Streamsong Caddie fee

[mci711]

Simply put, I don't think we should be paying more than 100-150 to use a caddie service. That is my confusion. To me Fee= Resort, Tip = Caddie. Tip has always been 100-150, but obviously math says that is now $250 which would be unreal.

 

The key is to ask the caddie master how much of the fee is going to the caddie, so you can calculate back a reasonable tip (based on a ~$100/round benchmark).

 

The challenge is that there are so many different models in play - the one that bothers me most is when you play at a place where caddie fees are included in greens fees, and it's really hard to figure out what the guy's getting paid.

Why would you care? If the caddie fees are included in the green fee, then what the caddie receives is between them and management.

 

I think the confusion is with the choice of words; fee and tip. They are not the same thing. If I'm being charged a fee for a service, I'm assuming that does not include the tip, which is what others have stated. Clubs should just have a spot on their website with the recommended tip, and if someone does a better job, then by all means feel free to give more. This situation, and why golf doesn't have a universal tee box color is a peeve of mine.

Spot on.

[Togatown22]

[so YOU got the short end of the deal, and I'm confident the caddie couldn't have cared less. Double bagging is the worse for the player.

 

You keep saying this, but other guys here including me have had great experiences with a double looper. It clearly all comes down to the caddie themselves, and the effort and ability they have for you on that day. Not sure why all of your posts in this thread are about how much you dislike caddies when some of us are trying to get some helpful knowledge about how Streamsong runs their system for our upcoming trips.

[Pollie017]

I’ve walked there twice. The caddies keep everything from what I remember (I asked the caddy). It’s just a way to get more money.

[trgolfer02]

Don't like caddies and will never pay one, so if caddies are mandatory, I'll play somewhere else.

 

In fairness, I don't like carts, and if they're mandatory, I'll (likely) play somewhere else...

Yes so agree, I hate carts, love to walk and love the game. But I like caddies even less than carts, sorry but never had a good experience, especially those who double bag.

 

I typically agree w this completely. I've had so many rounds at great places that were negatively effected by a mandatory caddy. I could tell some stories. Most recently I had my caddy at a VERY high end club near Monterrey CA lose both my Pw and my 9i and it took maintenance a few days to locate. I ended up carrying my own bag for the last 3 holes (while he went back and searched) and then we took over an hour waking backwards on the course w the caddy looking for them after our round. Obviously we didn't find them. I was without both clubs for almost 3 weeks as they delayed shipping and then sent ground which took over a week to get back to me. Still had to pay this guy $160. Ridiculous. And that's not even close to the only story I have its just the last round I played w a caddy....

 

Conversely I had the same caddy every round for 4 years at my club and those were some of the most enjoyable rounds I've ever played. We got along great and he knew my game almost as well as I did. Too bad he had to go graduate high school and goto college!

 

A great caddy is a huge benefit but it's extremely rare imo to find at a resort or even playing unaccompanied at a high end club.

 

I'll be at Streamsong all day tomorrow and Tuesday and I'll be carrying my own bag.

 

Let’s hear your best caddie story!!!! Jk let’s not ;)

[jerebear21]

Just got done playing 36 today. First round was solo bag second was double. Same caddy. Not much degradation in service level. Fee structure was as advertised. Stated the rate when booking, in an email before arrival, and on a card when the caddy master handed me a feedback card before the first tee. It was all very straight forward and added to the experience. Getting a caddy again tomorrow for the blue course.

 

man you lucked out. I believe it was 80 degrees yesterday. I had the AC turned on in my orlando office. Should stay for the weekend; the NHL all star is this weekend in tampa bay alog with gaspirilla and mid 70s temperature.

[youraway2]

[so YOU got the short end of the deal, and I'm confident the caddie couldn't have cared less. Double bagging is the worse for the player.

