Full Swing (2023– ) User Reviews

Think Golf Is Boring? Think Again! Netflix's New Series Will Change Your Mind.

[lovemichaeljordan · 9/10 · 15 February 2023]

Netflix has done a great job with their sports documentaries, and their golf series is no exception. 2022 was an excellent year to start following golf, and the episodes are packed with emotion and suspense. Golf is a sport that translates incredibly well to television, and the stakes are high - one poor shot can be catastrophic and ruin any chance of winning. In contrast, a tennis match is often long and grueling, and a single mistake may not determine the outcome. Like Formula One, the intensity of golf lies in the knowledge that one misstep can knock a player out of the running for the win.

Like Drive to Survive and Break Point, there is a lot of information we already know (rules, etc) but it's explained quickly. These shows are aimed at general sports fans, and in that aspect, they're great. Even if you're already familiar with golf and its players, it's still fascinating to gain an intimate look into the athletes' thoughts and emotions - and perhaps even more so for more casual fans who may not have seen this side of the sport before.

Fantastic series

[jackcummings-35759 · 9/10 · 17 February 2023]

Really good insight into what goes on behind the scenes and what the players go through not only on the course but off it. Although I'm not against what LIV is trying to do to potentially enhance the sport of golf, this series just shows that the PGA tour will likely always be the pinnacle and where the best players want to compete against eachother. It goes to show that the very best players such as Rory/JT have stuck around because legacy is just as important as the wealth. However for those middle ground players such as Poulter/Westwood who're also at the tail end of their careers, you can see why LIV Golf was the right decision.

Brilliant Stuff

[phil-83737 · 9/10 · 21 February 2023]

I'm a keen golfer, I'm now retired so I play golf a lot, fortunately my wife also loves the sport and plays just as much as me.

I play it, watch it and try to improve constantly, much like many of the players highlighted in this documentary.

The difference is that I don't have millions in the bank, private jets and even though I try hard I'm still average at the game!

This is a fascinating look behind the scenes at the world of professional golf, I loved it.

Seeing some of the players that we see everyday on TV up close and personal and getting a look into their lives was eye opening.

I've now got much more respect for some of the players.

Some others less so, Tony Finau and Joel Dahman what lovely guys.

Incredible series. Don't believe the negativity from naysayers.

[BrentJamesDriscoll · 10/10 · 17 February 2023]

It's really a gift to have such an inside look into these players lives. Who knew Tony Finau was such a family man? The emotion and heart of that man really touched me in a wonderful way.

Joel Dahmen is a Washington state player so we love him up here. His humility and talent go hand in hand as a welcoming gift to us all. I will be rooting for him even harder after this series.

Come for the rivalries but stay for the emotion and dedication of these players. It's a well shot and edited documentary.

I would've loved to see more LIV tour rivalry stuff. There's some juicy bits there that could be squeezed for the audience more.

Overall, I loved this season and I hope there's much more.

Deep dive into a pro golfer's life

[ricovegas · 10/10 · 24 February 2023]

It seems that some of the negative reviewers didn't quite understand what this show is about. That's their loss. As an avid gofer, I was looking forward to this show with great anticipation and, trust me, it did not disappoint. Over the course of the episodes, we are taken into the daily lives of a number of players and are afforded a behind the scene look that is unbelievably illuminating.

I'm sure many folks dream of fame and fortune in the field in which they have a genuine passion. How many little leaguers have dreamt of making it to the majors; gymnasts dreaming of Olympic gold? This series may very well make you rethink your aspirations.

Yes, their definitely is fame and incredible fortune. Mansions and private jets and world travel are a way of life for the most successful, but, their is also a never-ending quest to remain at the top' to be successful or as Brooks Keopka says 'Win or go home'. One can almost palpably feel the pressure these guys are under to perform. There are no participation trophies on the pro tour. You miss the cut, you go home without any money. A missed putt at your local muni may cost you a $2 Nassau bet with your buddies. Now imagine if this missed putt means your entire season is thrown into turmoil.

On any level, golf is a wonderful, exciting and challenging pastime., but, it can also be extremely frustrating and heartbreaking. Now imagine if this is how you make your living. Every good thing and every negative aspect of the game is magnified to an unbelievable level, but, as humans do, we all keep chasing our dreams.

Whether you are a golf fan or not or just a fan of human nature, you will not be disappointed with this series.

And I don't even like golf

[jobybyrne · 10/10 · 16 March 2024]

I enjoyed Drive to Survive and Nascar Full Speed, so I thought I'd give this a go. I've never really been into or interested in golf, although my uncle used to manage golf courses before he retired.

I have to say I loved it. There was valuable insight into the structure and psychology of the game and we got to know some of the characters. I have to say in places it was genuinely funny too and there were some fantastic quotes such as, "Is he capable of being a top 30 player? Absolutely. Does he want to be in the top 30? Probably not."

