Ralston Golf Club
Interview
Interview of Alastair Forsyth & David Vennard
for Ralston Golf Club.
Interviewed by John Mclaughlin
Q.) How did you come to be caddieing for Al?
David ) I knew he had split up with his own caddie
and i had said to him on a
few occasions before, that if he was ever struggling for a caddie i had
fancied doing it. so Al said he only had two tournaments left and if i could
make it then fine.
Al.) David had offered and it suited me ideally I didn't want to ask because he had work commitments but when he offered, the fact there was only two tournaments left to play, saved me from having to find someone else that i might not have wanted to caddie for me had i had a choice. I quite enjoyed the fact that Davie was inexperienced, as one of the problems with my last caddie was that i was relying on him too much. So Davie had all the yardages and it was my own decision which club i decided on,and if i made a mistake it was my own fault. There was no way i was going to fall out with him if he made a mistake.
Q.) So Davie you helped Al by doing nothing ?
David) Well i wouldn't put it like that, i done as much as i could do,the main thing for me was not to put any doubt in his mind, once he had made a decision i wasn't going to say anything. If there was a dodgy shot to play i was letting Al make the decision himself. There was one in particular that i remember where i just let him take the club from the bag and i was off well out of his way before he could ask me anything.
Q.) Does that happen on the tour much where the player relies on the caddie for all the club choices ?
Al.) Oh aye, you think if i am making every club decision, then why am i paying this guy so much. Don't get me wrong the last caddie i had was a good caddie and put the right club in my hand nine times out of ten,but sometimes if there is a wee bit of doubt in your mind then you're better being committed to the wrong club than uncommitted to the right one. If you're making the decisions yourself then you see the shot and you know what you want to do.rather than picking the club and the caddie saying oh i think you should take one more, that's when the doubt creeps in.It all depends on how much you trust your caddie and it's something i'm going to have to think about in the future when i'm looking for a new caddie.
Q.) So Davie's not getting the job full time.
Al.) Oh no i couldn't handle the pressure of being responsible for making sure my pal got his wages it's hard enough being responsible for my own.
Q.) Davie how did you find working with Al.
David.) It was great although I was quite nervous the first couple of days, as i had never done it before. I felt under a bit of pressure cos you don't want to make any mistakes by standing on players lines etc.and getting him any hassle cos at the end of the day he would get the grief for any of my mistakes. Once you get into it you enjoy it. There are wee rules and things the caddies do to help each other out.
Al.) I tried to fill him in on some of the tricks of the trade for instance if one of my playing partners is in the greenside bunker,once he gets out onto the green then his caddie is raking the bunker,so while he does that then Davie will clean the players ball. If a playing partner has been in a fairway bunker and only got the ball just out, if we are on the green then Davie would rake that bunker while the caddie was helping the player. Just wee things like that to try and keep him right.
David.) You do get into it after a wee while but you have to always be aware of what's going on after all they are playing for a lot of dough.
Q.) So do you think you could become a full time caddie ?
David.) I could definately do it but you have really got to want to do it.
Q.) You play of a handicap of three,after watching the pro's close up do you think could become a pro. golfer.
David.) No. the standard is just so high, even the guys who you don't know and are maybe three hundredth in the order of merit are still great players. In fact on the first day we played with a guy called Gary Murphy who shanked the ball from the middle of the fairway but he still shot something like a 68. He's maybe done it loads of times or he's never ever done that before, either way he just gets on with it and still puts a good round together, he did't let it affect his game.
Q.) How did you play with Davie on the bag?
Al.) Pretty good i had one bad round out of eight which was the third round in Majorca the rest was par or better every round.
Q.) What were the two tournaments that you caddied?
David.) The Open de Madrid and the Majorca Classic.
Al.) I finished 19th in Madrid and 31st in Majorca which weren't brilliant results but compared to how my season's been going and in comparison with the rest of my season they were some of my better finishes.It showed me that i don't need to rely on caddie's yardages and i can still get it round using my own judgement. Having a caddie will be like a wee bonus now.
David) I think one of the things i learned was when to say something and when to shut up, the last thing you want to do as a caddie is put doubt in your players mind.
Al.) As i said before you are better committed to the wrong club as opposed to not being committed to the right club. It's the same on the green i've never had a caddie read a put for me in my life and i never will. If you're over a put with any doubt in your mind,you've got no chance of holing it.
