Tipping a caddy

judgesmails · #1 03-27-2005, 03:04 AM

I am playing a course tomorrow morning that requires one caddy per group (referred to as a "forecaddie"). Why the "ie" ending anyway?

We have reserved a tee time for three. We will all be taking carts. This person will not be carrying any clubs. Just locating shots, raking bunkers, tending the pin, and giving general course directions and advice.

Greens fees at this course are normally $120, but they are running an Easter special for $50.

How much should our group tip this guy?

As a side note, I really have grown to hate all the tipping that has become associated with playing golf. I grew up playing a very nice muni course where all anyone expected - and all we got - was a good looking beer bitch who we would overtip in hopes of screwing her someday. Who needs all these rediculous services like bag drop, club cleaning, and eight or nine "assistant golf pros" licking your balls and expecting tips.

Anyway, I am playing this course and will have to tip this guy. How little can I get away with?

slickpoppa · #2 03-27-2005, 03:06 AM

at least 30 bucks a man

slickpoppa · #3 03-27-2005, 03:13 AM

your post is kind of funny considering your name

judgesmails · #4 03-27-2005, 03:16 AM

Yeah, I guess after you mention it... I am now reminded of that Caddyshack scene where Judge Smails tipped Noonan a couple of coins.

I am cheap, but not quite that cheap.

Could I just tell the forecaddie "You'll get nothing and like it"?

peachy · #5 03-27-2005, 03:24 AM

i tip about 40...but im huge on tipping...

slickpoppa · #6 03-27-2005, 03:27 AM

wow, thats a lot for a girl [img]/images/graemlins/wink.gif[/img]. in my experience men almost always tipped better

mcb · #7 03-27-2005, 03:28 AM

I used to caddy and I could not stand cheap f&*^s. It made it even worse that I used to play on the power-bilt and meijer junior pga and was better than 99.9% of the people I had to slave for. $30 per person in the group sounds like a good amount.

peachy · #8 03-27-2005, 03:33 AM

ive always seen the opposite happen...but at a golf course its generally male...so i guess so. I just used to work for tips...so i tend to tip well when i can. But when i worked...men usually tipped me better...but im a girl

judgesmails · #9 03-27-2005, 03:57 AM

I think most of us have worked in a service industry at one time or another and have relied on tips for part or most of our income. I fully understand this as I too worked as a bartender in college.

This situation really bothers me. These golf courses overload their staffs with minimum wage employees who have dreams of playing golf professionally or who desire to be club pros someday.

They then foist the responsibility of compensating these poor souls on the customer, when most customers would prefer to not have these extra compulsory services such as club drop, club cleaning, and "forecaddie".

These cheap wage employees help reduce the workload of management significantly as many are college educated, hard working, and responsible. But the course passes their expense on to an often unsuspecting customer in hidden tipping charges that can amount to as much as $50 - 60 per round per player.

I go in knowing the game and still choose to play this course. But it does not mean I like all the conditions and hope they change someday. I really think in the big picture this situation harms the game of golf by driving up the price of golf an keeping otherwise interested players from getting the chance to learn and love the game.

b0000000000m · #10 03-27-2005, 04:47 AM

First--a forecaddie that doesn't carry putters? I caddied for two summers when I was in middle school, and forecaddied once in a while--usually only when the course had an "outing" schedule (a corporation or some other group rents out the course and non-members play). One of the main responsibilities of the forecaddie was to carry the putters. Do forecaddies not do this everywhere?

Second--whoa! Either you guys are very generous tippers (doubtful--no offense, but everything I have seen in OOT suggests an average to slightly-below-average tipping tendency), or standard tips have gone way up since I caddied. I worked at a pretty nice club in an affluent suburb, and caddies at nearby clubs seemed to get paid about the same as us (even the PGA course at the Westchester Country Club), so I'm doubting I worked at a particularly stingy club. Back in the day ('92-'93) we would get about $10 per person for forecaddying. That was what the club reccomended to the patrons, too. In today's dollars that's $13.15. So--I'm still unsure about what exactly happened.