Season 3 of Netflix's 'Full Swing' is fun but less focused than ever: TV review

Is professional golf interesting?

One assumes there would not be an annual docuseries chronicling the goings-on in the top level of the competitive game if the answer were not a resounding "Yes." And yet, the third season of Netflix's golf docuseries Full Swing, streaming as of Feb. 25, struggles at times to provide a satisfying answer. While it does serve up some genuinely intense tournament look-backs and exposes some deeply emotional human stories within the sport of golf, it is ultimately held back - again - by several choices that obscure the narrative of a year in the game's pressure-packed upper echelon.

With 23 episodes now under its belt, it has become clear where Full Swing excels and where it struggles. When it hones in on recapping the drama of a single event, it opens up new levels of complexity that deepen the experience of having watched it unfold in real-time. Netflix cameras trained their gaze on Rory McIlroy and Bryson DeChambeau as the two battled to win the 2024 U.S. Open, uncovering some interesting little moments and inviting genuine insight that enriched an already thrilling event by adding new wrinkles to both DeChambeau's exaltation at winning and McIlroy's disappointment in defeat. Similarly focused looks at McIlroy and Shane Lowry's joint win at the Zurich Classic and, later, the first two days of the 2024 Presidents Cup at Royal Montreal show the value of embedding with the players involved.

While its tournament recaps are fun, Full Swing continues to be at its very best when it focuses its cameras on professional golfers who are willing to be open about their struggles, both on and off the course. When the fourth episode follows Sahith Theegala as he deals with the fallout from calling a penalty on himself at a crucial moment and when the sixth episode tracks the struggles of 2019 U.S. Open champ Gary Woodland as he tries to recover from brain surgery, viewers get a sense of the traits we value in our favorite golfers and overall role models: integrity, talent, passion, toughness, grace under pressure. When Camilo Villegas and his wife Maria open up about the death of their daughter, Mia, it helps humanize golfers we typically only see with their between-the-ropes game-faces on. These glimpses of vulnerability and sincerity help affirm our love of the game, and make the attention we pay to the sport of golf worthwhile.

Getting to these heartfelt moments can be difficult, though, as Full Swing triples down on a stylized but often confusing narrative approach. Clearly, the producers believe the eight-month grind of a PGA Tour season is simply not worth illuminating. While keen observers of pro golf in 2024 will remember it as the year Scottie Scheffler dominated more soundly from end to end than anyone since Tiger Woods, the Texan's incredible standard of play gets relative short shrift. The bizarre saga of Scheffler's arrest at the PGA Championship gets its due coverage, but it threatens to drown out the on-course exploits of the world number 1 golfer. Scheffler's main arc is finished by the end of the fourth episode, which shows his win in Atlanta at the Tour Championship and skips over most else.

The fifth episode is a particular head-scratcher, chronicling the pursuit of berths in the Olympics by American Wyndham Clark and Australian Min Woo Lee without ever showing how either fared in Paris (Clark, T14; Lee, T22). About half an hour in, a scene that casts the final round at the U.S. Open as a duel between Lee and fellow Aussie Cam Smith for the coveted spot splices in unrelated footage in order to manufacture drama. Smith's shots are from Pinehurst, but close-ups of Lee's putts - including a 15-footer that is presented as the one that seals his spot in Paris - are from a completely different event. In reality, Lee's final putt on the last green of the U.S. Open was a 22-inch tap-in, per the tournament's ShotCast tracking. In addition to the less stressed-looking greens in Lee's putts, Lee's pants are light-colored, completely different from the dark pants he wore on Sunday at Pinehurst.

One storyline that Full Swing attempts to craft is that golf is making inroads into greater popular culture. It spends quality time with various pros, plus Adam Sandler, on the set of the forthcoming Happy Gilmore 2 and it follows Lee as he creates content with Gen-Z influencer troupe Good Good Golf. An already expansive chorus of third-party narrative guides swells to include Paige Spiranac and others, all from the Millennial and younger generations. Though it is true that the game has gotten younger since the COVID pandemic, a casual observer of Full Swing would have no idea that the average age of golfers and consumers of golf media is still well north of 50.

Finally, a note on something notably absent from season 3 of Full Swing: any real mention of the ongoing schism between the PGA Tour and the Saudi-backed LIV Golf. Where the series' first season teased it and the second season included coverage of the fallout from the surprise June 6, 2023 announcement of a "framework agreement" between the rival tours, the third season pretends it does not exist. With the latest rumblings about a reunification deal being on the horizon, one presumes Full Swing's fourth season may cover it, in addition to what should be an extremely tense 2025 Ryder Cup at Bethpage Black. I just hope it also includes more authentic, human moments along the way.

Netflix
Produced by: Vox Media Studios, Box to Box Films
7 episodes; all screened for review.
Premiere: February 25, 2025.
Rotten Tomatoes | Full Swing: Season 3