Loopin' Up North, Eh?

This past week I had the exciting privilege to experience an element of life in which very few individuals find themselves — caddying for a professional golfer. This journey brought me up north to a little town called Comox on Vancouver Island. The sights were special, but the escapade was altogether intriguing and insightful. One of my very close friends invited me up there to loop for him (yes, it means caddying) at a qualifying tournament, and the second the invitation was extended I knew this was an opportunity too good to pass up. Who would turn down the chance to support a close friend and wander into a new world?

Well, it wasn’t entirely new. Golf was my sport for a bit. Ages 7-17 to be exact. Tournaments, school golf, practicing continually, the full 7200 yards…so to speak. But caddying for a professional golfer? That was something brand new. What was this world like? How close was it to Caddyshack? Would I find myself betting the judge a thousand bucks he’d slice it in the woods? These were all questions my insatiable curiosity needed to pursue. So without hesitation, I hopped on a plane to Vancouver to go carry 14 metal sticks for 72 holes.

Let me first start by saying that Canada is a fascinating place. The hospitality and overall welcoming demeanor of every Canadian I met was, well, very welcoming. A great environment to start an excursion into a new country. Feeling both comfortable and out of my element, I quickly found myself walking down our first hole with a bag on my back and a pro golfer next to me. Sweet. Going through the day cleaning clubs, tending flagsticks, and keeping an eye out for pesky gophers, I had learned the ropes and after 18 was swiftly sitting in the clubhouse with a burger and a beer. Nature’s manmade liquid Advil…or something. Jokes aside, it was in this setting where I learned the most about the world I had ventured into.

The restaurant was always filled with other golfers who were decompressing after a grueling day of one thing — grinding. A lot of what we see on T.V. is the pinnacle of the sport, the stage at which players have “made it”. The players that I found myself with represented golf in its realest, rawest form. They were in the stage that every pro golfer has to make their way through and, quite frankly, it is hard. Really hard. Statistics and physical difficulty aside, there is an intangible mental toughness pro golfers need to possess that catapults the sport onto an exclusive plateau. Not only do they have to be their own coach and motivational companion during the round, but in this stage they have to do that before and after the round. Many of these players travel alone, and a lot. Canada, Latin America, different states of America, it is a grueling and taxing circuit. One that many find themselves journeying through in solitude. On the naïve surface, you’d think that this restaurant full of golfers would be where they’d find their camaraderie. The “locker room” of golf, where friendship through adversity would be found amongst peers and the “team” equivalent of a team sport would unconventionally blossom. But we’re talking about a different breed of elite athletes. Those who never liked team sports. Those who trusted only themselves to get the job done. Those who now find themselves testing that resilience. And those who, after 4 days of giving everything they have to a qualifying tournament, hop right back on a plane and fly a few hundred more miles to a practice round for next week’s qualifying tournament.

Golf is something very special. It is the only major sport where the terrain drastically changes with every new event, and the player is playing both himself and the course. Stepping back and watching this world through a new lens illuminated the entirety of its toughness. It’s not just physical, or mental, or beating the odds, it’s all three. Over the course of 7200 yards.

P.s. Yes! It’s here, the shoe segment. Let’s talk about the shoes I should have worn throughout the caddying excursion — the adidas ultra boost. A running shoe that has impressively made its way into the sneakerhead world as both insanely comfortable and streetwear fashionable, it was the perfect shoe for the job. Unfortunately, I didn’t have a pair I didn’t care about getting dirty. Sigh…I might have a problem.