I started as a caddie at Oakmont Country Club as a 13 year old in the spring of 1967.
I had no idea what to expect but what happened was a wonderful experience. I assumed I would just carry a bag alongside the golfer, get a few dollars, and go home. But the first time out, the caddymaster, Joe Stoner, put me in a group with an older caddie named Ray DiPalma.
This is the first in a 10-part series of recollections by Ed Wieszczynski, who caddied at Oakmont Country Club near Puttsburgh from 1967 to 1975, including at the 1973 U.S. Open. While looping, he encountered the likes of Arnold Palmer, Byron Nelson, Whitey Ford and Mickey Mantle…