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In Caddyshack (1980), Chevy Chase's character (Ty Webb) is laid back, good at golf, and apparently extremely rich. At one point in the film, when he and Lacy are at his house, Lacy mentions that Ty has a bunch of uncashed checks for $70,000 each just laying around (and Ty even tells her to just keep one of them!).

Also, when Ty and Judge Smails make a bet, Ty has no problem betting $40,000 of his own money, so clearly he does have exorbitant amounts of cash that he can spend so freely.

Lastly, AFAIK, I don't think he works at all - just plays golf every day - so it's not like he has a high paying job which could easily explain this.

Why/how does he have so much money?

Follow-up question: Why were all of the checks for the same amount? Were they from a lawsuit/settlement of some kind, given that Lacy also mentions there being a court summons?

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  • Seems likely he inherited it. The relgular amounts sound like dividend cheques, – Paulie_D Apr 23 '18 at 9:08
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It's there in the plot synopsis..

Danny Noonan (Michael O'Keefe) is an underacheving 17-year-old guy who works as a caddy at the upscale Bushwood Country Club in Beverly Hills to earn enough money to go to college. Danny often caddies for Ty Webb (Chevy Chase), a suave and talented golfer and the son of one of Bushwood's co-founders. Danny decides to gain favor with Judge Elihu Smails (Ted Knight), the country club's stodgy co-founder and director of the caddy scholarship program, by caddying for him.

So, born into a rich family and also a talented golfer. And as Happy Gilmore knows, good golfers make money, getting paid with cheques....

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  • Yeah, I noticed this, but I still didn't think it accounted for the amount of money he has.. I mean, it is just a country club, and his father was a co-founder, so how much money can he really get from the country club? IMO, it seems like the $70,000 checks are coming from elsewhere. And then, didn't Ty mention at one point that he doesn't play for money? ..when he and Danny are practicing putting, maybe. – Charles Apr 23 '18 at 15:20
  • @Charles - I think the idea is that rich men found country clubs, so being the son of a rich founder of a country club means that one inherits a lot of money. – M. A. Golding Apr 23 '18 at 17:12
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    It may be that Ty doesn’t play for money, he might be just taking the cheques for winning that matches out of courtesy and not banking them. I’m not sure, I've not watched the movie in years. – user43022 Apr 23 '18 at 17:58
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Ty father seems to be the answer. Ty at one point mentions he owns 2 Lumber Mills. The court summons maybe because he has legality papers to fill out over the loss of his father since he was never shown in the film and spoken of in past tense. Also, I always felt when Ty told the story of the suppose roommate who went to college instead of pursuing a golfing career he was actually referring to himself. Ty loved golf over college and money but that's an idea that someone born with money would have.

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