Alfred “Rabbit” Dyer
Pro Caddie
Blog: September 2012
“The Looper Line”
A view into the life of a legendary golf caddie
I haven’t been on Wall Street in 30-years but seems like those people protesting over there have a lot on their minds!
Being in Florida has been great for me. I get a chance to get all over the place. Nice weather and easy roads make it good for travel anytime of year.
Recently, I was over at the Caddy Shack, a nice little, beautiful restaurant, owned by actor Bill Murray and his 5 brothers.
It sits right inside of World Golf Village, here in St. Augustine, Florida and is located along the Walk of Champions.
Andy Murray is the manager over there. He and I have become good friends. We had lunch to talk about doing some things together. He’s a great fellow. I really enjoyed talking with him.
It’s easy to find the Caddy Shack. There’s a big sign right out on highway I-95 in St. Augustine—You can’t miss it.
It’s beautiful inside, has big screen TVs showing golf tournaments from The PGA TOUR, or other sports. I never drank liquor or smoked, but they have a real big bar inside of the restaurant and it looks nice, too.
World Golf Village is where the Murray brothers hold their annual golf tournament— I’m planning on possibly caddying for Bill in November for it, and I’m excited about it maybe happening, too! Wouldn’t that be something? Me and Bill Murray!
I have been caddying since the age of nine and a lot of things sure have changed since then.
But I’m high-tech now and I want everybody to know that I’ve been getting set up on Facebook! And on Twitter! Yep. Now, how about that?
Pretty soon I’ll be able to stay in touch with people and people can stay in touch with me. So, there is no reason for anybody to say, “Hey, what’s going on with Rabbit? Has anybody heard from Rabbit? Just dial me up online! On Facebook I’m at http://www.facebook.com/alfred.dyer.9/info
I got some people from overseas even calling and asking about me—from as far away as Switzerland and Japan. After all those 18 years that I caddied for the Black Knight, Mr. Gary Player. I also caddied for Arnold Palmer. With all that cadding I got me some fans in all parts of the world. How about that? I caddied over 50 years and that’s what I liked most about it. You never know who you’re going to run into next. Gosh, it would take me all day to run that list down to you.
I caddied for sooooo many notable people. And now I’m in Northeast Florida. People can hire me out as their Caddy for a day and I really like sharing my stories from the past, caddying for celebrities, and all that stuff. Sometimes people try to get me to shut up; think I’m making all this stuff up. What you think about that?
Anyway, with the help of friends, I’ll going to be making some speeches in some cities over the next few months, so that is pretty good. Right? What you think about that! Me—Alfred Dyer—going on the road to talk to people, signing autographs and telling stories about my golfing journeys. And after the golfing part is over, I can do a meet n’ greet with the players and people can take photos with me and I’ll sign my new book! How about that? (Photo above: John Downing with Rabbit)
I will go out on the green and hit some balls with them and tell some more good stories. A lot of people don’t know this, but I even caddied for Dan Sykes, the winner of 1962 Doral. I love golf. Caddying was good to me. It helped me a whole lot in life. So that is pretty good. Right? What you think about that!
Yeah, it’s real nice to be able to go out and caddy for some of these new people. John Murray should be a lot of fun. I sure hope it happens! And I’ll keep you up on that!
You can reach Alfred “Rabbit” Dyer through the African American Golfer’s Digest by calling (212) 571-6559.
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Alfred ‘Rabbit’ Dyer was one of the original African American caddies on the PGA Tour. He has walked rounds as the caddy for, 1972-1990, and he was one of the Big 3 caddies on the American PGA Tour. (The other two were Angelo Argea who caddied for Jack Nicklaus, and Creamy Carolan, who caddied for Arnold Palmer.) He stands a stunning 6’5” tall, wears a brillant smile and never meets a stranger. Much of the distinctive jewelry he wears was given to him by celebrity friends and acquired during his time as a professional caddy.
Alfred “Rabbit” Dyer Archives
June-August 2012
