Official Caddying Story: Fritz Corrigan

Fritz W. Corrigan is a businessman and philanthropist. While mostly retired, he still serves on a number of boards and mentors CEOs, while giving generously to causes like Dartmouth College and the Western Golf Association. Prior to that, he was the founding president and CEO of The Mosaic Company (NYSE: MOS), which he took public in 2004. Before Mosaic, Fritz spent the majority of his career at Cargill, Inc., where he last served as executive vice president, overseeing the fertilizer and salt businesses.

At which golf course did you first caddy and how old were you when you started?

I first started caddying at Northland Country Club in Duluth, Minnesota when I was 10 years old. Initially, I began “working” for my dad on the driving range. This was before there was a pyramid of golf balls there waiting for you, so you had to bring your own. My job was to go out there and retrieve the golf balls that he’d hit, but there was one major problem. I’ve always had bad eyes and couldn’t see them flying at me! So I just learned to cover up when he’d yell, “look out!!!”

They eventually put me to work as a caddie, carrying single bags since I was just a little guy at that age. I did it for three years. It was fun but tough work. Northland is on the side of a hill, so holes two, three, and four were grueling. Fortunately, holes 15, 16, and 17 were downhill, but you really needed the break once you got there. 

The real highlight of the summer was the Northland Invitational, a big tournament at the time and still is today. I always got a loop in it, caddying 36 holes a day for three days. It was fun but challenging. My dad always knew people playing in it, so we’d wind up watching and cheering for certain people when I wasn’t caddying.

When my family moved back to Minneapolis, I caddied at Interlachen Country Club during high school. Those were even more formative caddying years for me.

Why were you compelled to become a caddy?

I have to chuckle at this question since I didn’t have a choice. My dad’s life had been transformed thanks to caddying, so he said, “You’re doing it.” The question was where I would caddie in the Twin Cities. We were members at Minikadha, where my dad had grown up caddying, so that was out of the question. He wisely wanted me to forge my own path, so I wound up at Interlachen, which is another fantastic club nearby.

Take us through your first day on the job, who was your first loop?

I don’t quite recall the first loop, but it was only singles at first. Then you worked your way up to doubles, those big leather bags. You made sure to keep up, keep quiet and say yes sir or ma'am a lot. I’d caddie four to five days a week, sometimes six. I made a buck and a quarter of a bag, which was a lot of money to a 10 year old kid. At first, most of it wound up being invested in candy at the local drug store. But our family really encouraged us to save. If you wanted any spending money, you had to earn it, so we always had summer jobs. It took me an entire summer of caddying, but my first big purchase was a 3-speed bike with skinny tires.

It was at Interlachen that I really found my stride as a caddie. I’d work during the day and then go to hockey camp at night. Hockey was and still is another great passion, and I learned a lot about teamwork on those long days. Caddying you’re not only working with your player but also with the other caddies. You knew who was good and who wasn’t, who would catch a pin for you while you’re raking a bunker. Stuff like that. You learned the importance of teamwork and being a good teammate, which obviously translates to the ice as well. I’m sure every person you interview for this has said that caddying is the best summer job there is, and it’s true.

What was the biggest mistake that you made during your caddying career?

My biggest mistake may have been quitting caddying when I went to college, so I could dig ditches instead. Since the pay was higher, I went to work for what’s now known as CenterPoint Energy, making three bucks per hour. Especially with overtime, I made more money, but it certainly wasn’t as fun as caddying. The silver lining, I must say, was that I got to meet some really good people. Many were high school or college dropouts who had come from a less economically advantaged life. They worked incredibly hard, and I was fortunate enough to learn a lot from them and make some good friends.

On the course, my biggest mistake took place at Interlachen. There was a member-guest tournament, and I had first been put to work out front, odd jobs like parking cars and taking care of bags. Since I wasn’t in the yard, the caddiemaster forgot to give me a loop. So he sent me out to forecaddie on the right side of number nine, where players can easily lose their tee shots in the water, trees, and bushes. We were almost finished with the day, and some guy hit his drive into the bushes at the edge of the lake. I was looking around frantically trying to find it as the foursome approached. And sure enough, my dad happened to be playing as a guest in the tournament, and it was his tee shot! I was saying to myself, “Oh shit. If I saw it go into the water, it’s a one shot penalty, but if I didn’t, it’s a lost ball. He has to go back and retee.” We looked everywhere but couldn't find it. So he asked, “Son, did you see it go into the water?” I had to say no, which sent him marching all the way back to the tee box. That was in 1959, and I still remember it like it was yesterday.

