Danny Noonan works as a caddie at the upscale Bushwood Country Club in Nebraska to earn enough money to go to college. Danny often caddies for Ty Webb, a suave and talented golfer and the son of one of Bushwood's co-founders. Danny decides to gain favor with Judge Elihu Smails, the country club's stodgy co-founder and director of the caddie scholarship program, by caddying for him. Meanwhile, Carl Spackler, a somewhat-unhinged greens-keeper, is entrusted with combating a potentially disastrous gopher infestation. He employs a variety of methods to kill the gopher (e.g. shooting, drowning) without success.
Kate Hartounian is the daughter of a wealthy and widowed real estate developer of Armenian-American and Jewish-American descent. Eager to improve her lot in life, she makes friends with Miffy Young, a snooty White Anglo-Saxon Protestant girl, who encourages her and her father to join their country club.