Bandon Caddy Experience

[johnnylongball]

Thought I'd share this story to get a little feedback from all the experts on the forum.

 

Went to Bandon last month for a 4-day trip. Our first 18 was in the afternoon at Old Mac and we play the round with this caddy I'll call Fred and don't really hit it off. Fred was ok, but didn't really impress us either. And trust me, we aren't that demanding. I'd give the guy a C+. One of the main reasons we didn't like Fred is he said this was only his 2nd season there and his course knowledge left a little to be desired.

 

As most of you probably know, Bandon's policy is to pair you with the same caddy for the duration of your stay, provided the guest is ok with that. We discussed it among ourselves after the round and decided to get a different caddy for our next round the following morning. We resquested a more senior caddy and they give us Kevin who had been there for about 10 years. We liked him a lot and kept him the next 3 days. I'd definitely recommend him if you are planning a trip there.

 

The "rest of the story" occurs the next day after our round at Trails. Fred knew when we were scheduled to play the next morning because he was planning to work for us until the caddymaster told him otherwise. As luck would have it, he looped for a group that was about 30 minutes behind us on Trails because we saw him coming up 18 as we were having lunch in the clubhouse. The surprising part was when Fred came into the clubhouse during our lunch and asked us what the problem was. He wasn't really confrontational about it, but as you would guess it wasn't a very comfortable conversation either. We just told him we wanted to try someone else and see if we liked the new guy better or not.

 

We never said anything to Bandon management but I can't believe they would want him doing this type of thing. Maybe he never got fired before and was sincerely wanting to know what he did that bothered us.

 

Does anyone have any thoughts they'd like to share on this story? Ever have a similar thing happen? Do you think he was really out of line?

 

Like I said, at the beginning of my post, it's a funny story we tell now, but it wasn't really enjoyable when it happened.

[Marrrk]

i'm shocked he came up to you guys. if he's relatively new he has to be expecting this to happen from time to time. it's a tough situation, for sure. but it sounds like you handled it as well as you could.

plus, let's be honest, for the amount of money you paid to be there, you deserve the best possible service you can get.

[QMany]

That had to be a weird experience.

I'm going to give this guy a little benefit of the doubt. Maybe he really enjoyed the time you guys had the day before and was just coming up to see what's up. I don't know. It is hard to infer his intentions for the questioning. Maybe he genuinely wanted to know if he did something wrong in order improve his service in the future. It doesn't sound like he was too confrontational about it.

Just playing devil's advocate here. I know that was probably really uncomfortable for you, but maybe it just came off wrong on his part.

[DLiver]

You know, I admire the caddy for wanting to find out what was wrong so he could do his job better, but boy that had to be uncomfortable for you. It must have been especially hard for you being put on the spot like that. If you had some warning, perhaps you could have figured out how to point out his shortcomings tactfully. But to go to BD, pay a lot of dough and then have something like that come up must have sucked.

It sounds like you handled it well.

[kharmon]

You should have told him the truth about why you wanted to change. Simply put, you wanted a more experienced greens reader for the rest of your rounds.

[kharmon]

I was with a group of 8 guys recently and we played 36 holes per day over our 3 days at Bandon Dunes. We played Bandon Dunes and Pacific Dunes twice each and Old McDonald and Bandon Trails once each.

We researched for the best caddies and we were certainly not dissappointed. We reserved John the Baptist, Tim Tucker, Dave and Todd for all of our rounds. All 4 guys carried doubles for us each round, each day.

I was fortunate to have JB on my bag for half of my rounds and Dave for the other half. I must say, JB was the best caddie I have ever experienced. He totally knew all 4 courses, all greens and all yardages, plus the amount of wind to accurately recommend the correct club for every shot. Dave was equally great as well. They also understood our money games and really were part of your team making every effort to help you win your match and win the money!

The best part was, we really got to know each of them very well since we spent over 9 hours with them each day. I have numerous fond memories that will last a lifetime.

As far as the fees: each of us gave each of them $100 per bag/per round, plus each of us gave each of them an additional $100 tip after our final round at Bandon Dunes. JB and TT even joined us for our 37th hole in the Bandon Dunes Grill Bar for socializing and finalizing our gambling payouts. Great time had by all!

[2putttom]

Mr. Ken Brooke should have been brought into the equation,when dealing with disapointment of a looper. kharmon post is what we (I) like to read about here.