The successful golf documentary “Full Swing” will return to Netflix in 2025 for its third season. After two gripping seasons offering insights behind the scenes of professional golf, fans can once again look forward to dramatic twists and thrilling moments in the upcoming season.
What the third season of “Full Swing” might bring
Although the themes of the new season have not yet been officially confirmed, speculation is already rife about which major storylines from the 2024 season might make their way into the series. Among the potential highlights are Bryson DeChambeau’s triumphant victory over Rory McIlroy at the U.S. Open and Rickie Fowler’s remarkable comeback. Xander Schauffele, who clinched two major championships in 2024, is also expected to play a central role.
The series will likely cover stories beyond the tournaments as well—such as the much-discussed arrest of Scottie Scheffler during the PGA Championship or Nick Dunlap’s sensational victory as an amateur. Netflix’s camera crews are known for delving deeply into the private lives of golfers, so viewers can expect to see both the personal highs and lows of the sport’s biggest stars.
Looking back: The dramas of the first two seasons
Since its debut in February 2023, “Full Swing” has offered viewers exclusive glimpses into the lives of the biggest names in golf. The first season followed stars like Rory McIlroy and Brooks Koepka through a year marked by the rivalry between the PGA Tour and LIV Golf. The cameras captured the drama as well-known players such as Ian Poulter and Brooks Koepka made the controversial switch to the Saudi-backed LIV Tour, while others, like McIlroy, stood firm in defending the traditional PGA Tour.
The second season, which premiered in March 2024, focused heavily on the historic merger between the PGA Tour and the Public Investment Fund (PIF) and the uncertainties that this alliance brought with it. The 2023 Ryder Cup, held in Rome, was also documented closely as the world’s top players vied for a spot on their respective teams.
Netflix hits the mark with “Full Swing”
Since the launch of “Full Swing” in 2023, the series has not only captivated golf fans but has also boosted the PGA Tour’s viewership. According to a Nielsen Media Research analysis, interest in golf spiked significantly after the release of the first season. Notably, newcomers who had previously never followed golf broadcasts began tuning in to live tournaments after watching the series.
Tiger Woods is in high demand. Not only from fans and journalists, who will be following his every move at The Open Championship 2024, but also in official capacities. So much in demand, in fact, that he has now had to issue a clear cancellation on one point: the Ryder Cup.
Tiger Woods: ‘You only have so many hours in the day’
The decision was very difficult for me to make,’ said Woods at his press conference during The Open Championship. The PGA of America had been waiting a long time to see whether the 15-time major winner would lead the American team in New York after all. But the 48-year-old simply doesn’t have the time.
‘My time has been so loaded with the Tour and everything and what we’re trying to accomplish,’ he explained. ‘I’m on so many different subcommittees that it just takes so much time in the day, and I’m always on calls.’
‘I just didn’t feel like I could do the job properly. I couldn’t devote the time. I barely had enough time to do what I’m doing right now, and add in the TGL starts next year, as well as the Ryder Cup. You add all that together and then with our negotiations with the PIF, all that concurrently going on at exactly the same time, there’s only so many hours in the day.’
‘I just didn’t feel like I would be doing the captaincy or the players in Team USA justice if I was the captain with everything that I have to do.’
‘That way I can give back to the game in a different way’
A large part of his time is taken up by work for the tour and negotiations with the PIF. Woods never imagined that he would be so involved in the administrative side of things. ‘It’s enjoyable in the sense that I’m able to help the Tour and I’m able to help the next generation of players. Now the players that are coming up now, they have equity in the Tour, and that’s never been done in any major sport in history. It’s a way of me giving back to the game in a different way other than just playing.’ Even if he sometimes wishes he was out on the golf course rather than sitting in a three-hour sub-committee meeting.
