what

I believe would be the most feasible values for my solution.

III – Personal Interest

Not only have I been an avid golfer since my early childhood, but I have also been

employed as a caddie at Glen Head Country Club for the past two summers. Over this time

I have used my knowledge of the game and communication skills to develop strong

relationships with my caddie master and some of the members, which has prioritized me

over many of the other caddies. Having said that, there was a period of time during that

first season that I was affected by the problems mentioned above. There were many

occasions that I would wait hours on end just to get paired with an unfavorable group or

potentially not get out at all. I think it is very important to come up with a solution to this