Aligned to that it is presented in Dolby Vision and Dolby Atomos so if you have the right gear it looks and sounds fantastic.

Like any Netflix sports series if you are a true enthusiast, that may ruin it for you because you know too much and the flaws will be more obvious, but if that is not you or you can look over them I think you'll really enjoy this.

Really Enjoyable

[cblissett-97206 · 9/10 · 19 February 2023]

I really enjoyed this series. Very unique and cool look behind the scenes of the vastly different lives of golf's best. There is a lot of highlights, tournament recaps and things that the average person not into golf may find less interesting but it is important for the series. There is a lot of talk about the LIV golf controversy as I would expect considering that is a very relevant topic in professional golf right now. Other reviews I see are calling it a biased pro PGA Tour propaganda piece and there may be some bias but I don't think it detracts from the series. The controversy seems to be pretty hard lined and people are either for it or against it. If LIV ends up pushing the game forward then that's excellent but the jury is still out. Very cool to see the family lives and personalities of people we generally only get to hear from in press conferences or social media.

It's just players personal life biographies and offers no real PGA inside info, fails to live up to Drive to Survive success

[Airman87 · 6/10 · 24 February 2023]

Full Swing is Netflix's first attempt at taking a cookie cutter approach to their incredibly successful Drive to Survive series and applying the formula to another sport. Unfortunately all the things that make Drive to Survive so successful for diehard F1 fans - insight into specific controversies, dynamic of teams and racers, and the governing bodies decision making - are completely absent from Full Swing.

True golf fans will have to wait until the very last episode before Full Swing attempts to wholly address the PGA's inside decision making on LIV and the future of the sport. Rather unfortunately, it's only told from Rory's perspective. Like a heavily guarded military, we get no actual insight from PGA officials, footage or audio of player and league meetings, nor official interviews from PGA organizers.

What Full Swing does is spend most of it's time loitering around the personal life stories of specific players. It's edited in a way that wants you to believe the Netflix crews were following these players before their breakout or reaffirming wins, but in reality, you can tell the interviews and personal life filming was just cleverly edited and mixed with stock Tour footage to trick you into the timeline of events.

If you want to know certain golfers better, this is a good show for that. If you're hoping it brings something new to the table that was unknown or unseen by the golf community, this show offers little in that regard.

Very Interesting!!

[12101968kaw · 10/10 · 24 February 2023]

I absolutely loved Full Swing. As some others mentioned I did not think that it was only plugging the PGA and dissing Liv Golf. They touched on what Liv Golf was about and which players left the PGA. They touch on what the PGA means, the championships, the legacy attached to the PGA. Ok, onto the show..I really learned a lot about players that sometimes don't get the attention that they deserved. I learned about Tony Fienau (sp?) and how poor he was growing up and what a great family man he is. I learned that Joel Daeham doesn't give himself any credit for how good he is. They did spotlight more known players too. It made me like Brooks Koepka even less. I would love it they did another season of Full Swing.

Could have been so much better

[grahamstreek · 6/10 · 17 March 2023]

As a keen golfer, I was really looking forward to this behind the scenes documentary series. Do t get me wrong, I did enjoy the insight into what it's like to be a pga tour pro, particularly the varying abilities and expectations. What I didn't like was the heavily biased anti LIV golf message. All the LIV players are portrayed as greedy, unprincipled, and shallow, whilst those who reject the advances of LIV are saintly, loyal, morally superior, and caring for the community. I have no horse in this race personally but I do respect individuals right to choose, and think political and cultural differences are far too complicated to be solved on the golf course or sports field. I do hope there is another series that doesn't focus on the Political arguments and LIV rivalry so much, and more on the tour and the individuals involved. I would also welcome input from more globally well known golf journalists and commentators rather than the frankly boring comments from Sean Foley and Amanda Renner.

Very enjoyable, even if you aren't really into golf

[reviewsdurham · 10/10 · 18 February 2023]

Like golf and watching golf and this was generally a very good presentation of life in the fast lane of the professional golf world and tournaments they play in.

It showcased a lot of the best names in golf and it was recently made so was able to give some insight into Tiger's comeback and player challenges, LIV tournaments and friction with PGA. So it was entertaining for sure.

The episodes also showcased a bit of the golfer's personal life (wife, kids, family relationships etc.) so that was nice to see into their worlds.

However I would say sometimes there was too much focus on their personal life, whereas I was eager to get back to the golf tournaments!

Overall I really enjoyed watching and I recommend it to you.

For beginners

[dredayfire · 7/10 · 27 February 2023]

If ur new to golf this will be a very interesting series, meeting the golfers, exploring personalities, etc. If you've followed golf for the last 2 years this will provide limited access to the PGA world that you didn't already know. LIV golf controversy is heavily portrayed. The most interesting aspect has to be mental turmoil of Bruce Koepka. Golf being a one man sport where if u don't play well you don't get paid provides an insightful view to the personalities, sometimes even the wives. But again if you follow PGA it's par for the course in golfspeak; LIV socks, PGA is king and BTW Rory is the golden child.

