Inside the player-caddie dynamic with LPGA Tour pro Jaye Marie Green

Ed. note: This is the second installment in a three-part sponsored series, Pro Perspective, in which experts from various walks of golf will shine a light on how they see the game. Read Part 1 here.

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Jaye Marie Green is a 25-year-old LPGA Tour pro and half of one of pro golf’s most interesting player-caddie duos. More than three years ago, Jaye tapped her older brother, Matt, 28, to carry her bag full-time. No sibling rivalry here: the Greens are on the rise. Earlier this year Jaye recorded her first career major-championship top-10 finish, a tie for fifth at the U.S. Open after she hung on the leaderboard all weekend. Expect to see more from these two. Also, don’t expect to find a duo having more fun in their respective jobs. Here’s more, in their own words.

Jaye Marie Green: My dad caddied for me during my first three years on Tour, and then I was looking for a Tour caddie. I met a lot of great people, but I didn’t have that “click feeling,” until I brought this guy on. Once I got my first top-10 with him, before I ever had one with my dad, I knew it was right.

Matt Green: I was really excited. I give it my all. I really put 100 percent into caddying for her, and now this is where we are. She skateboarded with me, surfed in the middle of hurricanes…

Jaye: He knew me well before this, but on the course it’s a different ballgame. We just complement each other really well. Growing up, he always included me in everything, so it was cool that now I have the chance to include him in what I’m doing. Over three years, he knows me better than anyone.

Matt: I’ve learned how to handle her emotions every day. We have a good connection, and we’ll play little games out there. We play 21 questions. You pick a person, place or thing, and then you get 21 yes-or-no questions to figure out what it is.

Jaye: I picked a dip can and he got it in three questions.

Matt: I like to pick obvious ones that are still hard to get.

Jaye: He picked a golf towel and it took me five holes to get it.

Matt: You usually have to ask the perfect question to get it. It’s a great mental game.

Jaye: Sometimes if we’re waiting on a long par 5 or the nerves or something gets up, he’ll say, ‘I’ve got 21 questions, let’s go.’ Before you know it, it’s like, ‘Oh, all right, I can hit now.’ I’m not stressing out the whole time.

Matt: We also just joke about things a lot.

Jaye: We’ll use a lot of song lyrics or movie quotes after great shots. Talladega Nights, Dumb and Dumber. When I was on the course at the U.S. Open, we were leading, and he said, “So you’re saying there’s a chance.” [Laughs.] No one gets me like he does. We’re best friends off the course, but we just have a switch, where we’re all happy but then we can get serious and know how to lock in.

Matt: Most annoying thing about Jaye? When she’s hungry and a little edge, that’s when I stay a little bit.

Jaye: I do get kind of mean. [Laughs] I apologize. I’m like a child. The most annoying thing about Matt? He’ll ask me 17 times what time we’re supposed to be on the range. He’ll ask me the same question so many times. [To Matt] I love you, though!

Matt: I take preparation seriously. I walk every course. I show up two hours early, and I always have two water bottles in the bag. Wet towel, two buckets ready on the range.

Jaye: Matt’s preparation is always the same. Whether we’re in the lead or not, it’s always the same. My water bottles are ready, wedges are out. I’m never wondering where he is or if anything might be different. There’s never a question of anything. But it took time to learn.

Matt: Seeing her tendencies on the course also helps me caddie better for her. Knowing her strengths, sometimes we might play shots away from a pin. We both do all the numbers on every shot and then compare. We hit shots on every shot, too – high, low, draw, fade – and there are different numbers for each of those shots.

Jaye: He knows my clubs and my game so well now, it’s easy to trust him under the gun. It’s easy to commit to what we decided. He’s also helped slow me down. He’ll say, “Jaye, this is our life out here. Every shot matters. Let’s make a good decision.”

Matt: When I put the bag down, I see a shot already. If she’s feeling the same thing, we’ll just stick with it. But if she’s feeling something different, we talk about it and usually go with her. But I’ll never let her hit the wrong shot.

Jaye: I’ve always been pretty good off the tee, but Matt’s visions really matter in iron shots. It makes it good for us because we can go for a lot of pins. We have a blast.

Matt: It’s a fun time, really.

Jaye: Our best moment was the [2017] British Open.

Matt: We were one behind the cut and had to birdie the last to make it. Pouring rain. She was going to hit a 9-iron, then switched to an 8 and holed it out. We went crazy.

Jaye: Crazy! And the next day we were eight under through 12 holes and leading the tournament. It’s just fun to have these memories with your sibling. We missed four cuts before the U.S. Open, but he’s my ride or die. It’s nice to know he’s never going to leave me and I’m never going to fire him. I can just focus on my golf game.

Matt: It feels great having the most secure job on Tour. [Laughs.] Even when we miss cuts, I know she’s not going to fire me, and I never have a thought in my brain of leaving her. I always know we’re going to connect again. You gain a relationship over the years, and you use that to win tournaments.

Jaye: It’s nice to know that through all things chaos, I’ve got this guy right here.

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