The Caddy Shack is the nerve center of all activity for Bob o' Link loopers.

Prologue: Caddies Learn Life Lessons Early

Cucamonga Pete would tell his fellow caddies that the Army and caddying were very similar, foregoing the kill or be killed possibility.


Like in the Army, everything at the caddy shack is hurry up and wait. You have to get to the golf course early to let the caddy master know you’re there. But you sit around all day waiting for most golfers to show up. At Bob o’ Link, all golfers are men, and most still go to the office or at least make a cameo appearance.

Virtually every member is either a CEO, president, or corporate emeritus of some sort.
While the golfers dally in the clubhouse, the caddies are busy coffee klatching, sometimes solving the world’s problems in a single morning sitdown.


At all times, humor plays a major role around the caddy shack. Nowhere else is comedy so rooted in a line of work.
 Like in the Army, camaraderie and bonding among colleagues are as tight as a tapestry woven of steel. It might not always seem like it, though. There’s always a fresh supply of antagonism, teasing, and pranks to keep each caddie on his or her toes.


The Army correlation to caddying is especially true on the day one starts. A looper finds himself in a difficult situation the day he arrives, surrounded by others who have already bonded and become comfortable in the setting of the caddy shack.


The Caddy Shack and Army Barracks have their distinct similarities

Caddies have their own brand of language

As in an Army barracks, one immediately notices the argot uniquely prevalent in the caddy shack. It doesn’t take long for new caddies to fall into the same, salty vernacular of the other loopers. It’s language that’s overspiced with idiomatic jargon that may not be appropriate for upper-echelon discussion.


Right away, a new caddie knows his place when he receives his caddie number. The neophyte starts off with an astronomical number, like 131, way higher than even the number of caddies at the golf course. That number will be his identity until he’s risen above the status equivalent of private.
Once a caddie’s performance is elevated above "flytrap," his caddie number will descend from the stratosphere into a more respectable, two-digit integer.
That means a caddie has proven not to be a dork in and around the shack.

He must prove he can converse in a contributory fashion. And he must demonstrate a knowledge of caddying by: a) not stepping in the line of putts on the green; b) not throwing his own shadow over the cup while players are putting; c) understanding divot replacement and trap raking; and d) knowing how to work their golfers for tips without being a sycophantic suckhole in the process.


Everybody who has ever caddied, no matter what their age, still remembers their caddy numbers. There’s no forgetting the humiliation or the relief of going from a three-digit number to a single-digit identity: 131, 89, 31, and 6.


Most caddies’ first job is at the golf course. They learn how to struggle physically with the weight of the golf bag and the walking distance of the golf course. They also learn the value of a dollar and the difference between earning money and having it handed to them by their parents.


The lessons of caddying prepare youngsters for life better than any teacher in any classroom.
Caddying is a springboard to life. Most often, the kids who learn a work ethic early go on to college with the discipline and desire to succeed in their ambitions as they develop.


For Cucamonga Pete, the Army Rangers delayed his life’s trajectory. He fell back to caddying — the comfort he knew as a child growing up. Pete found it hard to escape the low orbit of a pro jock. Then, one day, it all changed.

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What's It Like Inside a Caddy Shack?

It’s a hub of humor and camaraderie, with unique characters at every turn.

You’ve never met anyone like Cucamonga Pete. You might say he drew a bad hand in life. Before his mother was ushered into a mental institution, she extolled his father’s reputation as a war hero, making Pete very proud. But then, as a boy, Pete learned that his mother’s laudatory praises of his father were lies. In fact, his old man was a 4F drunk who died of cirrhosis of the liver.

Pete’s orphanage childhood built him into a self-sufficient man, ready to take on any challenges. He left Marquette University just three credits shy of a degree to join the Army Rangers in Vietnam. It was his experience there that set him on a track of repressed guilt—a self-deprivation that leaves him homeless and without possessions. Yet his friends at the caddy shack, his popularity at the park, and his best friend from those Vietnam days allow him to pursue a happy life — one that he savors every single day.

Cucamonga Pete is a character masterpiece of great friendship, kindness, courage, and heroism. Pete is the embodiment of a person who requires the minimum to be happy. Yet, it’s not until a young caddie sets him straight about himself that he finds good fortune and peace of mind.