Official Caddying Story: Fred Gaudelli

Fred Gaudelli is the executive producer of NBC’s Sunday Night Football, but his very first job was as a caddie. In January 2021, he completed his 31st season as the lead producer for an NFL primetime game, and his 15th season producing SNF. In August 2020, Gaudelli was honored as a member of the Sports Broadcasting Hall of Fame’s Class of 2020 for career-long excellence in the sports TV and media industry. A 23-time Emmy Award winner, Gaudelli’s five prior Super Bowls (XXXVII, XL, XLIII, XLVI and XLIX) include Super Bowl XLIX, which still ranks as the most-watched program in U.S. TV history with an average of 114.4 million viewers. Gaudelli introduced the critically acclaimed 1st & Ten technology, the electronically produced yellow line that appears to be painted across the field at the first down marker, the GoalPost Cam and the rotating clock/score box. Additionally, while working at ESPN and producing the 1988 College World Series, Gaudelli introduced the technique of live tracking the speed of pitches – a first on television. A native of Harrison, N.Y., Gaudelli earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in communications from Long Island University/C.W. Post in 1982. He currently resides in Madison, Conn., and has a daughter, Reese.

At which golf course did you first caddie, and how old were you when you started?

I was 12 years old. The first loop I ever made was at a club in Harrison, New York, which was my hometown, and it was called Willow Ridge Country Club. It was a Jewish country club. I think I caddied there once. Then, my aunt’s husband set me up at this club in Mamaroneck, New York, which was the next town over. It was called Hampshire, and that was primarily where I was based, but I would do Winged Foot. I would do Westchester Country Club. I kind of made a little bit of a circuit depending on what was going on, and I did it from the time I was 12 until three months after I graduated college. I still say to this day that it was the best job I ever had!

Why were you compelled to become a caddie?

Well, my dad was a caddie when he was growing up. When I was 12, he said it’s time for you to start making your own money, so you should try to caddie. I loved all sports. I loved golf. I was playing golf, so I knew a little bit about the game but not a lot. I asked him how I could get started caddying. He said you show up. You sit down. You tell the caddiemaster that you want to be a caddie. They’ll teach you, but you’ve got to be there at 6:30 AM every day. You may not get out for a couple of weeks, but you have to show the caddiemaster that you are reliable and serious. So, that’s what I did.

Take us through your first day on the job, who was your first loop?

As you know, a caddie yard is filled with all kinds of people: old, young, and in between. Some people are transitioning out of jobs. For other people, this is their full-time job. There were a lot of students just making money for the summer and then were going back to school. At first, even though I knew golf, I just wasn’t sure about everything. And as you know, you’re dealing with different personalities all the time. I tried to be seen and not heard unless I was being spoken to. But I did know a lot about sports, and I knew a little bit about golf. So as I got more comfortable and if I was comfortable with the person I was caddying for, I felt that I could suggest a club, tell them how a putt was going to break, or where he should land it on the green. That came with time, but in the beginning, you’re definitely nervous. You just don’t want to make a mistake. You don’t want to lose a ball. You don’t want to lose a club! It’s all those things racking through your brain.

What was the biggest mistake that you made during your caddying career?

I remember standing in the wrong spot. When someone is going to hit a shot, you don’t want to be right behind them, and you don’t want to be in their peripheral vision. So you put the bag down and let them grab a club. Then, you take like 10 steps parallel and back, so they can’t see you. When I first started caddying, I would mess this up, tending to get behind the golfer. So, he or she would blame me if they hit a bad shot. 

The one common mistake that I saw and tried to avoid was to overtalk. It’s always good to know what you don’t know. And at that age, I didn't know a lot! Unless I was asked a question, I wasn’t going to volunteer much to them. 

How were you able to move around to different clubs?

My primary club was kind of small, and that’s where I did the bulk of my work. But sometimes the members would say, “I’m playing in a tournament at Westchester, do you want to come caddie for me?” Or, the caddiemaster from Westchester would call and say, “Hey, I need 20 caddies this week. We’re having a bunch of tournaments.” The same would go for Winged Foot. You know that caddiemaster community is a pretty tight knit community, and since I lived in Harrison, I could easily go to Westchester and Winged Foot, where they paid better. Since I had rank at Hampshire Country Club, I primarily worked out of there. But over the course of a decade, I caddied all of those courses a great deal.

What was your experience like caddying in bigger tournaments?

