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The story of players switching caddies on a regular basis is nothing new.

For Stephen Gallacher, though, a caddie change four weeks ago raised a few eyebrows as, after a missed cut at the Italian Open, he revealed that his son, Jack, 17, would become his caddie.

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The decision was made upon Jack finishing school, with Gallacher – who is currently 109th in the Race to Dubai – keen to start enjoying his golf again after a tough year where he has recorded just two top tens in 14 European Tour starts.

“It’s been brilliant so far,” Gallacher told bunkered.co.uk at Gullane ahead of the Aberdeen Standard Investments Scottish Open.

“I’ve been struggling a bit with my game unfortunately – the courses we’ve played have been pretty demanding – and I’ve not been firing on cylinders so it seemed to be the perfect time to make a change.

“He’d just left school, plays off one himself and, importantly, he knows my game inside out.

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“So we thought we’d give it a go and it’s been enjoyable, especially on the travelling side of things as it can get a bit lonely sometimes. To be able to go to all of these places with my son has been great.”

For Jack, turning up to support his dad at events is nothing new – but he admitted that the transformation from being outside the ropes to going inside took a bit of getting used to.

“It was weird being so close to him,” said Jack – who competed in a Scottish Golf national championship at the Scottish Boys at Montrose in April – of his first experience on his dad’s bag at the BMW International Open.

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“I’ve had to pick up a lot of things that caddies do that most people wouldn’t necessarily think about and other caddies have been very generous to me.

“It’s a learning process, though, and I’m sure I’ll pick up more with every event.”