"If I wanted total privacy then I would stay at home."

Lawrence Donegan looks at the caddy-miking issue and gets more player feedback. I suppose this could be the biggest negative of the entire exercise:

Perhaps the only foolproof answer is to live your life like Padraig Harrington, the tee-total, non-swearing Irishman who is as squeaky clean in private as he is in public.

"Personally, I would have no problems with my caddie wearing a microphone. In fact, I've worn one on the golf course in the past [during exhibition matches and the PGA Grand Slam of Golf, an end of season event featuring that year's major winners]," said Harrington.

"Obviously, you couldn't be as free and easy in your conversations with your caddie. But if I wanted total privacy then I would stay at home."

So sure, the guys who are miked might be more careful. But in the heat of battle, I suspect they will forget the mike is on. After all, those great NBC chats picked up by the sound guys lately have been done so with the sound man almost on top of the players at times, and the conversations were still pretty fun to listen in on.