Daniel Huising talks about her career as a caddy on the DP World Tour with her husband and golf pro Don Huising • Golf.nl
I got home from the BMW International Open in Munich on Sunday evening, did a quick load of laundry, rested in bed for a few hours on Monday morning, then quickly packed my suitcases and flew to Schiphol with an afternoon transfer. Atlanta to Lexington, Kentucky. Life is going well!
This week and next week we will be playing in the US, first the ISCO Championship then the Barracuda Championship. Tournaments on the schedules of both the PGA Tour and the TB World Tour. That will be five tournaments in a row because in the last three weeks we played the KLM Open, the Italian Open and the BMW International Open. Going to America right away isn’t ideal, but skipping those two matches isn’t an option either.
The legendary ‘dust’
We won’t be participating in the Scottish Open and The Open, and then the Czech Masters on the next DB World Tour. After the BMW International Open, we moved up two places to 95th in the Race to Dubai.According to location, so the tourist card is definitely not safe yet. That’s why we want to play in America, because those are two great opportunities. Apart from the long journey and time difference, we are looking forward to a trip to America.
He is now 76 years old and still enjoys carrying that golf bag. I didn’t see him doing that at that age
Fortunately, we already know both courses because we also did American Doubles last July. A year ago we played in Kentucky with legendary caddie Mike Cowan. More commonly known as ‘fluff’. A very sweet man and I admire him very much. ‘Fluff is now 76 years old and still enjoys carrying that golf bag. I can’t see myself doing that at that age!
Attack!
After Kentucky, we head to the beautiful Tahoe Mountain Club in California for the Barracuda Championship. That tournament has a special game format: Modified Stableford, where you have to score as many points as possible. An eagle is five points, a birdie is two, so strike! But wise and measured, because a bogey subtracts one point and a double even three. It’s nice to have a different format between those 72 hole stroke play tournaments.
Dan’s form is actually pretty good, although you wouldn’t think so when you look at recent results: 38According to KLM Open, cut by one stroke missed in Italy and 44According to At the BMW International Open. We know that so much more is possible, but often we throw blows unnecessarily and foolishly. Bogeys are where you think: it might happen, tough hole. But for example, a double-bogey 7 on hole 11 in Munich last Sunday is not allowed at our level.
Of course in those moments we talk together about what’s going wrong; There may be lack of focus, wrong choices, but we still can’t put a finger on the sore spot. As a caddy I’ve learned it’s never the player’s fault. Here’s a good quote on tour about bad shots: Too long or too short is the caddy’s fault, too left or too right is the coach’s fault…
Loneliness
Last year, during those two weeks in America, we noticed that the PGA Tour was very different from the TB World Tour. The ISCO Championship and Barbazol Championship are the smallest tournaments on the PGA Tour, but all are major by format. I thought the amount of equipment around the greens for that shot tracker system for stats was impressive. The atmosphere is completely different than the DB World Tour. Farther away, there is no central player hotel, and everyone makes their own plans.
It is very unwise to leave a golf bag outside with a peanut butter sandwich because they will tear the bag.
Dan and I hear that the players who won the right to play in the U.S. last year with the DP World Tour don’t always enjoy it. Loneliness disappears. There is more camaraderie on the DB World Tour. Of course we are all competitors, but players and caddies work together and wish each other success. Because of that situation, Don and I really enjoy the tour.
Bear containers
We spend the first week in America in a hotel. During the second week at Lake Tahoe we rented a house together with several players from the DB World Tour: Maximilian Kiefer, Marcel Schneider, Lucas Nemex and Louis de Jager. It makes a week like this all the more interesting. It hit me when I was looking for rental properties on the Internet: the more square footage, the more the supply. They prefer not to build tiny homes in the Lake Tahoe area.
It’s incredibly beautiful, a real postcard job with those mountains in the background. I remember well last year, you warned about bears. Not so much because they quickly attack people, but they are always looking for food. To prevent bears, food waste is placed in special containers Bearing containers. It’s unwise to leave a peanut butter sandwich — or something else edible — out of the golf bag somewhere on the bottom, because they can tear the bag easily. This caddy will be very interested in that!
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