Stevie Williams, Caddies Gets Support For Sharing Their Stories
/The early voting must have reflected the outlier counties, because after a strong "Never" presence in early balloting, a majority of you supported looper Steve Williams for writing a memoir.
The final tally: 29% said any time is a good time for a caddie to pen a memoir, 40% said it was kosher as long as the book arrived some time after a player has retired, and 31% said a caddie should never put their stories in book form.
The golf.com weekly Confidential kicked around this topic, which is admittedly an inside-the-ropes issue, But it's one I sense won't go away in the modern media age where players are less forthcoming about behind-the-the-scenes stories we want to hear about key moments in golf history.
There were great answers from all of the golf.com gang, but here's a sampling...
VAN SICKLE: There ought to be a statute of limitations on the caddie cone of silence at some point, although there are plenty of caddies who would go to the grave before they spilled any dirt about their bosses. In the case of Tiger, one of the two most important figures in modern golf, stories about him carry historic significance since Tiger is closed off from the public behind circled wagons. So Williams, like Hank Haney, provided historical clarity to something that mattered. But I'm sure a lot of caddies and players will believe that Williams broke the code.
PASSOV: In today's tell-all climate, are there any confidentiality codes to be respected anymore? If you still harbor old school values, then yes, Williams' nasty jibes and ill-conceived recollections are out of bounds. I'm in favor of adding caddie-player to the list of Constitutionally protected conversations that apply to doctor-patient and lawyer-client.
BAMBERGER: There is no code. There's an individual's sense of right and wrong. Once you decide to write, the question becomes what to leave in and what to leave out. It wouldn't be my place to judge what Williams decided to include, but I will say that I never thought for a minute, He's gone too far.