Mark’s Kaddy Korner

If you are going to be an also ran, not in the top 64 in the world golf rankings, the Riviera Maya-Cancun area is a magnificent place to spend some time with your underachieving buddies. I’m not sure of the numbers but these nobodies playing at El Camaleon, the 14^th toughest track on tour, are pretty impressive. There are at least 4-5 Major winners – Lehman, Toms, Daly, Jansen – a bunch of Ryder Cuppers, a couple of U.S. Amateur champs at least – Mayfair and Verplank – a TPC winner, Fred Funk and a Tour Championship winner or two.

Boeing Classic – Champions Tour – Snoqualmie, WA

We were more impressed with the vistas than the golf course when the Champions Tour first stopped here six years ago. The Jack Nicklaus signature course was designed for selling high end real estate but the layout stretching over three or four distinct ridges, across a couple deep ravines, and a precipice bordering quite a few fairways has turned into one of my favorite courses. 2006 was my last trip, my how it has matured.

Newport Beach Country Club is one of my favorite courses on tour, too bad I have to fly to get there and it’s close to the Los Angeles area. Flying these days is no fun and the congestion in southern California creates claustrophobia, luckily I get to spend about eight hours a day on a quaint little course nestled in the foothills overlooking the Pacific Ocean. NBCC was built in 1953 and the most drastic changes are the buildings that have grown up around the course. You still have views of the ocean and snow capped mountains, and once you’re behind the clubhouse the frantic California lifestyle can’t reach you.

This is just a little something I’m working on for the book. There will be a variety of chapters about caddy basics, and I’ll try to tell a few topical stories. This is a very rough draft, so bear with it, I hope you get the gist of what I’m trying to accomplish. There’s a lot of stories like this about towels, bags, umbrellas, etc.

The Yardage Book