The effort seems to be paying off, because he is also happy with the direction in which the negotiations are developing, says Woods. ‘I can tell you that we are making progress,’ he continues, even if he cannot go into details. ‘It’s evolving each and every day. There’s e-mails and chains and texts and ideas that we bounce back and forth from both sides. There’s a good interchange of ideas and thoughts of how the game could look like going forward. It’s just a matter of putting that all together legally. Obviously we have the DOJ with oversight looking into that as well and making sure that we don’t do anything improperly there, as well, but also making sure that all the players benefit from this as well as everyone who’s involved. They want to make money as well. They want to make that return.’
‘We’re now into not just charitable endeavors, we’re into a for-profit model. So we have to make returns.’
‘I will play as long as I feel I can still win the tournament’
And in addition to PIF, PGA and TGL, there is of course Tiger’s own golf game. Because Woods is not yet ready to end the practical part of his career. Only recently, Colin Montgomery called on him to hang up his golf clubs. ‘He didn’t seem to enjoy a single shot at Pinehurst and you think, ‘What the hell is he doing there?’ He’s coming to Troon and he won’t enjoy it there either,’ predicted the 31-time DP World Tour winner, who has a very special connection to Troon, in an interview with the Times of London. ‘There’s a time for all sportsmen to say goodbye, but it’s very difficult to tell Tiger it’s time to go,’ he said. ‘Obviously he still believes he can win. We are more realistic.’
Woods confirms the assumption: ‘I’ll play as long as I can play and I feel I can still win the tournament,’ but also has a very specific answer to Montgomery: ’Well, as a former champion, I’m exempt until I’m 60. Colin is not. He’s not a former champion, so he’s not exempt. So he doesn’t have the ability to make that decision. I do.’ Woods will end his career on his own terms and won’t let Colin Montgomery, a broken back or a car accident dictate the end.
Surprising personnel news: the US Ryder Cup team has strengthened its ranks for the 2025 continental competition in an unprecedented way. Ex-caddie and current ‘NBC’ commentator John Wood will be the first team manager for the home match on the Black Course at Bethpage Park just outside New York.
Ryder Cup 2024: New Manager for Team USA
Wood will assist the captains, players and management team of the PGA of America and provide “provide valuable guidance across a variety of team management areas including player selection, recruitment, motivational strategies, logistical coordination and fostering a positive team environment”, according to a statement about the newly created role. Wood himself said of his future responsibilities: “There is nothing, and I mean nothing, in my professional career, that I have been more passionate about than the Ryder Cup. I have been blessed to be a part of six Ryder Cup Teams as a caddie and two as an NBC Sports on-course reporter and I have treasured every single minute of those special, memorable experiences.”
The introduction of a team manager has fuelled new speculation that Tiger Woods could take over the captaincy as early as 2025. Until now, the superstar had tended to rule out such a commitment, citing his busy schedule; Woods, on the other hand, could take a lot of the preparatory work off his hands.
🚨📸🐅 #PHOTOS — Tiger Woods and Trevor Immelman watched their sons compete together today at the Adam Scott Junior Invitational down in South Florida. (Via @AJGAGolf) pic.twitter.com/vsgcqTgZG9
Rory McIlroy’s victory in darkness at the 2014 PGA Championship in Valhalla Golf Club, resisting the rallies of local favorites Phil Mickelson and Rickie Fowler in a rain-delayed final round, was the Northern Irishman’s last win in a major. However, it was not the last time nor the first time someone from the Old Country left an imprint in Valhalla and Kentucky.
Limestone: Kentucky’s Heritage
“We have exposed limestone throughout the golf course, and we are pretty much in the heart of limestone,” said Jimmy Kirchdorfer, General Chairman of Valhalla Golf Club. “That is the reason the early settlers decided to raise horses and have the whisky industry here. Limestone is the key to our Kentucky heritage. ”Limestone is the foundation of Valhalla and most Kentucky traditions, from bluegrass (both the plant and the music), to horses and bourbon. “It imbues the water with important minerals that are consumed by the yeast during the fermentation process. Then it filters the water and removes iron, which will interact with the components in the oak barrel and discolor the bourbon,” explained Dubliner Conor O’Driscoll, the seventh Master Distiller in Heaven Hill Distillery. “If you look at our portfolio, Henry McKenna, was an Irishman, Evan Williams was a Welshman. It was the Irish and the Scots who brought whiskey to America. Of course, the Irish invented it… or so they affirm,” said for the craic (jokingly in Irish or Scottish) O’Driscoll, the druid also behind the blending of Elijah Craig, a name associated with the invention of bourbon.
