CADDIE'S ROLE:THERE HAS been a trend in the professional golf world during the past decade or so of people from outside the usual pool of bagmen moving into the caddie ranks – from players' friends, family, business associates to players they used to play with as amateurs or young professionals.

There is no doubt the economic decline leads to a swell in the caddie shack. This week is no exception with a handful of touring pro caddies looking for work in the Middle East, a long way from home, when there is realistically little hope.

The standard set for the European Tour in the early stages of the year is as high as you will get on tour. The golf courses in Abu Dhabi, Qatar and Dubai are excellent, are in superb condition and the facilities cover all angles the modern pro could possibly require, from gyms to extensive practice ranges.

They are the types of venues Europeans who had aspirations to play professionally would look at and muse that you could only improve playing on such courses. In the sometimes haphazard way of caddying I ended up staying with a couple of Irish caddies in Doha who have changed direction recently from the path they had set out on having enjoyed successful amateur careers in Ireland as youths.

As a seasoned international porter I have the utmost respect for people who have had realistic expectations as players to change tack and end up on the other side of the bag as caddies. Most of us caddies on tour enjoy playing golf but are limited by talent to aspiring to be anything other than advisers on tour.

Ricky Elliot from Portrush and David Jones from Derry are talented golfers and were successful Irish amateurs. For the time being they have chosen to lug Maarten Lafeber’s and Gareth Maybin’s bags around the European Tour respectively.

I had met Ricky for the first time in Lake Nona, Orlando, where he was one of the assistant pros in the exclusive Floridian country club. My ex-boss, Retief Goosen, has a house there along with seemingly the majority of European golfers who play both the European and US Tours. It is an ideal location for them to access from Europe, with perfect practice conditions – good weather and good facilities.

Ricky got his first taste of dealing with top-class professional golfers during the Tavistock Cup matches that were held in Lake Nona or the neighbouring Aisleworth estate. He was involved in the organisation of the event, dealing hands-on with the demands of the world’s best players. It was a perfect grounding for him in his current role as Lafeber’s caddie (the Dutchman also has a residence in the complex).

For those who are not aware of the idiosyncrasies of professional golfers, a naïve initiation can lead to surprises. For Ricky, the Tavistock experience proved invaluable.

Having been a successful member of the University of Toledo golf team, where he studied for three years on a golfing scholarship, and after showing a lot of promise as a young amateur in Ireland by winning the Irish under-16 title in 1993, the Irish Boys in ’94 and the Ulster Boys in ’95, it would have seemed logical the 32-year-old would have had a go playing as a professional. From a scoring average of 73.8 in his first year in Toledo to 72.1 in his second year to a regressive 74.7 in his third year, his college experience told him his clubs were unlikely to earn him much money as a pro. After a brief spell on the Mini Golf Tour in the States he moved quickly to the teaching side of the game at Lake Nona.

Ricky was the Irish link in Toledo, Ohio. The university could not attract the cream of US golfers to its programme because of the inclement winter weather. This is probably how they ended up at one stage with four Irish men on the five-man golf team, including Ricky’s room-mate in Doha last week, Jones.

He was Ricky’s room and team-mate at Toledo for a year. He was a scratch handicap at the age of 14 in the City of Derry golf club and made the Irish Amateur Boys, Youths and Seniors teams by the age of 18. He captained the Britain and Ireland team. It would be fair to say he was an early bloomer. After his time at Toledo, where he graduated with a degree in Recreation and Leisure Education with a minor in Psychology, he turned pro in 2003. He played the Euro Pro tour, which was probably not much more than a glorified sweep. He missed out qualifying at the European Tour School. After a winter of several visits to Spain for intensive practice sessions on his own, the 30-year-old realised that golf can be a very lonely game.

In 2008 he gratefully accepted an assistant professional position at Portrush Golf Club. A year later, after an idle conversation with Maybin, he decided to have a go a carrying the latter’s bag around the fairways of Europe.

There is no doubt an aspiring young professional can glean invaluable information from caddying for a while on tour. Both Ricky and David agree nobody or nothing could prepare you for tour life as efficiently as a short spell of caddying.

The pair are at two very different places as caddies on the European Tour. Ricky has no aspirations to play for a living but definitely has his future set in golf in some form or other.

David still wants to play. He realises he is a good enough ball striker but of course this is just one link in a long chain on tour that can lead to success as a touring professional.

When the golfer Mikko Ilonen asked Jones where his spikes were as he arrived on the range with Maybin’s bag on his back it was a light-hearted question from the Finn but a serious reminder to the northern Irishman about which side of the bag he belongs.

Ricky Elliot summed up his place in the professional ranks by recounting that as a teenager he played and practised all summer long with his mate, Graeme McDowell. However, when Ricky went home for his tea, Graeme stayed on practising.

There is a lot more to being a successful professional than simply being a talented amateur.