What it’s like to caddy World No. 1 Royal County Down, host of Irish Open

When an amateur golfer receives an invitation to play on a prestigious course, his heart starts beating and shivers run down his spine – a mixture of excitement, nervousness, ecstasy and disbelief.

This is truly amazing and one of the reasons why this four letter sport is so great. You get to play on some of the best courses in the world, courses where the pros play, courses that are televised. Anyone who has played Augusta National, Pine Valley, Pebble Beach or any of those courses has experienced this feeling. It's a feeling that doesn't come around very often or at all.

That's how I felt before playing Royal County Down. Golf Digest Magazine votes this course the best in the world.

This week sees the Irish Open take place, with Rory McIlroy leading by one stroke going into the final round. Perhaps he will get his revenge on this beautiful golf course by winning the Irish Open for the second time on home soil. McIlroy missed the cut in the last Irish Open played here in 2015, shooting 80 in the opening round.

McIlroy also lost the Walker Cup at Royal County Down in 2007. The US team, led by a young Rickie Fowler and 23-year-old Dustin Johnson, narrowly defeated McIlroy and the Great Britain and Ireland team that year. Photos of these matches are displayed throughout Royal County Down's famous clubhouse, to the delight of all who visit. There are also photos circulating of Jack Nicklaus and Tiger Woods battling it out at Royal County Down.

All these little traces are sure to bring a smile to anyone's face when they visit – as are the Mourne Mountains, the Irish Sea and the golf course terrain, of course – but what is the most underrated part of Royal County Down?

The caddies.

You have to be first class to play this golf course. Tourists from all over the world spend a pretty penny to get to Newcastle, Northern Ireland, which, frankly, isn't the easiest place to get to. But once you get there, the train, plane and car journeys are worth it. And yet, the walk from the putting green to the first tee is more nerve-wracking than any other point in the journey. I was, too.

Yet during the short walk to the first tee, you'll be introduced to your personal guide, historian and coach, who will guide you through the most incredible golf course on the planet. Royal County Down has 75 caddies on staff in the summer months and fewer for members who play year-round. They can all carry the bag in the traditional sense, but can also forecaddie for the whole group, a crucial job for all the blind shots on this golf course.

So when I played I felt lucky to know I would have a caddie that day, but I had no idea what good fortune Kyle had.

Kyle is now 24 years old and hails from Hillsborough, a small town in Northern Ireland about 30 minutes north of Newcastle. Many caddies live in the town, but Kyle doesn't. But that doesn't really matter to him. He loves this golf course too much to care. Far from hating the commute, he enjoys it every day. He drives up to Royal County Down with a smile on his face and thinks about who he's going to play for that day. Sometimes it's a scratch golfer like him, other times it's a bad golfer who can barely hit the ball more than 75 yards. Or, very rarely, it's a player who has decided to make Royal County Down his salon for the day. The par-4 15th hole once had a blind tee shot and a pretty steep hill, and a player drunk on a bottle of Jameson fell off trying to climb the slope. The pro shop buggy had to be called out to pick up the drunk customer and bring him back.

Harry Styles was in his group, which created a buzz around the facility. Rumors were flying among caddies and group chats about who would be playing that day, because everyone felt security was tight. Tiger? Rory? Bryson DeChambeau? No, it was Styles, an avid player and fan of all things golf. Participated in the Masters Last year, Kyle even called him a “pretty good” player.

Another time, Kyle caddied for a member of the 1982 North Carolina basketball team. Not Michael Jordan or James Worthy, but this guy told Kyle he was at the free throw line when Jordan took “that shot” against Georgetown in the National Championship Game. Maybe it was Matt Doherty, but Kyle couldn't remember his name. And who could blame him? He started caddying at Royal County Down in 2017 and has been caddying there every summer since. The names, golf bags, and rounds are too numerous to mention, but he loves every moment of the job.

Photo: David Cannon/Getty Images

How he started working at Royal County Down is also an interesting story.

In the late spring of 2017, after finishing his second year of high school, Kyle went to the Irish Amateur with his father at Royal County Down. He immediately felt attached to the place and knew it was where he would be in the future. Upon spotting the caddie cottage, Kyle approached the caddie master and asked, “So, what fun did you have?”

He explained that he was of working age and wanted to earn some money, and that he was an avid golfer – he had always wanted to be a caddy, especially working on a golf course like this, but had limited experience.

The caddie master instructed him to come to the club at 9 a.m. the following Tuesday.

That's exactly what Kyle did. After receiving his red bib (red for caddies, yellow for forecaddies), the caddie master gave Kyle just one piece of advice: “There's your buddy over there. Introduce yourself and make friends with him all day.”

That little instruction worked wonders: he never looked back.

