The Details Behind PGA Tour Caddie Compensation
The Details Behind PGA Tour Caddie Compensation
Three PGA Tour Caddies made over $1 million last year.
Every Monday, I write a newsletter breaking down the business in golf. Welcome to the 58 new Perfect Putt members who have joined us since last Monday. Join 4,224 intelligent and curious golfers by subscribing below.
Hey Golfers —
Three PGA Tour Caddies made over $1 million in gross income last season — while several others were close to cashing seven-figure years.
Here is a look at the top ten PGA Tour money list from last season and what their respective caddie earned in gross income.
The chart above includes all money made on the PGA Tour last season and the FedEx Cup bonus. Other bonuses and tours were not included.
Those figures assume a few variables — here is how we got there.
$2,500 weekly base fee
10% for a win
7% for non-win
The weekly base fee is a negotiable item between players and caddies — driven mainly by player rankings.
Top 20 — $5,000+ weekly base
Top 50 — $3,000 - $4,000 weekly base
Top 100 — $2,000 - $3,000 weekly base
Earning percentages are negotiable — although the 7% and 10% split is pretty standard. A new relationship between player and caddie could see 5% of earnings for anything outside a Top 25, 7% for a Top 25, and 10% for a win.
But it isn’t all roses for PGA Tour caddies — like PGA Tour players, they are independent contractors.
Caddies are responsible for their expenses.
Flight
Hotel
Rental Car
Food
Yardage Books
An average week on the PGA Tour will cost a caddie between $1,000 - $1,500 to show up.
Even more challenging? No health insurance, no retirement account.
Health insurance on the open market can cost a caddie tens of thousands of dollars per year, depending on their family situation. While caddies can invest their money in a retirement vehicle — they are missing out on a company match option.
While the top guys do exceptionally well from a money standpoint — there is a bit of a drop-off.
Let’s look at Joel Dahmen — a guy who has made $9.5 million in career earnings and ranked 128th worldwide. He’s a damn good player.
Joel made $1.7 million last year in 26 events. His caddie, Geno, likely made around $180,000.
Not bad, right? Start peeling back the onion, and it is a grind.
If we take the average travel week of $1,250 — Geno had over $30,000 in expenses. Add in the unknown variable of health insurance and lack of retirement account.
But that isn’t even the craziest part. Geno spent 26 weeks on the road — half the year away from his family in a hotel room. While Geno likely netted double the national median household income of $68,000 — you have to respect the trade-offs to get there.
PGA Tour caddies do have the opportunity to make additional income.
Let’s start with the Valspar Hat Program.
The Valspar Hat Program has a total bonus pool of $550,000 to pay out to PGA Tour caddies at the end of the year.
The bonus is based on a point system — here is how it works.
1 point per round
2 bonus points for round 3 & 4 if starting in the Top 20
.5 points for a bucket hat
.5 points for a colorful hat (red, green, purple, etc.)
10 points for every five events that a hat is worn
10 points for a win
5 points for 2nd - 10th
The average payout for the Valspar Hat Program is $5,000 - $8,000. Some caddies make over $10,000 wearing a Valspar hat.
Caddies can make money off sponsorships — one of the most common is the hat they wear.
Let’s take Nike for example. In most cases — a Nike-sponsored player will have a requirement from Nike of the player’s caddie to wear a Nike hat with no other logos.
Another example is for an OEM company to sign a contract with a player. The OEM company can designate some of that contract money for a caddie to wear a hat with their logo.
At times, a PGA Tour player will pay out a bonus to their caddie.
Christmas
High Playoff Finish
PGA Tour Status
In this sense — it is like every other business that exists. Treat your employees how you would like to be treated, and they are more likely to stick with you through the lows of the business.
Being a PGA Tour caddie has a significant financial upside — it also can be a weekly physical and mental battle. It isn’t for everyone.
Have yourself a great Monday. Talk to you next week!
Your feedback helps improve Perfect Putt. How did you like this week's newsletter?
If you enjoyed this week’s newsletter, please share it with your friends :)
Are you interested in partnering with Perfect Putt? Click the button to learn more about sponsorship opportunities.
Ur numbers are close not all make 7 per throughout the earnings. 2500 is prett high weekly as well. The big miss is what a caddy spends on the down weeks. 20 off weeks a year !
Met George Coetzee's caddie in 2011 while we were waiting in the queue for our British visa application, when I was living in South Africa. I overheard him say he's a caddie on the European Tour when the guy sitting next to him asked him what he'll be doing in Europe/UK, so I started chatting to him, asking as many questions as I could before one of us got called to the application window!
He told me he's always been involved with golf and George's dad had asked him to go with George to Europe as it was his first time abroad.
From what I can recall George had done well enough in the first couple of events of the year in South Africa (which were co-sanctioned with the European Tour) to earn a conditional Euro tour card for the rest of the year, and would retain his card provided he made a certain amount of money.
I believe the caddie had his return airfare paid from South Africa to Europe, but then he was basically on his own when it came to travel and accommodation within Europe, while George had sponsors that took care of his 5 star travel. Also bare in mind that the European Tour has events on 6 continents, so travel can get very expensive.
He was paid 750 euro per week and then 6% for a win, 8% for a top 10 and 10% for everything else, but every caddie has a unique deal - this was also ~ 12 years ago.
Anyway, I started following George's career closely after this and kept track of his season:
First 3 events were in Spain, Italy and Morocco and resulted in 3 missed cuts.
I kept on thinking about the poor caddie and how much money he's losing.
I do remember telling me that a lot of the South African caddies will room and travel together from tournament to tournament to cut costs. Whoevers golfer made the cut that week would pay for petrol for the long drive ahead etc.
George then skipped the Asian leg of the tour, made the odd cut here and there, still wasn't making money but then hit the lotto when he finished T3rd at the BMW International Open in Germany and won 88k euro - a sweet payday for the caddie!
This then qualified him for The Open which was 2/3 weeks later where he finished tied for 15th and won 75k euro. This ensured he retained his tour card for the following season as well as boosted his World Ranking to just outside the top 100 and into some more events.
He finished the season with 900k euro winnings and the caddie ended up with over R1m, which was a ton of money in 2011. I believe he caddied for him for at least another 6 years or so.
Just had a quick google, the caddie was Alan Burns, who then went on to Justin Hardings (another South African) bag.