Alright, so recently I got super curious about something I always wondered about when watching golf: how much do those caddies REALLY make? You know, the guys lugging around the bags and whispering advice to the pros.
I started by just googling around, seeing what general info was out there. Found some articles and forums where people were throwing around numbers, but it all seemed kind of vague and varied wildly. Some said caddies only make a few hundred bucks a week, others were claiming six-figure salaries. I knew there had to be more to it.
First thing I did was dig into the PGA Tour’s official website. I figured they might have some official stats or guidelines, but no luck. They talk about the players earnings all day but surprisingly little about the caddies. Disappointing start, I gotta say.
So, I thought about who would actually KNOW this stuff. I remembered reading an article about a former caddie who wrote a book about his experiences on the tour. Hunted down his name and tried to find some interviews or articles where he might have dropped some real knowledge.
Turns out, finding actual specific numbers is tough. Caddies don’t exactly publish their income statements. But I did glean some important info:
- They get a base salary each week. It’s not huge, usually only a few grand. Think of it more like a guaranteed minimum for showing up.
- The REAL money is in the winnings percentage. This is the key! They typically get 10% of the golfer’s winnings if they win the tournament, 7% if they finish in the top 10, and 5% for anything else.
Okay, now we’re getting somewhere. I started doing some math. I grabbed a list of the top PGA Tour earners from last year and ran some hypotheticals. Let’s say a golfer won $5 million in a year, and their caddie got 10% of that for a win, and another $2 million with 7% each time, and $1 million with 5% each time, then it is a pretty significant pay day for the caddie.
Then I decided to search for caddie interviews. This was helpful. I found a few where caddies talked generally about the financial realities of the job. The biggest takeaway? It’s inconsistent. If your golfer is playing well, you’re making bank. If they’re slumping, you’re struggling. A caddie’s income is directly tied to their player’s performance.
I even found some articles and forum posts about caddies who had to take out loans or get second jobs during the off-season because their golfer wasn’t performing well. It really brought home the fact that it’s not all sunshine and rainbows for these guys.
My Final Take:
So, after all that digging, here’s my conclusion. The average PGA Tour caddie probably makes somewhere in the range of $50,000 to $100,000 a year. BUT! That’s a super wide range. The top caddies, working for top players, can easily make $500,000 or even more. And the guys working for less successful players are probably scraping by on much less.
It’s a high-risk, high-reward kind of gig. You gotta have the right skills, the right personality, and most importantly, you gotta be partnered with a golfer who’s winning tournaments. Otherwise, you’re just hauling a heavy bag around for not a whole lot of money.
I have a much better understanding of the economics of being a PGA caddie. It’s a way more complicated and interesting situation than I initially thought. Time well spent on my research!