 

You keep saying this, but other guys here including me have had great experiences with a double looper. It clearly all comes down to the caddie themselves, and the effort and ability they have for you on that day. Not sure why all of your posts in this thread are about how much you dislike caddies when some of us are trying to get some helpful knowledge about how Streamsong runs their system for our upcoming trips.

Yes you're right, my experiences should have remained mine. No more comments from me.

[portland]

Going in a few weeks. We are getting a forecaddie for our group. Website says $30 + tip/each if your group has 3 players. So, fair to give $40 each?

[Togatown22]

[so YOU got the short end of the deal, and I'm confident the caddie couldn't have cared less. Double bagging is the worse for the player.

 

You keep saying this, but other guys here including me have had great experiences with a double looper. It clearly all comes down to the caddie themselves, and the effort and ability they have for you on that day. Not sure why all of your posts in this thread are about how much you dislike caddies when some of us are trying to get some helpful knowledge about how Streamsong runs their system for our upcoming trips.

Yes you're right, my experiences should have remained mine. No more comments from me.

 

Well that's your choice. The thread is titled "Streamsong caddie fee". You have a handful of posts in the thread, none of which have anything to do with Streamsong caddies. Even if negative, if you have some experience related to the topic at hand, I'd like to be aware of it before I go to Streamsong.

[youraway2]

[so YOU got the short end of the deal, and I'm confident the caddie couldn't have cared less. Double bagging is the worse for the player.

 

You keep saying this, but other guys here including me have had great experiences with a double looper. It clearly all comes down to the caddie themselves, and the effort and ability they have for you on that day. Not sure why all of your posts in this thread are about how much you dislike caddies when some of us are trying to get some helpful knowledge about how Streamsong runs their system for our upcoming trips.

Yes you're right, my experiences should have remained mine. No more comments from me.

 

Well that's your choice. The thread is titled "Streamsong caddie fee". You have a handful of posts in the thread, none of which have anything to do with Streamsong caddies. Even if negative, if you have some experience related to the topic at hand, I'd like to be aware of it before I go to Streamsong.

Again, you're absolutely correct, I should not have added my comments about caddies.

[tiderider]

i went in summer of '16 and rode, but had to have a forecaddie ... we were a foursome ... the 'fee' was $50 ... can't remember if it was suggested or what, but he was up front after the round and said "it'll be $50, guys" ... didn't have an issue with it ...

[payerasjl]

Ill be going to SS at the end of the month, and have already requested single bag caddie. I expect to pay them more than the $100 suggested fee (not my resposability to figure out what % goes to resort and what to the looper) if their service is top notch.

 

Never have i heard "standard is 50%"... my club is walking only, no carts, caddies mandatory. I rarely if ever get near the 50%. More like 20% if they did great and i won some cash. If not the flat fee and a $20 does the trick.

[az2au]

Ill be going to SS at the end of the month, and have already requested single bag caddie. I expect to pay them more than the $100 suggested fee (not my resposability to figure out what % goes to resort and what to the looper) if their service is top notch.

 

Never have i heard "standard is 50%"... my club is walking only, no carts, caddies mandatory. I rarely if ever get near the 50%. More like 20% if they did great and i won some cash. If not the flat fee and a $20 does the trick.

It is very odd to me that you haven't heard that. I just looked it and used the following string to search Google: "what is the rule of thumb for caddie tips"

 

This leads to https://golficity.com/complete-guide-to-golf-tipping/

 

"Caddies. If you use a caddie (which some golf courses require), make sure you know the tipping protocol before your hire them for the day. ... Rule of thumb that most golfers go by is to tip the caddie at least 50% of the cost of the round"

 

It is a bit different at private clubs however. Two of my clubs have caddies that I use on a semi-regular basis. At one it is basically $100/player that is the norm and at the other it is $50+tip. Usually $75 in that case but exceptionally good or bad could vary it a bit.

[fairways4life]

Caddie tipping is tough because every course structures it differently. At some places you don't pay a caddie fee, you just simply tip. At other places you pay a caddie fee but tipping is discouraged. And other places you pay both a fee and a tip. Sometimes the caddie gets most of the fee, sometimes they get very little of it.

