What a DP World Tour Caddie
Taught Me About Playing Better Golf

That distinction became much clearer to me during an afternoon at Pleasington Golf Club with Dom Bott, an experienced DP World Tour caddie. I booked the session through the Tour Caddie Experience because I wanted to understand how someone with decades of experience at the highest level would approach my game.

I was not looking for a technical golf lesson. I wanted to learn more about course management, decision-making, routines and the thought process that takes place before a good player hits a shot. The afternoon delivered exactly that.

Watching Before Coaching

For the opening couple of holes, Dom largely allowed me to play as normal. He wanted to see how I approached the game without immediately influencing my decisions. On the first hole, I hit a good tee shot before pulling my approach slightly left of the green — not a terrible shot, just a small miss, leaving a relatively straightforward chip.

I walked over to the ball, had a quick look at the shot, selected a club and prepared to play. That was when Dom stopped me. He asked why I had not taken a proper look at the shot. My instinctive response was that I had looked. But that was not really the point.

Playing Quickly Versus Thinking Quickly

Dom encouraged me to walk towards the green and assess the shot properly. These are relatively simple questions, but I had not taken the time to answer them.

Dom's point was not that I needed to become a slower golfer. It was that I needed to give the decision the attention it deserved. Once the decision had been made, I could still play quickly and instinctively.

That small intervention changed how I approached the rest of the round. Instead of walking directly to the ball and reacting to what I saw, I started taking a broader view of the shot. The extra preparation only took a few seconds, but it produced much greater clarity.

Building a Repeatable Routine

The next major theme was routine. Dom was clear that a consistent routine is one of the foundations of good golf. A routine is not simply a collection of physical movements before hitting the ball — it is the process that allows a golfer to gather information, make a decision and move from thinking into execution.

Without a routine, every shot can feel different. Under pressure, the decision-making process can become even less consistent. A routine provides stability.

By the end of the round, I found myself following this process without having to force it. The routine did not make me feel slower or overly mechanical. It made me feel more organised and decisive.

A Positive Assessment of My Putting

Dom was very positive about my putting. He felt that I rolled the ball well and did not see a need to introduce technical changes. That was reassuring because putting can easily become an area where golfers search for constant adjustments after a small run of missed putts.

Picking a Specific Line

One of the biggest lessons came on the back nine when we focused more closely on target selection. Many amateur golfers believe they are aiming at a target when, in reality, they are aiming at a general area — the fairway, the middle of the green, the left side of a bunker. That is not the same as choosing a precise starting line.

My normal ball flight moves from left to right, so I needed to account for that shape when deciding where the ball should start. The target might be a branch, a discoloured patch of grass, the edge of a bunker, or a particular point in the distance. The exact object was not important. What mattered was that the target was specific.

Commitment Is the Final Step

The most important word from the afternoon was commitment. A golfer can assess the conditions correctly, choose the right club and select the perfect target, but none of that matters if they stand over the ball questioning the decision. Once the shot has been chosen, the thinking phase must end.

Golfers often carry uncertainty into the swing — was that the right club, am I aiming too far left, should I try to steer it. That indecision often creates the very outcome the player is trying to avoid.

That does not guarantee a perfect result. Golf will always include poor strikes, unexpected bounces and misjudgements. It does, however, give the player the best possible chance of executing the chosen shot.

Tour-Level Thinking Without Technical Overload

What impressed me most about Dom was that he did not try to rebuild my swing. He did not overload me with technical positions or numerous swing thoughts. Instead, he focused on the areas that could immediately make me a better golfer.

A player does not need to develop a new swing to choose a better target. They do not need more clubhead speed to assess a chip properly. They do not need to change their putting stroke to establish a consistent routine. They simply need to approach the game with greater clarity and discipline.

The Value of an Experienced Caddie

A good caddie does much more than carry a golf bag and provide yardages. They help the player process information, ask the right questions, challenge poor decisions, and provide reassurance when the decision is correct. Spending the afternoon with Dom gave me a much clearer understanding of how a professional caddie contributes to performance — the real value often comes before the swing begins.

A Brilliant Afternoon

The experience was valuable from a golfing perspective, but it was also thoroughly enjoyable. Dom is a genuinely great guy and superb company — knowledgeable, engaging and easy to spend time with on the course. There was no attempt to make the game sound more complicated than it needed to be. He observed, asked questions and helped me arrive at clearer decisions.

My Main Lessons from the Tour Caddie Experience