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What's the best golf movie of all time?
It's a question that's as hard to answer as "what's your favorite course?" There's no right or wrong.
Golf movies tend to go in three directions: historic, comedic or dramatic. Sounds a bit like how golfers characterize their rounds. Some are memorable, some are laughable and some are full of drama (Did you win that match? How many balls did you lose?).
To answer the debate of the best golf movie once and for all, we turned to our friends at Rotten Tomatoes. Nothing captures a movie's popularity quite like the Tomatometer. We've looked at the Tomatometer, coupled with the Popcornmeter (originally known as the Audience Score), to come up with the top 10 best golf movies of all time.
Considering there's more than 50 "golf" movies out there, according to this website, getting ranked is no easy feat. While we wouldn't necessarily recommend skipping a round of golf to watch most of these flicks, these are the ones best enjoyed on a rainy day. Some of the numbers will definitely surprise you, as will a few famous titles that didn't make the cut.
The early reviews from the new Happy Gilmore 2 aren't enough to knock the original, or any other golf movie, out of top 10 since this story first published in 2023. We still thoroughly enjoyed the nostalgia and the celebrity cameos of the reboot. Maybe as more reviews come in, Happy Gilmore 2 could climb into our list. For now, it's still worth a watch for a few laughs.
Updating the numbers from the original golf movie rankings in 2023, we did have a fair bit of shifting, including a new No. 1!
Rent or buy any of the 10 best golf movies from Fandango at Home
The 10 best golf movies on Rotten Tomatoes
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The Long Game
Popcornmeter: 97% | Tomatometer: 82%
Based on a true story, five young Mexican-American caddies in 1957 Texas build their own golf course after being barred from playing on the courses where they worked. This movie has heart.
Rent/Buy on Fandango at HomeDisagree with the rankings of these famous golf movies? Let us know in the comments below.
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The Phantom of the Open
Popcornmeter: 87% | Tomatometer: 86%
For those golfers who missed its release in 2021, go watch The Phantom of the Open now. After watching the preview, I immediately declared it the best golf movie ever made. The high marks on Rotten Tomatoes back up the bold claim. This stranger-than-fiction true story is brought to life by a memorable performance from Mark Rylance.
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The Short Game
Popcornmeter: 84% | Tomatometer: 84%
The Short Game (2013) is a great golf documentary that follows seven junior golfers on their journey to the Junior World Golf Championships in Pinehurst, N.C. While three of the biggest names in golf - Jack Nicklaus, Annika Sorenstam and Gary Player - are involved, it's the pint-sized stars that steal the show. One eventually made it big. Alexa Pano, now 20 in 2025, skipped college, landed an endorsement from the NFL and competed on the LPGA Tour for the first time in 2023. She's made $1.1 million in her career thus far, including one win.
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Caddyshack
Popcornmeter: 87% | Tomatometer: 73%
Considered by many to be the best golf movie ever made, Caddyshack (1980) is littered with iconic lines and scenes that every golfer knows. Noonan! While the Tomatometer proves not everybody appreciates the humor and antics of Chevy Chase, Bill Murray and Rodney Dangerfield, this comedy classic will live on forever in golf lore.
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Loopers: The Caddie's Long Walk
Popcornmeter: 84% | Tomatometer: 75%
Bill Murray adds another chapter to his extraordinary golf life with this well-done documentary on the travails of golf's most lovable and misunderstood character, the caddie. Loopers (2019) will give you a new perspective on how caddies are so impactful on the game.
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Swing Away
Popcornmeter: 79% | Tomatometer: 80%
Here's where things get controversial: How could the girl from American Pie successfully portray a pro golfer to root for in Swing Away? Shannon Elizabeth (with the help of Seinfeld's John O'Hurley) somehow pulls it off in this 2017 charmer.
