DAVID On the bag
What a golf caddie actually does (it is not just carrying clubs)
I still hear it on first tees: “So you just carry the bag?” Fair question if you have never had someone on your bag who was paying attention. A good caddie is part pack mule, part rangefinder, part weather app, and part friend who will not let you hit driver into a lake because you are annoyed about the last hole.
I am Davie. I caddie, coach, and look after equipment. This is the job as it really runs, hole by hole, not the movie version.
Before you even tee off
If I am doing the work properly, I am early. Bag checked: 14 clubs or fewer, towel damp not soaking, balls you actually like, tees, pitch mark tool, extra glove if you brought one. I want to know if your back is stiff, if you fade everything under pressure, if you have never seen this course. That conversation is worth two shots before we reach the first fairway.
On a new layout I walk a few landing areas if time allows, or at least study the card: forced carries, false fronts, out of bounds down the right. Course navigation is not trivia. It is “this green sheds everything left of the pin.”
Yardage that you can trust
Laser numbers are a gift and a trap. The flag might be 148. The number that matters might be 156 to cover the front bunker, or 142 if the wind is helping and the green is firm. I give you front, middle, and trouble. Then we pick a club for the shot you have today — not the 7-iron you flushed in 2019.
The right number is the one that keeps the next shot simple.
Altitude around Nairobi makes the ball fly a touch. Humidity, wet rough, and grain change it again. A travelling golfer feels that on hole three. A caddie who has already thought about it saves the double.
Club selection without the lecture
I will not talk you out of every aggressive pin. I will ask: is the miss long in a bunker or short in the water? If you want the hero line, we take it with eyes open. If you are 3-over and boiling, we aim at the fat part of the green and move on. That is caddie work people forget to search for — the emotional part.
During the swing, after the swing
Quiet. Still. Bag out of the line of sight. Then: rake, repair, towel, next number. Forecaddying when the group is spraying it. Spotting a ball against a shadow so we do not burn five minutes and a penalty. Cleaning grooves so the wedge still checks. Tiny jobs. They add up to a round that feels shorter.
Who this is for
- Visitors who do not know the course.
- Players in a medal or club championship who want a second brain.
- Corporate guests who would rather talk business than hunt in the rough.
- Anyone who wants to walk 18 and still have legs for dinner.
I work from Nairobi and I travel. If you want this kind of bag — not a silent suitcase — book a round or WhatsApp +254 794 540976. Tell me the course, the tee time, and whether it is casual or a card.