For more than 50 years, Cypress Point Club members have depended on caddie Vince Lucido to tell them yardage, the breaks on the greens and where their ball is in the rough. Now, Lucido, 70, can barely walk, and for the past three years has wandered hospital hallways in search of medical specialists, relying on the helping hands of members, as they support him with medical specialists and the club’s Emergency Caddie Fund to try to get him back on the course.
In September, he will act as honorary caddie coordinator for the Walker Cup matches at Cypress Point.
Over the years, Lucido has looped for club members and visiting professionals like Lee Trevino who questioned his accuracy; presidents, including Gerald R. Ford, for whom he had to seek pardons from Bing Crosby Pro-Am spectators; and for several Cypress Point course record holders. In 1981, when the Walker Cup matches were waged at Cypress Point, Lucido caddied for Peter McEvoy of Great Britain & Ireland. The U.S. won 15-9.
Lucido’s career at Cypress Point started in 1970 while he was still at Monterey High School. His uncle, Joe Solis, was the caddie master. Lucido played tennis and some golf at Monterey Peninsula College and graduated from University of California Santa Cruz, intermittently caddying along the way. As a full-time caddie, he eventually climbed to No. 1 on the board 27 years ago, and has caddied for 25 Masters and U.S. Open champions, and he was on the bag for three players who set Cypress Point records. He has many stories to tell about his days on the course up the driveway that has a small sign warning wayward motorists that the terminus is for “Members Only.”
“It was the best office in the world,” Lucido says. “Besides the family at the start, my relationship with all the pros, all the members, and down the road, all the members are all good people, especially Peter Ueberroth and Sam Reeves [large stakeholders in Pebble Beach Resorts].”
Since June 2022, after a brief stint with COVID-19 and a sudden loss of control of his legs (as his brain poorly communicates with his legs) Lucido has been on leave. Instead of fairways, he has been wandering the hallways of medical centers. Eventually, with the help of Dr. Steven J. Packer, now retired CEO of Montage Health and a Cypress Point member, Lucido ended up having back surgery. He’s slowly regaining his balance and gait.
The break from caddying has given Lucido time to tell stories about some of his clients. Let’s walk down the memory fairways.
Fore or Ford!
At the 1982 Crosby, “fore” was not the alert for a wayward shot. It was “Ford” as in the former president. He was Jack Nicklaus’ amateur partner when Nicklaus was in serious contention. “Nicklaus is in second place and playing great, but Ford was driving him nuts. At lunch, Nicklaus tells me, ‘When Ford hits double bogey, grab the ball.’ And, Nicklaus says to Ford, ‘Mr. President, I love you, but if you want me to play with you again and you don’t pick up when you reach double, I won’t.’ “
As for the galleries in Ford’s range, cheers for the president who pardoned President Richard M. Nixon after the Watergate scandal resignation turned into loud boos, as he sprayed tee shots into them. Ford asked Lucido what he should do. “I say, ‘Mr. President, you have all these presidential logo balls in your bag [which, by the way, were loading Vince down]. When you hit someone, give them a ball and sign your name on the ball.'” That turned things around.
Was That Really a Course Record?
Lucido has carried the bag of three Cypress Point record makers—Gay Brewer in the 1976 Crosby who shot 10-under 62 (but Cypress Point pro Jim Langley tapped Brewer on the shoulder and said “no, no, you had your hand on the ball” for it was under lift clean and place that winter. Adam Scott, who played with Sam Reeves in the 2004 AT&T Pro-Am, carded a 63, and Kramer Hickok, playing for University of Texas in 2012, had a 63.
Lucido was headed to a fourth, on the bag of Jordan Spieth who was playing with Reeves. Spieth, a Texas alum, roommate and teammate of Hickok, was at eight under par going into 13. But Spieth, cognizant of his buddy’s record, put on the brakes. He whispered to Lucido that he was going to push his approach on 13 and bogey. Then on the 18th tee, after a birdie at the 17th, still with a potential record on the card, Reeves recommended that Spieth hit an iron short of the cypress trees guarding the green on the 346-yard par-4, and get that birdie. However, Spieth took out the driver, hooked into the trees and eventually double-bogeyed. Collegially, Spieth had shown respect to Hickok, who has had no fame as a pro, but can still claim a share of the Cypress Point record.
Hale Irwin’s Victory From
Pebble’s Rocks
Lucido has seen thousands of golf balls dive into the ocean from the tee of the 16th at Cypress Point, but one tee shot at the 18th of Pebble Beach by Hale Irwin in the final round of the Crosby in 1984 was memorable. Needing birdie to tie leader Jim Nelford, Irwin hooked his tee shot into the rocks left of the fairway. Lucido’s voice can be heard on the “YouTube” video. “That’s me yelling, ‘bounce up, bounce up,'” Lucido says about the ball, which followed instructions and pinballed back into the fairway. What you don’t see on “YouTube” today is the rest of the story.
Irwin had gotten lucky, hit a second shot down the fairway of the par-5 and bounced an 81-yard wedge off the flag stick to five feet from the hole.
Irwin’s amateur partner, Darius (Dee) Keaton, a Cypress Point member, had an easy approach to the 18th green. “I told Mr. Keaton to hit above the hole behind Irwin’s ball. That way Irwin could get a read for his putt,” Lucido said. Irwin sank the difficult, curling putt for birdie and went on to defeat Nelford in a playoff for the win. The golf gods had favored Irwin.
Off the course, Lucido has enjoyed raising a family with his wife, Teri. His daughter, Jennifer Lucido, is a professor of archaeology at California State University Monterey Bay, and his son, Vince Jr., is an electrician. Lucido also volunteers with Monterey Peninsula College’s athletic alumni association.
Lucido is still looking for the right club to cure his health issues as he completes physical therapy and has started taking short swings on the golf practice tee. Says Lucido, “I hope, at least, to maneuver Cypress Point at the Walker Cup.”