Q.) What do you think of the players who get their caddie to go behind them and line up their putter.
Al.) I don't understand them i think you've got to be positive in your own mind and strike the put confident in your own judgement.
David.) Gregory Havret done it every hole every round with his caddie telling him right a bit left a bit or whatever, apart from anything else it takes ages it really slows things down.
Q.) How long was a normal round taking?
David.) About 4hrs 40in to 5hrs was average.
Q.) How heavy was the bag after that length of time?
David.) Aye heavy, how much it actually weighed i don't know but it felt heavy enough.
Q.) I'm assuming with it being Spain the weather was o.k.
David.) Majorca was fine but Madrid was wet. So i had to carry everything Al. needed plus what i needed. Add in the clubs and a dozen balls and its heavy going. Although by the time we get to the end we maybe only have six, as once he's finished with them i was throwing them to the kids in the crowd. as it means i don't have to carry them.
Al.) Thing is the slightly used ones are the ones i normally give to Davie to play with.
Q.) Well when he's finished with them they're the ones i get. (laugh.out.loud.)
Q.) What could the Ralston golfer learn caddieing for someone like Al.
David.) Course management definately, that's where they save all their shots it's impeccable.They might hit a bad shot but the general idea would be to get it to a certain spot to maybe take burns,trees or bunkers out of play and give them a shot to the green.
Al.) Very few stupid shots get dropped, i mean we all make mistakes and hit bad shots whether it's me Tiger Woods or Ernie Els but very few daft mistakes are made.
David.) limiting the amount of silly mistakes you make, for example if there are fairway traps in play these guys are saying i can either hit it over the trap or lay up with a three wood either way they don't want to go in there. Cos if they do go in it's a dropped shot and let's face it for these guys every shot's money.
Q.) Going back to balls we hear stories of pro's using eighteen balls a round what's your average ?
Al.) I,m not too bad i probably use six or seven, once it gets a bad scuff on it like what your wedges do to them coming out a bunker or if you hit a tree or suchlike then i'll change it.We are given four dozen balls a tournament so there is no need to play with a scuffed ball.
Q.) How did you get on with the other caddies ?
David.) There was a wee bit of chat but not a lot because they've got their job to do.
Q.) I was meaning off the course.
David.) Well again i didn't have much interaction with them as i was with a friend so it was a totally different ball game for me that's why i enjoyed it so much, i was caddieing plus i was still getting the perks and privelages of being a players guest.
Al.) normally at likes of lunchtime the caddies do their own thing but with Davie being a players guest he could dine with me.
Q.) How does Al prepare different for a round of golf on the European Tour than you do?
David.) Totally different,i've seen me go hit some balls before a round but with these guys it's pretty much regimented what they are going to do on a day to day basis. If Al's playing at say one o'clock he's going to be on the range about an hour before he goes out to play. He'll hit balls for about thirty to thirty five minutes then he'll go hit some chips for about fifteen minutes then he'll put for fifteen minutes then he'll go straight to the tee.
Q.) Is that your routine ?
Al.) Normally, although there are some tournaments when the practice range is a buggy ride away or the chipping area isn't handy but these tournaments had the range bang right there.
Q.) How do you start your practice ?
Al.) I always start with my pitching wedge then eight iron six iron four iron five wood or three wood then driver. then finish of with some wedge shots. if i start with my middle wedge i'll go nine,seven,five,three,fairway woods driver then wedge again.
Q.) Did you find the experience hard work?
David.) It is hard work, you are always on the go whether it's fetching water,cleaning clubs and grips,making sure he has everything he needs for five hours on the golf course,plus of course carrying the bag, as i said it's a heavy bag.The izzo strap is a godsend if i hadn't had that it would've been a nightmare.By the end of the second week the bag wasn't really an issue it's amazing how much lighter the bag feels when your player's playing well.
Q.) Have you seen Al. in a different light now? did you ever think i could do that?
David.) No not really i always knew how good he was and know what he's capable of.
Al.) Those two courses weren't the toughest in fact they were probably two of the easiest ones,but you go to some of the others where the course management is vital, where there are very few birdie chances at short par fours and the par fives are out of range in two. that's where there is a big difference. If Davie and i play at Ralston i will win ninetey nine out of a hundred but there is always a chance he could win,whereas at these courses someone like Davie playing off three wouldn't stand a chance.
