Tobacco Road Caddies

[Buj]

Has anyone booked a caddie for a round at TR recently? We had a great looper through Caddiewalk a few years ago but from their site, it looks like they are no longer in business 

[ND2005]

No caddies available as of this year, unless something has changed in the past ~6 months 

[dbornack]

I believe it's the same company that runs the caddies for Midpines, or at least it was last year.  Which.. is Caddiewalk.  Maybe just give them a call?  Seems they're still in business for Midpines, etc.

[Drwoods2017]

Not sure if you've played tobacco road recently but they have GPS on the carts now. I think they probably don't want caddies out there anymore.

[dbornack]

Just now, Drwoods2017 said:

Not sure if you've played tobacco road recently but they have GPS on the carts now. I think they probably don't want caddies out there anymore.

Which is really too bad.  IMO that ruins it for a lot of first-timers.

[Drwoods2017]

1 minute ago, dbornack said:

Which is really too bad.  IMO that ruins it for a lot of first-timers.

Yeah I'm starting to lose my love for that course. Every time we play out there the round is super long.  They've also stopped doing a lot of the cool tournaments and things that they used to.  It's a far cry from where it was even 2 years ago.  

[dbornack]

4 minutes ago, Drwoods2017 said:

Yeah I'm starting to lose my love for that course. Every time we play out there the round is super long.  They've also stopped doing a lot of the cool tournaments and things that they used to.  It's a far cry from where it was even 2 years ago.  

I quit after 9 last time because it was so slow.  3 hours.  

[Drwoods2017]

6 minutes ago, dbornack said:

I quit after 9 last time because it was so slow.  3 hours.  

It gets too many rounds also. A few of those par 3 tee boxes and beat up.  It's in danger of going the way tot hill farm is.

[ND2005]

22 minutes ago, dbornack said:

I believe it's the same company that runs the caddies for Midpines, or at least it was last year.  Which.. is Caddiewalk.  Maybe just give them a call?  Seems they're still in business for Midpines, etc.

yes it used to be that company. I called them and they said after TR upgraded their carts they ditched the caddie program. 

[dbornack]

2 minutes ago, Drwoods2017 said:

It gets too many rounds also. A few of those par 3 tee boxes and beat up.  It's in danger of going the way tot hill farm is.

For pulling in $6,000 an hour via tee times alone($250ish x4x6 times an hour), that's crazy to me that that could happen.  Tot Hill charges like $60?  

 

They really need to start enforcing pace of play when you check in, on the first tee, and out on the course.  Needs to be more enjoyable.  I still consider that place heaven.... for now.

[dbornack]

1 minute ago, ND2005 said:

yes it used to be that company. I called them and they said after TR upgraded their carts they ditched the caddie program. 

Damn..  so that's it then.  Hah

[Drwoods2017]

1 minute ago, dbornack said:

For pulling in $6,000 an hour via tee times alone($250ish x4x6 times an hour), that's crazy to me that that could happen.  Tot Hill charges like $60?  

 

They really need to start enforcing pace of play when you check in, on the first tee, and out on the course.  Needs to be more enjoyable.  I still consider that place heaven.... for now.

I think the owner realizes that he can do it and get away with it.  People will still travel to it because it is an awesome course.  They had really cool events but that required shutting down the course for a day so he got rid of them.  The cross country event was one of the coolest things you could ever do.  The tough day event made the course feel completely different than it normally plays.  You go in the pro shop and theres nothing really in there either. Its just taken a major step back for a course ranked a top 100 public course in the country. So much so that I'd rather go play pine needles or mid pines.

[dbornack]

1 minute ago, Drwoods2017 said:

I think the owner realizes that he can do it and get away with it.  People will still travel to it because it is an awesome course.  They had really cool events but that required shutting down the course for a day so he got rid of them.  The cross country event was one of the coolest things you could ever do.  The tough day event made the course feel completely different than it normally plays.  You go in the pro shop and theres nothing really in there either. Its just taken a major step back for a course ranked a top 100 public course in the country. So much so that I'd rather go play pine needles or mid pines.

