How Much Does a Caddie Cost? (Club, Resort & Tour Pricing)
A caddie's cost depends entirely on where you're playing: at a private club, budget roughly $40-$100 total once you add the standard fee and a proper tip; at a walking resort, a single-bag caddie fee commonly runs $125-$210 before gratuity, with forecaddie options often cheaper per person when split across a group; and on the PGA Tour, a caddie earns a weekly base in the low thousands plus a percentage of whatever their player wins that week. Three very different jobs, three very different pay structures — but the same basic math underneath all of them: caddies are paid a base amount for showing up, then rewarded on top of that for how well the round goes.
Key Takeaways
- At most private clubs, the caddie fee itself is set by the club, but the tip is where the real cost lives — plan on a minimum of 20 percent of the base fee on top.
- Resort caddie fees vary a lot by property. Bandon Dunes posts a $125-per-bag, per-round fee plus gratuity directly on its own site; Pebble Beach charges $155 for a single bag, $210 for a double, or about $52.50 per person for a forecaddie.
- PGA Tour caddies typically get a weekly base of $2,000-$3,000 to cover travel, then a cut of their player's winnings under the common "5/7/10" system: 5% for a made cut, 7% for a top-10, 10% for a win.
- At a $20 million Signature Event, where the winner takes home roughly 18% of the purse ($3.6 million), a 10% caddie cut works out to about $360,000 for the week — a single tournament check most club members will never see the equivalent of.
- A "forecaddie" and a "caddie" aren't quite the same job — the pricing (and the tipping etiquette) differs based on which one you actually hired.
A caddie is one line item in a much bigger golf-trip budget — if you're weighing whether the sport is worth the spend at all, is golf an expensive hobby breaks down the full cost picture, and how much golf costs to start covers the gear and greens-fee side of it.
How Much Do You Tip a Club Caddie?
The caddie fee itself is usually fixed by the club or course and posted at the bag drop or pro shop, so there's rarely a question about that number. The tip is a different story, and it's where most golfers get nervous. According to Golf.com's guide to on-course tipping, the standard is a minimum of 20 percent of the caddie's base fee — more if the service was genuinely good, and less isn't really an option without coming across as stingy. If you're playing as a guest at a private club, it's also worth asking your host or the caddie master about local customs before you round up or down, since expectations can shift noticeably from one club to the next.
How Much Does a Resort Forecaddie Cost?
Destination and walking-only resorts are where caddie costs get the most visible, because the fee is usually posted right on the resort's own site rather than left to guesswork. Bandon Dunes Golf Resort in Oregon — one of the most famous walking-only golf destinations in the country — lists its standard caddie fee at $125 per bag, per round, plus gratuity, paid directly to the caddie. The resort also offers a lower-cost "group caddie" option for golfers who don't want a dedicated bag carrier: that runs $60 per player for a twosome, $50 per player for a threesome, and $40 per player for a foursome, with the caddie working the whole group rather than carrying anyone's clubs. Other resorts price differently, but the shape of it — a flat per-bag fee plus a separate tip — is close to universal. At the high end, Pebble Beach charges $155 for a single-bag caddie, $210 for a double-bag caddie carrying for two players, or about $52.50 per person for a forecaddie with a three-player minimum — none of it including the tip. The full Pebble Beach cost breakdown covers what that adds to the rest of the day. If a walking-resort trip means flying with your own set, it's worth planning the logistics end too — see how to pack golf clubs for a flight before you book.
How Much Do PGA Tour Caddies Get Paid?
Tour caddie pay is built on two layers stacked together. The first is a weekly base, generally reported in the $2,000-$3,000 range, meant to cover a caddie's travel, transportation, and lodging for the week — money they get whether their player makes the cut or not. The second layer is where the real earnings come from: a percentage of tournament winnings, most commonly under the "5/7/10" arrangement. Make the cut and finish outside the top 10, the caddie earns 5% of the prize money. Finish in the top 10, that jumps to 7%. Win the tournament outright, and it's 10%.
Run the numbers on a real week and the gap is enormous. At most PGA Tour events the winner earns around 18% of the total purse. In a $20 million Signature Event, that's a $3.6 million winner's check — and a caddie earning the standard 10% cut walks away with roughly $360,000 for one week's work. Miss the cut, though, and that same caddie is back to just the weekly base, which is why the arrangement is closer to a commission structure than a salary. It's also part of why the best caddies double as a second set of eyes on numbers like spin rate and carry distance before a shot — reading conditions well isn't optional when your pay is tied directly to how your player scores.
What's the Difference Between a Caddie and a Forecaddie?
A caddie carries (or pulls) your bag, reads greens, gives yardages, and stays with you the entire round — the traditional job most people picture. A forecaddie doesn't carry a bag at all. Instead, they walk or ride ahead of the group, spot where every shot lands, and have the group's balls located and ready by the time players arrive — a huge pace-of-play advantage on courses with thick rough, desert terrain, or blind landing areas. Resorts that require forecaddies (rather than offering them as an option) usually build that into the pace-of-play strategy for the whole property, not just as an upsell. Either way, tipping norms apply the same way: the posted fee is the baseline, and gratuity is added on top for good service.
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Frequently Asked Questions
- Yes. The fee is the base charge for the service, set by the club or resort. The tip is an additional amount on top, and Golf.com's guidance puts the floor at 20 percent of the base fee for good service.
- They still collect their weekly base, generally reported around $2,000-$3,000, which is meant to cover travel and living costs for the week. They just don't earn a percentage cut, since that only kicks in once a player makes the cut and starts earning tournament money.
- Usually pace of play and lost-ball prevention. Courses with thick native rough, blind shots, or desert or dune terrain can turn into a five-and-a-half-hour round without someone spotting shots ahead of the group — a forecaddie largely solves that.
- Most public and municipal courses in the U.S. don't offer caddie programs at all — carts and pull carts are the norm. Caddie programs are concentrated at private clubs, resorts, and higher-end daily-fee courses that specifically market a walking experience.
- At most clubs and resorts, yes — caddie fees and tips are typically settled in cash directly with the caddie at the end of the round, though some properties now allow the fee itself to be added to your account or final bill. It's worth asking ahead of time, or bringing cash just in case.