The Ryder Cup at Valhalla
Coinciding with the anniversary of the Kentucky Bourbon Trail, O’Driscoll met his wife around 25 years ago at the Kentucky Derby, another melting pot of international influences in the Bluegrass State, including some winningest riders from Mexico and Puerto Rico. “I went to the Kentucky Derby and that’s when it all kind of came together, the event was very international,” said Englishman Josh Webber, part of the groundcrew during the 2008 Ryder Cup and the 2014 PGA Championship at Valhalla Golf Club. “The Derby was a fantastic experience. I went to the horse race and never saw a horse. We were in the infield partying,” added Irishman Paul O’Donoghue.
Webber and O’Donoghue were the only Europeans under Superintendent Mark Wilson’s orders during the memorable Ryder Cup at Valhalla. “When I was mowing greens, I had the European flag wrapped around my shoulders and I wore a crown”, remembered Webber. “We always had the European flag flying and Mark went and bought 200 American flags for the rest of the team,” O’Donohue recalled.
Both then young men from the Old Country in Kentucky –now superintendents in Southern England and The Netherlands—treasure the memories of their time in Valhalla and the “massive similarities between the soil in the Islands and Kentucky,” even the whiskey, the grass, and the music. “Except for one or two places, Ireland is mainly limestone, which gives you the green”, explained O’Donohue. “The only reason we call it bluegrass in Kentucky is because when it is hot it turns blue”, added the Irish superintendent about the origin of the name of the grass and the Bluegrass genre, derived from traditional Scottish, Irish, and English music. Bluegrass songs about family, horses, bourbon, and even limestone played in the background during the time Webber and O’Donohue spent under the wing of Kentucky Golf Hall of Famer Mark Wilson in Valhalla Golf Club. “Being part of the building of Valhalla put the wind on my back and launched me downhill,” said Wilson, who started his career in the seventies along with the first class of formally educated superintendents in the country.
Epic finishes in Kentucky
“For 22 years I mowed the bent grass fairways of Valhalla with green mowers and cut the clippings. And every winter we had to extent the site and the venue,” said now-retired Wilson, privileged witness of one Ryder Cup and three PGA Championships in Valhalla. “We were fortunate to have epic and historic finishes. I remember all of them,” said Kirchdorfer. “Tiger beating Bob May in a playoff in 2000 was spectacular,” he remembers about Tiger Woods’ victory, the first time since 1953 (Ben Hogan) that a player had won three major championships in the same calendar year. “The 2008 Ryder Cup, when the US was struggling to win until the end and we had two players from Kentucky, Kenny Perry and JB Holmes, was very special. A lot of people from Kentucky would say it was the best sporting event they have ever been to,” said Kirchdorfer.
“Valhalla is fantastic. It always seems to provide a very exciting finish in these championships. I watched the 2000 PGA here when Tiger won against Bob May, and I was sitting at home watching the Ryder Cup, as well. It seems like it always provides a great finish,” said McIlroy after winning his fourth major in Valhalla at 25 years of age. A decade later, two weeks after the 150 th Kentucky Derby, and on the 25 th Anniversary of the Kentucky Bourbon Trail, Rory McIlory, from the Old Country, could break the spell and win his fifth major at the 106 th PGA Championship in Valhalla Golf Club. “I had a great time here and hopefully I am going to come back one day to Valhalla and try and win this thing again,” were some of his last words in 2014 before departing Kentucky with the Wannamaker Trophy.
The year 2023 in golf was characterized by personal stories that went beyond the competition. From the joy of the birth of Brooks Koepka’s first son to the moving success of Camilo Villegas after the tragic loss of his daughter, golf revealed its human and compassionate side this year. Let’s dive into the most emotional moments that shaped the golf year 2023.
