The Green Road Home

I just finished reading The Green Road Home: Adventures and Misadventures as a Caddie on the PGA Tour by Michael Bamberger. Today, Bamberger is a senior writer for Sports Illustrated, but in 1985, at the age of 24, he had left a budding journalism career to experience the vagabond life of a PGA Tour caddie. Bamberger is probably best known for being the reporter who questioned a drop Michelle Wie took in the third round of the 2005 Samsung World Championship--her first tournament as a professional--which led to her disqualification. He is also the creator of the e-club, which looked like a small fairway wood head mounted on a putter for use in chipping around the greens. But in The Green Road Home, Bamberger gives an interesting view of Tour life from the often anonymous men who tote those large staff weeks week after week.

With his savings of $5,000, Bamberger, who also served as golf writer for The Philadelphia Inquirer from 1986-1995, gave himself six months to try to make it as a Tour caddie. He began his caddie career by writing to three golfers asking if he could caddie for them. One of them, Randy Erskine, responded and Bamberger's adventure began. Over the next six months he caddied for Brad Faxon, Al Geiberger, George Archer, Steve Elkington (in the Dutch Open, the Aussie's first tournament as a professional), along with lesser known players such as Billy Britton, Larry Rentz and Jamie Howell. In 1985, only the star players had regular caddies. Many players often switched from tournament to tournament.

Bamberger takes us through the long drives between tour stops, the cheap hotels and fast food, as well as the anxiety of arriving at a tournament with a guaranteed "bag" for the week. On a few occasions, Bamberger did what other caddies did when they didn't have a "bag"--he worked as a spotter for CBS' broadcast or drove a shuttle van at The Memorial Tournament.

Although a short read, it was very enjoyable as Bamberger shines the spotlight on the colorful characters who we often only see carrying the bag down the fairway or walking across the green to tend the flag on our televisions. I highly recommend this book as a short summer read.

Who's Your Caddy

Sports Illustrated columnist Rick Reilly gives a unique look into what it takes to serve as a pack mule, psychologist, confident, coach, and even travel agent -- inotherwords, a caddy -- to the best golfers in the world in his book, Who's Your Caddy? Looping for the Great, Near Great, and Retrobates of Golf. Reilly convinced such golfers as Tommy Aaron, Jack Nicklaus, John Daly, Tom Lehman, David Duval, Casey Martin, and Jill McGill, as well as business tycoon Donald Trump, spiritualist Deepak Chopra, gambler Dewey Tomko, comedian Bob Newhart and blind golfer Bob Andrews to let him loop for them in every thing from The Masters to a PGA event to a course opening to a high-stakes betting match to a casual round. In his own entertaining style, Reilly finds out what it is like to lug a staff bag around 18 holes while trying to meet the wishes, needs and requirements of his golfer, while trying to take notes and ask questions at the same time. There are some very funny moments in the book. Like when Jack Nicklaus advised, while Reilly was caddying for him at the opening of the Nicklaus-designed The Summit at Cordillera in Vail, Colorado, "Don't quit your regular job." Imagine Reilly's surprise when he shows up at Jill McGill's motel room and her caddy answers the door while McGill comes out of the shower wrapped in a towel. Or when John Daly revealed to Reilly why he is known as "Long John" not only for how far he hits a golf ball. And learn why high-stakes golf gamblers carry as many clubs as they want and put gobs of Vasoline on the their clubfaces. This book is a very entertaining, light short read that I highly recommend for all golf fans.