I worked a lot of tournaments and even got to caddie for two U.S. Open winners. In Harrison, New York, there was the Westchester Classic, which was on the PGA Tour forever, up until about 10 years ago. On Monday, they played a pro-am at Hampshire. Not all of the pros but a lot of them would come. My first year of caddying in it, I’m probably 14 or 15 years old, and I got Art Wall. He was an older gentleman at that point, and at that point, I was an expert on the course and the greens. I was clubbing him and reading his putts. He shot 61 that day and won the tournament going away. It was one of the greatest putting exhibitions I think I’ve ever seen. He was making everything, and he wasn’t missing any greens in regulation. I think he made nine birdies that day and no bogeys, so that was fun. And then the next year, I caddied for Orville Moody, a U.S. Open winner. He was a gregarious guy, one of the nicest professionals I ever caddied for. He was just there to have fun and didn’t take it seriously. I think he shot 73, was like one or two over. He was kind of getting his game ready for Thursday at Westchester. I caddied for another professional named Rex Caldwell, another good guy. And then, there would always be a lot of pro athletes because the county was where a lot of the Rangers and Knicks lived. 

What did you most enjoy about caddying?

You know there were so many things to love about it. First of all, it was a job where you were outside, and you could be home by noon if you just wanted to go 18-holes. You’d get there at 6AM and be out by 7AM. You could be home at noon, but I generally tried to make two loops, especially on the weekends. I’d be home by 4PM, take a nap, and be ready to go out that night. That part of it was appealing to me.

I loved golf, so it was great when you caddied for really good players. You could watch their approach and see their swings up close. Some of the guys would be really nice and give you advice about the game. I loved that.  

Obviously, you enjoy playing privileges when you’re a caddie, so whether at Westchester, Winged Foot, or Hampshire, you got to play those courses, which you know like the back of your hand.

And, the money part was great. Back when I was doing it, it was like $20 for a double, so my mom would take $15 and put it in the bank for me. I would take $5 and go out that night with a few bucks, so there really wasn’t a negative for me. Sure, maybe you’d encounter a cold day or rainy day when the golfers didn’t want to quit, but it was very enjoyable to me overall. Well, the only real issue was the massive Burton golf bags, which were the standard back then and really heavy. After the first few loops of the season, you were in pain, like serious pain. There weren’t any of the lite, stand bags that we have today.

Tell us about some of the people for whom you caddied, did any of them contribute to your career in a meaningful way?

I remember one time it was about 6 o’clock at night. I’d already done 36 holes, and I was leaving. The caddiemaster says, “Hey there’s one more person who wants to go out.” I told him that I was pretty tired. He told me that I’d regret it if I said no to the loop. I asked him who it was. He said, “You’re just going to have to trust me.” I go over to the first tee, and there’s Willie Mays standing there with a driver all by himself. So, it was me and Willie Mays for 18 holes at like 6:15 at night, just like a dream come true! He was very nice and hit the ball mile, as you would expect. It was a great time.

What was the biggest lesson that you learned from caddying that helped you succeed as you progressed in life?

I would say really learning how to communicate with people. Because when you’re a caddie, you’re getting all different kinds of people. Some days, they might be ecstatic. Some days, they might be in a bad mood. And often, you have to tell them something that they don’t want to hear. For example, they might think a putt is going right to left, and you have to say, “No sir, I need you to put it six inches outside the left.” They ask if you’re sure, you say that you are. They ask if  you’re really sure; you say you’re really sure but nicely. Or, they want to hit an 8-iron, and you have to convince them to hit a 7-iron because of the wind in their face. Or, you have to tell them that their ball is out of bounds, and they don’t want to believe you. You learn how to give them bad news or tell them something they don’t really want to hear. If you’re going to be successful in any venture, you’re going to have to tell your boss something she doesn’t want to hear. You’re going to have to say that you disagree, and here’s why you disagree. There’s a little bit of an art to that where you’re not insulting them. Caddying taught me that because they’re paying you to carry the bags, but they’re also paying for my advice. I’d try to get them to listen to me. You’re not saying that to them directly, but that’s really the gist of what you’re doing there, so that really helped me in life. I’d been doing that from about the time that I was 14 years, once I’d gotten comfortable on the golf course. Like the round with Art Wall, he was relying on a 14-year old kid for his expertise!

Maybe the biggest influence was also seeing a lot of people who think really highly of themselves and you kind of see how ugly that plays out. You learn it that way even more than seeing people who are actually humble. When you see the opposite, you know that's not how you want to be perceived. That’s not how I want to act. To this day, when I have a caddie, I try to make his job as easy as I can. I want him to know that there’s no superiority here. You’re doing your job, and I’m lucky enough to be playing. I appreciate the fact that you’re going to help me today, and I need all the help I can get!

If you could nominate one former caddie who went on to enjoy success, whose Official Caddying Story would you like to hear?

I’ve given this some thought, and no one immediately comes to mind. Let me stew on that one a bit and get back to you.