John Wood was managing a bookstore in Sacramento when PGA Tour pro Kevin Sutherland asked him if he’d like to caddie for him during the 1997 season. Wood figured why not give it a try for a year or two?
Fast-forward 26 years later and he’s still part of the traveling circus, having made a seamless transition from caddie to on-course commentator.
“I’ve avoided getting a real job my entire life,” he says.
Wood always has stood out for his ability to communicate his thoughts about a golf course and the inner workings of a caddie-player relationship, including a stint as a Golfweek contributor.
“A good caddie has the answers to 10 questions that never get asked,” says the 53-year-old Wood, who caddied in 14 Cups – seven each of the Presidents and Ryder Cups and was an assistant at the 2018 Ryder Cup.
He has been on a winner’s bag 10 times at PGA Tour events, working primarily for Sutherland, Hunter Mahan and Matt Kuchar. (He came out of retirement for a one-week gig at the Fortinet Championship in September for Stewart Cink.) He joined NBC/Golf Channel in 2021, saying, “It was time for a new challenge,” and bringing a refreshing new voice and insight to the network’s coverage.
But it’s his off-course hobbies that may be the most interesting part of this Q&A. Wood is a music buff, who travels the Tour with a guitar, released his own album on SoundCloud and dragged his parents to an Elvis Presley concert in Tacoma, Washington, at age 7.
He’s also a passionate San Francisco Giants fan, but there are plenty of golfers and caddies who still rep the team that they grew up supporting. Wood is a lone wolf out on Tour in his main addiction these days, which is wolf watching. Wood makes frequent trips to Yellowstone to watch the wolves.
“Sometimes you see 50 wolves in a day and one is taking down an elk and other days you might see two or three jumping out of a bush, you never know,” he says. “I kind of feel like that’s my tribe now. I’ve become part of the community.”
Here’s more from Wood on the heartache of the 2017 British Open, why he thinks it’s time to roll back the ball, and more on wolf watching.