Caddies at Pebble Beach have voted to unionize.
By a lopsided vote of 180 to 56, the caddies last night voted to formally join UNITE HERE Local 19. Their plan is to enter into collective bargaining talks with Pebble Beach and its third-party caddie program operator CaddieMaster.
“We are unified across the caddie body and I’m excited we voted collectively for the union,” said caddie Kodiak Adams in a statement provided by UNITE HERE. “As part of the newer generation of caddies at Pebble Beach, we are looking forward to having a say over ensuring a respectful, dignified workplace for the long term.”
“CaddieMaster respects the caddies’ decision to be represented by a union,” said CaddieMaster CEO Dan Costello in a separate prepared statement provided to MyGolfSpy. “We will negotiate in good faith and work together to support the continued success of the Pebble Beach caddie program.”
It is believed that this is the first time that elite caddies at a major golf destination have voted to unionize.
Why unionize?
At issue is a recently imposed work rule change for the caddies at all of the Pebble Beach properties. For decades caddies at Pebble worked as independent contractors. They would receive most of the caddie fee charged by Pebble, plus tip, as their pay. In February, however, CaddieMaster informed the caddies that they would transition to full-time employees as of May 1st. At that time, CaddieMaster would start paying them an hourly wage.
The caddies they were not consulted on the change, nor were they included in the forming of new work rules. Additionally, they say the new arrangement represented a significant pay cut.
CaddieMaster, for its part, has disputed the pay cut assertion. The company says during the most recent pay period, actual gross caddie pay was up 15 percent. Sources say that under the new system, caddies are earning anywhere from $17.54 to $24.98 per hour.
Minimum wage in California is $16,.90 per hour.
The work rule change came at a time when Pebble Beach was raising its caddie fees for golfers. Rates are now up to $250 for a double bag loop.
What happens next?
The union says the vote passed despite a persistent anti-union campaign by the employer. UNITE HERE says the caddies are eager to get to bargaining table as soon as possible.
It is possible that CaddieMaster and Pebble could challenge the vote. However, both would have to consider possible backlash from the union and from golfers.
“Pebble Beach Company respects the outcome of the election,” says Pebble CEO David Stivers in response to an inquiry from MyGolfSpy. “The goal of the recent changes was to create a better caddie program. While Pebble Beach will not be a part of negotiations, it is our hope that the union will work collaboratively with CaddieMaster to ensure this goal is realized, and that the Pebble Beach cadie program stands among the country’s finest.”
MyGolfSpy has reached out to CaddieMaster and is awaiting a response.
As for possible outcomes, it’s unlikely the union will be able to put the genie back in the bottle and return to an independent contractor model. What’s more likely is that the union will be able to negotiate more say in work rules, seniority benefits, grievance and discipline procedures and payment transparency.
Under federal law, both sides are required to bargain in good faith.
“I’m so proud of my friends and colleagues for standing together to make this program and this job that we love better for ourselves and all future caddies,” says 26 year veteran caddie Tony Malokas in a statement provided by Local 19. “I look forward to productive talks at the bargaining table.”
MyGolfSpy will update this story as more information becomes available.
Flagstick
2 weeks ago
Here’s my input:
Caddies at Pebble Beach Resorts voted decisively, 182 to 56, to have a seat at the table and negotiate face-to-face with their new “employers”. Instead of working for and being paid by golfers, caddies are now a mere asset, paid an hourly wage by a company that receives an unknown amount from Pebble Beach Resorts guests.
Caddies were notified by text messages (text messages, not face to face, or in person, or man to man, but via TEXT!) sent the evening of February 16, informing them of the end of their freedom and the start of a corporation reaching into their wallets and taking financial choices away from them. This, mere weeks after Independent Contractor agreements were negotiated for 2026.
Caddies perceived this as an unnecessarily disrespectful insult to their good-faith bargaining at the end of 2025. The caddies were completely blindsided by what was obviously being planned even as those negations were taking place. To say caddies were skeptical of Troon/CME’s definition of “good faith” or “caring” about them would be an understatement.
