Legendary caddie Carl Jackson returns to Masters for the 50th time – Golf News
Dressed up in white coveralls, Carl Jackson is perhaps the only reminder left of the old days at Augusta National where the white golfers were taken care of by their African-American caddies. Jackson, Ben Crenshaw’s caddie for the last 35 years at the Masters,
will be caddying for the 50th time this weekend.
As fans flocked the arena for a glance of their favourite golfers, Jackson also had a long list of fans craving for an autograph of the legendary caddie himself. Reminiscent of the old days when most of the caddies came from the sordid neighbourhood of Magnolia
Lane, Jackson narrates how difficult it was to make a living in those days. Now 64, Jackson missed the 2000 episode of the event, battling cancer that fortunately subsided afterwards.
Jackson is nothing less than a living biography of the tournament and has seen the many legends that played during those times. "I tend to keep thinking back to the old days," Jackson said Monday, “Pappy Stokes. Iron Man. Those guys are just on my mind right
now. They just adopted me. They thought I had some instincts for the game, and they helped me bring them out. Those are the guys who did it."
Jackson started off as a caddie for Billy Burke in 1961 when he was just 14. He never missed a single event after that except for one. Crenshaw, a golfer who desperately was looking to get his sport fixed, stumbled into the 6-foot-5 Jackson one evening in
1976, and both of them feeling a certain liking for each other, stuck together for the next 35 years. To match Crenshaw’s emotional outrage at times, Jackson’s calm and quite composure was just the right thing needed. "Fifty Masters is more than a lifetime,"
said Crenshaw, "A lot of blood, sweat and tears go into those 50 years.”
Jackson has only caddied for golfers at the Augusta National since his domestic engagements and his duties towards his children did not allow him to go out of town. With Crenshaw it had been a once-a-year partnership and with his vast knowledge about the
course at Augusta, he had proven to be a priceless asset for the golfer. Crenshaw won the Masters in 1984 and again in 1995, owing much to Jackson’s wisdom. “I don't count," said the 59-year-old Crenshaw, as he posed for yet another picture, with his hand
around Jackson’s shoulder, "He's the one who counts."
Jackson, being a professional caddy, always held the view that the knowledge of the sport is the most important requirement of being a caddy. "If you're going to make suggestions, you've got to have an understanding of what you're trying to suggest," he
said. "I can't see myself making a suggestion to a surgeon."
Jackson helped Crenshaw straighten his swing at a practice round when the golfer’s career was going in a downward spiral after the death of his mentor Harvey Penick. Crenshaw after winning the title in 1995 broke into tears at the 18th hole where
Jackson came from behind to give him a warm hug, often recalled as one of the memorable incidents of the Masters.
Jackson now runs a caddie programme at the Alotian Golf Club near Little Rock in Arkansas.
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