What did you most enjoy about caddying?

I really enjoyed learning the game. You came to appreciate good shots and good golfers. I also gained tremendous satisfaction from doing a fine job as a caddie and earning a nice tip. There was a sense of accomplishment. And, of course, I enjoyed making some good friends in the caddie yard. There was a lot of horsing around, which felt like a waste of time. But those were really fun experiences, shooting the breeze in a sandy area next to a nondescript shack that boasted nothing but a basketball hoop with no net.

Tell us about some of the people for whom you caddied, did any of them contribute to your career in a meaningful way?

There were many great people who taught me an awful lot, but it all really points back to my dad. He was a really stern guy, but you can probably tell that I loved him very much. The caddying, however, did allow me to pull one over on him years later. At Cargill, my family moved nine times, as I became an entrepreneurial executive that they’d send in to run newly acquired businesses. When we finally moved back to Minneapolis, we bought a house and were getting settled. After six months, my dad says, “You’ve been here for a while, and you haven’t once asked me about joining Minikahda.” I said, “Well, I’m actually thinking about joining Interlachen since our house is near there, and I grew up caddying there.” The look on his face, mind you, he had not only caddied at Minikahda but later joined and even served as the president. After watching his reaction for a few seconds, I smiled and said, “just kidding, dad.”

I’ll tell you one loop that was kind of memorable and shows that caddying never really leaves you. When the Women’s USGA Mid-Am took place at Desert Forest in 2007, my sister asked me and some friends to caddie. I had just retired and was put on the bag of a really great gal and player, named Michelle. It was a long week; we played practice rounds, qualifying, and a couple of matches. I must say that at 65 years old my butt was really dragging! But we had a lot of fun, and she asked me to caddy for her again the next year. I declined, however. It was serious business, and I wasn't going to become a semi-pro caddie at that age!

What was the biggest lesson that you learned from caddying that helped you succeed as you progressed in life?

There are many lessons. Hard work is one. The value of hard work and really committing to something. You don’t have to be the brightest bulb, but if you outwork everyone else and do your very best, you’ll get more opportunities. 

Another one is teamwork. You see it in all sorts of sports. Hockey is the big one for me, my son, and now my grandkids. But at Cargill, it was all about the team. There were no prima donnas. And if you were one, you’d pretty much get run off. It wasn’t about being a star, it was about getting the job done. When I was getting more leadership positions at the company, we honored everyone on the team. You start learning that as a caddie.

Another major lesson is integrity, like having to tell my dad that I didn’t see his ball go in the water on the ninth hole of a tournament. It might seem minor, but it isn’t. This is something that we really obsessed over at Cargill when I was part of the eight-person corporate leadership team. In fact, we held a series of meetings, as we were coming together, trying to determine which characteristics really mattered and which were superficial. At such a large organization, we belabored over which skills were required to be a good leader. This was especially important because everyone that got promoted was a subject matter expert, but they were then tasked with coaching teams instead of doing the work themselves. Our leadership team settled on three things: integrity, courage, and commitment. Since Cargill operates many businesses around the world, leaders had to have the integrity to turn down a bribe or say no when one is asked of them. They had to have the courage in the grey areas, like recognizing when someone on the team isn’t cutting it, and a change needs to be made. And they had to have the commitment to never quit and see things through. We found that when you exemplified those traits, people were going to follow you. And looking back for me, all of those values began to form when I was caddying, like with the story about my dad’s tee shot and many others.

Last one is fun! As I told me kids, if you aren’t having fun at work, look for something else to do.

If you could nominate one former caddy who went on to enjoy success, whose Official Caddying Story would you like to hear?

Bill Doyle, he was actually one of our biggest competitors as the chairman and CEO of PotashCorp, but he became a very dear friend. He caddied for Fred Blesi at Bob O’ Link in Chicago, and that’s actually how he got started in the fertilizer industry.