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Caddie is just like one of the family
Posted: Tuesday April 18, 2000 06:28 PM
Bob Heintz, a 1992 Yale graduate, won the Nike Tour Championship last fall to finish sixth on the money list and earn his PGA Tour card for 2000. Each Tuesday during the season, Heintz -- who is traveling with his wife, Nancy; his two children, Eryn and PJ; and his caddie, Andy Goodwin -- will give us a glimpse inside the life of a rookie PGA Tour professional. Deciding on a caddie can be a difficult process. For one thing, a tour player spends almost as much time with his caddie as he does with his family. It's imperative to find someone who is knowledgeable and easy to get along with. And that is precisely why I chose to have a friend, Andy Goodwin, carry for me this year. As a rookie, I was faced with a tough choice trying to find the right caddie: I could have sided with common wisdom and hired an experienced tour caddie who might be able to provide some course knowledge and calming influence under stressful situations, someone who would show me the ropes during my first year on Tour. The path I selected was to stick with the guy who got me here, thus sacrificing some of the experience offered by the Tour regulars. I figured that making the transition to the PGA Tour presents enough challenges off the course; so why not keep things the same when I perform? I needed the guy who would make me the most comfortable, help me feel as though it was "business as usual". With Andy on my bag, I know his primary goal is to help me succeed. His secondary goal is to make some money for himself. If he and I accomplish the first goal, then the second one will take care of itself. When I met Andy, he was at the end of a two-year stint with the golf team at Brevard Community College on Florida's east coast. He wasn't sure what his next move should be; in the meantime I had qualified for the Nike Tour. As our friendship grew through frequent golf matches at Countryside, I came up with the idea that Andy join me for the year as my caddie. I presented this to Andy and his parents, and all of us agreed it was the perfect time in his life to see the country (we drove my van to every event we played) and find out what it was like to work for a living. So Andy sacrificed a year of his life to join me in my quest for a Tour card. Now he is sticking around to see what develops this year. I will surely lose him at some point when he decides to return to his education, but I am fortunate to have him for now. We're almost as close as brothers, spending a vast amount of time together. We have similar personalities and laugh at the same things. His knowledge of my swing and course strategies are a benefit as well. He helps me adjust quickly if he sees red flags in my game. Sometimes our familiarity with each other's golf game is uncanny, as if we know right away if the other guy just hit a special shot. Last week for example, Andy hit a poor iron shot to a par-3, pulling the ball over by the cart path. He drew a nasty, tight lie and needed to hit a flop shot over a palm tree to reach the green. I told him the only choice he had was to play it like a bunker shot, chunking it on purpose. Andy has seen me hit the shot before, and he's a good flopper, but I wasn't sure that he could pull it off. He took a huge swing -- taking a perfect divot under the ball, no less -- sending the ball softly over the tree, on the green and, amazingly, right into the hole! I was flabbergasted, as was his father. I proclaimed it to be one of the top 10 or 20 golf shots I had ever seen. In another case of our familiarity with one another, we were playing at Black Diamond Ranch last Friday with member Bruce Lauer when I holed a sand wedge shot from 90-plus yards on the signature hole, the 15th. Andy "called it" while it was in the air, having witnessed how well I struck the ball, just "knowing" that it had a chance to go in. I was only a stroke ahead of him going in to that hole, so it was a dagger to his heart. When I hit it, he said, "Oh my God, he's made it!" Too bad for him, he was right! I sealed his fate by adding a birdie at the final hole for a two-shot victory. Not bad when you have to shoot four under at Black Diamond to beat your caddie! Finally, the best part of having Andy as a caddie is his relationship with my family. Since the kids are doing quite a bit of traveling with us this year, Nancy and I rely on Andy to help out with them once in a while. He takes on that role very well and is like an uncle to them. We mostly need his help "in transition" -- such as when we're checking in for a flight or putting baby seats in the car. I should stop tooting his horn now, or he'll be lobbying for a raise. Actually, he rarely reads these diary entries, so it's pretty safe to write all these nice things about him. Gotta go now, since PJ has just been diagnosed with the fifth ear infection of his young life, and Nan needs a little help. We're then off to Forest Oaks for lunch and a practice round this afternoon. Before leaving, I have to mention an outstanding letter I received from a fellow named Mark James from Pembroke (I assume Massachusetts?). Mark disagreed with my negative opinion of the introduction of rough at Augusta National, and argued his view soundly and eloquently. He reminded me that Augusta has not always been roughless, as I said I preferred it to be. The original design did include rough, so it is not blasphemy to re-create it. Mark also discussed the merits of rough and its use as a tool to force players to drive the ball straighter and manage their approach shots more carefully when playing from longer grass. I'm glad he wrote in with his strong opinion, and I admit it was presented well enough to almost make me change my own. Almost...! In closing, I received many great mailbag questions this week and I really want to answer them. Just be patient; I'll get to them over the next couple of weeks.
If you have any questions, comments or suggestions for topics you'd like to see discussed in future diaries, click here.
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