 

I always recommend just asking the caddie master or the pro shop what the recommended gratuity is because unfortunately there just is no "standard."

[raynorfan1]

Ill be going to SS at the end of the month, and have already requested single bag caddie. I expect to pay them more than the $100 suggested fee (not my resposability to figure out what % goes to resort and what to the looper) if their service is top notch.

 

Never have i heard "standard is 50%"... my club is walking only, no carts, caddies mandatory. I rarely if ever get near the 50%. More like 20% if they did great and i won some cash. If not the flat fee and a $20 does the trick.

 

"Caddies. If you use a caddie (which some golf courses require), make sure you know the tipping protocol before your hire them for the day. ... Rule of thumb that most golfers go by is to tip the caddie at least 50% of the cost of the round"

 

I've never heard of the "50%" standard either...a "standard" tip of 50% seems big to me, but 50% of the greens fee feels like you'd end up in a decent place everywhere except Shadow Creek/Pebble etc. (where 50% is too high).

 

I will say that in requesting a single bag, be prepared to be let down. At a place where doubles are the standard and where they try to match you up with the same caddie over multiple days (Streamsong), none of the caddies want to draw a single. Single bags end up with the trainees and guys in the caddie master's doghouse.

[payerasjl]

Ill be going to SS at the end of the month, and have already requested single bag caddie. I expect to pay them more than the $100 suggested fee (not my resposability to figure out what % goes to resort and what to the looper) if their service is top notch.

 

Never have i heard "standard is 50%"... my club is walking only, no carts, caddies mandatory. I rarely if ever get near the 50%. More like 20% if they did great and i won some cash. If not the flat fee and a $20 does the trick.

 

"Caddies. If you use a caddie (which some golf courses require), make sure you know the tipping protocol before your hire them for the day. ... Rule of thumb that most golfers go by is to tip the caddie at least 50% of the cost of the round"

 

I've never heard of the "50%" standard either...a "standard" tip of 50% seems big to me, but 50% of the greens fee feels like you'd end up in a decent place everywhere except Shadow Creek/Pebble etc. (where 50% is too high).

 

I will say that in requesting a single bag, be prepared to be let down. At a place where doubles are the standard and where they try to match you up with the same caddie over multiple days (Streamsong), none of the caddies want to draw a single. Single bags end up with the trainees and guys in the caddie master's doghouse.

 

been to bandon multiple times and always requested a single and had a great time. hoping for some more luck this time around at SS. Also helps that im going on a monday and tuesday so shouldnt be too busy.

[broth518]

we gave 110 a guy which included a 20 dollar tip per guy.

 

One our guys was terrible and I think he might have been drunk during our round!

[XJared]

If Streamsong caddies keep all the fee and tip as stated above, then assuming a 4 hour round, does anyone find $37.50 per hour ($150/round) high for the service? I haven't played it yet, so I'd like to hear justification either way as to the value.

[raynorfan1]

If Streamsong caddies keep all the fee and tip as stated above, then assuming a 4 hour round, does anyone find $37.50 per hour ($150/round) high for the service? I haven't played it yet, so I'd like to hear justification either way as to the value.

 

Yes. But you’ve got to think of it more as a “shift” than a hours worked. So the $150 isn’t really for just the four hours they lugged your bag, you’ve also got to take into account the time that they spent “standing ready” in the caddy shack, and the fact that they’re likely to get only one loop in a given day. And that day can be rained out or otherwise result in no loops.

 

In my mind, a dedicated, professional caddy should be able to earn high $40K / low $50k with a year of hard work. This is not unskilled labor.

[bvmagic]

I recently played the course with a forecaddie, and we paid him the fee + gratuity in cash to him after the round. The clubhouse we were only charged for the greens fee. He said the night before he received a text notifying him of the tee time, so there was no waiting around for him.