They still do a couple of events per year, and some of them are in their early stages, only having been done a few times so far, invitationals, etc.  

 

Nothing in the Pro Shop?  I go there probably twice a year on average, and I never leave there without a few things.  They do releases once every month or two as well.  Not sure when the last time was that you were there, but things are pretty good in that aspect.  

 

Their head pro quit maybe 3-4 months ago too.  Maybe things are changing again for the good.  We'll see.

[vandyfan]

36 minutes ago, dbornack said:

Which is really too bad.  IMO that ruins it for a lot of first-timers.

 

I walked it with a friend and it was the first time for both of us. I mapped it on Google Earth Pro since I had heard there were a few blind shots. Ending up shooting one of the lowest rounds of my life that day (not a brag just showing that the course isn't THAT crazy). While I can see how a caddy is additive I think if you do a little work on the front end (especially on #16) it isn't THAT difficult to figure out the first time. 

[dbornack]

7 minutes ago, vandyfan said:

 

I walked it with a friend and it was the first time for both of us. I mapped it on Google Earth Pro since I had heard there were a few blind shots. Ending up shooting one of the lowest rounds of my life that day (not a brag just showing that the course isn't THAT crazy). While I can see how a caddy is additive I think if you do a little work on the front end (especially on #16) it isn't THAT difficult to figure out the first time. 

 

16 is probably the biggest example of looking crazy, but all the room in the world to land the ball safely.  I suppose, even with the GPS, your eyes still don't trust it all the way so you still get the experience a bit.  I know the course like the back of my hand now, and I still love going there every time.

[jc2]

I never played there with a caddie, but can definitely see where one would make the round more enjoyable for a first timer.  @vandyfanis right, it's not that crazy but when you don't know the course it seems that way.  I read somewhere that Mike Strantz had a philosophy that shots should look much harder than they are, or much easier than they are.  And you can see that in the course, and here is a lot you can't tell from the GPS like where to play shots to get the rolls that take you closer to the hole.  I played with a first timer 2 weeks ago who could hit it wherever I told him to, and the amount of birdies he made having never seen the course was astounding.  

 

I used to play there 10-15 times per year as part of the membership card they had.  Considering the 1 hour drive each way and 5 to 5.5 hour round I just couldn't justify it.  I still go every now and then and enjoy it but it's not worth it to go more than that.  It's not a $200 course IMO

[Drwoods2017]

36 minutes ago, dbornack said:

They still do a couple of events per year, and some of them are in their early stages, only having been done a few times so far, invitationals, etc.  

 

Nothing in the Pro Shop?  I go there probably twice a year on average, and I never leave there without a few things.  They do releases once every month or two as well.  Not sure when the last time was that you were there, but things are pretty good in that aspect.  

 

Their head pro quit maybe 3-4 months ago too.  Maybe things are changing again for the good.  We'll see.

They canceled both the Dyad and no news on the augean this year. Last few times I've been in the pro shop which is twice this year they had bad birdies polos and not much else.  Might be a supply chain issue. Who knows

 

[dbornack]

2 hours ago, Drwoods2017 said:

They canceled both the Dyad and no news on the augean this year. Last few times I've been in the pro shop which is twice this year they had bad birdies polos and not much else.  Might be a supply chain issue. Who knows

 

They canceled the Dyad????  WTF.  That's exactly what I was talking about.  I've had a standing invite to that and haven't been able to make it yet.  And yeah, It's August, isn't it.  Ugh.

[Buj]

Thanks everyone, very helpful. A shame they did away with caddies, I know you can get around without one but we found our guy was very additive to our round and trip overall. 

 

Sounds like Caddiewalk may still be operable for Mid Pines and Pine Needles? 

[Drwoods2017]

4 minutes ago, dbornack said:

They canceled the Dyad????  WTF.  That's exactly what I was talking about.  I've had a standing invite to that and haven't been able to make it yet.  And yeah, It's August, isn't it.  Ugh.

Yup my partner and I won it last year and were really excited to go back and do it again because its an awesome event.  We got an email saying they weren't doing it and weren't sure when it would return.