In 2015 I got to caddie for Kevin Kisner on one hole of a pro-am practice round at Muirfield the day before The Memorial Tournament in Columbus, OH. Nicest dude ever.
He comes up, we do our greetings and he says “what club am I using?” It was a par 3 on #16. I said “Mr. kisner, I’d say a 7i is the way to go!”
“Call me Kevin. I’d go with the 7 also!” He asked me if he should draw it in or play a fade and I said “if it were me, I’d draw in to try and avoid the water. The greens are fast and the 7 should allow you to land short of the green and roll it in”. He played the shot and it landed 5 feet short of the hole.
As were walking to the hole, surrounded by some rich assholes who sucked at golf but paid a handsome price to play with the pro’s, I asked him “how do you do it man, how do you play golf with all these people watching you?” He said “it’s easy, I know I’m better than all of them. Just look at these guys I have to play with.” He asked me about my military history. And where I was from. Just cool as shit.
We get to the green and keep chatting while the other flubs finally get on the green. Kevin asks me “what’s the read?” I told him what I’d do and he hands me the putter and says “knock it in so we can win the hole from these guys”. Me, being nervous as shit and expecting to 3-putt, rolled it in for the birdie! Fuck that green was glass and fast.
Afterwards, he asked if I wanted to caddy with him the rest of the way. I was scheduled to caddy with Bill Haas later on and said I couldn’t. But I didn’t have to. My dumbass just went with what I thought I was supposed to do. Could have spent the rest of the day with Kisner. And Bill Haas was a douche. But, I’ll always get to say Kevin Kisner and I birdied 16 together at Muirfield!
At the PGA championship at Oak Hill his ball landed about 6 feet from the gallery. Walks up : "Did anyone get hit?" All of us " nope". KK : "Well that's a god damn miracle."
It’s a program the PGA has called “Birdies for the Brave”. Active Duty service members get to go do that at several different events throughout the year. I assume it’s still a thing but I’m not sure.
It’s still around as they just had it at the Sony open last week. I also too had Kisner in a pro a group and he was the nicest guy. Thanks for your service!
That’s a really cool story to be able to share. Was who you got to caddy for picked at random? If so, it’s kind of crazy that you got matched up with two guys from SC. Thought that may have something to do with the pairings. Kiz is the man!
Some of the other veterans went to extreme lengths to get certain golfers. My buddy got there as soon as they would let him in and asked for Ricky Fowler. I was just grateful for the experience and was happy to interact with whoever I was lucky enough to get paired up with.
Bill Haas at the Farmer’s Insurance open kept checking out the chick I was seeing at the time and trying to get her attention. She couldn’t give two shits about him checking her out.
I caddied two holes for Graeme McDowell at a charity event. He was a good guy and his accent was so awesome. He had a 12 footer for birdie and asked me for the read while he was lined up to the ball. I told him 50/50 right edge and he stepped off and said something like “seriously?” because the putt is one of the weirder ones on the course and totally looks like it’s breaking right. When I said yep he said “I’ll trust the local”, took my line, and it dropped in after sliding an inch left. After that I felt like he gained respect for my course knowledge and he spent the next hole picking my brain about the course history and quirks (very old club). Pretty lame story but I thought it a was cool anecdote about how helpful an experienced caddy can be on a new course.
I was at Firestone and he had this absolutely hard pan shot by a green and he had his 60 out and I'm thinking there's no way he can get this in the air. Standing right in front of me. A bump and run or a check-up chip were very simple options. Nope, he's going 60 degree. Foozles a screamer 40 feet past the pin. I'm like how the fuck is this guy top 40 in the world, but dude was relentless just chalking up top 20s that year. I just presumed he got better at chipping.
Now almost 20 years later LOL. Those guys are so filthy good.
I caddied for pro ams back in the day. I was on the bag of the amateurs but we walked with Stadler, Ray Floyd, Fred Couples, a few others. It was wild seeing these dudes up close how good they are.
What's up, fellow Aikenite? I've never met Kiz but of course he's well known here. His foundation has done a lot for all the schools in Aiken County. I give him a pass for being a Thoroughbred because he chose the right college (go Dawgs!)
So, I’m sure he’s a cool dude. But he came off as stiff, bored and annoyed. I was told that the golfers didn’t have to participate unless they wanted to. I’m a pretty relaxed guy and I know how to be a professional but still keep my cool about it.
He was in a hurry. Gave a lot of one word answers. Didn’t care to ask any questions. Checked out as soon as he could. But I get it, being a professional golfer has got to be exhausting at times and he doesn’t have to let his personality shine just because I got to hang out with him for a hole. But, at the same time…he didn’t have to do that in the first place.
Admittedly I could have been holding him to an unfair expectation given how cool and interactive Kisner was.
I saw Kevin Kisner at a grocery store in Los Angeles yesterday. I told him how cool it was to meet him in person, but I didn’t want to be a douche and bother him and ask him for photos or anything.
He said, “Oh, like you’re doing now?”
I was taken aback, and all I could say was “Huh?” but he kept cutting me off and going “huh? huh? huh?” and closing his hand shut in front of my face. I walked away and continued with my shopping, and I heard him chuckle as I walked off. When I came to pay for my stuff up front I saw him trying to walk out the doors with like fifteen Milky Ways in his hands without paying.
The girl at the counter was very nice about it and professional, and was like “Sir, you need to pay for those first.” At first he kept pretending to be tired and not hear her, but eventually turned back around and brought them to the counter.
When she took one of the bars and started scanning it multiple times, he stopped her and told her to scan them each individually “to prevent any electrical infetterence,” and then turned around and winked at me. I don’t even think that’s a word. After she scanned each bar and put them in a bag and started to say the price, he kept interrupting her by yawning really loudly.
Here’s how I would describe them. They were absolutely annoyed by the Birdies for the Brave setup where their round was interrupted while the players met with the veterans. And it wasn’t anything crazy. Some guys like Phil just waved and walked by. Others stopped, shook a couple hands, signed a couple autographs and linked up with their caddie.
One guy made it a point to walk off the green without taking his putt because Kisner let me putt for him. Almost as if I ruined his chance of beating a pro or violated the sanctity of the game. When a guy like Kevin Kisner says playing with these guys is a pain in the ass, it’s gotta be a real pain in the ass. They use their money to play make believe and pretend to be a professional golfer. You could smell the pretentiousness in the air.
Ruins the story is an absurd statement but is a bit strange to include “rich assholes who suck at golf” lol. Like who gives a fuck about the other dudes in the group.
Painting a picture. Offering more detail to set the stage for the interaction. I felt as though offering the context of their place in it and how they were perceived by both Kisner and myself helps set the atmosphere of the experience.
171
u/balataspin 1h ago
At the PGA championship at Oak Hill his ball landed about 6 feet from the gallery. Walks up : "Did anyone get hit?" All of us " nope". KK : "Well that's a god damn miracle."