Official Caddying Story: Mary Petrovich
She repeatedly reinvented AxleTech, surpassing $500M in revenue, becoming one of The Carlyle Group’s top CEOs, but that should come as no surprise to anyone who hears Mary Petrovich’s story. Turning adversity into excellence, she’s had the cards stacked against her since childhood, and it was caddying at Franklin Hills Country Club that created the foundation for her success. Winning an Evans Scholarship to attend Michigan, she later added an MBA from Harvard Business School. Now a Western Golf Association Director, she serves on the boards of DealerShop, United Road Services, Traxen, Xeeva, and Woodward (NASDAQ: WWD). Mary has also won 35 club championships, has had 9 aces, and is just an all-around badass.
At which golf course did you first caddie and how old were you when you started?
I started caddying at Franklin Hills Country Club when I was 12 years old. It became my full-time job for nearly eight years. I’d caddie from March to November, starting at dawn and working until dusk, sometimes completing three loops in a day.
Why were you compelled to become a caddie?
My father died suddenly, widowing my mother at age 30 with eight kids. I was the second oldest and the eldest female. I was seven years old at the time, and my older brother was eight. Several of my siblings were still in diapers, and we had no house or insurance. The good thing is that you don’t realize how poor you are at that age; you just do what you’ve got to do in order to live.
My mother did all that she could to provide for the family but hadn’t even graduated from high school. So my brother and I were responsible not only for helping around the house and raising our siblings but also for making money any way possible. My brother later began caddying at Franklin Hills, which was only a half mile walk from where we lived. Seeing the money he was bringing home, I thought, “I need to get some of that!”
There were no female caddies at Franklin Hills. I knew that my brother would oppose the idea, so I just didn’t tell him. I walked over to the golf course and found the caddie master, Curt Hay. He, of course, declined my initial request to start caddying, but I wasn’t going to take “no” for an answer. I was a tiny little thing at 12 years old, and he didn’t think that I would be able to carry the bag. But I pleaded with him to give me a chance, just a loop or two to prove myself. He finally relented, and it worked out well for both of us.
Take us through your first day on the job, who was your first loop?
After convincing the caddie master to give me a chance, I was sent to wait with the boys in the caddie yard. As one would expect, the hazing and harassment began immediately. They did everything they could to make me feel unwelcome.
The bathroom became a common site for chaos, as I had no other choice but to use it. It was not clean and did not have a nice smell. The boys weren’t particularly accurate when using it. And to top it off, the door didn’t lock very well, so there would be 4-6 guys banging on the outside whenever I was in there. It was par for the course stuff, right?
But what they didn’t realize is that all of this just motivated me even more. My goal was to become the best caddie there. I was fortunately born with some God-given athleticism and was accustomed to not only competing with but beating boys in school relays and recess basketball games.
In my first season, I completed over 200 loops and was named “rookie caddie of the year.” I quickly memorized every sprinkler head on the course and could recite the exact yardage to the green’s center from almost anywhere on the course. In all eight years that I caddied, I often finished in the top ten for aggregate loop count. The biggest bullies, the enforcers, all got put in their place and ultimately became friends. But look, now as the mother of two sons and early as the sister of three brothers, I totally get it. It’s normal boy behavior.
As for the first loop, I don’t quite recall the member, but I do remember that those bags were no joke. They weren’t like the light carry bags with stands that we have today. They were big leather Burton/Staff bags like the pros use, and the members would stash all sorts of stuff in there. Not just clubs and balls, they might have Off aerosol cans and a spare pair of shoes, which was all held up by what felt like a piano string strap cutting into your shoulder in the heat of summer.
What was the biggest mistake that you made during your caddying career?
I really prided myself in doing a good job, so I didn’t make many mistakes. Maybe once a season I'd lose a ball that sailed into the woods, and I was so ashamed of myself. I’d scold myself saying, “What kind of caddie loses a golf ball!” But in hindsight, I guess losing one ball per season wasn’t all that bad.
I prefer to think about the positives. I was really good at reading greens and clubbing the members, like talking a guy into hitting a different club and he hits a hole-in-one. That’s what I choose to remember. When there was a celebrity or special guest playing, I’d get that loop, and you don’t get those jobs because you’re a girl. You get them because you’re the best.
What did you most enjoy about caddying?
Personally, I loved the focus, the commitment, and the perseverance that caddying taught me. It was tough, and many didn’t last long. From the day that I stepped foot in the caddie yard, there was no quit in me. No matter what you threw at me, I was going to find a way around it.
