North Shore Golf Summer 2021 web

8 >>> SPRING 2021
Essex County Club caddie master
Chris Wells.
PHOTO: JULIA HOPKINS
skills.They have to show
up on time, if they do a
good job they’ll make
more money, and they
spend valuable one-onone
time with successful
adults.
“Successful caddies
are successful as adults,”
said Green. Many caddies
go on to work for club
members after graduation.
And many former caddies
are now members at
North Shore clubs.
Frank Dully,
Kernwood’s longtime
head PGA professional,
said “When the
pandemic hit, there was
constant communication between departments here at the
club. Keeping everyone safe was the priority. We did bring
caddies in for big tournaments, the club championships and
member-member, but that was about it.”
Dully, who caddied at a 9-hole course in Connecticut as
a kid, said Kernwood has been fortunate to have had Craig
Pitman guide its caddie program for nearly 20 years.
“We held off till the middle of May, but we are back
to normal here,” said Pitman, adding that members were
enthusiastically telling him “Let’s get the caddie program
going again.”
Pitman said Kernwood’s caddies range from 14 years old
to college students. Most live in Danvers, Beverly, Salem or
Peabody. Each year, three or four of the younger kids stick
with it and continue caddying at the club year after year or
move over to the bag room. Many earn Ouimet scholarships.
Newbies attend an on-course caddie school, watch videos
on how to caddie and a shadow program, where youngsters are
paired with an expert AA caddie who doubles as a teacher.
Beginner caddies wear green bibs and earn $30 plus tip per
round, “A” caddies wear red bibs and carry one bag, earning
$35. Expert “AA” caddies wear blue bibs and get $40 per bag.
Perks at Kernwood and most area clubs include playing
rights on Monday, an end-of-the season thank-you banquet/
barbecue and a caddie-member tournament.
The South Salem club’s members are longtime supporters
of the Ouimet Fund. Kernwood is also one of the few private,
member-owned clubs in the country that has a caddie
scholarship program. The Kernwood Caddie Scholarship
Program was created by Peter Remus back in the 1970s.
Unlike at most North Shore country clubs, Kernwood’s
veteran caddies don’t have to arrive early and wait for a loop.
Thanks to modern technology, when a member makes a tee
time, he/she can request a caddie. Pitman keeps an eye on the
tee sheets, and let’s the caddie know when and who he will
be caddying for in advance. For tournaments, members can
request the caddie of their choice.
Salem Country Club has put its caddie program on hold
for now. Several Salem members requesting anonymity said
the club, like many in the United States, is weighing whether a
caddie is an independent contractor or employee according to
Internal Revenue Service guidelines before moving forward.
North Shore clubs’
favorite non-profit?
Ouimet Scholarship Fund
BY BILL BROTHERTON
Jeff Murphy’s love for the game of golf started as a caddie
at Tedesco CC.
“I grew up in Salem, in the half of the city where kids caddied
at Tedesco. The kids in other parts of the city caddied at Kernwood
or Salem. I was 13, and not a golfer. The more I caddied and the
better I got at it made me take up golf,” said Murphy.
At 16, he moved into Tedesco’s bag room, which offered
more hours and the chance to make more money. He did that
every summer until he graduated from Assumption College,
with an assist from a need-based scholarship from the Francis
Ouimet Scholarship Fund.
He took a job in the private sector, but when then-Tedesco
head PGA pro Bob Green called offering him the job as
outside operations manager/caddiemaster he jumped at
the opportunity. The PGA member went on to be the first
assistant and subsequently acting head pro at Bass Rocks CC
in Gloucester.
Things have come full circle for the Ouimet Scholar. For
the past five years, Murphy has worked at the Ouimet Fund,
as director of Events and Club Relations.
Founded in 1949, the Francis Ouimet Scholarship Fund
awards millions in need-based college scholarships each year
to deserving young men and women who have worked at
Massachusetts golf courses.
Ouimet scholars attend 145 colleges and universities and
maintain a 3.5 grade point average. Some 446 scholars bear a
burden of $4 million in financial need. Scholars come from 127
Jeff Murphy
COURTESY PHOTO