For years fans followed professional golf tournaments through the eyes and ears of newspaper and magazine writers.
Then with the advent of television they were able to watch the best players in the world and listened through the words of the commentators assigned to follow the play.
But what was REALLY going on inside the ropes? We, the fans, could only guess and so could those assigned to tell us.
The inner workings of golf remained a mystery.
Then came shows such as “Shell’s Wonderful World of Golf”, the “CBS Golf Classic” and then later on “The Skins Game”.
Players were fitted with microphones and we could get a real feel for what was going on, what they were thinking and how their emotions were coming into play. It was educational and more importantly it was entertaining. Ratings for these events often were higher than actual tournaments.
As the coverage of sports in general and golf in particular has evolved over the years, the fan has been given more and more insight into the inner workings of the game and one of the more fascinating aspects is the partnership between player and caddy.
Much of that has come from on course commentators, usually former professional players, who follow a particular group and provide tidbits that normally would not be available to those manning the towers.
Also the boom microphones set up on tees and carried around the course by technicians have given us some access to a variety of interchanges.
So why not have the tour caddies miked up? I can understand the players’ reluctance. They have enough to worry about during the heat of tournament play. But the caddy is a different story, plus the transmitter and microphone would not hinder the guy toting the bag as much as it might the player swinging the club.
Of course there is the concern about the spontaneity of the moment, especially when emotions are running high.
Many people still remember Curtis Strange dropping the mother of all expletives within range of a live boom mic after a particularly poor shot during that stretch of time when he was one of the top players in the world.
Anyone who can read lips knows that Tiger Woods often throws out a few “@#%@$#%&s” when a shot goes awry and of course his caddy, Steve Williams has been known to cross the line and become a vigilante when a spectator disturbs his man.
Therefore whoever was directing the coverage would have to be very conscious of those potential situations and make sure that the mic was turned down while the shot was actually being made for fear of a salty comment emanating from either the caddy or the player following a duck hook into a lake.
To be perfectly safe everything would probably have to be on a delayed basis in those situations and if something interesting should be exchanged it could be re-visited. There’s plenty of time for that. Of all sports golf has more down time than any other.
Wouldn’t it be nice to hear the player and caddy going over the strategy of a shot in windy conditions? It’d also be fun to hear what they talk about during those long treks between shots.
I do believe that it should be voluntary, that caddies and by extension their player agree to be miked up, but if they do, why not?
Anything that expands our enjoyment of the coverage (within reason) also gives us more reason to watch and that in turn makes more money for the networks, which adds to the purses of the tournaments.
I, for one, would love to be able to eves drop on conversations between caddies and players, but I’d like even more. I would very much enjoy some of those break-in-the action features that spotlight a particular caddy.
Wouldn’t you love to know something about Mike “Fluff” Cowen, who has been on the tour for years? How about Williams and his daredevil lifestyle?
Often caddies are much more interesting as people than the players for whom they work.
Let’s get the caddy involved more in the show, both on and off the course.
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