They still have caddies at the Omaha Country Club.
The private club requires their use at certain times. It's a tradition that the host course for the 2013 U.S. Senior Open embraces and isn't about to change.
Allowances have been made over time, some that 50-year caddie master Kevin O'Connor (who died in 1983) might not have envisioned. Girls, for one, now can be caddies.
"And those who do it are really successful,'' said current caddie Drew Taylor. "There are guys that like having a good girl caddie."
The strong ties forged in the caddie shack, where retired Omaha Creighton Prep teacher and coach Virgil Beckmann has been caddie master the past five years, are reflected in the success of the Kevin O'Connor Scholarship Fund.
From the $2,375 collected in 1952 when the club's Caddie Alumni Association was formed, the scholarship fund last year reached the $1 million mark in grants awarded for excellence and leadership.
"We couldn't have done it without the unique partnership with the members of OCC," said Mike Dugan of the alumni group. "The membership has not only provided financial support to the scholarship program, but many members become mentors to these young men and women and establish friendships that last a lifetime."
A new partner is the Gilbert M. and Martha H. Hitchcock Foundation, which will award four $5,000 scholarships at the annual caddie alumni banquet Monday night at the club. An additional 28 O'Connor scholarships will be presented.
Caddying is not for everyone, Taylor said. It means rising early on weekends and waiting your turn while gaining experience.
"The first year's tough,'' the Nebraska Wesleyan freshman said. "You're new and a B-level caddie.''
Beckmann said he relies on word of mouth — Taylor said high school teammate Karl Krieser told him about it — to recruit potential caddies each spring. Millard North and Creighton Prep are the two biggest feeder schools, although one caddie this summer was from Papillion. Beckmann and one of the club's pros, Tim McAndrew, hold a multiple-day training session.
"Some maybe decide it's not for them right away,'' Beckmann said. "We probably will have 25 to 30 first-year caddies. Some go out once and say this isn't for them or don't have a good experience. So out of that group, half are going to be really good caddies. You have to be patient because there is a pecking order."
Caddies can move up to A level and then to honors. College students can continue to work until it's been four years since their high school graduation. Usually it takes three years of service to make honors level, Beckmann said, but Taylor and Krieser received that promotion in their first year.
"It's when members say these guys are really good," he said. "One criteria is length of service, and the other is flat talent. Four of (state champion) Millard North's top five were caddies here, and there were a couple of the Prep (varsity golfers)."
In all, there were 82 caddies this past season.
While his caddie experiences have aided his golf game, Taylor said, more valuable is listening and learning from the members and their guests while walking with them during a four-hour round. Some are former caddies. Two of the first four scholarship recipients in 1952 became doctors, one a dentist and the other a district manager for an insurance company.
"You're learning from guys who are good in the business world,'' Taylor said. "It's something to strive for. I want to be like those guys, be that successful."
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