Caddie's Role: In a career of caddying there are always many regrets . You gave advice when keeping your opinion to yourself would have been more appropriate. You kept your mouth shut when offering your opinion would have saved your man from disaster. You should have worked for one player instead of the other when you had the chance. Never look back they say but we all do

I have regretted I did not work for certain players - some for their golf ability and others for their character and personality.

Could I have worked for Seve? How would I have handled the pressure of working for Tiger Woods? What about the painstaking Bernhard Langer in his day or the fastidious Nick Faldo?

As a toter we all wonder how players would have fared with us "on their bag".

This past week I was able to caddie for one of those people I had always had a desire to work for. Most of us are happy to get a bag these days, any bag. But we would all like to work for a good player, and an added bonus would be to work for a good player who is a gentleman and if he was an interesting person to boot then you had the perfect bag.

Domingo Hospital was the player - always a gentleman, undeniably interesting and undoubtedly a golfer who never realised his potential as a player, probably because of his first two qualities.

So when I volunteered to caddie for him as a casual porter in the rather long-winded Campeonato de Espana Dobles de la Associacion Professionales de Golf Trofeo Golf 56 in the south of Spain last week I figured it would be an opportunity that could not be missed.

Given I was supposed to be at the opulent World Golf Championship event in Akron, Ohio, last week with my main man, Retief Goosen, and all the trimmings of a $7 million tournament, the relative lack of spectacle at the Rio Real Golf Club, east of Marbella, was stark. It was, nonetheless, very rewarding.

Domingo lost his card for the Tour three years ago and has since kept his game in Spain, playing the relatively vibrant local Spanish Tour. They play about 15 events a year, for an average of €70,000 prize fund.

Domingo figures it costs him €600 a week to compete as the players have subsidised airfares and hotel rooms. If the players have caddies they are working for a reduced rate and the majority would either have friends caddying for them or they carry their own bags.

Expenses are kept to a minimum and fun seemingly is valued highly. I arrived at the Rio Real club last Friday for duty. The scene in the clubhouse reminded me of a pre-weekend club competition and not a competitive professional event.

Domingo, ever the gent, introduced me to anyone he knew (it seemed like everyone), that walked into the clubhouse bar area where he was warming up with a strong coffee.

The rest of the competitors accompanied their coffee with an even stronger Spanish cigarette. Domingo of old would have but he has given them up. Perhaps, he admits, that is what finished off his tour golf. Many golfers who give up smoking lose their games, Domingo maintains.

This is a miniature event of a big one, if you know what I mean. There are TV cameras, scoreboards, water tanks, officials, advertising hoarding, tickets and the caddies favourite, bibs.

This is a self-sufficient tour comprising of young hopefuls and old has-beens that will not lie down. I recognised faces from years back that I had almost completely forgotten - they were warm, friendly, enthusiastic and undeniably Spanish in all their Iberian splendour.

Manuel Pinero was there with his brother Juan Carlos. Jose Maria Canizares, who plays the Seniors Tour in the States but lives in southern Spain was playing with his son. Manuel Aparicio, Emilio Rodriquez, Manuel Moreno, Juan Quiros amongst many others, all ex-tour players are out to seed, so to speak on the Spanish Tour.

What they lack in prize money they make up for in spirit. It is certainly a warm and friendly atmosphere for young players to learn their trade as they mix with other aspiring golfers and old hands who can pass on their experience of what it is like to compete on the bigger stage of the European Tour.

Being on standby as I have been with my injured boss, Retief, I have not really been too sure where or when I am going to be back on duty with him.

I got the call-up last Saturday night saying that he was going to play in Munich this week. This meant that I spent most of Sunday trying to get an air ticket to Germany, anywhere in Germany. Coming from the Costa del Sol in August getting a flight to anywhere, at any time, proved to be very difficult.

I had to let Domingo do his own thing for the final round of the doubles event last Sunday while I trawled travel agents and web sites for a flight to Germany.

It seems Domingo has adapted well to caddying for himself and that doesn't say much about my looping skills. He shot a 66 without me by his side and he and his partner, Ignacio Garrido, finished 12-under for the tournament.

In any event, I had finally got a chance to turn the clock back and got to caddie for a person I have always been impressed by.

In true Domingo style my reward for accompanying him around Rio Real was not a cheque but instead a rare gift, a sacred photograph of the famous golf course architect Alastair McKenzie over his tee-shot on the 16th hole at Cypress Point in California.

I will not have to look back and wonder what it would have been like to caddie for a well-read gentleman, and that is one big potential regret that has been taken care of.