For first time, caddies featured in a PGA Tour title sponsor’s ad campaign

This week marks a special one for PGA Tour caddies.

For the first time, a title sponsor – Charles Schwab – has incorporated caddies directly into an ad campaign.

Earlier this year, Schwab produced 18, 30-second ads featuring caddies James Edmondson, Brennan Little, Damon Green and D.J. Nelson that will run this week (and a portion will run next year) during the Charles Schwab Challenge at historic Colonial Country Club in Fort Worth, Texas.

Being a part of this campaign was especially significant for Edmondson, caddie for Tour winner Ryan Palmer. Edmondson has been a member at Colonial since 2005 and is a four-time club champion. That’s right – Edmondson, who spends most of the year caddying on the PGA Tour is himself a four-time club champion at one of the most well-known, storied country clubs in the U.S.

“To be honest, I haven’t been able to play in the club championship the last 4-5 years because the schedule just hasn’t permitted,” Edmondson said, “but I’m looking forward to getting another crack at it this year. We have a lot of good, young members here.”

Regarding the Schwab shoot, Edmondson admitted he truly didn’t know what to expect when he showed up at Colonial for filming.

“I really didn’t know what I was signing up for,” he said. “I just had a general idea and then I got there, and it was a full-blown production crew. Based on all the equipment I saw I’d have to think it was probably similar to shooting a movie or TV show. We were there 12-13 hours, but it went by quick. I had never done something like that before. It was cool, a neat experience. The crew was super friendly and helpful. In fact, I ran into some of them Monday night and it was nice to see them.”

During the filming, Edmondson also had the chance to play some shots while he talked about the strategy players would invoke around Colonial.

“That was fun, but you get a real appreciation of what goes into a production of this magnitude,” he said. “I had to hit the shot over and over and over. Whatever shot they end up showing, I probably hit 20 times each. I had no idea what was going to happen, and they were like, ‘you’re going to play.’ They gave great direction and that made it easy. The idea was to give a peek at what it’s like for me and Ryan to get ready for the job — to learn the course and the nuances — which might be a little more course knowledge than the rest of the caddies have here at this specific venue.”

Overall, Edmondson said this is just a small window into what the caddies on the PGA Tour do to prepare for an event on a weekly basis.

“This will be the first campaign ever to utilize veteran, professional caddies and I think it will explain to the average golf fan what it is we do to prepare for these events and the details we pay attention to that probably not even the average caddie would think about,” Edmondson said.

Watch Brennan Little break down the third hole at Colonial:

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