Ronan 'Goose' Lucey gets ready to for his first PGA Tour Round Ronan Lucey Jumping from a weeklong crash course in pro caddy fundamentals to the PGA Tour just days later, seems as far-fetched as Chuck, the NBC series where the main character downloads entire skill sets in split seconds. But that’s exactly what happened to Ronan ‘Goose’ Lucey. His plucky nickname—born from the ‘Loosey-goosey’ rhyme and shared with his father—is less of a hand-me-down and more of a savvy branding decision. Golf is a game steeped in tradition and memory, and ‘Ronan with a bald fade gets remembered a little less than Goose with a mustache,’ he says. Plus, ‘how do you hit a bad golf shot after hearing talk to me, Goose.’ The 26-year-old looper at Panther National enrolled in the inaugural Professional Caddie Certification training program held at NC State’s Lonnie Poole Golf Course, led by elite PGA Tour caddies. Over the course of a rigorous weeklong curriculum, he learned from a team of industry experts, including a Tour statistician, a Masters and U.S. Open Rules official, a Tour physio, a golf psychologist, and a Level 4 AimPoint expert. Just days after completing the program, Goose was boarding a flight to Puerto Rico to be on the bag of veteran David Hearn at the Puerto Rico Open. Right after earning his certification, Goose went back to his day job in Palm Beach Gardens. That week, the Cognizant Classic was unfolding just a short drive away at PGA National, and he saw an opportunity to put his newly acquired knowledge to the test. Heath Holt—one of the caddie program’s designers who was manning Brandt Snedeker’s bag—was happy to oblige. They walked the course’s famous Bear Trap, one of golf’s most daunting stretches, reinforcing the fundamentals of yardage book usage he had been taught—but this time, as a PGA Tour practicum of sorts. MORE FOR YOU Musk Retweets ‘Hitler Didn’t Murder Millions’ Message Amid Ongoing Nazi Controversy See The Best Photos Of Today’s Magnificent ‘Blood Moon’ Total Eclipse NYT Mini Today: Hints, Clues And Answers For Friday, March 14 “My best friend ended up getting on the bag of the Monday qualifier, and all the knowledge that I got from the week before—plus walking the course with Heath—came into play. I got to work with him, going through the yardage book, his guy’s numbers, and how to attack that golf course,” Lucey recalled. Graduates of the Caddie Certification program's first class. Ronan 'Goose' Lucey is third from the ... [+] left. That could have been the end of the story, but when the tour moved on to La Isla del Encanto— part of a double-event played opposite the Florida Swing’s Arnold Palmer Invitational— opportunity knocked. Thirteen players withdrew from the Puerto Rico Open, and suddenly a bunch of spots way down the alternate list opened up in a flash. One late addition, Canadian David Hearn, arrived in San Juan sans caddie. And who did the University of Wyoming alum run into in the airport? None other than Heath Holt and Brandt Snedeker. The three old friends got to talking and just like that, a recommendation to fill his caddie vacancy was made. “I get a voicemail at 12:30 in the afternoon on Monday from Heath that reads, ‘I know it’s last minute but I have an opportunity for you to come over here to work for a tour player—he just got in the field.’ I’m about to go out and caddy a round at Panther,” Lucey remembers before detailing the logistical scramble that ensued. “Then I’m texting my boss and taking phone calls between shots, firing text messages off trying to make this work. I get on the phone with David, we have a quick conversation, and he says ‘if you can get here tomorrow for the practice round, you got the bag.’ Then I got on a flight at 5 a.m. the next morning.” Rather than nap on the plane, Lucey fought back the urge to sleep and went to work researching the golf course itself and doing his due diligence on Hearn so he wasn’t going in completely cold. He pored over Hearn’s statistical data with a fine-tooth comb, got a read on his yardage numbers and devoured swing videos. “I got to see that he is very comfortable working the ball both ways and is someone who can rely on short game. If you look at his strokes gained numbers, since he’s been out on tour, he’s always been a strong wedge player and putter so I knew that was something to put in my back pocket to rely on,” Lucey said. A 17-year-old Ronan Lucey with Mike 'Fluff' Cowan at the Deutsche Bank Championship at TPC Boston ... [+] via a Francis Ouimet Scholarship Fund program which gives young people a chance to caddie for an amateur during a Pro-Am for a PGA Tour event. Ronan Lucey By the time he landed in Luis Muñoz Marín International, his notebook was full and it was time to meet his player in the flesh. Thanks to his club caddying experience coupled with his parents throwing him into every social setting imaginable since he was three years old, the meeting went smoothly and it was soon time to get down to business. While Hearn began his practice round, Lucey locked in, forged fast rapport and began to study his player as carefully as he’d read a triple-breaking putt. “I took my hat off, shook his hand and started to read him as a person—see how the conversations are going to go and how much conversation there would be. There are some people where the original caddie rules: ‘show up, keep up and shut up.’ So, it was just learning quickly and asking questions and not being afraid to ask questions. If you are on the PGA Tour you probably have some quirks—you probably have a little bit of a screw loose, that’s why you got here. I asked David questions about his previous caddie, his preferences, words he likes to hear versus words he doesn’t like hearing.” There was a brief early moment at the jump when he thought he’d put himself in a hole. Hearn, who grew up in Brampton, just outside Toronto has Maple Leafs head covers and when he found out Lucey, a diehard Boston sports fan pulled for the Bruins, he said ‘alright, we are going to have to work past that but I think we can do that’ Lucey slept on the pullout couch in Holt’s hotel room, where the teaching continued. Holt became a big brother figure, guiding him through everything from finding the credential booth to navigating in-play situations. He helped with pre- and post-round prep, smoothing out the rollercoaster ride. Then, it was go time. Despite Goose’s outwardly projecting picture of confidence, he’s only human and felt a lump in his throat battling nerves and first-tee jitters—this was a career moment. But he didn’t suffer from imposter syndrome. After a quick prayer and breathing exercise he learned in the course, the nerves dissipated. “Not only was it my first big-time professional event, it was a PGA Tour event, and not once did I think, ‘I don’t feel like I belong here.’ This class made me feel comfortable, made me feel prepared, and made me not feel like, in this 160-player caddie field that I was the 160th caddie. I felt that I was supposed to be there.” The second putt Goose read on that first day of competition settled him in and cemented in his mind that he was meant to be on golf’s top circuit. Hearn was six feet from the cup, a 51% average make rate for a PGA Tour player. David’s read favored the right-edge while Lucey also favored the right side, he wisely recommended starting inside the hole. “It stayed dead straight, went a touch right and dropped. For me that was like ‘ok you’re good”. It was the first thing I disagreed with him on, and don’t get me wrong there were times in the week I felt like I could have been a little more affirmative or really trusted myself to say ‘I really don’t see what you’re seeing and that’s learning. I think it’s important to realize that, address it and not be afraid to admit it.” One thing that Grant Berry, one of his professors in the course , who has presided over the winning putts that sealed the deal at the 2006 Ryder Cup with Henrik Stenson and President’s Cup (2017) with Daniel Berger taught him that really resonated was that mistakes are going to happen. As long as you learn from them, they’re good mistakes. Goose meets David Hearn Ronan 'Goose' Lucey “When we launched the certification course, we hoped that one of our graduates would eventually land a bag on the PGA Tour but we didn’t expect it to happen so quickly,” Grant Berry, said. “Seeing Ronan apply his intensive training so effectively right away was incredibly rewarding. His prior experience as a country club caddie gave him an advantage, but the specialized instruction from renowned industry experts truly helped him make the leap to the tour,” Berry added. In the second round there was moment when Goose could really breath it all in and appreciate how far he’d come. They had just birdied No. 2 on the next hole found themselves in fairway bunker in a precarious lie up against the lip. Lucey knew blasting a 6-iron out of there was too big of a risk so put a wedge in Hearn’s hands so he could get out safely and then attempt to pull off an up and down from a wedge number. “I was all for because I thought short game was something we can rely on if we got in any trouble. He got it to 78-yards, we thought there was a touch of hurt but mostly off our right. He said he’s going to hit it 80, I said ‘love it.’ He put it to a foot and almost made it,” Lucey recalled. While two other guys in the group were finishing up, Lucey took a minute to drink in his surroundings “To my right shoulder I’ve got the ocean with a guy trying to catch fish with a net. To the left is a beautiful rainforest. In between are some of the best golfers in the world and I just watched my player get up and down from 80-yards to stay at four under. I knew the cut was probably going to be at five under and we had a chance with the holes left to go and do something cool.” While Hearn wouldn’t make the cut, Goose had the time of his life and is now hooked on the pro game. He’s ready to put in the hard work, find the right Korn Ferry Tour player to team up with, and grind—outworking and out-preparing the competition to make his way to the PGA Tour. His LinkedIn profile now reflects that his caddying experience extends beyond country clubs and resorts to include the PGA Tour, framing his journey as a stepping stone toward the ultimate goal of reading a putt to win a major. For now, he’s embracing the come up. “I’d love to start that relationship with someone on Korn Ferry, work with them with goals, gain that trust and gain my reps—figure out where my craft is, creating that tour caddie identity and really getting somewhere with a kid.” Follow me on Twitter. Editorial StandardsForbes Accolades