Disappointing For Avid Fans, Potentially Exciting for New Fans

[ThereelscoopwithKK · 4/10 · 25 February 2023]

What I hoped to be a deeper inside look into the players lives was more surface level than I had hoped. It might be a useful watch for those who are just becoming acquainted with golf and to learn all that goes into being a pro golfer, even though I think they didn't even scratch the surface on this either. I was hoping for more behind the scenes than straight up player interviews that consumed huge amounts of time. The other half was just recapping tournaments we'd already scene this last year. Golf channel already does these specials adequately already.

Overall the themes get a little repetitive with few episodes really varying from the other. The formula is basically :

1. It is incredibly hard to play on the PGA tour because of all that talent there is and it is getting harder and harder

2. There are a lot of things outside the golf course that people don't see that goes into it.

3. Looming threat of LIV golf that goes into no more detail than what someone following golf already knew.

4. Recap the chosen players big event for that year.

I was looking for more gossiping and getting the behind the scenes look. Not what I was hoping for as an avid golf fan, but maybe it will bring the average netflix viewer who hasn't been as exposed to golf into the fold.

Great series on professional golfers

[kaylin_chick · 8/10 · 21 February 2023]

Thank you, Netflix for making a golf series! With golf being an individual sport and other aspects of the game in comparison to other popular sports, there isn't quite the drama that other sports offer. With that said, this series does a great job of taking you behind the scenes to help better understand the "drama" and the pressure of the game. For example, in most other sports, you do not have to compete against all of the best players in the world every time at the same time. Imagine being a basketball player playing LeBron and Steph in every single game. I was really happy with the group of players they chose to feature and how they structured each episode to feature a storyline. They include a wide variety of personalities and styles that make each episode interesting. If you're a golfer, must watch! If you're not, I still recommend it!

Interesting if not quite as advertised

[Jaffa55 · 7/10 · 20 February 2023]

I really enjoyed this series but I get why some people were disappointed. Whilst not loads of drama, there were some really interesting episodes on some lesser known golfers I had barely heard of and now I feel like I'm going to root for them in the majors, and I think that's nice. All the players came across as really decent guys (with maybe one or two exceptions!) and seeing the home lives of some of them was a nice touch.

I'd forgotten some of the results in '22 so replaying tournament highlights wasn't a problem and not showing any golf would have been odd.

There is a view there was an anti LIV element to the series - not sure I agree. Lots of LIV defectors gave their take on it and the non-LIV did too - it seemed fairly balanced and everyone knows LIV is purely about the $ anyway so no real surprises. Ultimately the media care more about the LIV drama than the players, and that came across in the series also.

Definitely worth a watch whether you play golf or not.

Why am I watching golf highlights?

[jmessineo · 3/10 · 16 February 2023]

If I wanted to watch golf highlight packages, I can go to the golf channel. At times this series was nothing more than tournament recaps. Other parts actually showed these players at home and with family and with other players. That was the good part. But it just seemed to fall short and not give us the complete story. For example you see Rory on the golf course but not with his wife and baby girl. You see another golfer with his entire family for most of the episode. One episode didnt flow into the next one. We follow one golfer for 20-30 minutes and then another and another. I guess my expectations were we would look deep into the lives of professional golfers and what I saw were TV golf highlights narrated by Jim Nance, players at press conferences, players working out at the gym, and players in the break room eating and drinking before and after the round. Other things that were staged was the players listening to PGA Tour radio while driving to an event. Tiger Woods was briefly in this and often mentioned by the other golfers. It would have been nice to see more of him. A lot of times the caption would say 2 weeks later...well what happened in the 2 weeks we skipped. Nevermind...now the story switches to another tournament and another golfer.

Ok, I guess

[adf82 · 5/10 · 19 February 2023]

Enjoyable enough I guess, but clearly a pro-PGA (and anti-LIV) propaganda piece that ruins the unique experience of getting an inside look into the lives of some of the players.

Could've been so much better, but they let the PGA have too much influence in the story telling.

What is telling is that the LIV guys don't have any ill words for the PGA and just want to go their own direction; however, the PGA is clearly threatened and throws LIV guys under the bus at any juncture.

The players' backstories are interesting, but the "pity, poor PGA under attack by LIV" storyline falls horribly flat.

