CADDIE'S ROLE:Golf is truly great. What other sport would you get the chance to mix it with the very best,? asks COLIN BYRNE

THERE ARE very few sports where you as an amateur can gauge yourself directly against the best. We can all watch soccer and marvel at the skills of the world’s best, but we could never pit ourselves against these players for real. Same goes for a tennis player or racing car driver. Golf, however, is the exception to the rule.

On a weekly basis throughout the hectic calendars of world golf there is an opportunity for amateurs of all shapes and talents to play with the world’s best golfers the day before their tournament proper begins. A bizarre phenomenon which would never apply at the top of any other sport, but such is the culture in professional golf.

Okay so maybe I have over-simplified the opportunity to play with the stars in a real situation, but with this year’s 3 Irish Open there is a realistic chance to play in the Wednesday pro-am through the national club qualifying competition. This competition is being run throughout the 392 clubs across the land until the end of the month.

Knowing professional golfers as I do, and having witnessed the bum-twitching experience us amateurs feel if a passing stray dog stops to look at you as you make a pass at the ball on an isolated golf course, the thought of presenting your idiosyncratic swing to the world’s finest golfers and their baying fans beyond the ropes is one that fills most with fear and the creativity to make up endless mental excuses as to why you couldn’t do it.

The majority of the amateurs in these events are guests of the sponsors both from a business perspective and from a tournament promotional view. On the US Tour the fourball teams that enter the weekly pro-am cough up as much as $20,000 a team for the pleasure of five hours with, hopefully, a professional that they have heard of.

From a spectators perspective the Wednesday pro-am can be a hair-raising spectacle and I have often thought the best head-gear for the day is a hard hat and not the customary golf course baseball cap. The roping system at a professional event is set up with the pinpoint accuracy of a professional in mind. The mis-directed tee shot of an 18 handicapper with limited talent, trembling knees and facing a strong south-easterly wind on the exposed Baltray links does not bode well for the expectant gallery peeking over the fairway ropes in anticipation of a glimpse of John Daly. They might get more than they bargained for.

In fact, as a caddie, you are in peril of getting hit unless you exercise extreme caution. Those of us who loop for good golfers every day become complacent about where we stand in relation to where our golfers are hitting their ball. The rules change on a Wednesday. Most of us bagmen and many of our employers have been hit at some stage of our careers, whether by bad luck or carelessness.

My own experience of pro-am terrorism dates back to the Tour Championships in Altanta five years ago when my former boss, Retief Goosen, was in his prime and the amateurs who played with him were not pulled from a hat; they were the sponsors’ favourites.

As the round progressed gradually myself and Retief edged perilously further down the fairway in front of our amateur partners. Suddenly I found myself with the 20kg bag on my back looking at this little white missile honing in on me at speed and the screech of one of our amateurs as I desperately tried to jump out of the way. By the time I got to the green my ankle had swollen to the size of a cricket ball.

The offending golfer was both embarrassed and extremely apologetic. By the time we got to the 10th hole, which ran adjacent to a road, a garbage truck was easing its way towards the tee with the windows down on a very hot day. At about 150 yards from the tee our errant amateur hit his tee shot and immediately shouted fore. The driver was obviously not a golfer. Our man had managed to hit the poor individual on his arm which was draped nonchalantly out the open window!

The Wednesday pro-am is supposed to be an enjoyable day out for the participating amateurs even if it is a necessary evil to those professionals who are obliged to play in the event. It is the price of success where the pros are chosen from last year’s order of merit.

Unfortunately for many of the amateurs the day fills them with fear. I have seen the terror in many of our partners eyes over the years as they twitch with anticipation on the first tee. In Sweden many years ago, when golf was in its embryonic stages, one of our players managed to hit himself on the foot as he nervously contorted his body in a effort to make contact with the golf ball. It was hard not to laugh as he leapt around the tee clutching his left foot in agony.

If you are lucky enough to be invited or good enough to qualify to play in Co Louth next month then you are in for a treat. Most pros and their caddies will make every effort to make your day both enjoyable and memorable.

Remember people are not there to see you play, so try not to be self-conscious and look outward; most will not even notice your swing.