Meet Jim "Bones" Mackay: Justin Thomas’ Caddie

 

Justin Thomas getting some assistance from his caddie Jim 'Bones' Mackay on the green at Mayakoba.
//Credit: @justinthomas34

Justin Thomas is one of the most dominant ball strikers on the PGA tour. His resume includes 14 wins on the PGA Tour, one of which was a major with his victory at the PGA Championship in the 2016-2017 season. Justin comes from a golf family where his dad is a PGA professional, who played a major role in developing his game. Justin’s fiery attitude, competitive spirit, and raw talent makes him very likable and fun to watch. You can always count on JT to be in the mix making moves late on the weekend. Much of his success comes as a result of extremely hard work, dedication and that raw talent we touched on but there’s always someone beside him to help him make the best decision in the most critical of moments. Let’s take some time to get to know Justin Thomas’ caddie.

Who is Justin Thomas’ caddie?

Justin Thomas’ caddie is Jim ‘Bones’ Mackay. Bones, as he’s very well known by, is a veteran caddie on the PGA tour. He’s most famously known for being Phil Mickelson’s caddie for over 25 years. Together, Bones and Phil managed to put together an impressive 41 wins on the PGA tour. This includes winning during the Tiger Woods era where wins were few and far between. Those wins also include 5 Majors which speaks to the experience Bones has caddying in high pressure situations. After caddying for Phil Mickelson, Bones became a commentator for the golf channel where he offered excellent analysis of golfers, their swings, and the decisions they made with their caddies for four years. These days, Jim ‘Bones’ Mackay can be seen walking the fairways as Justin Thomas’ caddie.

When did Jim ‘Bones’ Mackay start caddying for Justin Thomas?

In September of 2021, Jim Bones Mackay announced that he’d once again step inside the ropes with one of the most promising young talents on the PGA tour, Justin Thomas. This would mean that JT and Bones have been working together exclusively for about 5 months now. Prior to making the full-time commitment, Bones had caddied for Justin Thomas before, whenever his previous caddie, Jimmy Johnson, was injured. One notable moment was when Thomas won the WGC St. Jude Invitational by 3 strokes with Bones on his bag.

How much does Jim 'Bones' Mackay, Justin Thomas’ caddie, make a year?

As we are fully aware here, a caddie’s pay is based solely on the player’s performance. Because the pay is performance based, we can expect annual pay to fluctuate quite a bit. And, since this is a new partnership between JT and Bones, there isn’t much data to go off. To determine how much Jim Mackay made while caddying for Justin Thomas in the 2021-2022 season, we’ll use the formula most tour players use for paying their caddies: 5% of earnings if the player places outside the top 10, 7% if the player finishes within the top 10, and 10% if the player finishes in 1st place. Based on this information, we estimate that Bones could have made close to $489,127 while caddying for Thomas in the 2021-2022 season.

Here's the breakdown of how much money 'Bones' made in 2022 caddying for Justin Thomas

Tournament	Finish	Justin Thomas' Earnings	% of Earnings	Jim Mackay’s Earnings
THE CJ CUP @ SUMMIT	T18	$116,331	5%	$5,817
World Wide Technology Championship at Mayakoba	3	$496,800	7%	$34,776
Hero World Challenge *	T5	$127,500	7%	$8,925
Sentry Tournament of Champions	T5	$286,000	7%	$20,020
Farmers Insurance Open	T20	$95,508	5%	$4,775
WM Phoenix Open	T8	$248,050	7%	$17,364
The Genesis Invitational	6	$435,000	7%	$30,450
THE PLAYERS Championship	T33	$100,111	5%	$5,006
Valspar Championship	T3	$460,300	7%	$32,221
World Golf Championships-Dell Technologies Match Play	T35	$58,239	5%	$2,912
Masters Tournament	T8	$450,000	7%	$31,500
RBC Heritage	T35	$35,851	5%	$1,793
AT&T Byron Nelson	T5	$336,700	7%	$23,569
PGA Championship	1	$2,700,000	10%	$270,000
Grand Total	13	$5,946,390	7%	$489,127