Cheers on one side, tears on the other – The Ryder Cup 2023 in Rome
The 2023 Ryder Cup at the Marco Simone Golf and Country Club just outside Rome was not only the athletic but also the emotional highlight of the year. Hundreds of thousands of fans created a breathtaking atmosphere and cheered the European team on to a magnificent victory. Shane Lowry was infected by the atmosphere and celebrated a chip-in from Viktor Hovland on the first hole of the tournament as emotionally as the victory itself.
The incomparable atmosphere was also palpable with a putt from Justin Rose. The Englishman held his nerve during his fourball match on the first day and converted an important putt on the 18th green to level the match. This goosebump moment is one of the situations for which Rose received the Nicklaus Jacklin for his sportsmanship.
The Europeans had to wait a long time for the decisive point, despite their superiority. In the end, it was Tommy Fleetwood who put up 2 on hole 16 in his match and was thus unable to lose to Rickie Fowler. He secured the decisive half point for his team. It was the USA’s seventh defeat in a row on European soil. The often favored team has not won an away game since 1993. In the end, there was no stopping the fans and players and a night of partying began that would not end until the early hours of the morning.
As good as the victory was for the Europeans, the Ryder Cup experience was a bitter one for the Americans. With the Europeans holding a huge lead on the first day, the pressure was on the American players. When the Scandinavians Viktor Hovland and Ludvig Aberg then demolished the US stars Scottie Scheffler and Brooks Koepka in the third session on Saturday morning, the dams burst. In the highest Foursome victory in the history of the traditional continental tournament, the duel was decided after just eleven holes with a nine-stroke lead. The severe humiliation was particularly hard on superstar Scheffler, who could no longer hold back his tears afterwards and had to be comforted by his wife Meredith.
Even after the Ryder Cup, there were both happy and tragic events. Firstly, Patrick Cantlay took advantage of the trip to the eternal city and married his partner Nikki Guidish after the tournament. Just one day later, a major fire broke out on the grounds of the Marco Simone Golf and Country Club, burning down the entire hospitality tent.
?JUST IN: Marco Simone’s hospitality structure from the Ryder Cup has gone up in flames. Hoping for no injuries ?? pic.twitter.com/JXiyR3Cr3l
But let’s get back to more pleasant topics. For example, the birth of little Crew Koepka, the first baby of five-time major winner Brooks Koepka and his wife Jena Sims. The couple welcomed their son on July 27, six weeks before the actual due date. However, both mother and son were well up, so that Brooks Koepka was back on the golf course just one week after the birth.
Many different players have managed to win a tournament this year. Some won a professional event for the first time ever, others added more trophies to their collection. However, two victories are particularly memorable as they touched us deeply. At the beginning of November, Erik van Rooyen won only the second tournament in his ten-year professional career and dedicated the victory to his friend Jon Trasamar, who is suffering from cancer. “You imagine being full of euphoria and just ecstatic, but I was just numb,” the AP agency quoted van Rooyen as saying. The South African then decided not to take part in the remaining Fall Series tournaments and spent the time with his sick friend.
Just one week after van Rooyen’s victory, the Colombian Camilo Villegas celebrated a similarly emotional triumph. Villegas lost his daughter Mia in 2020 at the age of just 22 months. Little Mia suffered from a severe brain and spinal tumor. Villegas returned to the tour a month later. “Mia is not here with us physically, but she will remain in our hearts forever,” said the Colombian in an emotional interview that day.
Mia loved rainbows. ?
Players and caddies are wearing ribbons @WGCFedEx in memory of Camilo Villegas’ daughter, Mia, who passed away on Sunday after battling cancer. pic.twitter.com/jaQRr1JWKs
— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) July 30, 2020
More than three years later, Villegas won again on the PGA Tour for the first time since the death of his daughter. It was the Colombian’s fifth title on the tour. However, his last victory was nine years ago. “It’s hard to put into words right now,” he said during the interview shortly after the last putt. “What a rollercoaster ride! I love this game. This game has given me so many good things and in between it kicks your butt.” Villegas had repeatedly lost his Tour card in recent years and also only got eleven starts on the PGA Tour this season. “I’ve got my little girl up there watching,” he remembered Mia. Villegas and his wife have been parents for the second time since December 2022.
