Do you like nothing more than teeing it up alongside your partner, or does the idea of spending four hours on the course with your loved one signal a red light?
Do you like nothing more than teeing it up alongside your partner, or is the idea of spending four hours on the course with your loved one a scenario you do your upmost to avoid?
For many of us, fitting in nine-holes with our other half is a rare treat, only too often disrupted by hectic schedules. Nonetheless, golfing with our partner isn’t always the bliss we’d hope for, and if you’ve imposed a complete ban on playing mixed foursomes together then you’re certainly not alone.
But what if your loved one wasn’t just a playing partner, but your full-time caddie?
Hell, no. I hear you say.
For many on the Ladies European Tour however, finances, logistics or mere preference dictates that, for better or worse, the role of caddie is often filled by a player’s loved one.
The idea may defy many of our instincts, but has, on occasion, proved particularly fruitful. After all, there's certainly worse scenarios than travelling the world with your partner, and maybe even your family.
Catriona Matthew has forged an incredibly successful career with husband Graeme on the bag. The image of Catriona Matthew holding aloft the Ricoh British Open trophy she won only ten weeks after giving birth to her second daughter, and surrounded by her family, is one of the most iconic pictures in female golf, and demonstrates that for some the game is truly a family affair.
Nowhere is this truer than for England’s Liz Young, who teed it up at the Women’s British Open seven months pregnant and with husband Jonathan carrying the bag.
Many an LET player spends week in week out working alongside their partner, but it is often the male pro's glamorous girlfriends that hit the headlines.
Two weeks ago, in Dubai, after Lee Westwood's usual looper Billy Foster was forced to drop out, it was girlfriend Helen Storey who took on the role. The personal trainer isn't much of a golfer, so might not be looking for a career change any time soon, but was said to have done a fine job.
The relationship between player and caddie is an intricate one, and whilst most PGA Tour wives may go inside the ropes on special occasions, such as the Masters Par-3 championship, it's little surprise that with the right personalities couples can forge a fearsome partnership. So was the case with Ryder Cup star Patrick Reed and wife Justine, who worked together during his opening years on tour, a relationship only reluctantly dropped when the two began a family. Even after the two stopped working together, the pair, who refer to each other as Team Reed, continue to plot Patrick's course strategy before each round, while Justine is said to rarely miss a practice session.
For those without the golfing prowess to play on tour, the game may still hold the key to romance.
Forty-something Heidi Moissard beleives the golf course offers the ideal location to test out the credentials of any new match. A single mum grown tired of navigating the minefield that is Internet dating, Moissard, whilst yet to meet her dream man on the course, advocates a quick nine holes as the perfect character test for those golfing ladies in pursuit of romance.
Struggling to find the time to fit in a round at her local golf club, Bedfordshire’s Pavenham Park, with an already busy schedule, the keen golfer concluded that the perfect means to get her golfing fix whilst concurrently sorting through any potential suitors was to confine her future dates to the golf course.
Could golf and romance be a perfect match after all?
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