“Golf is meant to be walked. If you take a cart, you have to stay on the path. And the carts won’t talk to you, tell you any stories, give you any yardages.”

Larry Dorman profile the little people--Pebble Beach's caddies--here on CEO Suck Up day at the AT&T National Pro-Am. I loved this from two-time California State Am winner Casey Boyns:

“We’ve all been there, so I just try to be as supportive as possible,” Boyns said. “I almost always tell them to smell the roses, even though there are no roses on Pebble Beach.”

Not many flat lies, either, which can give one a touch of vertigo. And as expensive as it is to play ($495 is the greens fee at Pebble Beach, $400 at Spyglass Hill), there might be a temptation to forgo the caddie fee and take a cart.

At $75 per bag with a recommended gratuity of $50 for each, caddies are not cheap. But as Boyns points out: “Golf is meant to be walked. If you take a cart, you have to stay on the path. And the carts won’t talk to you, tell you any stories, give you any yardages.”

Or read any putts. And even if Rocket Lytle or Casey Boyns is booked, there is always Tommy DiMaggio, James Hudgeon, David Quesenberry, Chris Marin, Yannick Cointrel, Jesse Gore, Dean Martellaro, Mike Lehotta and others. There are 50 caddies with more than 10 years’ experience at Pebble, meaning any one of them has a much better chance than you do of seeing the break or knowing the speed.