A Tuesday alarm call at the ungodly hour of 5.15 a.m.. Just in time to catch the first flight to Paris and the question lingers in my muddled mind. Why? Another airport, another train, another rental car and another new destination which leads to the same old scene: another golf course.

Golf professionals can also ask themselves the same question at the same time on a Tuesday morning and, if nothing else, look to their talent for an answer. The answer is not quite so clear-cut for the bag carrier.

Of course, there is an art to caddying, ask Steve Williams or Peter Coleman, two veterans still very much at the top of their professions - it cannot only be coincidental that they have worked and continue to work for the world's best golfers.

Realising a talent may not be number one on the priority list of a caddie. There is another dimension to the global trade of looping which runs through the veins of most of us caddies and it is beyond being associated with the game of golf.

I started caddying because I wanted to travel and, not being much of a sailor, crewing on an ocean-going yacht was not a realistic way for me of circumnavigating the globe. And so, my next alternative was to consult the European Tour golf schedule and see where that could take me.

It took me all around Europe on a whirlwind trip that left me gob-smacked in awe of every new destination. I ended up back in Ireland with about the same amount of money that I left with and an enriched sense of having travelled.

Peter Coleman showed up unexpectedly a few weeks ago at the Portuguese Open without his employer of nearly 20 years, the dogged German Bernhard Langer.

After a very successful start to his American season, Coleman had every financial reason not to work if his main man did not require him.

Peter, at 60 years of age was there with the bag of a young amateur, Nick Dougherty, on his back. When I quizzed him about the change he replied, as wittily as the old bagman usually retorts in his East End accent: "I'm just putting a little bit back into the game, having taken so much out of it in the past."

To those of us who know the old Coleman, he ain't doing nothin' for nothin', least of all the good of the game. We can only assume that the offer made by the young amateurs management group was enough to lure Pete out of his easy chair.

I am sure Dougherty benefited greatly from the sage advice of the very experienced Coleman and would attribute part of his success in making the cut and his top-20 finish at the Portuguese Open to Pete.

I remember watching Steve Williams' reaction to the news that one of his colleagues Andrew Martinez had caddied for David Gossett in the US Amateur at Pebble Beach in 1999.

Martinez's regular bag, Tom Lehman, was taking a break and Andrew, with a passion for the game, got great pleasure out of guiding the young amateur to victory despite the lack of financial incentive.

Tiger's caddie Steve Williams expressed amazement that anyone would want to caddie when there was no financial carrot. A valid point, I suppose, if you consider yourself a professional - it is right that you should be compensated for your advice. Martinez said that it was one of the best experiences of his career. Williams is still scratching his head at that notion.

The fact is that caddies ply their trade for many reasons, earning a living naturally is a vital reason (one of the caddies had a theory that you could gauge the unemployment figures for Britain by the surplus or shortage of caddies that arrived in European car-parks looking for work at the start of each season).

But there is a wanderlust, a sense of adventure, an element of unrealistic optimism and, if a caddie is going to withstand the test of time, an increasing sense of professionalism amongst all of us.

Some of them I still can't figure out, they can not stand being out of their beloved England and whinge at every foreign destination about nobody speaking English properly (those in glass houses. . . .), the "chips are crap" and the Irish pub isn't very conveniently located.

I had a disheartening encounter with one colleague from the Liverpool area after his player missed the cut in Switzerland one year. I asked him what his plans were for the weekend - was he going to stick around as it is probably the most beautiful location you could wish to be in?

He gave me a disbelieving look. He was hurrying back to the splendour of Bootle. I take it that travel isn't high on his priority list when he poses the question to himself early on a Tuesday morning. Why?