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SENIOR OPEN: Local high school standouts relish chance to caddy WITH VIDEO
Kyle Gaines (left) of Brother Rice High School was the caddie for amateur Bob Royak during the second round of the 33rd U.S. Senior Open 2012 Championship at Indianwood Golf & Country Club in Lake Orion. (The Oakland Press/VAUGHN GURGANIAN)But it’s a good bet all are even better golfers now than they were Thursday morning when the U.S. Senior Open started at Indianwood Golf & Country Club.
No, none of three obviously competed in the event since they’re still about three decades from becoming eligible for the Champions Tour and they didn’t only get better just by watching the seniors, although it helped a little.
Instead, all three broadened their talents by serving as caddies during the first two rounds of the event.
Avid golfers and professionals know how important good caddies are, but for those that aren’t golf lovers, being a caddie is more than just lugging a heavy bag of clubs for over 6,000 yards during a four-hour round.
Whether it’s proper club selection, wind direction or breaking down every millimeter of break on a putt, caddies have to analyze every little detail for their player on a course.
As far as the professional tour goes, if a caddie has one major gaffe in judging a situation, he or she is fired just like Shooter McGavin’s caddie in the movie “Happy Gilmore.”
Fortunately for Knutson, Belanger and Gaines, they were caddying for amateurs and not under that kind of pressure, but they still had important roles and thus learned a lot.
“I took a ton out if it,” said Knutson, who was a caddie for Michael Turner of Sherman Oaks, Calif.
“I think I’ve become a better golfer from it. Just my knowledge and how I look at it from being a caddie. As a caddie, you look at every single detail and as a player. I’ll take it into my next tournament.”
It was especially memorable for Knutson since he lives on the New Course (the tournament is being held on the Old Course) at Indianwood and has been a member for most of his life.
Seeing merchandise and hospitality tents and grandstands on his home course is a sight he’ll never forget, even when they all start to get taken down next week.
Knutson recently finished a fine career at Pontiac Notre Dame Prep, where he won the individual Division 3 state title last year and finished second this year. He’ll play in college at Detroit Mercy.
“It’s really cool to see the whole process,” Knutson said. “It looks great being done. It’ll be different when it comes back to normal. I wish they could keep things up there. They have some good target lines up there for us to aim at.”
Gaines, a native of Oxford who is about to go into his senior season at Birmingham Brother Rice, caddied for Bob Royak of Alpharetta, Georgia.
“It gave me an opportunity to see what it’s like inside the ropes,” Gaines said. “To see what kind of shots they hit and how they play the game. It gives me an opportunity to see how they play the game and compare it with how I play the game.”
Belanger, a Clarkston resident who along with Gaines helped lead Brother Rice to the Division 1 state title last month, caddied for Mark Morrison of Hawaii.
Just like Knutson, Belanger and Gaines have been longtime members at Indianwood and he did his best to offer Morrison his extensive local knowledge of the course.
“The greens are so tough,” said Belanger, who’ll play in college at Queens University in Charlotte. “They break a lot. A couple of them are so baked out on the front that we’re playing shots 10 to 15 yards short because we’re not getting spin and the rough is thick. Greens are hard. It was mostly the greens he needed help with. It was nice.”
But as was the case with Knutson and Gaines, Belanger used the caddying opportunity to learn.
“It’s watching soaking in as much as I can because these guys are so good with the short game,” Belanger said. “It’s crazy. I like to take a lot of tips from them.”
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