“Full Swing” Offers Insider’s View of PGA Tour and Players

I’ve just completed season three of “Full Swing” on Netflix. If you are unfamiliar with “Full Swing,” that’s fair. The show is an ambitious undertaking, and has cameras follow and document the lives and daily routines of players on the PGA tour while remaining uncensored, raw, honest, revealing, and insightful. For the most part, it accomplished, and continues to accomplish, those goals. Now, in the spirit of full disclosure, I wasn’t too impressed with the first season. You see, I’m spoiled. I have had the opportunity to spend a fair amount of time with many of the players featured and, with my radio golf show, I’m immersed in their world. So, for me, there were no real insights, surprises, or revelations in that first season. So, I stepped back and later made an attempt to reassess my thoughts on the project. The creators of "Full Swing” also produce a similar series on the platform about Formula One. What I know about Formula One you could place on top of a golf tee, and if I watched that series all the revelations would be surprising and insightful to me. So, I decided to approach “Full Swing” as if I knew very little about the tour. I ended up appreciating it more. 

The producers decided, from the first episode, to drill down and focus on various players and various events. That philosophy, I believe, has served them well. Living here, one must smile as the first episode of each season always concentrates on the Masters. Yes, they’ve been granted access and, by golly, they’re going to take advantage of it. 

Without giving too much away, season three begins with the obligatory Masters episode, Scottie Scheffler’s second victory, and Ludwig Aberg’s ascendancy to golf’s upper echelon. Other episodes follow Bryson DeChambeau and Rory McIlroy at last year’s US Open at Pinehurst. 

The last two episodes of the season are poignant, focusing on Gary Woodland’s medical challenges and the comeback he stages after having a tumor removed from his brain.  

We also see and hear Camilo Villega and his wife Maria discuss the tragic loss of their first child Mia to cancer. 

The series humanizes these players in a way that sound bites and quick interviews during tournaments can’t. If you’re a fan of the PGA Tour and the players, “Full Swing” is well worth the time. Do yourself a favor and pick it up at the beginning, season one’s initial episode “Frenemies,” about the close-but-competitive relationship between Justin Thomas and Jordan Speith.