[payerasjl]

Long gone are the days of caddies waiting in the shack hoping to get a loop. These nice resorts email them ahead or text them letting them know they have been requested or paired with a group. The fees are almost entirely theirs most of the time. The suggested rate is there to facilitate things for the guest, not to make them estimate the caddies earnings per hour, per loop or yearly income.

 

More often than not, the suggested fee will be sufficient. Ive played at Kohler (Whistling Straits), Bandon, Sea Island, and many more resrts with caddies and have always tipped $20-30 more WHEN earned. Last time at bandon i had the best caddie ive ever had and gave him an extra $50 at the end of our four days (after paying $120/$125) per round and i know he appreciated it and thought it was sufficient.

[fairways4life]

Long gone are the days of caddies waiting in the shack hoping to get a loop. These nice resorts email them ahead or text them letting them know they have been requested or paired with a group. The fees are almost entirely theirs most of the time. The suggested rate is there to facilitate things for the guest, not to make them estimate the caddies earnings per hour, per loop or yearly income.

 

More often than not, the suggested fee will be sufficient. Ive played at Kohler (Whistling Straits), Bandon, Sea Island, and many more resrts with caddies and have always tipped $20-30 more WHEN earned. Last time at bandon i had the best caddie ive ever had and gave him an extra $50 at the end of our four days (after paying $120/$125) per round and i know he appreciated it and thought it was sufficient.

 

You'd be surprised. Caddies at Pinehurst still sit around (in a tiny, dingy and smelly basement room no less) waiting for a bag, sometimes for hours. And sometimes they'll wait around for hours and not get anything and go home empty handed.

 

There are always walk-on players looking for a caddie and players who did not reserve a caddie but decide at the last minute that they want one. So the resort still has to staff some guys in the caddie room to hang around for those instances.

 

As far as the fees, they get roughly half. That differs everywhere though.

[fairways4life]

If Streamsong caddies keep all the fee and tip as stated above, then assuming a 4 hour round, does anyone find $37.50 per hour ($150/round) high for the service? I haven't played it yet, so I'd like to hear justification either way as to the value.

 

Yes. But you've got to think of it more as a "shift" than a hours worked. So the $150 isn't really for just the four hours they lugged your bag, you've also got to take into account the time that they spent "standing ready" in the caddy shack, and the fact that they're likely to get only one loop in a given day. And that day can be rained out or otherwise result in no loops.

 

In my mind, a dedicated, professional caddy should be able to earn high $40K / low $50k with a year of hard work. This is not unskilled labor.

 

I can't say whether or not the caddies keep the full fee at Streamsong. At most places they do not (otherwise the course isn't making any money off the caddie service) but I'm sure it may be the case at some places.

 

$30 per hour would be more accurate as you're likely looking at more like 5 hours (resort course where rounds are typically longer plus range time before the round). And that day might also include a couple hours of waiting around in the morning to get a bag and another hour of waiting around after the loop if there's afternoon play.

 

It can be a good gig and you can make some great money on some days (especially when going out twice). But some days you don't make a dime and go home with a net loss after gas money is factored in.

 

As far as the yearly income goes, your estimation is accurate if (and only if) the caddie travels (which means going up north in the summer and down south in the winter). If you just stay in one place all year and don't follow the money, you're looking at 30-35k tops. The only possible exception I could see there is maybe Pebble and perhaps even Bandon. I'm guessing Pebble doesn't really have an off-season and I'm not familiar with what Bandon's off-season looks like. But on the east coast, loops go according to the season.

[iamthebeard]

Which is why I’m so surprised. That’s even stated as part of their policy even from the very beginning.

 

It’s one caddie per riding group, not cart.

 

If you wanted one caddy per cart I hope you paid the guy more than 50$

[OutBackHack]

Long gone are the days of caddies waiting in the shack hoping to get a loop. These nice resorts email them ahead or text them letting them know they have been requested or paired with a group. The fees are almost entirely theirs most of the time. The suggested rate is there to facilitate things for the guest, not to make them estimate the caddies earnings per hour, per loop or yearly income.

