Wally Armstrong’s Blog

Golfers have always had an affection for the old courses, especially the ones in Scotland.  Courses used to be built with a hint of intrigue and a lot of creativity, with blind tee shots and hidden greens nestled throughout.  If you don’t stay on your toes you can easily find yourself buried in a patch of thicket hiding behind a bunker or over a mound.  And when you do find trouble, it’s seldom easy to recover.  The Scottish designers love to trip you up—almost as much as they love golf.

            A few of the old American courses have that same element of danger.  The Pine Valley course, located just across the river from Philadelphia, is one such example.  It’s been named as one of the top courses in the country by a number of different surveys. Many of the holes have totally blind shots over trees and ridges, and the course abounds with dips and mounds and other obstacles.

            The first time I played Pine Valley it was raining so hard that I was sure they would cancel the day’s rounds.  During breakfast we were all waiting for the announcement of delay due to heavy rains, but it never came.  Then someone came in to say that we were on the first tee in about an hour. 

            My caddie that morning was a man named Bob.  He was a local player, wearing a huge, floppy hat and full rain gear down to his toes.  His oversized galoshes flopped and squished as he walked with me toward the first hole. 

            As we started our round the rains began to pick up.  Visibility was low, and as we walked up to one of the early tee boxes—second or third, I believe—I looked out over the large, wet course and suddenly realized that I had no idea where to aim.  All I could see was a wide fairway feeding into a high ridge in the distance.  The green was nowhere in sight.  I asked my caddy if he knew the course well enough to show me where to aim.  He smiled and told me, “I’ll go stand in the fairway on top of the hill and you hit it right over my head.”

            He made his way down the course and stood on the mound in the distance, waving me on when he got into position.  I could barely see him in the thick morning mist.  I dried off the grip with a towel, wiped the rain from my forehead took dead aim directly over Bob’s head, and then made my swing.  Bob watched the ball as it sailed over his head and settled into the middle of the fairway beyond him.  I was in perfect position for my approach shot.

            Sitting safely on the green in 2, Bob stood behind me as I lined my putt up.  He told me exactly how the putt would break and how far, giving me a perfect line to the hole before stepping aside.  I trusted his advice and took the stroke exactly as he had suggested.  The ball fed perfectly into the cup for a birdie.

            A few holes later we came to another blind shot over a hill, so Bob again made his way down the fairway to stand on top of the mound, giving me a target to aim at.  Once more, I found myself in perfect position for my approach shot.

            Throughout the round Bob continued to guide me through the course.  I soon discovered that he had been playing Pine Valley for most of his life and knew the course like the back of his hand.  He could read the greens with pinpoint precision, and knew every dip and mound and trap on the fairways.  So often after hitting a blind shot over his head I would make my way down the fairway to where he was standing.  As I looked at my ball nestled safely in the middle of the short grass, I couldn’t believe the potential trouble lining the course to the right and left of it—trouble that I was able to avoid, thanks to my insightful caddy.

            In spite of the terrible weather and the impending obstacles, I came away with a 69 for the day.  Bob had guided me through to one of the best rounds I’ve ever shot, putting me well into contention for the tournament.

            There’s no way to overstate the importance of a good caddy during a round, especially if you’re playing a course that is unfamiliar to you and filled with possibilities for trouble.  A caddy often serves as your eyes and ears, watching for things you don’t see and guiding you through to safety.  If he is wise and insightful, you can gain a lot of knowledge by heeding his advice.  And good caddies always have your best interest in mind on the course.

            So pick a good caddy, and then trust him.