What you need to know about caddies: our guide to your guides

From the inception of golf in the 15^th century, right up until the 1800s many golfers did the unthinkable - they carried their own clubs. But since those early days, caddies have developed from someone to make sure your balls weren’t lost to the equivalent of a golfer’s therapist or confidant. Professional golfers trust their caddies like no one else, with some relationships between the two lasting longer than many golfers’ marriages – though often just as turbulent.

We take a look at the history of these sometimes forgotten men and women of golf and ask what a good caddy can do for your game.

From ball boy to 15^th club

Caddies, believed to come from the French ‘Le Cadet’ (meaning younger or junior), were originally used to mark where the golfer should aim his drive. This wasn’t for any tactical reasons – it was simply so the golfer wouldn’t lose his golf balls, which in the 1800s were quite expensive.

As one story goes, they were originally called ‘forecaddies’, as they’d stand ahead of the golfer. When the drive was hit, the golfer would warn them with a call of ‘fore’.

The first ever ‘caddy’ is thought to be Andrew Dickson, who carried the clubs for the Duke of York in 1681. But the official term only came into use in the 1850s, when a dictionary described a caddy as someone who carries golf clubs.

As the caddies lived and breathed golf, often playing the courses when they weren’t carrying, they became known for their inside knowledge. It was in the early 20^th century that they started to become known as the 15^th club, offering advice alongside the manual work.

And while they had something of a reputation for being scruffy, uncouth and often drunk, when golf went mainstream with the advent of TV and big money prizes, caddies cleaned up their acts and were prized for their knowledge. By this time, many were in fact professionals in their own right.