 

More often than not, the suggested fee will be sufficient. Ive played at Kohler (Whistling Straits), Bandon, Sea Island, and many more resrts with caddies and have always tipped $20-30 more WHEN earned. Last time at bandon i had the best caddie ive ever had and gave him an extra $50 at the end of our four days (after paying $120/$125) per round and i know he appreciated it and thought it was sufficient.

 

That first paragraph is entirely incorrect. You have no idea what you are talking about.

[ssf301]

I am heading to Streamsong next week and this thread has been helpful (once you weed out the garbage). I called down there and the SS caddies get 100% of the suggested $100 fee. So your "tip" on top of that needs to be to get them to where you want them to be for the quality they provide. I've never been a big fan of double bagging and I've rarely had a good experience with it, but it is what it is. For a double bag I'll be hard pressed to do much more than $120, for a single I'd be willing to do more for good service.

 

Caddies can be such a crap shoot in my experience. When you get a good one it can really enhance your experience. When you get a bad one it can ruin it. I've had a few instances where I almost paid the guy to go away. Thankfully it doesn't happen too often.

 

What does happen often is I can read the greens better than they can and I call them off from green reading after a few holes, but that doesn't bother me too much. I've also had a few caddies try to "club me" instead of just giving me yardage and I stop that pretty quick (especially when its windy) as they don't know whether I'm wanting to hit it low or high or cut it or draw it or swing 3/4 or full, etc. It would take a caddy many, many rounds to get familiar enough with me to "club me". I guess it's not the same for all golfers.

 

I had one at Whistling a few years ago who was reading the greens the same way I was (as he paid attention to the pace I typically hit my putts) and he would always give me front-middle-back & pin yardage along with tips on elevation and green slope on approach shots. He never suggested a club. He was an absolute joy to play a round with.

[pinhigh27]

Lol caddie making 50k.. Maybe at absolute elite places where they travel in winter. Anywhere else not even close..

 

 

[raynorfan1]

> @pinhigh27 said:

> Lol caddie making 50k.. Maybe at absolute elite places where they travel in winter. Anywhere else not even close..

>

 

I think it’s pretty typical for a hardworking caddie in the Northeast. We have an 8 month season; $250 a day is $1,500 a week times 34 weeks is $51,000 in cash. Not an ‘easy’ job, but doable.

 

 

[jerebear21]

> @iamthebeard said:

> (Quote)

>

>

>

>

> It’s one caddie per riding group, not cart.

>

>

>

> If you wanted one caddy per cart I hope you paid the guy more than 50$

 

This:

 

 

 

[pinhigh27]

> @raynorfan1 said:

> > @pinhigh27 said:

> > Lol caddie making 50k.. Maybe at absolute elite places where they travel in winter. Anywhere else not even close..

> >

>

> I think it’s pretty typical for a hardworking caddie in the Northeast. We have an 8 month season; $250 a day is $1,500 a week times 34 weeks is $51,000 in cash. Not an ‘easy’ job, but doable.

>

>

 

And your caddies are booked solid every day in April or October in the northeast?

[raynorfan1]

> @pinhigh27 said:

> > @raynorfan1 said:

> > > @pinhigh27 said:

> > > Lol caddie making 50k.. Maybe at absolute elite places where they travel in winter. Anywhere else not even close..

> > >

> >

> > I think it’s pretty typical for a hardworking caddie in the Northeast. We have an 8 month season; $250 a day is $1,500 a week times 34 weeks is $51,000 in cash. Not an ‘easy’ job, but doable.

> >

> >

>

> And your caddies are booked solid every day in April or October in the northeast?

 

Our “A” caddies get out at least once every day. There are, of course, a few rainouts, but there are also plenty of days the guys do double loops too.