The Caddie Chat
Friar's Head clubhouse perched on the bluff at golden hour
Stories from Inside the Ropes

Caddie. Builder. Storyteller.

Golden age architecture, pro-am rounds with PGA Tour players, and the world seen through a caddie's lens.

Golden Age Golf Read the Chronicles
Friar's Head · Long Island, NY

Contents

Four sections
  1. 01 Chronicles First-person stories from inside the ropes: practice rounds on the bag for Viktor Hovland, Tyrrell Hatton and Matt Fitzpatrick, and essays on what makes a hole work. 6 stories
  2. 02 Golden Age Golf Nine days, eight courses, and a search for the heart of Golden Age architecture in the Northeast, from Tillinghast to Travis, Winged Foot to Friar's Head. 8 courses
  3. 03 Camera Roll Film rolls from abroad, tournament galleries, and the road between courses. A visual journal, one roll at a time. 8 rolls
  4. 04 Field Notes Short notes from golf-course construction: earthwork, drainage, stone and sand. Forthcoming
Golfers on a tee at Friar's Head looking down a fairway corridor framed by sand dunes and trees, with Long Island Sound visible through the gap at the far end.
PlateI The tee shot through the dunes, the Sound at the end of the corridor. Coore & Crenshaw, 2002.

WALKED Friar's Head, Baiting Hollow NY S

Chronicles

The full index
A player checks his yardage beside his bag while a caddie in a white cap stands ready, both lit by low golden light in front of a dark line of pines.
PlateII Player and caddie at last light.

SHOT Roll 8, Fr. 028 S

  1. Jack Nicklaus Reclaims His Design Empire Golf Course Acquisition
  2. Beauty or Burden? Golf Architecture Essay
  3. An Uphill Challenge Golf Architecture Essay
  4. Caddying for Matt Fitzpatrick at the BMW Championship BMW Championship Practice Round
  5. On the Bag for Tyrrell Hatton BMW Championship Practice Round
  6. My Day as a Golf Caddie for Viktor Hovland BMW Championship Practice Round
All Chronicles

Field Notes

Forthcoming

How a hole gets built, before anyone tees off.

Earthwork, drainage, stone and sand, written from inside golf-course construction. The part of the game most golf writing skips, told by someone who works in it.

In preparation The Cost of Rock

A construction site below a blasted rock ledge: stockpiles of sand, a half-built dry-stone wall, utility vehicles, a tracked loader and crew in high-visibility vests, autumn trees above.
PlateIII Sand stockpiled under the ledge while the stone wall goes in.

SHOT Roll 8, Fr. 009 S

Camera Roll

Roll 8 · 26 frames · Fall 2026
Blue Ridge mountains in late sun above a valley of trees and a golf course.
Fr. 018
A white clapboard church behind a stone wall at dusk under a pink sky.
Fr. 017
A green complex at dusk, low light across native grass and a line of pines.
Fr. 034
A flagstick against a fading evening sky above a darkening green.
Fr. 032
All eight rolls

About

Joe Stoehner

Every round tells a story. Every course has a soul.

I'm Joe Stoehner: caddie, Evans Scholar, and storyteller. As an Evans Scholar, I've had the opportunity to caddie for PGA Tour pros like Viktor Hovland and Tyrrell Hatton at charity pro-ams, and when I'm not carrying a bag I'm chasing golden age architecture across the Northeast. This is where I document the game's most human moments.

These days the work is golf-course construction: the earthwork, drainage and stone that come before anyone tees off. That is where the Builder comes from.

The Caddie Chat is a home for the stories, photography, and perspectives that emerge when you spend your life inside the ropes.

Joe Stoehner

Start reading

Two caddies in golden-hour light, one in a green Evans Scholar bib with a towel over his shoulder.
PlateIV Evans Scholar caddies during BMW Championship week.

WALKED Wilmington CC, Wilmington DE S