Llama Caddies!
Sherwood Forest in Cedar Mountain NC is making local, national and even international news with their Llama Caddies. Aubrey Woodard, Diane Woodard’s husband, and granddaughter Alex was shown on NBC national news Sunday Night with the Llama Caddies. Here is an article about the Llama Caddies posted in The Hendersonville Times News Online:
The game of golf invokes many thoughts: peacefulness, natural beauty, camaraderie, and, maybe after a bad tee off, absolute anger. But it’s highly unlikely that llamas — yes, that’s right, llamas — would ever be associated in most golfer’s minds with the sport.
Well, Sherwood Forest Country Club hopes to change that. For the past two months, club pro Brian Lautenschlager and Great Smoky Mountains Greenskeepers Inc. owner Mark English have been training 11 llamas to caddy for golfers. And as bizarre as the idea may sound to most, it was a no-brainer for Lautenschlager.
“Obviously they’re a great attraction and will turn heads when you’re driving by the course. And Sherwood is kind of in an isolated location, so I thought it’d be something unique to get people out to see us,” he said. “And one thing I thought about when deciding to do this was why get a bunch of carts when you can do something unique with an animal and have less damage done to the golf course.”
Thus far the risk has paid off in spades. As one of two courses in North Carolina offering llamas as caddies — the other being Talamore Golf Resort in Pinehurst — the attention has been more than anyone could have expected.
“People, whether they’re golfers or not, are intrigued by the animals and the uniqueness of it and they’ll come in just to take pictures,” said Lautenschlager. “And people call me from all over the country — one person told me he heard about us on a nationwide talk show, which was cool.”
Every Tuesday morning the llamas — which are kept on a nearby, 7-acre farm — are fed and saddled with specialized harnesses capable of holding two sets of clubs. Once prepped, they trek out two at a time with golfers with a trained supervisor there to tend to the animal and act as a more traditional caddy. After nine holes, the animal is taken to a “llama litter box,” where they use the restroom, and back out they go to finish the round.
By STEPHEN ROPER
Times-News Correspondent
Published: Monday, July 20, 2009 at 7:57 p.m.