Rent/Buy on Fandango at HomeFour golf movies you probably like that didn't make the cut
Tin Cup" was filmed at Tubac Golf Resort near Tucson, Ariz., and Kingwood C.C. and Deerwood Club in Kingwood, Texas. Courtesy photo * Yes, we're as disappointed as you that Tin Cup (1996) just missed the cut with a low score from the Popcornmeter (65%) and Tomatometer (74%), but one great golf scene by Kevin Costner, Rene Russo and Cheech Marin does not a movie make. Rent/Buy on Fandango at Home
* Low scores (69%-PCM, 68%-TM) doomed Tommy's Honor (2016), a movie that details the tumultuous relationship between Old Tom Morris and his son, Young Tom. Rent/Buy on Fandango at Home
* Before Happy Gilmore 2, The Legend of Bagger Vance (2000) featured the most star power of any golf movie ever made thanks to Will Smith, Matt Damon and Charlize Theron, coupled with the Ocean Course at Kiawah Island as a backdrop. However, even its most ardent fans will admit that the film (65%-PCM, 43%-TM) didn't hit the target. Rent/Buy on Fandango at Home
* Dead Solid Perfect (1988) is based on a Dan Jenkins novel of the same name. Randy Quaid nails the part of a struggling golf pro trying to get himself ready for the U.S. Open, but without a Tomatometer rating (88%-PCM), it didn't make our list.
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The Caddy
Popcornmeter: 75% | Tomatometer: 83%
If you're like me, watching classics like The Caddy (1953) is hard to do. But it does afford the opportunity to see a couple of legends in their prime, as Dean Martin plays a golfer and Jerry Lewis a caddie who both land in show business after getting kicked out of professional golf.
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Pat and Mike
Popcornmeter: 68% | Tomatometer: 85%
Given its 1952 release, Pat and Mike might not be a romantic comedy recognizable to most golfers, but it's got some big-time Hollywood headliners: Spencer Tracy, who falls in love with a female athlete, Katharine Hepburn, who plays golf.
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Happy Gilmore
Popcornmeter: 85% | Tomatometer: 63%
Released in 1996, Happy Gilmore is arguably the best Adam Sandler movie (and that's saying something, at least in certain circles). It's got heart, and a few laughs, too. The infamous Bob Barker brawl brought about a rematch on Comedy Central in 2015.
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The Greatest Game Ever Played
Popcornmeter: 82% | Tomatometer: 62%
While there are a number of more famous golf movies perceived to be better, The Greatest Game Ever Played (2005) ranks among its most authentic. Shia LaBoeuf's portrayal of unlikely 1913 U.S. Open champion and first American golf superstar Francis Ouimet helps bring history to life.
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Comments (7)
The Greatest Game Ever Played is far and away number one.
Seven Days in Utopia is great.
Even Bagger Vance.
The rest noted in the article are fluff.
the greatest game ever played and 7 Days in Utopia…great movies..!!!!
Watched Happy Gilmore 2 a couple of days ago. It doesn’t even come close to making the list. Other than trying to identify all the cameos, it’s just plain silly and boring half way through.
Thanks for the excellent article. Looking forward to seeing this next “Happy Gilmore” movie, which I’m assuming will be the final one.
The notion that Rotten Tomatoes lacks credibility (as one of the respondents here seems to be asserting) is incorrect. According to MRA, a global marketing research firm, RT–along with IMDb and Metacritic–is one of the three market leaders as a movie-rating website. In April 2025, their market shares were about equal. One of the reasons both Rotten Tomatoes and Metacritic are so successful, says the report, is that their audience perceives their quality as high because of “professional critic” participation.
“The Long Game” is an ideal choice for the #1 movie, as primarily the injustices that affected golf in the 50s must not be forgotten. Benefitting from a great cast, as well, the movie’s first-rate narrative brings home its themes without heavy-handedness. The contrast of its social world to that of today’s is dramatic for many reasons, not the least of which is how the PGA has essentially moved 180 degrees from what was in those days (1934-1961) a policy of blatant exclusion: its bylaws included a “Caucasian-only” clause, prohibiting non-white participation in its tournaments and from membership itself.
“Tin Cup”? Inspired acting by Kevin Costner, but his swing is wholly unconvincing for that of a professional golfer’s. Of course, this is a product of Hollywood—we can’t be too literal.
Rotten Tomatoes? Really? No credibility. No understanding. No credibility. No nothing from this lot of critics and middle of the road movie goers. And why should there be?
Probably 50% know nothing about the game, and the other 50% know less. Why not just poll a flock of seagulls, at least seagulls know wherever humans play golf food is available.
How about the movie FOLLOW THE SUN starring Glen ford and Ann Baxter. Very inspiring.
Any list of golf movies that DOESN'T have Tin Cup in it, is immediately wrong. There's more than one from the 50's though! C'mon....