James V. Burgess Jr.

Inducted in 2008

When the urge to hit golf balls strikes James V. Burgess, he can step out his back door and swing away. The retired attorney and former mayor of Social Circle, Georgia, has three par 3 golf holes built around a small lake on his 60-acre property.


Burgess grew up in Elon, North Carolina, and worked as a young caddie at Alamance Country Club in Burlington, North Carolina. He attributes much of his professional success to the life lessons learned on the golf course. “Caddying has had a great impact on my life,” said Burgess. “It taught me the discipline of hard work, along with the extreme patience required to enjoyably participate in this extremely difficult sport.” Throughout his professional career he was an outspoken advocate of youth caddies and carried that message to several hundred private and public courses in the state of Georgia.

For his work in promoting the important role of caddies in the game of golf, James V. Burgess Jr. was inducted into the Caddie Hall of Fame.