Golf Magazine: Combined, the five of you have caddied for more than 250 wins. What makes a caddie great?

Mackay: You can't be afraid of being wrong.

Bender: Knowing when to talk and when not to. There are many "yes" caddies who are afraid to get fired. You have to step up!

Williams: You have to assert yourself. When things aren't going well, my job is to help turn things around. At [the 2005] Masters we were going into a playoff against Chris DiMarco. Tiger wasn't happy because we'd just made bogeys on the last two holes. So I said, "Remember, this guy hasn't won a major. We've won a bunch. You know how to do it, but this guy's never done it — you have the edge." And he birdied the first playoff hole.

Cowan: Sometimes things are going good, you're jiving with the player, and all of a sudden, double-bogey and, "Oh f---!" The key is not getting too high or too low.

GM: In a given week, do you play the course in advance of your guy?

Williams: I walk the course, studying the greens.

Mackay: If all the other caddies played like me, all the trees left of the fairway would take a beating.

GM: What do you know now that you didn't know when you started out?

Mackay: Learn to enjoy the long walk from caddie parking to the clubhouse.