Caddying is not only a strenuous job, but an intensely personal one: imagine going on a blind date with two people every day, and part of your income depends on your “dates” having a great time, no matter the weather or course conditions, or their player’s ratio of ego to ability. At a Resort like this, a guest interacts with many employees, reservations, front desk, bellmen, housekeepers, concierge, shuttle drivers, range assistants, pro shop staff, waiters, busboys, golf services professionals, marshalls, etc., but those are typically a couple minutes here or there. Not one of the above spends over 4 hours at a time, minimum, assisting and entertaining guests at these Resorts. Caddies do. Every day. It’s a lot, and most that have not spent years caddying in this environment can imagine the demands these individuals willingly and joyously face every day. It’s not for everyone, but those who love it and do it well deserve fair treatment, respect, and a decent wage.
Caddie fees charged to guests at Pebble Beach Resorts in December were $210 for double-bag service, where a man carries two golf bags over 6 miles, ideally in under 5 hours, on difficult, national-championship level courses, while providing expert advice, regardless of weather conditions and player ability. That fee went to $220 on January 1st.
Then, effective May 1st, Pebble Beach Resorts raised that fee to $250, a 19% increase in four months, thanks to CaddieMaster and Troon.
At the negotiating table in December, the Caddie Liaison Board sought a simple, good-faith rate of $200+gratuity to all caddies regardless of seniority (we all do the same strenuous job, after all) for a double or a forecaddie loop (where a caddie doesn’t carry bags for two, but hustles around all over the course, finding and getting yardages for FOUR golfers), and $150 for a high-interaction, personal, single-bag job, just like you see the Tour pros getting on TV. These flat fees would’ve made it possible for CaddieMaster to also charge Pebble’s guests a flat, transparent “referral fee” of whatever they want, relieving Pebble Beach Resort staff from being put in the awkward position of being completely unable to answer a guest who asks “How much of the fee does my caddie get?” or “How much is the Referral Fee?”. No one at Pebble Beach Resorts can honestly tell a guest how much either party receives.
A senior caddie was paid $188 for a double on April 30, while Caddiemaster collected the balance of the $220 fee, $32. It just so happened that May 1 was a Friday and the last day of a CaddieMaster pay period, so the same caddie worked a double on May 1, so his first “employee” check would have exactly one loop on it.
Pebble Beach collected $250 from the guest. The caddie was paid $163. My math says the caddie’s income went down, while $87 (!) went to CaddieMaster. Dan Costello, CEO of CaddieMaster, thinks his company should be praised for confiscating money that caddie earned and sending it to the feds for him. Most caddies prefer to handle the timing and amounts they send to the IRS themselves. They’re professionals, after all, and paying taxes are their responsibility. Taking money out their weekly income to send to the government seriously affected many families weekly budgets and cash flow.
So Pebble charges an extra $40 for Troon, the caddie takes home less, and the IRS gets the interest-free use of whatever CaddieMaster isn’t keeping for itself. No wonder caddies are hurt and fighting back.
This all could’ve been avoided had CaddieMaster and Pebble Beach Resorts respected these men and the sweat and dedication they put in to make sure guests paying $695 have the best experience possible, but the caddies were dismissed and ignored.
Requests to have a dialogue with Pebble Beach Resorts executives were similarly rejected.
Good faith? Respect? “Caring” is what Troon’s people call this treatment of the men who do the actual work . . .
113 caddies at Pebble Beach Resorts have over 15 years of full-time service; if you roll that back to 10 years, it’s 171 men. Men that have built lives around the freedom that caddying USED TO offer.
Sure, taxes, health insurance, even the bibs they had to wear, were costs they had to manage, but those were legitimate business expenses they managed for themselves.
Troon and CaddieMaster and Pebble Beach Resorts chose this path. They could’ve negotiated with caddies directly, but they chose to shut caddies out of the transition process completely. Once the overwhelming support for unionization became known, CME started giving extra performance bonuses, allowing some scheduling flexibility, even Pebble Beach Resorts got in on the giving spree, allowing caddies access to employee dining rooms for the first time in history. These gestures were and are appreciated, but obviously caddies felt it wasn’t enough because none of these late additions to hourly wages are not guaranteed to continue for any length of time.
Instead of dialogue, negotiation, and compromise, Troon/CaddieMaster showed caddies around the nation who and what they are as employers, and how they view their “employees”.
182 men have taken a stand for every caddie grinding out a living in the United States.
All they’re asking for is simple respect.
It remains to be seen if CaddieMaster, Troon, and Pebble Beach Resorts can rise to that seemingly low bar.
Time, and negotiations, will tell.