CADDIE'S ROLE:The change of status has marked a rejuvenation of my looping career, writes Colin Byrne

WITH IMPECCABLE but purely coincidental timing, I began my new working year last Sunday with a trip east to Abu Dhabi. The crisp, cold, clear air of winter and the stunning light it casts upon our landscape had warmed up and the rise in temperature brought with it the grey, wet, windy and damp weather that originally got me on the move with global caddying in search of the 12-month summer.

After a long winter break of six weeks (it was closer to a six-month winter recess in the old days), I had the sensation of the definitive end of one year and the clear start to the next. More recently, with the extent of global golf, you could easily pass from one season to the next without noticing the change of year.

Having spent almost five years with my previous boss, Retief Goosen, the change of status has marked a rejuvenation of my looping career. With a top golfer your schedule tends to be well planned and filled in advance, there are not so many surprises from a continuity aspect.

Having split from Goosen, I found myself in the less secure position of not really knowing with whom or where I was going to work next.

In that sense I have some empathy with those who are experiencing such a position for the first time in their lives given the economic downturn and resulting rising unemployment.

In fact, it will be interesting to see how full the car-park is today in Abu Dhabi with expectant caddies in search of new bags for the new year. It is always a fair indication of the global economy on tour when you measure the excess of touring caddies over available players. I suspect there will be some who have made the trip in vain.

Heading off last weekend brought back the memories of the 1980s, when I had travelled to caddie with a wanderlust about the world beyond home. I did not view emigrating to work as a bad thing, it was a great opportunity to break free and find out what made the rest of the world tick.

So despite some people being forced to travel to find work for the first time in well over a decade, it is important for them to remember that it can be a fulfilling experience.

As I prepared to meet my new employer for the Middle East section of the European Tour, taking in three events in the desert, I got the feeling once again of the sense of adventure that I had felt in my early days of caddying.

Compounding this sensation was the fact that some trade fair in the Emirate has made finding a hotel for the week virtually impossible. This is a throwback to the old days when we rarely, if ever, made an advanced hotel booking. I was going right back to my roots.

My new employer for the next three weeks is a young and extremely talented Swede, Alexander Noren. I do not really know Alex, apart from some brief phone conversations. We were paired with him a couple of years ago and I do remember being impressed with his ball-striking.

Having had the wonderful experience of caddying for a top golfer in his prime with Retief, it is now a completely different challenge to spend a few weeks with a young, hopeful golfer who has it all to prove as a player.

So probably stumbling off an overnight flight from Dublin and onto the range for Monday morning duty with a brand new player was not the best of preparation, but we will have three days to acclimatise to each other’s idiosyncrasies in preparation for Thursday’s first round.

It was back on tour with a bang yesterday as half a dozen flights landed in Abu Dhabi’s international airport. These flights had transported players and caddies from all corners of both hemispheres: Buenos Aires and New York, Paris, London, Dublin and Johannesburg.

It was like a European Tour convention at the baggage carousels, the terminal was alive with the chatter of friends who had bumped into one another by chance.

There was a series of belated New Year’s greetings. As luck would have it, a colleague had a spare room booked which he passed on to me.

For those who had arrived from the north there was a rare bout of enthusiasm to get out for a Monday morning practice round in over 20 degrees of heat and just a calm breeze to cool any over-heating limbs.

The memories of Jack Frost and Christmas carols faded as most of us Europeans recalled just why it was we followed the circus out of town all those winters ago. Pass the sun-block.