Luke Donald has been named as the European Captain for the 2025 Ryder Cup at Bethpage Black in New York.
The 45 year old Englishman returns to the role having led Europe to a 16½ – 11½ victory against the United States in the 2023 Ryder Cup at Marco Simone Golf and Country Club in Rome, Italy, earlier this year.
Luke Donald takes on second Ryder Cup Captaincy
He will become Europe’s first repeat Captain since Bernard Gallacher performed the role in three consecutive Ryder Cups, in 1991, 1993 and 1995.
Donald will be aiming to become only the second Captain to lead Europe to victories both home and away, following Tony Jacklin who achieved the double at Muirfield Village in Ohio in 1987, retaining the Ryder Cup following his team’s victory two years previously at The Belfry, in England, in 1985.
Donald said: “I’m delighted and honoured to have been given the chance to lead Team Europe in the Ryder Cup once again. Great opportunities don’t come along very often in life and I’m a great believer that when they do, you need to grab them with both hands – this is one of these moments.
“I’ve been fortunate as a player to have had many amazing times in the Ryder Cup over the years and so to add being a winning Captain to that, to form bonds with the 12 players like we did in Italy and to get the result we did, was very special indeed.
“The Ryder Cup means so much to me, so to be Captain again and have the chance to create more history by becoming only the second European Captain to win back-to-back is exciting.
Luke Donal will be European Ryder Cup Captain at Bethpage Black
“There is no question that being a Captain away from home is a tough task. But I have never shied away from challenges throughout my career and it is precisely the kind of thing that motivates me. I can’t wait to get another 12-strong team to Bethpage in 2025.”
Guy Kinnings, Executive Director – Ryder Cup, said: “Luke was a superb Captain in Rome and we are delighted that he will be returning to the role for the 2025 Ryder Cup in New York.
“He demonstrated clear, calm and meticulous leadership skills in Rome, and all those qualities will be big assets again for Luke and Team Europe as they take on the considerable challenge of trying to retain the Ryder Cup against a strong US Team backed by passionate support in New York.”
Donald featured as a player in the last European Team to win on American soil at Medinah Country Club in 2012 when he led José María Olazábal’s side out in the singles, securing the first blue point on the board in one of the most famous comebacks in the history of the biennial contest.
In total, he represented Europe in the Ryder Cup four times as a player, being part of a winning team on all four occasions, contributing 10½ points from his 15 matches. He then served as a Vice Captain in 2018, under Thomas Bjørn, and Pádraig Harrington in 2021, before becoming Captain for the first time at the 2023 contest in Rome.
Donald also has an impressive in individual playing career having been World Number One for a total of 56 weeks, while in 2011 he became the first player in history to top the money lists on the European Tour (now the DP World Tour) and the PGA TOUR in the same year.
Tommy Fleetwood once again proves to be a chipping master. In the singles matches of the 2023 Ryder Cup, the Englishman turned the match against Rickie Fowler, which had been tied until then, into a lead for Europe on hole 9. He holed out of the bunker on the par 4 for a birdie and won the hole.
Patrick Cantlay and Wyndham Clark decide the last match of the day against Rory McIlroy and Matt Fitzpatrick on the 18th hole for themselves. With strong nerves Cantlay putted the American team to victory in this match. The day was accompanied by rumors about his missing hat and possible money demands in Team USA. Cantlay now said, “the hat just doesn’t fit me, it’s as simple as that”.
Patrick Cantlay at the Ryder Cup 2023: “We use the rough crowd as fuel”
Q. How clutch was that for you?
PATRICK CANTLAY: Hopefully have a ray of light and we can build on this session and try and pull off a big victory tomorrow.