But in a larger sense Franklin Hills provided a community. Many members knew our family’s situation and were just so kind. One member, Milton Doner, insisted on buying me a new coat each winter. Another member bought me pairs of shoes. The members looked out for me. And instead of winding up at a local community college, they set me on an entirely different path. They’ve remained an integral part of my life. It became personal: not only now, doing business with members that I caddied for, but I was asked to join in a member’s wedding and also served as a pallbearer for another special member.
Tell us about some of the people for whom you caddied, did any of them contribute to your career in a meaningful way?
There was one member with whom I shared a particularly close relationship. Her name was Suzy. She was stunning, kind of like Goldie Hawn with a great smile. She was petite, always upbeat, and loved golf. All of the boys wanted to caddie for her and became jealous when we developed a very intense personal relationship. She became my mentor. There’s actually a book written about her called, If You Knew Suzy. One of her daughters, Katie Rosman, a writer for the Wall Street Journal and New York Times, wrote it after Suzy passed away far too young, and I'm actually a chapter in the book because we were so close.
It has kind of come full circle. A couple of years ago, I joined Franklin Hills at the urging of the club president. I was faced with life threatening health issues that finally convinced me to do it, even though we were already members at Pine Lake and Oakland Hills in the area. I won the club championship at Franklin Hills in my first year, something Suzy had long tried to do, so I then dedicated that special win to her.
What was the biggest lesson that you learned from caddying that helped you succeed as you progressed in life?
The biggest lesson was how to succeed in the face of adversity. Hard work is free and so is having a great attitude. You just keep setting the bar higher. That has been a recurring theme throughout my life.
Our family was dealt a tough hand early in life, and it was difficult. But school became my outlet, and I got straight A’s. It was like a vacation for me, a break from things at home. And then caddying became a big part of my life and laid the foundation for everything from there. It was the supportive members, like Suzy, who not only put the idea of attending the University of Michigan in my head but also helped me get an Evans Scholarship.
Once I got to Michigan, new challenges appeared. I knew that I didn’t want to be poor, so I chose Engineering as my major. I always wanted to have a skill set to fall back on, but it was also the hardest major at Michigan. Meanwhile, I’d been an accomplished softball player in high school and wanted to go out for the Michigan team but was hesitant at first. Deep down I knew that if I didn’t at least try to walk on, I’d always regret it. Then, I made the team and was worried it would affect my studies. And finally, I was part of the first group of female Evans Scholars to ever live in the designated Michigan house, so that came with its own dynamics. But it all worked out in the end. I graduated with a 3.3 GPA, became a starter on and captain of the nationally ranked softball team, and loved living in the Evans Scholars house. We threw the absolute best parties!
Then, I got out of college and started working for General Motors. In my first year, I made more money than my mother had in the three previous years combined. But it wasn’t without its own challenges. You don’t think there were harassment issues for women in the automotive industry at that time? My view: Just don’t be surprised when it does happen and learn to deal with it. Show that you’re capable and you’ll earn their respect.
After a while, I got the itch to run something and do more in business, so I started to think about an MBA. A colleague then bet me that I couldn’t get into Harvard, which was really the only reason that I applied. Then, like the dog that finally catches the car, I was accepted. My mother just about had a heart attack at the thought of my leaving a good job and going six figures into debt, but I knew it was the right move and would open up a whole new world. It led to more firsts for me, like becoming the youngest VP for AlliedSignal at age 29, under another great mentor, Larry Bossidy.
When I was recruited to become the CEO of AxleTech, which was on the brink of going under, I was ready for the challenge. It’s a long story, but we turned it around multiple times. We also sold it multiple times, as I became one of Carlyle’s top performing CEOs. That also included a couple of trips to Augusta National to play Carlyle Founder Bill Conway and Lou Gerstner, then Carlyle’s Chairman and the former CEO of IBM.
There’s no question that caddying was just as important as getting a Harvard MBA. Things just kept mushrooming and snowballing as positive momentum built in my life.
If you could nominate one former caddie who went on to enjoy success, whose Official Caddying Story would you like to hear?
Well, Steve Ballmer was a caddie at my club, Franklin Hills, at one point. But a great story and someone that I’ve mentored is Luke Mehmeti, another Evans Scholar. He’s Albanian, and his family escaped from Kosovo during the war. Luke attended Northwestern and then went to work in investment banking at Bank of America Merrill Lynch. Then, he shifted his career to private equity. He recently graduated from HBS and is working at Carlyle. I’m so proud of Luke. That is a young man with an incredibly bright future ahead of him.
