by Jeff Skinner
Life on the PGA Tour is like living in Robin Leache’s old program, Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous. The players on the PGA Tour earn millions, have the most lucrative pensions in all of sport and are coddled like royalty each week on tour. Their caddies…not so much.
Last year a group of everyday PGA tour caddies got together to form the Association of Professional Tour Caddies to try and improve the lives of the professional caddie.
Caddies are an integral part of the tour and many players will say an important part of their success.
The APTC isn’t a union, as the caddies are essentially independent contractors, but rather a trade association that has been working on bettering the lives of the hardworking bag handlers. Health insurance and pensions are two primary areas where they feel help is needed in addition to the weekly treatment of the caddies at each PGA Tour stop.
With comprehensive health care for a family costing upwards of $10,000 and each caddie left to provide for their own health care and retirement fund it is easy to understand why the APTC came into being.
The PGA Tour is a money machine. Tim Finchem earns five million a year with half a dozen vice presidents taking home over a million dollars each. The Tour boasts of giving over two billion dollars to charity (they are really just a facilitator in that) so there are some very deep pockets we are talking about.
The APTC and the PGA Tour have had discussions concerning the proposal for improved conditions but now the APTC says they may be getting the run around. Rex Hoggard of The Golf Channel reports that the caddies and the PGA Tour may be heading to a showdown. “A potential showdown is brewing between the PGA Tour and the association that represents the majority of the circuit’s caddies, according to a letter obtained by GolfChannel.com. The letter dated June 17 from the Association of Professional Tour Caddies to the Tour has requested clarification over a litany of issues.
Since the APTC’s initial meeting with Tour officials on Jan. 20 in La Jolla, Calif., the circuit has been less than accommodating in its meetings according to the letter that was sent to Tour Commissioner Tim Finchem and presented to the Player Advisory Council last week at the Quicken Loans National.
“The APTC has worked tirelessly to work out a mutually-beneficial structure with the Tour to achieve the above purposes, while supporting the Tour and, most importantly, its players. Nonetheless, we have generally been met with roadblocks and a lack of commitment to build a positive outcome by the Tour,” the letter read.
PGA Tour executive vice president of communications and international affairs Ty Votaw declined to comment on the letter.
While Finchem heads an organization with a ton of money he is notoriously tight when it comes to parting with the tour’s cash unless it is for the players.
Over the past few years we have heard story after story of a caddie taken ill and being unable to pay for needed care.
Now, we are not talking about guys like Steve Williams, Bones Mackay or Fluff Cowan who have had extremely successful careers. It’s the everyday caddie carrying the bag of the scores of players who don’t earn five million a year.
The plight of the caddies even prompted one of the PGA Tour players, Robert Garrigus, to start a charity to help out caddies in need. If that isn’t a wake up call I don’t know what is.
The PGA Tour has not responded to the letter but I certainly hope they take this issue seriously. They like to boast about their charitable efforts but charity begins at home.
And it is time for the tour and its players to take a big picture, humanitarian view of the situation. The caddies are an important part of the tour and they need to be recognized for it.
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