Plot
Teenager Danny Noonan is uncertain about his future, unsure whether to attend college but worried about becoming trapped in a menial job with few prospects. He works as a caddie at the exclusive Bushwood Country Club, serving its affluent clientele. Although he usually caddies for Ty Webb, a talented golfer and the easygoing playboy son of one of the club's co-founders, Danny volunteers to caddie for the haughty Judge Elihu Smails, Bushwood's other co-founder and the director of its caddie scholarship programme. Meanwhile, mentally unstable greenskeeper Carl Spackler is tasked with killing a destructive gopher driven onto the course by construction on an adjacent property development owned by Al Czervik.
The loud-mouthed and unconventional nouveau riche Czervik visits the club as a guest, but his behaviour quickly earns Smails' ire. Following one encounter, Smails angrily throws his putter and injures an elderly guest. Danny accepts the blame in an effort to gain Smails' favour. At Bushwood's annual Fourth of July banquet, Danny and his girlfriend, Maggie, work as waitstaff. Danny becomes attracted to Smails' promiscuous niece, Lacey Underall, who is visiting for the summer, while she and Webb begin a brief affair.
Danny later wins the Caddie Day golf tournament, earning an invitation from Smails to attend the christening of his boat at the nearby Rolling Lakes Yacht Club. Czervik disrupts the ceremony with his large yacht, and inadvertently destroys Smails' yacht, earning Smails ire. Afterwards, Lacey seduces Danny, and the pair have sex. Smails returns home and catches them, angrily chasing Danny from the house. Expecting to be fired, Danny is surprised when Smails instead demands that he keep the encounter secret to avoid public scandal, in exchange for receiving the scholarship.
Unable to tolerate Czervik's presence any longer, Smails declares that he will never be granted membership. Czervik replies that he is only interested in buying the club. After exchanging insults, Czervik proposes a team golf match, pitting himself and Webb against Smails and his regular partner, Dr Beeper. Although Webb normally avoids responsibility and pressure, he agrees to participate because of his dislike of Smails. In violation of club rules, the men wager $20,000 on the match, which is soon doubled to $40,000.
During the match the following day, Danny caddies for Smails but becomes frustrated by his persistent cheating. News of the wager spreads, drawing a crowd of club members and employees. Smails and Beeper take the lead while Czervik and Webb struggle. Provoked by Smails' heckling, Czervik impulsively doubles the wager to $80,000. When his own ricocheting ball strikes him in the arm, Czervik feigns an injury in the hope of having the match declared a draw, only to learn that his team will forfeit unless it finds a substitute. Webb selects a reluctant Danny, and Smails threatens to revoke his scholarship. After Czervik promises to compensate him, Danny agrees to take Czervik's place.
At the final hole, the score is tied. Smails scores a birdie, requiring Danny to sink a difficult putt to draw level. Czervik raises the stakes by proposing double or nothing on Danny making the shot, which Smails reluctantly accepts. Danny's putt leaves the ball balanced on the edge of the hole, seemingly costing his team the match. At that moment, Carl detonates plastic explosives he has planted around the course in his latest attempt to kill the gopher. The resulting tremors cause the ball to fall into the hole, securing victory for Danny, Webb, and Czervik.
As the crowd celebrates, Czervik sends his associates after a fleeing Smails to ensure he pays his share of the wager. Meanwhile, Carl slips away after seeing the destruction caused by his explosives. Elsewhere on the course, the gopher emerges from underground largely unharmed and dances to Kenny Loggins' "I'm Alright".
