Willie McRae: A Living Legend

For more than six decades Willie McRae has walked the pristine and historic fairways of Pinehurst Golf Club and Resort with a humble and quiet dignity. He has helped carry on the proud tradition of the black caddie and for almost 80 years the McRae family has played a prominent role in the history of Pinehurst.The McRae Family is just as much a part of the history of Pinehurst as it’s more famous guests. Thaddeus McRae, the son of a sharecropper started caddying at the Pinehurst Golf Club in 1927. He was one of many black caddies that traveled from the Taylortown, NC a small town just two miles from the resort to work at the Golf course that the Tufts Family owned. Caddying was a way to earn money and support his wife and twelve children. (Read Winter/Jan. 2007 issue.)