Thirty-four years after the filming of Caddyshack, the AV Club went to see the country club where it was shot. Although the story was set in the midwest, the location was the Rolling Hills Golf Course near Ft. Lauderdale, Florida. Its now named Grande Oaks Golf Club, and the current staff embraces its fame.
Perhaps fittingly, not much looks the same at Grande Oaks as it did when Caddyshack shot there more than three decades ago. The hotel that hosted some of the most raucous partying in Hollywood history is now a dorm for Nova Southeastern University, which owns Grande Oaks. The clubhouse was leveled when the club was renovated in 2000, and the golf course has been redesigned. The titular caddyshack is long gone, save for some of its foundation.
But Grande Oaks proudly touts its place in cinematic history: Its homepage proclaims it the “Home of Caddyshack,” it named its snack bar after the film, and it naturally has a variety of Caddyshack merchandise in its pro shop. “You hear a quote about every 20 minutes here,” says Joseph Semmler, the club’s membership director. He does it without even realizing he’s doing it. When we were chatting, a plane flew overhead—Grande Oaks lies in the flight path of Ft. Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport, which caused headaches for the production—so we had to pause and wait for it to pass. “No big deal,” Semmler said.
Kyle Ryan talked to Cindy Morgan, who played Lacey Underall in the movie, about the filming. She said the press reports of the partying that went on during the movie were no exaggeration -in fact they were understated. WARNING: article contains auto-start video. Link -via mental_floss