David.) That's true we went and played the big course at Gleneagles from the back tees and if you missed the fairway on the par fours you still had two hundred and fifty yards to go,so you had no chance to make par wheras these guys are only missing one or two fairways resulting in bogeys, whereas i was missing six or seven, plus they can make birdies to make up for the bogeys.
Q.) Were you and Al hanging around with any of the other stars from the European Tour?
David.) Well they are just workmates to Al. but pretty much every night we were out with Stephen Gallagher.Stephen O'Hara and Paul Lawrie whch apart from Monty i suppose that's your top Scottish golfers. The three of them are all top guys.
Q.) If you had the ability to be a tour pro do you think you could take to the life.
David.) Oh definately i'd love it although it is over glamourised, there's a lot of times when you're sitting there doing absoluteley nothing.
Al.) It's even worse as a caddie they're treated almost like second class citizens at times, normally the caddie is out trying to cut his expenses down to the bear minimum. Although Davie was with me and the two of us kept each other company, it was unfortunate that there was no flights direct to Glasgow and we had to go Majorca to Madrid, Madrid to Gatwick then Gatwick to Glasgow.
David.) As a player you're away from home for twenty five weeks in the year which is a long time.
Q.) How long have you been on the tour now Alastair?
Al.) Six years now.
Q.) How do you find it are you used to it now?
Al.) I,m well used to it now but i still don't enjoy the travelling, I love the competitive side of things although this year has been a tough year the way it has gone, but it's come good and has been in no way a disaster although compared to other years it's been a wee bit disappointing probably more a frustrating year.So i'll be taking it easy for the next two and a half months.
Q.) You changed your swing at the start of the year?
Al.) Yes one of the reasons i got off to a slow start this year was i wasn't happy the way i was playing at the start of the year and i decided to change my coach which was not the best time to do it, you're better off doing that at the end of the year when you've got time to work on things. Whereas i was trying to work on things and play at the same time which is very very hard to do.Because of that i got off to a slow start and if you don't get off to a good start the pressure is on, you start to think in the back of your mind about your tour card,and the longer that goes on the more pressure you put yourself under,but from May onwards i feel i've hit the ball consistantly better than i've ever done in my whole career.
Q.) Do you feel eager for next season to start?
Al.) Not at the moment i'm pleased that this season's over and i can draw a line under it, Get a break and come back eager and refreshed for next season. Which will be nice because i was going to some tournaments this season and i must admit i wasn't looking forward to them.But for the next two months i can hit the ball and not worry where it's going and i can fine tune a couple of wee things in my swing. I,m going to work hard on my short game as that let me down a bit this season, then hopefully back in the groove for 2006.
Q.) 2006 is a Ryder Cup year do you have any ambitions to qualify for that?
Al.) I don't really think about it, but if i happened to get off to a flyer and was up there i will worry about that then. Although the way the points are given out if you're not playing in all the majors and the world championship events it's very hard to pick up points, as that's where all the big points are given out.
Q.) Is it something you would like to do?
Al.) Oh yes definately
Q.) What about you Al. do you still get starstruck playing with the big names.
Al.) No it's my job and i just get on with it. In fact sometimes it feels like a grind and i have to remind myself that this is what i always wanted to do since i was a wee boy and most amateur golfers would jump at the chance to do what i'm doing. I suppose i'd rather be doing this than putting out fires at the airport like Davie. l.o.l.
Q.) you say you enjoyed the experience, would you do it again?
David.) Definately, although i wouldn't want to do it full time as it's a long time away from home and i love my golfing here at Ralston.There's no way i could give that up.
Q.) How do you go about getting a new caddie?
Al.) Word of mouth and through the grapevine. I've already had five or six caddies on the phone offering their services so it's up to me to pick one. I would never go and poach a caddie from another player. Sometimes a caddie is maybe unhappy with the bag he has and if he sees i'm available will offer his services. But i'll make the decision quite soon.
Q.) How many caddies have you had?
Al.) six
Q.) well you'll have to rate Davie where does he come in?
Al.) He was ideal for me at the time and exactly what i needed.