Lavish treatment left us unprepared for Wentworth Dip

Caddie's Role: It seems the junket season has started early this year. As the thick foliage of the Wentworth estate is losing its verdant charm and showing its autumn leaves of red and gold, the chosen few of us cruised up Wentworth Drive for the World Matchplay Championship and arrived at the clubhouse to a warm reception.

With only 16 players and their caddies, the event lends itself to generous hospitality. For the first time this year we bagmen were put up in a local hotel, the Royal Berkshire, which was of a standard way beyond our usual accommodations. From the comfortable, leafy environs of the hotel we were chauffeured to and from the course by the extremely obliging courtesy car girls in plush, new Land Rovers. Normally the courtesy transport is reserved for players and their families. So getting used to the idea of reserving a car to collect you the next morning took a couple of days.

Once at the clubhouse, we were assigned a small caddie-and-player ante room in which we could relax and read the papers, or order food from our assigned waiter who was at our disposal all day. If we wanted to dine downstairs in the Ryder Cup room with distinguished guests we could do so, all complimentary.

The atmosphere that such treatment generates is interesting. I found myself going in search of my caddie bib well before my round so that I was sure to have it. Normally I loathe wearing the sponsors' bib, because at many events we get pretty poor treatment and are not inclined to work as the sponsors' clotheshorses.

I understand that it is harder to accommodate a full field in such a generous manner, but it is nice to seem part of the whole event and included, instead of feeling like an afterthought, as we so frequently do.

The downside was that we would have to endure marathon rounds starting at first light and finishing at dusk due to the dank weather.

Once on course the pampering continued. We had bunker rakers with us, along with ball spotters who held up little name signs beside our player's ball so we could tell in advance exactly where we were to hit from. This all worked very well - until we got to the fourth hole during our second round against Lee Westwood on Friday.

The fourth on the west course at Wentworth is a good driving hole, it is the key to playing the hole well. It is a short par five which all pros expect to birdie.

It was also a special hole for the local caddies back in the days when the Japanese used to flood to Wentworth in the boomtime days of the Japanese economy.

You tee off from the top of a hill. So the landing area is not visible. It was always best for the caddies to walk forward so that they could see where their clients' balls came to rest. But, out of sight out of mind, and as soon as the loopers got into the dip down the fairway some of them took a dip of their own into the unsuspecting, wealthy eastern gentlemen's ample wallets. The fourth became known unofficially as the Wentworth Dip for more reasons than the steep decline.

Of course, we professional caddies don't have to worry too much about finding our player's ball during the tournament, with so many spotters at our disposal.

The hole dog-legs left off the tee. There is a tall tree in the distance which we use to gauge how good our player's drive is. The best drive starts on this treeline and draws onto the left side of the fairway.

The main trouble off the tee is a ditch that runs right across the fairway at about 330 yards. With the angles involved and the sharp descent, the ditch is often in play. But with the heavy conditions last week and the cold air, the ditch was out of play - or so my boss and I thought.

Retief had played reasonably well in the morning, but putted badly. The trend continued in the second round, and he was frustrated. So on the fourth tee he wound up a little tighter and crushed his tee-shot a little harder than usual. As we appeared on the top of the hill, we could see our ball spotter standing with her little board in what looked like the ditch 330 off the tee.

Oops, a serious error.

Lee's tee-shot had come to rest about 10 yards short of the ditch, and from a distance our ball looked like it was in it. But when we arrived at the ball Lee said to me softly, "good lay up". The ball was in the hazard, but had come to rest on the side of the bank short of the water. Phew, lucky. Retief was going to have an awkward shot, but he could reach the green.

Just when I thought I had experienced most on-course eventualities in a couple of decades of caddying, unfortunately I was just about to witness yet another one. I put the golf bag down about three yards from the ball. I was looking at my yardage book. I looked up and the ball was not there any more, it had wandered down the bank and come to rest in a little dip against the supporting sleepers of the hazard. I was having a dip experience of my own on the famed fourth at Wentworth. From having a shot to the green we were now faced with having to take a penalty drop or just chip the ball 60 yards up the fairway.

Whether my placing the bag on the soft ground caused the ball to move or not, I cannot tell because I was not looking, but I wasn't feeling particularly good about the situation. We ended up losing the hole. Retief laughed. I said nothing and hoped that he could hole a heap of putts over the next holes to somehow get back into the match.

It didn't happen, and to compound our misery Lee played really well, he was impossible to beat with a cold putter.

The first junket of the year came to an end for us on the 17th green in the murky light of last Friday evening, but at least we were beaten by the gallant runner-up and I got to ponder our misfortunes on a well-moulded settee in the comforting surroundings of the Wentworth clubhouse.