What I’ve learned

Steve Brotherhood has carried bags on the European Tour for the last 15 years, including for David Howell. He’s somehow still standing ...

You don’t have to do anything wrong to get sacked these days. Sometimes players just need a change of face on the bag. But if you work hard and turn up on time, you’re pretty safe, though with some players you never know what’s going to happen.

From Thursday onwards, 100 percent concentration is key. Five hours out there is pretty intense and you can’t let your guard down once. If you make even a single mistake it could be the difference between a first or second place or even making the cut.

If your man isn’t playing the best you’ve got to kick him up the backside a bit. And if he is doing well, it’s a case of keeping him fired up.

The last round in Abu Dhabi a few years back, ‘Howeller’ was one clear coming down the stretch, but fourputted and came off the 13th with a seven. He looked like he’d just been kicked in the testicles and there was a good walk to the next tee. So I pulled him back and gave him a good talking to, reminding him there were some tough holes coming up and if he let what happened get to him, we’d finish 30th and all the hard work over 50-60 holes would be wasted. I said “Give me five 100 percent holes, work hard and we can still finish in the top-10.” He came back in level par and finished seventh. There’s no let up in pro golf. Every shot must be 100 percent.

Happily, there have been no major gaffes. There was a time in China a few years ago where I advised Howeller to hit a club into the final green on Sunday which resulted in him finding the back bunker, the worst place to be. Luckily for me he made a miracle up and down to make birdie to save us dropping down a few places. He got me out of the crap there.

Caddying is a great life… if you’re doing well. If you can get through to the weekend and you’ve done a good job for the four days, you’re duly rewarded for it. The horrible part of the job for me now is the travelling, being away from the family for weeks on end. But it’s a great life if you’re doing well. The rewards can be pretty lucrative, and that’s why we keep going out there, believing our play is still good enough to win.

I get a weekly wage, which varies from

From what I know, I receive a very generous wage which basically covers my expenses. In addition, there’s commission money – normal is five percent if you make the cut, seven-anda-half percent for a top-10 and 10 percent for a win. Howeller collected £500,000 for winning the Dunhill – that’s a good four days’ work!

The key quality for any caddie is that you get on well with your player and vice-versa. It doesn’t matter how good a job you do, if you don’t gel you’re on a slippery slope.

There are loads of funny tales, but most are unsuitable for print. I remember one though when David went to a local muni course to try and straighten his driving up and after hitting two or three balls on one hole, he waved a couple of guys through, only for one of them to pipe up and say: “Hey man, that’s a great swing ... what do you play off, five or six?”

If golf was played on the range, everybody on Tour would be No.1. It’s out on the course – your scoring ability, plotting your way round – that makes you a top player.