Caddy Debut

This weekend there was a big golf tournament called the Tapemark. It is a charity tournament in its 39th year held at Southview CC in Inver Grove Heights. It draws high pro talent because the payout is quite good and the history of this tournament is great. The event pairs one pro golfer and 3 amateurs together as a team, but the pro is really playing against all the other pros, he is just able to help his team compete as well.

It is a 3-day tournament with a cut after 2 days. At the pro level, this year the cut was +2 after 2 rounds (18 hole rounds).

I had to work on Friday so I couldn't caddy for Brent that day, but I was his man on Saturday. Our tee time was 8:40 and I was a little nervous. I have never caddied but I have been golfing since I was 5 years old so I pretty much knew what to do. Keep the clubs clean/dry and keep the ball clean, help read putts (only when asked) and get the pin. Oh yeah, and keep your player positive by telling him "good shot", "way to go bud", stuff like that. Brent always has a good support group walking the course with him. His Dad, Bill is always there and usually his brother, wife Courtney and a lot of times his mom. It is nerve wracking to watch these guys grind it out but the golf means a lot to them financially so it's not about just having fun with your buddies, these guys are stone cold serious. Brent says to me though that the more fun he has the better he plays so he really tries hard not to be too serious.

I was so proud of him yesterday and today. I had to play in a tournament at Troy Burne today so I couldn't caddy today, but I was certainly checking online for updates.

A little bit about yesterday first. Our tee time was 8:40 so we arrived at 7:30 to warm-up. Brent wanted me to putt a few on the practice green so I could get a feel for the speed of the greens so I could help him read the putts. These greens were lightning fast and very severe in how steep they were. This course is short in distance, but it makes up for it with the severity of the greens.

It had rained on Friday so the course was wet and we played a lot of the holes in the rain on Saturday. It was off and on rain for a while but then it got heavy at the end. We had 3 holes to go and Brent was 3 under par. He hit driver and it slipped in his hands a little and he hit a pretty good slice, but he kept it in the fairway. He hit a great wedge to about 12 feet and just missed the putt. So we knew on the next 2 holes as the rain was getting heavier we couldn't hit driver. He tried 3 wood on the 2nd to last hole and it slid right into the rough. He punched it out over the green, but got up and down for par, a ALL-WORLD par as we call them. Last hole, I'm holding the umbrella over him while he dries his grips and we can see our breath at this point. He walks to the tee (I keep the umbrella over him to keep him dry). The key is to keep the grip dry otherwise there is no way to hold onto that club with that clubhead speed. He hit a 4-iron and made a great "easy" swing to 150 yards in. He hit a superb 8 iron too 4 feet right of the flag. When we got the green, water was starting to accumulate in pools on the green. We watched a couple of the amateurs putt through the water and it didn't seem to slow their balls down too much so we decided to just hit a good solid putt and not "slam" it to get through the water. He hit a great putt that fell into the very right side of the cup for his 5th birdie of the day, and what a way to finish. As soon as we were done, they blew the horn and suspended play.

Brent went back on Sunday and fired another 67 to finish in a tie for 10th. Nicole and I are very proud of him.