Q. What was it like playing with this guy in this atmosphere?
WYNDHAM CLARK: Well, I told him, I said, I lose my money games all the time so I hope he can go out and make birdies and beat me like a money game. Coming down the stretch, he showed why he’s the best in the world.
Q. Hat gate has stormed into Italy from the United States. First of all why aren’t you wearing a hat?
PATRICK CANTLAY: It just doesn’t fit. It’s as simple as that. I didn’t wear it at Whistling Straits because the hat just doesn’t fit, so that’s really all it is?
Q. We talked to Sam Burns a little bit earlier about the crowd roughing him up a little bit about his mullet and got on you about the hat as well. Does that feed positive energy from your way when you’re getting it from a road crowd and giving it back to them, just a little bit, how much fun are you actually having?
PATRICK CANTLAY: I was smiling every day. I told him walking to the first tee, use it as fuel and we did all day.
Robert MacIntyre and Justin Rose won their match against the veteran team of Justin Thomas and Jordan Spieth on Saturday afternoon. They were certainly considered the underdogs. But they did not let that show for a second. Rose proved that he was made for the Ryder Cup and MacIntyre shone towards the end of the match. The next point win for Team Europe at the 2023 Ryder Cup in Rome.
Saturday afternoon in the 2023 Ryder Cup for Rose and MacIntyre
You put your heart and soul trying to make this Ryder Cup, and half a point alongside this fellow yesterday and a full point today, describe your emotions?
Robert MacIntyre: It’s been brilliant. Today is everything I’ve dreamed of. I worked hard for it. Yesterday felt like I let Justin down a little bit but he stood up to the challenge and today he was brilliant again and thankfully I helped him out.
That match was tidy into the back nine. I’m sure you should have been using your experience to give him a pep talk. What were you saying?
Justin Rose: I just knew there was a huge opportunity today. I feel like we got our nose just in front there, obviously 9 and 10, we went 1 up and I just felt like when they both missed the fairway at 12, I felt like it was 20 minutes — I said to Bobby, the next 20 minutes, we have to putt our foot down and get out and get a stranglehold on this match. That’s exactly what happened. We both let them off the hook there at No. 12 which I kind of — at that point, because these two are slippery, do you know what I mean; they are very tough to beat. Bobby made that great birdie on the par 3, and the up-and-down at 15, I was barking at him all the way the last few holes, we’ve got to do this, we’ve got to do that. We absolutely did exactly what we needed to do and we were the strong pairing.
Two or three clutch moments there. Describe what goes through your mind and what through your body when you’re standing over a putt to halve a hole that’s absolutely crucial?
Robert MacIntyre: Well, there’s a lot of nerves. But you’ve got to embrace them. I’ve had it before, never in this magnitude but I just knew what to do. I was actually happy when I got to that bunker shot and it was plugged because I knew I could get an 8 on it. A lot of people would have been worried about it but I just said to Greg, you know what, it’s better than being plugged in that bunker. You’ve just got to trust what you do, and to have a guy like Justin beside to you kind of guide you is massive
Max Homa and Brian Harman secured the first full point for Team USA in their 2023 Ryder Cup match against Sepp Straka and Shane Lowry. While both Teams were on equal footing on the front nine, Harman and Homa gained the upper hand on the back nine with two birdies and an eagle in a row.
Q.Many congratulations, the first full point for Team USA. How big, how special does this moment feel?
MAX HOMA: It’s good. We needed something to go our way. I felt like we were ready this morning. We were ready to come out and play some great golf which we did. Somebody had to start a spark, so I’m just glad it was us.
Q.How fired up were you?
BRIAN HARMAN: Yeah, Ludvig has been playing so well, making so many putts, chipping in, so it was good to come out and at least put red up on the board.
Q.Describe the vibe in the U.S. camp? What was the intensity level heading out?
MAX HOMA: Great. We know how good we are. Everybody knows how good the man to my left is. We obviously are in a big hole but we have the right guys to dig ourselves out of it.
Q.Can this give the team the spark you need?
BRIAN HARMAN: Hope so. We are going to rest up and get ready for this afternoon.