RIO DE JANEIRO – Tuesday's practice round at the Olympic Golf Course was a crash course in caddying for Ray Whitney.

"There's a lot of little nuances when you go out there: where you put the bag, when you grab the flag, how to rake the bunkers a certain way," said Whitney, a former NHLer, who will caddy for Canada's Graham DeLaet in Rio. "As a golfer you know that, yeah, you have to rake the bunker when you leave, but there are certain ways they like you to do it, certain ways they like you to exit the green, just little nuances."

Whitney is a very good golfer in his own right. He's a plus-1 handicap and has played countless rounds of golf with DeLaet. They actually met and became good friends when DeLaet joined the Whisper Rock Golf Club in Scottsdale, Arizona where Whitney was a member.

"Graham and I have had some good matches in the past and I came close a couple times to beating him straight up only to fall heavily the next day," said Whitney, who retired from hockey in 2014.

And Whitney does have caddying experience. He carried the bag for Juli Inkster at a few women's events.

"It was a little different, because we could use yardage range-finders at those ones," Whitney said with a smile. "Here, it's a lot of mathematics, a lot of adding and subtracting. I told Graham, 'I was a junior hockey player and went right to the NHL at 19 so you better be double-checking the math here a little bit.'"

Throughout Tuesday's round, which saw DeLaet and fellow Canadian David Hearn play the back nine, Whitney was getting plenty of guidance about how things will run when things start for real on Thursday. He learned quite a few lessons, but some things he needed to find out on his own.

"I learned that the golf bag is a little heavier than I thought," he said with a grin.

DeLaet is turning to his friend to replace regular caddy Julien Trudeau, who just got married and is looking to start a family and begged off the trip due to concerns about the Zika virus.

"He was looking for a Canadian, somebody who knew the game of golf and somebody he wanted to have some fun with and I fit the bill with all three of those," said Whitney.

Things certainly seemed relaxed on Tuesday as the Canadian team, including coach Derek Ingram, navigated the course. Whitney, apparently, can spin a yarn.

"He's got a lot of good stories for us from the NHL days," said Hearn with a chuckle. "Anyone who's won something like the Stanley Cup has a lot of knowledge and things he can pass on."

TSN's Bob Weeks breaks down the unforgettable experience that awaits golfers in Rio.

Despite his caddy's inexperience at this level, DeLaet believes the 44-year-old brings a lot to the table.

"He's one of the most competitive people I know. He's a Stanley Cup champion (in 2006 with the Carolina Hurricanes) and he knows all about pressure. I will lean on him a little bit more for support than advice maybe a lot of times, but he knows my game well enough and he knows when to kind of give me a little shove and say, 'Let's get going,' and when to maybe let me blow off some steam."

This has been a trying time in DeLaet's career. It was around six weeks ago that the Saskatchewan native pulled out of an event citing anxiety. More specifically he had a bad case of the yips when it came to chipping. He took more than a month off to try and correct the problem, but the issue flared up again during the RBC Canadian Open, his final Olympic tune-up where he missed the cut.

DeLaet insists the problem is now mostly under control, but an errant chip on the 18th hole during Tuesday's practice round was a sign that not all the kinks have been ironed out.

"It's getting better all the time," DeLaet said. "The nice thing about it out here is you can pretty much putt from anywhere so if I do feel any of those nerves coming in, I can just grab the putter and go so that's kind of the nice thing. But, I'm getting through it and hopefully the next time I do an interview I don't have to answer (questions about) it."

Whitney's primary job on the course, it seems, will be to keep his friend relaxed. His 1,330 games of NHL experience have taught him that so much of sports is between the ears.

"I think attitude is the biggest thing," Whitney explained. "With any athlete and I know this from personal experience, your mental attitude and how you approach things is probably the biggest reason you're going to have success or not have success. Mentally, obviously, the short game is what he's addressing right now and from what I've seen in the last two days there's been no issue there."

In some ways, the trip to Rio allows DeLaet to hit the reset button on his season. Like many professional athletes who compete in individual sports, DeLaet has become caught up in the Olympic spirit and the opportunity to be part of a team. He attended the swimming races on Monday night to cheer on his fellow Canadians. And he changed his schedule to ensure he would be at the Opening Ceremony.

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"Just seeing how much it means to these athletes who train for four years to get there," said DeLaet when asked what has stood out. "It's a little bit different for us because we play week in and week out at a professional level so to see how much it means to all these other athletes and the pride that they have, that’s what’s been the most special thing."