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MIND / ON TO UR
Undercover Caddie Why Jim Mackay is the best of our era
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t starts with the nickname: Bones. Even by the lofty standards of caddie handles, that is pretty darn strong. Rest assured, though, we are talking about a man—Jim (Bones) Mackay, who has returned from broadcasting to team with Justin Thomas—who is way more than a moniker. Any caddie under 45 has been influenced by Bones. He changed the landscape of the profession simply by the conversations he had with Phil Mickelson. Those two were on television all the time, and caddies heard their exchanges even more intently than fans. It was a master class in communication skills. What we heard was not a caddie who was subservient but someone who was on equal footing with his player when talking over a shot while keeping his ego out of the way to ensure his player’s confidence never wavered. That’s a lot jammed into one sentence, but that’s how delicate and deep the dynamic of a player-caddie relationship is, and Bones was one of the first guys to understand it. When you hear a caddie-player conversation on TV now, we caddies, in a way, are trying our best Bones impersonations. The respect for those communication skills grew when Bones would pick up temporary bags after transitioning into on-course reporting. He helped Thomas grab a win in the WGC in Memphis in 2020. A few weeks before that Bones guided Matt Fitzpatrick to a third-place finish at the Memorial. Fitzpatrick has played, what, 90-something events on tour? And he has only one better finish in those other starts than he did with Bones. If that’s a coincidence, well, that’s a hell of a coincidence. Mickelson, Thomas, Fitzpatrick: not much overlap in personality and playing profile. That’s part of the beauty of Bones. He’s part chameleon. You have to adjust your personality to your bag. Caddies are coaches, in a way, and you need to figure out which guys need to be brought along and which need to be pushed—or when they need to be pushed. Players have their own language for firing themselves up, and you need to figure out what those trigger words are. But you also have to be yourself. Players aren’t dumb; they know when you’re being real and when you’re trying to play a part, and if they sense you’re acting, everything falls apart. Bones? He’s able to maneuver while staying true to who he is as a person. Then there’s Bones the person. A lot of caddies will help younger caddies out when asked. Bones goes out of his way to make sure the new guys feel welcome. He’s honest and open. He can build you 8
golfdigestme.com
march 2022
