Full Swing

It's really a gift to have such an inside look into these players lives. Who knew Tony Finau was such a family man? The emotion and heart of that man really touched me in a wonderful way.

Joel Dahmen is a Washington state player so we love him up here. His humility and talent go hand in hand as a welcoming gift to us all. I will be rooting for him even harder after this series.

Come for the rivalries but stay for the emotion and dedication of these players. It's a well shot and edited documentary.

I would've loved to see more LIV tour rivalry stuff. There's some juicy bits there that could be squeezed for the audience more.

Overall, I loved this season and I hope there's much more.

If ur new to golf this will be a very interesting series, meeting the golfers, exploring personalities, etc. If you've followed golf for the last 2 years this will provide limited access to the PGA world that you didn't already know. LIV golf controversy is heavily portrayed. The most interesting aspect has to be mental turmoil of Bruce Koepka. Golf being a one man sport where if u don't play well you don't get paid provides an insightful view to the personalities, sometimes even the wives. But again if you follow PGA it's par for the course in golfspeak; LIV socks, PGA is king and BTW Rory is the golden child.

Full Swing is Netflix's first attempt at taking a cookie cutter approach to their incredibly successful Drive to Survive series and applying the formula to another sport. Unfortunately all the things that make Drive to Survive so successful for diehard F1 fans - insight into specific controversies, dynamic of teams and racers, and the governing bodies decision making - are completely absent from Full Swing.

True golf fans will have to wait until the very last episode before Full Swing attempts to wholly address the PGA's inside decision making on LIV and the future of the sport. Rather unfortunately, it's only told from Rory's perspective. Like a heavily guarded military, we get no actual insight from PGA officials, footage or audio of player and league meetings, nor official interviews from PGA organizers.

What Full Swing does is spend most of it's time loitering around the personal life stories of specific players. It's edited in a way that wants you to believe the Netflix crews were following these players before their breakout or reaffirming wins, but in reality, you can tell the interviews and personal life filming was just cleverly edited and mixed with stock Tour footage to trick you into the timeline of events.

If you want to know certain golfers better, this is a good show for that. If you're hoping it brings something new to the table that was unknown or unseen by the golf community, this show offers little in that regard.

(Reviewed after Season 3).

A behind-the-scenes look at the world of professional golf. From superstars like Rory McIlroy to journeymen like Joel Dahmen and many in between we get to experience the highs and lows of the sport and what goes into being a professional golfer.

A great, though not consistently so, look at the world of professional golf. We don't just see the lives of the superstars but also the everyday, just-getting-by golfers and players of various levels in between. For me it was the struggles of the less-good golfers that were most interesting though I did also like to see what made the megastars so good and how they approach the game.

It's not consistently engaging though: some episodes focus too much on the golfers' families and tend to feel quite padded. The best episodes focus on the golf.

This mix between golf and the golfer's private lives is the main determinant of the quality of the seasons. Season 1 starts more family-focused but ends very strongly. Season 2 continues where S1 left off. Season 3, while covering the main golfing events of 2024 and still being quite interesting, does feel a bit padded towards the end.

Season ratings: S1 8/10, S2 8, S3 7.5.

Netflix has done a great job with their sports documentaries, and their golf series is no exception. 2022 was an excellent year to start following golf, and the episodes are packed with emotion and suspense. Golf is a sport that translates incredibly well to television, and the stakes are high - one poor shot can be catastrophic and ruin any chance of winning. In contrast, a tennis match is often long and grueling, and a single mistake may not determine the outcome. Like Formula One, the intensity of golf lies in the knowledge that one misstep can knock a player out of the running for the win.

Like Drive to Survive and Break Point, there is a lot of information we already know (rules, etc) but it's explained quickly. These shows are aimed at general sports fans, and in that aspect, they're great. Even if you're already familiar with golf and its players, it's still fascinating to gain an intimate look into the athletes' thoughts and emotions - and perhaps even more so for more casual fans who may not have seen this side of the sport before.