Golf caddies make as much as $100 to $120 for four hours of work at golf & country clubs. They also receive tips on top of this pay – which can get as low as $20 or as high as 50 percent of the amount they receive from the club as wages.
This is the primary reason students prefer to work as caddies to golfers than to flip burgers or fry chickens. They can never earn this big amount each day from doing that.
Therefore, do not be surprised if you find them in country clubs, particularly during weekends and summertime.
Are you interested in working as a caddie? Formal education is not a requirement.
Your experience and knowledge of the sport play a vital role in landing you a caddie job. Is it a good job? Explore the opportunities waiting for you to discover.
Is Caddying a Good Job?
Yes, caddying is a good job because of the benefits you get from working as one:
- Carrying bags and learning at the same time
At first, caddies carry bags and clean the golf clubs. But as each day goes by, you will know how to calculate yardages, proper divot placement, fix ball marks, and tend the flagstick. Later on, you will learn the game of golf itself.
- Choosing your own schedule
If you are a caddie working part-time, you work for four hours each day and choose your own workdays. This circumstance particularly refers to students who want (or who need) to earn extra for the summer, they can even start to think about applying for a golf scholarship if they are a talented enough golfer. However, schedules are strictly followed, especially during weekends.
- Building relationships with golfers
As a caddy, you get to rub elbows with golfers who are professionals (doctors, lawyers, etc.) influential people, and business owners.
Before you know it, you have already built good relationships with them that you get to talk to them about your family, work, and other personal stuff, and vice versa. This, somehow, makes working easier for you because you get to enjoy and appreciate the people you are with.
- Creating and growing your network
Every day, you meet golfers either in the same or in different country clubs. Meeting their family members, co-workers, and friends helps you create a social network. Fortunately, this network keeps growing as you also connect to their friends and their friends’ friends.
What good can this do to you? Every person you meet can offer you help in ways you can’t imagine at a later stage of your life.
One can refer you to caddy for another golfer. Another one can offer to vouch for your college scholarship in a foundation they are running or supporting. Opportunities to play golf for free are also a possibility – how cool is playing the game you love for free?
- Getting off work early
You are already off from work but you’re not exhausted at all. Because it’s early afternoon, you still have time to go out and enjoy the rest of the afternoon in a shopping mall.
Otherwise, you can just go home and take a nap! As you start your day even before the sun rises, you still have a lot of time to do other stuff.
- Receiving pay, plus generous tips
The pay is good — but the tips are better!
How Much Money Do You Get Caddying
Forbes wrote that a teenage golf caddy, who carries two bags for 18 holes, earns between $100 and $120 per round or $20 to $30 per hour. This is assuming that every round is equal to 4 hours of work.
On weekends, you can see teenagers working as caddies and often they are the youngest workers seen in country club golf courses. Their schedule often gets extended during the peak golfing period, which is not an issue because this coincides with the summer break.
Why teens, you may ask. Some, if not all, golfers prefer them because they have pair of young legs that can walk ahead to forecaddie and young eyes that can find lost golf balls easily!
In an interview by the New York Times, Anthony Elia, an 18-year-old Florida State University student, shared that he goes out of his way to be in New York during weekends and fall so he can caddie at a country club.
He said it’s “the best way” to earn money that will help you through college.
He added, working in school will earn him just $7 per hour—and this is already the best he can get. “Where else could I make 1,200 a week?”
They are only talking about the pay they get. This does not include tips, which sometimes can be doubled, depending on the outcome of performance and the play.
What about Tips – How Much Do You Tip a Caddie at a Golf Country Club?
Aside from the pay, caddies are also happy with their tips. Just how much tip does a golfer give to a caddie in a country club? Ask Merrick’s Dustin Riedman and he will talk about receiving $300 each round for a group that plays once a week.
The group he called Fresh Meadow foursome is generous and tips a caddie more than the other groups in the country club. He said “they play a lot of money”; therefore, they have a tendency to give their caddies a good fair share.
There are no limits as to how much tip can a caddie receive from a country club. It also varies from club to club.
But if it is your first time (playing golf or being in a particular facility), never ask a caddie how much they should be given.
It can be awkward. If you are in doubt, think about being generous. But if you prefer to be certain, you can ask the club captain or the director of the golf course what is the usual tip.
Mike Bailey of Golfpass.com wrote that a forecaddie makes between $20 and $25 per player. For caddies toting golf bags, that is between $40 and $50.
A lot of factors are considered in tipping: performance of the caddie, the outcome of the game, amount of money you won, or how personal you have become to the caddie. What is important is that you pay your caddie what they deserve. Are you willing to pay $20 or $30—or 20 or even 50 percent of the pay he gets from the club?
Are there Country Golf Club Caddy Jobs Near Me?
If you type “Are there country club caddy jobs near me?” Google will definitely help you.
It will give you the nearest country club on your location that looks for caddies. So, yes, there are country club caddy jobs near you and all you have to do is search.
However, aside from looking at caddy jobs available online, you may also ask for referrals from people you know that are already working as caddies.
But do you have the qualifications?
Regardless if you have a formal education, golf courses looking for caddies to hire set their focus on your knowledge of golf and experience.
It is also important that you have strong interpersonal skills because, being able to communicate with the golfers can help you build personal relationships, grow your network, and subsequently boost your reputation.
Surely, you can carry golf bags. It is also easy for you to hand golf clubs to golfers. But caddying is not all about these two. There are more.
According to Golfweek, it is the responsibility of golf caddies to rake sand traps and bunkers. They also rake the area where the ball landed to clear the way for the next play.
Caddies clean golf clubs and golf balls before each hole and on the green. Ball washers and mechanical clubs may be available in golf courses, but caddies must always be prepared to do the cleaning right after each shot.
Therefore, carrying a towel is essential. As a caddie, you should also replace ball markers and divots and tend or remove the pin.
Reading all these, are you ready for a caddy job? Find a job near you now.
Caddying is a good job. Caddying is a better-paying job at least for high school and college students who have to earn while studying.
Caddies in a country club earn from $100 to $120 each day, yet they only work for four hours each day and how much do caddies make at country golf clubs if you work out how many hours per day of actual work is very high compared to other minimum wage jobs – plus you get plenty of healthy, fresh air!
On top of that, they get tips from golfers. Tipping depends on the clubs or the golfers to whom they have provided their services. It can be between $20 and $25 or higher, depending on how generous golf players can be.
Teenagers at that, somehow become financially independent that they do not ask their parents to pay for everything in school as they can do it on their own. They not only become self-sufficient; they also boost their self-esteem and grow their network, which, later on, can help them in ways they can imagine.
In finding a caddy job, do your search in the country golf clubs near you and ask for referrals as well!