Over time, Kyle learned every location, every slope, every break, but most importantly, he learned every sight line from the tee. This golf course has a lot of blind tee shots. You often have to hit the ball over a sand dune with the fairway widening on the other side. This can be so unpleasant that some people pray before every tee shot. I did too.

So after introducing ourselves on the first tee, Kyle, as forecaddie, explained how to stand on the sand dune for the blind tee shot, about 200 yards ahead of us.

“You have to hit it over the head,” he said with a grin.

After fumbling the par-5 first hole, I came to the par-4 second hole hoping to bounce back. But my first blind tee shot of the day scared me more than a deer in headlights. And there I was, Kyle standing on a sand dune, one hand up. He looked like he was standing in the middle of nowhere, but that was where I had to go. Did I follow his lead? Definitely not. I hit a nasty duck hook off the tee, a straight 90-degree pull that dug deep into the side of the dune. Right after impact, my left arm rose and turned left, something Jordan Spieth does way too often. I was trying to hit a big, high draw, my usual ball flight, but the tension of the moment caused me to swing too early and I ended up with a duck hook.

What would have taken me forever to find my golf ball took Kyle 40 seconds to find it, the first sign he knew what he was doing. He tossed the towel next to my ball, and there it was, my TaylorMade 4. There was the usual purple dot next to the line, a little emblem of my alma mater, Holy Cross.

“Take your medicine, Jack,” Kyle said.

“You pick up something like a 9-iron, launch it from there and get it back in play.”

Well, I did, and then I got too cozy with my sand wedge and ended up skulling out on the green.After weeks of anticipation, my round at Royal County Down began with a two-stroke double bogey that left me laughing in disgust.Kyle must have had a stunned look on his face when I told him I was a five handicap.

But something happened on the third hole that made me realize what a unique and knowledgeable caddie Kyle is.

With the wind coming from behind me off the Mourne Mountains, I managed to put an ugly duck hook behind me and hit a big one off the third tee. My big towering high draw shot hit the middle of the fairway and gave me a bit of confidence. But the hole was 475 yards. With 220 more yards to go, it started to rain by the time I got to the third hole.

“Put your rain gear on,” Kyle said.

So I put on my FootJoy pullover, grabbed my umbrella and trudged to the ball, with only thoughts of my swing and how to replicate that same trajectory for the rest of the round.

When I finally got to the ball, Kyle gave me the number: “Hit 180 clubs.”

“180 yards?” I thought. “That was my 6-iron, and there's no way I'm going to hit it 220 yards with a 6-iron, even with the wind at my back! And in the pouring rain!”

I decided to trust Kyle and pulled out my 6-iron.

“Aim for the pole behind the green,” Kyle said.

Photo by Jan Kruger/R&A via Getty Images

“Don't think about the flag.”

That day the pin was on the right side of the green so it wasn't visible from the fairway – sand dunes obscured the view, and a tall black and white spiral pillar, a staple of Royal County Down, stood behind the third green, providing a target for us hackers.

So I took my 6-iron and hit it as hard as I could, aiming for the post.

The sound that came from the blade was perfect.

I hit it perfectly, but it couldn't reach it. No. Kyle was right. My ball came to rest about 15 feet from the flag, and I hit it 220 yards with a 6-iron, feeling like a PGA Tour pro. The wind helped, but it didn't take away from my sense of accomplishment. That was my final accomplishment of the day. I two-putted for par and walked exhilaratedly to the fourth tee, Kyle's favorite spot.

The par 3 fourth hole is stunning – facing the Mourne Mountains, the Irish Sea to the left and the whole golf course in front of you – incredible is the word to describe it.

That's exactly what Kyle did that day. We talked about our upbringings, our favorite bars in Killarney, and who we think will win this year's Irish Open. Kyle picked Tom McKibbin, and I liked him too. McKibbin is a rising Northern Irish golfer who has won on the DP World Tour, and Kyle has played against him a few times. I said I'd like to see Shane Lowry play well, and Kyle nodded in agreement.

But we chatted about different things, experiences, passions and he made my awful round memorable. He was my compass, telling me where and how to hit certain shots. But I feel like I let him down with a score of 91, the worst score I've had in a long time. But it was the best 91 of my life because Kyle showed me around Royal County Down, one of the most beautiful places on earth.

But Kyle is not alone. I've heard from everyone I've spoken to that everyone who's had the good fortune to play at Royal County Down has had an amazing experience with a loop player. Maybe it's the charming Irish hospitality. Or maybe it's because these caddies walk along the shores of the Irish Sea and up the Mourne Mountains with incredulous smiles on their faces and say, “Yes, I could work here every day.”

Jack Mirko is a golf staff writer for SB Nation Playing Through. Follow For more golf articles, follow us on Twitter Jack Mirko In the same way.