CADDIE'S ROLE:By suggesting the Ryder Cup team consists of 24, Monty is aware of how the caddie can influence a player, writes COLIN BYRNE

GIVEN THAT captain Colin Montgomerie has been quoted as saying the European Ryder Cup team, attempting to get the cup back from the Americans in the Usk Valley in Wales in a couple of weeks, comprises 24 people, I had better try to explain what the other 12 members of that team, the bagmen, do.

Caddying is a relatively unquantifiable job. It is similar to managing football teams, in that it is very hard to compete unless you have good players, regardless of how good the manager is.

So the easiest way to be a good caddie is to get a good player to caddie for. With the imminent jamboree in Wales, it is a given there are 12 very good players on the team, so that is a good start for the remainder of the team, the bagmen.

As a caddie you have to be pliable. You need to adjust to the player’s needs and isolate him from the unnecessary wants.

By Monty suggesting the team consists of 24, he is aware of how the caddie can influence a player, especially under pressure.

We can all correctly argue these players are best left alone when playing well.

But when they are not quite on and under pressure, then the caddie needs to engage his psychologist role in order to carry his man through a spell of self-doubt. It can be a simple comment, which delivered at the right time can have the desired positive effect.

Choosing your moment comes with understanding and experience. You can say the right thing and the wrong thing, even if it is the same thing. When you choose to deliver your motivational speech is what matters.

Similar to the soccer manager having to motivate his team at half-time when they are behind and not looking like they have the ability to turn the game their way, the caddie needs to motivate his player on occasions. Timing comes with experience and common sense.

Each player is different and, apart from supplying the basic information that a modern professional would consider important to help him make the right decisions on the course, some require constant hands-on pampering while others would scowl at you for over-enthusiasm.

It is the unique challenge of the team environment to these otherwise isolated golfers; there are going to be other influences close at hand in Wales that may have a positive or negative effect on the player who is used to totally controlling his space.

All of us caddies are inherently aware of the idiosyncrasies of golf professionals and we all have some experience of other team golf, so we should be tactful enough to bring out the best in other team players.

The most important basic rule for a caddie to appreciate is that he/she is an adviser. Sometimes a caddie needs to take control of a situation on the course, but generally the caddie advises and the player decides.

There has been an influx of new caddies to the game over recent years. The profile of the modern caddie has changed a great deal. Although we can all look a bit dishevelled at times, we have largely become more presentable and professional-looking even if we do wear shorts to work.

With the new breed of caddie has come a more assertive attitude from some bagmen. Although a player wants his toter to be confident, there is a fine balance between positive input and destructive control tendencies.

Some years back a successful Scottish player on tour who had not got a regular bagman at the time took a chance on a younger caddie who had made himself look desirable on the employment line-up.

He looked the part and he obviously knew how the game ideally should be played.

At the time the player was sponsored by the Hogan golf company. Ben Hogan was arguably one of the purest technical golfers who ever won majors, the angles of his golf swing have been examined in detail by anyone who considers themselves a student of the game.

Apart from the commercial necessity of having a sponsor, there were always certain golfers who were particularly proud to have the name Hogan appear on the side of the bag while theirs was on the front.

So the practice was over and day one of the new caddie/player partnership in competition arrived.

The enthusiastic and forceful new caddie suggested that the player hit a drawing three-wood down the first hole, which the player did. Having given his player the yardage, the decisive caddie advised a held-up faded seven-iron into the right pin against a right to left wind.

The tone was set for the day and the rounds ahead as the player realised his new bagman was not only going to suggest what club to hit but also he would be told exactly how to hit it.

Creativity is what the player is paid for, not the caddie. After six holes of being force-fed what club, shape and trajectory to hit off each tee and to every green, the player decided it was time to take control.

He looked at his caddie on the seventh fairway as yet another shot was suggested and told him, “Listen here big man, my name’s on the front of that bag, not on the side of it”.

We all have an important role to play in advising our very talented golfers what club to use and perhaps infrequently what shape may be best suited to a particular pin in a certain wind. Such spoon-feeding is not only stifling for a talented golfer but it shows a lack of understanding of the role of the caddie.

So our role in Wales as the 12 extras on the European Ryder Cup team is as advisers. We are also aware of the influence of that advice on the ultimate decisions that are made. We need to advise wisely.