Money

The first step to becoming a tour caddie might be one of these golf internships

March 17, 2023
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ELITE LEVEL: Scottie Scheffler's caddie, Ted Scott, is approaching $1 million in earnings for 2023.

Sam Greenwood

It has been a great year to be a caddie on the PGA Tour (or LIV, for that matter). If Ted Scott (Scottie Scheffler) and Adam Hayes (Jon Rahm) have standard deals with their players, they are each approaching $1 million in earnings, and we haven’t even played the year’s first major.

All “I'd take $450,000 to carry a bag around for a week" jokes aside, if you want to get in on some of that premium stick-toting action, you're going to have to start at the bottom and get some experience. We pulled three current job listings that could move you up a rung or two on the ladder for when a top player starts taking applications.

Caddie, TopGolf Overland Park OK, so it's not technically a caddie job in the traditional sense of the term. In Topgolf lingo, a caddie is a food server—which means you will be slinging drinks and delivering cheeseburger sliders to folks beating balls at this fancy triple-decker range-slash-bar. Still, developing patience and a good game face are must-have skills, and Topgolf has one of the better compensation packages in the segment. Caddies make about $20 an hour and qualify for medical insurance after 30 days and a 401k plan after six months. Plus, all your flatbreads and injectable donut holes are 50 percent off.

PGA Associate, Bay Hill Club & Lodge You would have a foot literally in the door at the iconic property that hosts Arnold Palmer's Bay Hill Invitational. Some job listings try to wrap the job requirements in a gauzy, feel-good veil. Not Arnie's place. For $14 an hour, you will float as a range attendant, course monitor, starter or caddiemaster. In fact, driving a cart, operating a range picker and running a ball washer are all job prerequisites. Making about $600 a week doesn't leave much for entertaining, but the job comes with free working meals, health insurance and—most importantly—playing and practice privileges.

Caddie, Trump Golf Links at Ferry Point Ready to take your skills—and an actual bag—to the course? Trump Ferry Point is filling its caddie ranks for the upcoming season. The New York City-owned and Trump-operated high-end daily-fee course near LaGuardia Airport is a gentle walk thanks to its linksy style (and history as a former landfill) and a potential goldmine for a demographic ready to pay $264 non-resident weekend green fees. The ad says an active caddie can make more than $1,100 per week, presumably in cash. No, you won't get health insurance, but you might get the chance to carry for Rudy Giuliani or Sean Hannity.