Last month, Majestic Creek Golf Club and Resort Executive Director Manutarn Phiphitchai and Thai Golf Development Club President Wichit Bunthuwong organised a training camp for caddies.
The training was designed to further caddies’ knowledge of new golf rules and enable them to offer appropriate and helpful advice to foreign, Thai and competition golfers.
The two-day training drew 140 caddies, including 10 from western golf courses. Conducted by golf experts Sitthiporn Rojanasiri, Wichit Bunthuwong and Supatra Samrit from 8 am to 3 pm on both days, the training was divided into 3 parts:
PART 1: GOLF RULES
- How many clubs is a player allowed to carry in a round? Can you add more clubs?
- How to fix/repair damaged golf clubs
- The use of special accessories eg. micrometre, compass and slope measure
- Playing from within the onsite tee
- How unreasonable is slow playback?
- How to solve the situation when playing the wrong ball
- Ball searching
- Playing according to field and weather conditions: What are the conditions and restrictions?
PART 2: GOLF RULES RELATED TO CADDIES
- How does the caddie consult, advise or help the player?
- How does the caddie show the player’s path without breaking the rules?
- What to do if the caddie is standing behind the ball in the playing path
- Caddie’s responsibilities eg sweeping the sand in a bunker to maintain the field, removing dirt from the
greens, putting mark on the balls, cleaning the balls, etc
- What the caddie can do when assigned by the player
- Do’s and Don’ts for caddies
PART 3: GENERAL RULES ON PLAYING PROBLEMS
- Restrictions to follow when the ball is on the green
- What are the consequences if the ball hits the flagstick while the caddy is holding it?
- What are the differences between the ball hitting the flagstick and the ball remaining on the lip of the hole?
- Can a caddie pick up or place the ball?
- The correct way to drop the ball
- What is flexibility& how does flexibility work&
- Penalties and how they are allowed
The training was conducted with the help of video clips and pictures so that the caddies could fully understand the new rules. Prior to the start of training, caddies were required to do advance research on common golf rules.
Following the training lectures, caddies were given a sheet of questions. In order to pass the exam, they had to obtain at least 20 correct answers for the 30 questions given. For more information or to join a caddies’ golf rules training, contact LINE ID: wichitttt
