Fore Caddie
A fore caddie is a person who goes ahead of the group, watches the struck balls and marks their position.
The fore caddie, in English fore caddie, carries no bag and gives no club advice. Their only job is to stand at strategic points of the hole and follow the flight of the ball. If a ball lands in the Rough or behind a rise, they signal the position, often with a flag or a hand signal. Fore caddies are used mainly at tournaments and on courses with holes that are hard to see. For the player that saves searching time and nerves.
In practice you notice the difference immediately. An example: you are playing a blind hole and the green lies behind a rise. Your drive disappears over the rise and nobody in the group sees the landing spot. The fore caddie halfway up the hole raises an arm and points left — ball in the first cut. Instead of five minutes of searching you walk straight to the ball. This keeps the pace of play of the whole group intact and the lost ball becomes rarer.
A typical misconception is confusing the fore caddie with the classic caddie. The caddie accompanies you, carries your bag and actively advises you. The fore caddie belongs to the course organisation and is not allowed to advise you individually. The shout of Fore fits the picture: it warns of flying balls, and the English name derives from exactly that. On a normal club round you will rarely see a fore caddie — there the group does the watching for each other itself.
FAQ
What may a fore caddie do — and what not?
From a fixed position the fore caddie watches the ball flights of the group and marks the position of the balls, for example with a flag or a hand signal. They may not advise you individually, however, and they carry no bag either — that remains the job of the classic caddie. They belong to the course organisation, not to your game.
When will I even come across a fore caddie?
Mainly at tournaments and on courses with holes that are hard to see, for example when the green lies behind a rise. On a normal club round you will rarely see one — there your group does the mutual ball-watching itself. Especially on blind holes it saves everyone searching time and keeps the pace of play high.
How do I recognise where my ball is when a fore caddie has marked it?
Watch for the hand signal or the flag: it shows the direction and often the side as well where your ball has landed. That way you walk straight to the ball instead of searching in the rough for minutes. If you still cannot find it, the fore caddie's information helps you limit the search to the right area.