Full Swing Season 3 Review

Netflix could scarcely believe their luck when they decided to film a fly-on-the-wall documentary series centred on the PGA Tour. The first series of Full Swing coincided with the advent of LIV Golf and the subsequent split within the professional game. It was manna from heaven.

So what about series three of Full Swing, which has just been released?

It has to be said that 2024 was also a pretty seismic year for the sport. 

We saw Scottie Scheffler winning seven times on the PGA Tour, Xander Schauffele winning two majors, Rory McIlroy winning the Zurich Classic in partnership with close friend Shane Lowry and we witnessed the emergence as a truly global superstar of Bryson DeChambeau. 

And that was just for starters - there was also Scheffler’s arrest at the US PGA, McIlroy’s divorce announcement that soon became a reconciliation and, of course, the Northern Irishman’s heartbreaking loss to DeChambeau at the US Open. 

So what sort of a job does Full Swing do of capturing all the attendant drama? 

There have been some changes. 

Paige Spiranic, a golf influencer with a massive global following, is used as a talking head. What does she bring to the party? She looks good, and she knows it. And every time we see her she is wearing a skirt that would double as a belt. But unique insights? Erm, no. Definitely not.

I was bitterly disappointed in McIlroy storming off after losing the US Open without speaking to the media - or to DeChambeau. You may recall that when Schauffele beat DeChambeau in dramatic circumstances at the US PGA, DeChambeau made a point of waiting for his fellow American to finish and congratulating him. It was a touch of class.

McIlroy tells Full Swing that he probably did us all a favour by refusing to speak after his round. He may well still believe that but he is wrong.

We saw some dramatic film of Scheffler being arrested as he attempted to gain entry to Valhalla Golf Club at the US PGA. The policeman who arrests him claims to have no idea who he is. This is the world’s best golfer! Taking part in a major! 

I have always believed that these were the actions of an over-zealous police officer looking to make a name for himself - and the footage seems to bear that out. All the more so when all charges against Scheffler - including assault - were dismissed a couple of weeks later.

Something you may not know about Scheffler is that in the early days of his professional career he had a temper. His caddie is Ted Scott. You may or may not know that Scott was a long-time caddie for Bubba Watson, another golfer who was a hard taskmaster and would often treat Scoot poorly.

Scott reveals that when Scheffler approached him to offer him a job he said that he would only do so if the golfer could guarantee that he would change his mindset. He is now famously one of the most laid-back characters in our sport.

Sahith Theegala also opens up about an incident at the season-ending Tour Championship - another tournament won by Scheffler. Theegala called a penalty on himself after being convinced that he had touched the sand in a bunker on his backswing - the TV replays were inconclusive. It was a decision that cost Theegala $3m.

There are many who believe that golf in the Olympic Games should be reserved for the world’s best amateurs. 

Regardless of the rights and wrongs of that debate, I was genuinely surprised to see how much making the Paris Olympics meant to Wyndham Clark and Min Woo Lee.

This was how Lee summed up what it meant: "Representing Australia at the Olympics would be incredible, probably the biggest achievement of my life."

I am a big fan of Lee, a golfer who has the potential to achieve great things. And he emerges as a larger-than-life and thoroughly likeable character.

He has a huge following on social media and goes to great lengths to stress that he wants to be known for what he achieves on the golf course. His sister, Minjee Lee, also happens to be one of the world’s best female golfers. It was touching to see how much it mattered to him to make the Australian team alongside his sister. 

He attributes much of his success on the course to the mentorship of fellow Australian Jason Day, who admits that the first time he saw his young fellow Australian hit the golf ball he knew that he was witnessing a special talent. And he has subsequently advised him to work harder on his game. For his part, Lee admits that he still struggles to get the balance right. He says: "I like to have fun. Being serious is not me."

Lee secured his spot in Paris by holing a 20-foot putt on the final green at the US Open to pip Cameron Smith. When his place was confirmed he was thrilled, all the more so because he and Minjee became the first siblings ever to make it to the Olympics together.

Had Patrick Cantlay won the US Open then Wyndham Clark would have been watching the Olympics on TV - and he gave it a pretty good go. Clark said: "I have always dreamed of being an Olympian and to have done so is so exciting."

In series two of Full Swing, Clark opened up on the impact his mum’s death had on him and admitted that his attitude left a great deal to be desired. Many people related to what he had been through. And, of course, he won the 2023 US Open. But only after doing a great deal of hard work with a psychologist.

He tells Full Swing that his exposure on series two helped to change his life. Actor Mark Wahlberg was so impressed with Clark’s transformation that he now works with him on a sports clothing line.

However, it is clear that he still has some demons. He says: "I have always feared the bad things that can happen on a golf course more than looking forward to the good things."

And he is not alone. Listening to Canada’s Adam Hadwin expressing his doubts about whether he has what it takes to go out and perform at the Presidents Cup is excruciating. Mike Weir, who captained the International team, attracted much criticism for failing to choose Hadwin and fellow Canadian Nick Taylor for a match that took place on Canadian soil. Having listened to Hadwin expressing self-doubts, there is not the slightest doubt in my mind that Weir did the right thing.

You cannot possibly have a series such as this without some tears being shed. 

And there was not a dry eye in the Clements household when Full Swing finally turned its attention to Gary Woodland’s battle with a brain tumour. In the prime of his life and career, he began to suffer from debilitating headaches. Here, we follow his long and stuttering road to recovery.

Woodland is one of the most popular players among his peers and the entire golfing community has been rooting for him.

His condition meant he suffered anxiety and surgery was the only option for him. He said: "I came out of surgery and the anxiety was gone. I was playing on the PGA Tour again within four months. It has been hard - all I have ever known is playing golf. I don’t think I realised how much I loved this game until it was taken away from me. 

"I now take medication that leaves me like a zombie. But every day there are small wins. I am going to fight and I am going to do this. What has got me through this has been my family. Before I had my surgery I wrote letters to all my children to tell them what it meant to me to be their father. To my wife, I wouldn’t change anything. It has been perfect. Writing those letters was the hardest thing I have ever done."

The turning point for Woodland came at The Open, where he made the cut and had his first week without any head pain, saying that for the first time since his surgery he had energy and felt well. And weeks later he given the all-clear and told he could reduce his medication.

He summed it up thus: "I am proud of myself. There were times when it was so difficult. I couldn’t be around my kids. I am starting to see light at the end of the tunnel. It is what the fight has been for, I am starting to get my life back and that’s what it is all about."

If there is any justice in the world, Woodland will enter the winners’ circle again in 2025 - and, once again, there will not be a dry eye in this house if he does so. He is clearly a thoroughly decent man.

But all of that is as nothing when set next to the section dealing with the death of Camillo Villegas’ infant daughter. It is absolutely heartbreaking. Make sure you have some hankies ready.

The final word in Full Swing goes to US Ryder Cup captain Keegan Bradley. Speaking to the US team after their resounding victory in the Presidents Cup, Bradley said: "We are gonna go to Bethpage to kick their f****** ass." I wonder if those words will come back to haunt him?

So what’s the verdict? Is Full Swing worth watching? There are some must-watch moments but there was little or no mention of LIV, no real mention of the ongoing efforts to unify the game and little or no mention of the awful year that Tiger Woods endured. If you are as addicted to the game as I am then you will probably already have watched all episodes of Full Swing. But does it do enough to attract a new audience to our sport? Probably not.