PGA Tour Ad Campaign

[qjtdevigg · 2/10 · 18 February 2023]

After watching the entire series, it's easy to say that the series is not about golf. But about golfers who chooses to stay on the PGA Tour pretending to be the good guys and those who chooses to go to LIV being portrayed as the villains. There are always two sides to every story. But only one is being told here. All the commentators and interviewees are clearly and strongly for PGA Tour and against LIV. There is no single interview with Cam Smith, The Champion Golfer of The Year. As a documentary series, it's clearly one sided and biased without attempting to sharing the full story. It will leave viewers with some obvious questions hanging. If the LIV Tour is so bad, why is it getting the following from golf fans all over the world? How can PGA Tour be able to significantly increase the purse size without major sponsorship uptakes? And would the golfers choosing to stay with PGA Tour be better off from the larger prize pools, if it wasn't for the competition from LIV? If the only evil in all this is the Saudi money, why was it okay for the PGA Tour and European Tour to have taken it and working with the Saudi's before, but not okay now? Is it because they are not just a sponsor anymore but a serious competition? If this is the attempt on the PGA Tour's part to campaign against LIV golf and it's players, it's shame on them and shame on Netflix. They have shot them selves in the foot big time.

Boring

[ufmvp · 3/10 · 18 February 2023]

Had some very high hopes for this but ended up extremely disappointing. Was expecting a lot more of the juicy behind the scenes stuff but it was pretty vanilla, just like the PGA Tour. This had to be funded by the Tour because there was a definite anti-LIV Golf Tour vibe throughout the entire series. Not worth the time. Maybe one good episode in entire series, the one about Joel Dahmen. Feeble attempt by the PGA Tour to stay relevant. Modern day people don't have the attention span to watch 6 hours of golf a day for 4 days in a row. They need to pivot and make some changes otherwise they will die and LIV will live on because they have way more money and are willing to change with the times.

Not as advertised

[nfraizer · 4/10 · 16 February 2023]

It was advertised as a behind the scenes look into last season of the PGA tour, rather, each episode tends to follow one or two golfers on their biggest moment/moments in the year. I'm a big fan of golf, and I think LIV is good for the sport. It's allowing these professionals to act like what they are, independent contractors. If you're looking for what the PGA Tour advertised this would be, you'll be disappointed. Seems like a smear campaign to dog on those who left the tour. Brooks' body breaking down and not being the threat he used to, portraying Poulter as a selfish has been when the guy just wants to make sure his family is set up and that he can have more time with them. They try to highlight the glory and legacy of being on the PGA Tour, but it's often lost while trying to trash LIV. My biggest gripe with the PGA tour was that they own the professional's likeness. They can't post anything they do on tour, and they come out with this high and mighty mentality against LIV when some of the smaller tour affiliates and sponsors have accepted Saudi money as well.

I haven't finished the series. It's tough to finish. They did have a fun insight into Joel Dahmen's journey with the US Open and that was a fun underdog story to watch. Other than that, it's been false advertising.

PGA Tour bias

[Raihaan · 2/10 · 16 February 2023]

I am a fan of golf. Professional golf has many leagues. The PGA Tour, European tour and Asian tour to name a few. There comes LIV Golf that changes things up for the betterment of the game, and this series is sanctioned by the the PGA tour to discredit LIV Golf and what it stands for. It seemed like it could be fun but was rather dull, no energy and lacked excitement. Stay away and rather watch all the Golf tours. Nothing like the F1 series which is much more fun and enjoyable. This series centers on the four majors which is cool but shows all of Jay Moynahan's press conferences discrediting LIV Golf and paints Ian Poultor as a washout golfer who had no choice but to leave to LIV. This is biased because they don't talk much about how great it was for someone like Cam Smith who's at the peak of his career. Rather avoid.

Boring even for casual golf fans

[wilsonlee-1 · 5/10 · 13 April 2023]

I couldn't get through half of the first episode. I've followed pro golf for years. I was bored by this show. Justin Thomas and Jordan Spieth's friendship off the course was not compelling. The tournament highlights were too brief to give any insight into how the players succeeded or failed that week. If you've never watched professional golf before, this show might pique your interest, but the sport has too much parity now to follow only the players from this show. You'll be more entertained and informed by the broadcast of The Masters, even with syrupy smooth Jim Nance commentating. Frankly, the sport has bigger problems than this show can purportedly solve: over-reliance on long past-his-prime Tiger Woods and failure to develop new stars who are household names.

PGA is rigged

[snowadian · 3/10 · 27 February 2023]

Great series that fell apart at the last episode trying to (once again) push their poster boy onto everyone. McIlroy is PGA made champion. You can see Scheff throwing his shots in the tour championship, that putt on 17 was laughable.

LIV is one of the greatest things to come to the sports world. The only reason being that it has torn apart the PGA and exposed it's weaknesses for all to see. Tiger is not a sports hero (he took that from himself), McIlroy is not a champion (or even likeable), and the PGA caters only to the wealthy elite.

Full Swing took the greasy road out and I'm embarrassed for it. Watch six episodes and then shut it off.