Road to Pickala Golf

The news that a Ladies European Tour (LET) Golf event would be taking place at my local golf course, Pickala Golf Club (PGC), was kind of exciting to me. It was a chance to see top women players play on a course that I am obviously very familiar with – how relatable would their games be?

Organisation from club members became more visible to members of PGC in April when the first real call for volunteers went out. As soon as possible I volunteered to be a caddy (or trolley puller as they are officially known) so I could get to see up close what these players were really like.

I had a wild dream that I would be “caddying” for an aspiring young player and inspire her to her first career victory. I’d have done such a good job that she asked me to caddy in her next event. The rest would be history as she conquered the world.

However, the introduction information did state not to talk to the players. I guess each player is different and I certainly would not admonish advice with clearly being asked. At the time of writing I am have not yet met the player.

But there is still a twist in the story.

Having offered my services as a caddy, it was decided that I could be an on-course scorer instead. This was OK as I thought the pressure I would be putting on the poor young girl to have to support me in travelling around the world would be too great a burden to bear.

Over the next couple of weeks I attended the info sessions and learnt about the responsibilities of the role. With one week to go until the tournament week start I got a call.

There had been many requests for local caddies for the whole week, not just the tournament, Thursday to Saturday. I was back on the caddying gig. I was like a kid in a candy store.

From that day onwards (and several weeks before), around the golf course you could see the infrastructures being constructed for the event. Day by day there were more tented areas and buildings as the club prepared for arrival of 128 players, their caddies, management, tournament officials, media and whomever else is included the LET entourage.

A couple of weeks prior there was a guy laser-ing and measuring all the holes on the course, there were signs appearing on all the tee boxes: their positioning made you wonder how the course would actually play. There is a chance to play the course, Park, in tournament conditions on the Sunday.

Yesterday, the range, which is now closed to the public, had rows of range balls stacked up in pyramids awaiting the players. We could see a few on the course already by the afternoon.

It’s almost show time!