If all you have seen thus far of Full Swing Season 3 on Netflix is the trailer, you will be aware of storylines involving Scottie Scheffler’s arrest at the 2024 USPGA Championship, Rory McIlroy’s on-off divorce and the latter’s eventual and dramatic capitulation to Bryson DeChambeau at last year’s US Open. A lot to watch there, you would think. Indeed, in which case you’ll probably be surprised to learn that those items are all in the same episode (the third one). Why? Perhaps because the producers couldn’t – or the protagonists wouldn’t – come up with any new angles to add to what we already knew. In the harsh but fair words of Golf Digest: “You end up feeling like you’re watching a highlight video you’ve already seen rather than a new documentary.”
Of course, you’re still going to watch it, right? And there is a lot to enjoy. Early on there is the jovially refreshing Neal Shipley, who goes on to finish low amateur at the Masters. We see Sahith Theegala calling a two-shot penalty on himself at the Tour Championship for touching the sand in a bunker with his club, an infraction the camera behind him does not see. After the tournament’s over, he figures his honesty has cost him “three mill” but he felt he had no choice – “I couldn’t have slept” if he hadn’t done that.
New players. Fresh drama. Same tee.
Full Swing returns for Season 3 on February 25. pic.twitter.com/z3UM5CO8WE
— Netflix (@netflix) February 12, 2025
We get to spend time with Min Woo Lee and his sister Minjee as they aim to become brother and sister representing Australia at the Olympic Games in Paris, which they do. We also get a sense of maybe why she’s won majors and he hasn’t – he confesses he’d get bored if he “worked my ass off hitting ball after ball like my sister”. There’s poignancy as Gary Woodland recounts how his treatment for brain cancer impacted his relationship with his children; even more so as Camilo Villegas and his wife, Maria, reflect on losing their daughter to savage illness before she was two.
And then there’s the money shot, the last scene in the last episode, this not needing a spoiler alert because it’s already very much out there – the US Ryder Cup captain, Keegan Bradley, addressing his victorious Presidents Cup colleagues and saying of the upcoming match this September that his team are “going to go to Bethpage to kick their f…ing ass”. Asked about that earlier this month, Shane Lowry said: “Oh yeah. We have all seen it.” Now you can, too.
Will Full Swing be a bit like LIV or more PGA Tour? As in, will it only make it to three rounds or go for four? Netflix announced audience figures of 53.1 million viewing hours for Season 1, dropping to 28.1 for Season 2. Its tennis equivalent programme, Break Point, shed over half its 30 million audience between the first and second seasons; a third did not get made. Meanwhile, its Formula 1 offering, Drive to Survive, has just begun a seventh series.
It may be hint of where this may be heading that Full Swing 3 only had seven episodes rather than the eight of the two previous seasons. Time will tell. Enjoy this while you can.
You can follow Robert Green on Twitter @robrtgreen and enjoy his other blog f-factors.com as well as his golf archive on robertgreen-golf.com
