Remembering Harold Ramis and ‘Caddyshack’

A wedge, a range pass, and a DVD of “Caddyshack.”

That would be my suggestion to anyone that is deciding to take up the game of golf, a short list of three things that every golfer should have with them or have seen before going out on the golf course and trying out this fickle game.

Harold Ramis, the man who directed “Caddyshack” back in 1980, passed away on Monday at the age of 69 from what the Chicago Tribune is reporting as “complications of autoimmune inflammatory vasculitis” which is a rare disease that causes swelling of the blood vessels.

Ramis was a comedy genius, starting his directing career on a golf course with a cast and crew that would go on to live in comedy lore thanks to their work in “Caddyshack.”

Why a golf movie?

Ramis caddied in his younger days, as did the writer of the movie, Brian-Doyle Murray, and some of the characters from the movie were taken from real life golfers that the two had worked with in the past.

The filming and production of the movie is still talked about, but it was Ramis who was able to control the comedic minds of Bill Murray, Rodney Dangerfield and Chevy Chase, producing one of the most famous sports movies in the history of cinema.

Few movies have lived out their days like “Caddyshack,” something we quote daily on the golf course whenever the weather blows in, whenever someone hits a slice or whenever, heaven forbid, an underground animal takes over the fairways.

In the below interview with Ramis, you’ll hear him talk about “Caddyshack” and how they were initially disappointed in the movie, with critics and newspaper alike dogging the film.

Of course, that was short-lived, with “Caddyshack” becoming the comedy of the early ’80s, and living on decades later for more and more generations to enjoy the genius of Ramis and his team.

Ramis, a sports fan known to sing the seventh inning stretch at Cubs games, will be missed, but lucky for us his movies will never go away, and we can always enjoy what this man did for golf. He made a boring, country club sport fun, eccentric and hilarious.

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