Higher Education

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For the past year, Spieth has been in the premier pairings in the opening rounds of almost every tournament he has entered. That has given Greller the opportunity to watch the best caddies in the game go about their business, on the range, in the clubhouse and on the course, in good days and bad.
“Iron sharpens iron,” Greller says. “You can’t help getting better being around those guys.”

Caddies are much more than bag-toters. In fact, carrying the golf bag might be the least important part of their jobs. They have to be coaches and shrinks. They need to know the barometric pressure at the site of each tournament and the blood pressure of their player when he steps on the first tee.

They have to know agronomy and geology. They have to encourage and they have to inspire. At times they are mathematicians, and other times they are stand-up comics, breaking the tension in the heat of the round.

Predictably, the learning curve for Greller was steep. He watched Paul Tisori, Webb Simpson’s caddy, and Damon Green, who works with Zach Johnson. Greller’s first year on the Tour was like a graduate program taught at warp speed.

“I’ve learned that on the golf course, less is more a lot of times, keeping things simple,” Greller says. “One of my greatest roles with Jordan is being an encourager, just always being a cheerleader for him, because there are so many ups and downs in golf. I watched the other caddies and I saw how positive they stayed when things went wrong. They didn’t overreact to things.”

Greller said that teaching sixth graders was great preparation for being a caddy. He wasn’t being sarcastic.

“There are a lot of commonalities, a lot of the same skill set,” he says. “Being that encourager, staying positive, thinking on your feet. Adapting to changing conditions, having thick skin, having a short-term memory and being willing to adapt, every day on every hole. So, yeah, it’s been a steep learning curve for me, but it’s been doable.”

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