Growing up, Bill Murray and his five brothers (Ed, Brian, John, Joel and Andy) worked as caddies at Indian Hill Country Club in Winnetka, Ill. They gained more from the experience than crumpled cash.
Ed won a Chick Evans scholarship to Northwestern University. Brian Doyle-Murray drew on his caddying for “Caddyshack,” of which he was a writer. John had a cameo in the film, while Bill starred as the deranged groundskeeper Carl Spackler, forever injecting his goofball, anarchic spirit into a game traditionally associated with corporate strivers and conservative Rotarians. Andy, now a chef, was, like his brothers, inducted into the Caddie Hall of Fame.
Last fall, the Murray brothers, who host a yearly charity tournament in St. Augustine, Fla., near the World Golf Hall of Fame, deepened their ties with the sport by introducing a golf apparel line. Its name, William Murray Golf, carries a stodgy whiff of Judge Elihu Smails (another character from the movie), though the marketing copy says the clothes are meant to “introduce casual irreverence” to the links.
You may have seen Bill Murray wearing one of the designs at the World Series last year — a short-sleeve polo with a print featuring tiny highball glasses, some of them tipped over.
The line, sold in partnership with theChive.com, has recently released its spring collection. Polos in tropical flower patterns and baggy shorts of aqua camo hark back to the 1970s, not only in their loud patterns and colors but also in the combustible material — 92 percent polyester. Not since Jack Nicklaus ambled down the fairway in plaid Sansabelt trousers has golf wear looked this wonderfully gauche.
Joel Murray, who, in addition to being an actor (he appeared in “Mad Men”), is the chief executive for Murray Brothers Golf, said the clothes are intended to inject liveliness into the sport.
“You look at the golf world right now, it’s just not that cool,” he said. “I’ve got boys that are 26, 25, and they’re not into golf like we were growing up. They think it takes too long.”