By Malcolm Pace

Image credit: @golfmonthly via Instagram.

On March 6, Netflix released season two of the hit documentary series Full Swing, which takes the viewer inside the lives and careers of PGA Tour golfers. Season one’s brightest stars included Justin Thomas, Jordan Speith, and Rory McIlroy, all of whom returned for appearances in season two, along with Joel Dahmen, who also appeared in season one. Again, the show highlights the golfers’ experiences throughout the roller coaster that is a PGA Tour season, including the four majors: The Masters, U.S. Open, PGA Championship, and The Open. However, season two’s signature characteristic was the inside look into the Ryder Cup Captain Zach Johnson’s selections for the team and the team’s experience in Rome, Italy for the actual event. 

Photo credit: @rorymcilroy via Instagram.

The first two episodes pick up where the final episode of season one left off, focusing on McIlroy, who took the leading role in the PGA Tour’s fight against Saudi-funded LIV Golf. The first of the two episodes, titled “The Game Has Changed Part 1,” examines the tense dynamic that the 2023 Masters Tournament created, as it was a key event in which both LIV golfers and PGA Tour golfers competed, and the episode frames it as LIV seeking to cement itself as an equal on the professional golf landscape, with solid performances from its headlining players, like Dustin Johnson, Patrick Reed, and Phil Mickelson. 

The next episode, “The Game Has Changed Part 2,” takes a dramatic turn as it focuses on the aftermath of the PGA’s announced merger with the LIV Golf Tour. Players who stuck with the PGA Tour, sacrificing a larger salary for tradition and morals, are left out to dry; especially McIlroy, who was the PGA’s poster child in the battle against LIV. The episode shows the high tensions of the players meeting right after the merger, McIlroy’s struggle to deal with this information, and his feelings of betrayal toward the PGA Tour and commissioner Jay Monahan. 

Image credit: @joohyungkim0621 via Instagram.

Episode four, “Prove It,” introduces budding star Tom Kim, a young phenom seeking to establish himself as a star on tour, and a new personality that the viewers can immediately connect with. Kim plays a role similar to the one that Dahmen in season one, gaining many more fans thanks to his appearance on the show.

The final three episodes focus on Johnson’s trials and tribulations, including his six captain’s picks for the Ryder Cup team and managing the team dynamic and morale during the competition. “Pick Six,” the sixth and final episode before the show focuses on the Ryder Cup in Rome, goes inside the relationship between Johnson and the players he must decide on who to pick, and how he must navigate the value of PGA Tour golfers versus LIV golfers. The episode also highlights Thomas navigating his worst-ever season on Tour, despite being a star who won the 2022 PGA Championship on the previous season of Full Swing. 

The season concludes in Rome, diving into the 2023 Ryder Cup with features on Europe Team Captain Luke Donald and the golfers on the US squad. The first of the two episodes from Rome mainly focuse on Donald’s captain’s picks and his daunting task of defeating the experienced and hungry USA team. It frames the European team as the underdogs against the superstar-stocked US lineup and follows McIlroy’s performance in the Ryder Cup, one of the events that means the most to him.

The show also follows hopeful Ryder Cup players, documenting the thrill of receiving the call informing them that they had made the team, or the devastation of hearing that they did not. The first of the two Rome episodes shows the theatrics and traditions of the pre-Ryder Cup festivities and builds the tension for the coming event in the final episode. 

Image credit: @rydercupusa via Instagram.

The final episode dives into the event, beginning with the first round of the Ryder Cup, where Europe stormed out of the gate to take a commanding early lead in the three-day event at Marco Simone Golf and Country Club. The 2023 Ryder Cup took a turn for the dramatic, with Max Homa’s caddy Joey Lacava, and McIlroy nearly coming to blows in the parking lot due to Lacava’s celebration on the 18th green, and Patrick Cantlay’s choice not to wear a hat for Team USA. The media-fueled rumor was that Cantlay chose not to wear his hat in protest of the players not getting paid to play in the Ryder Cup, while Cantlay explained that the hat just didn’t fit him well. 

Either way, the European crowd ran with it, jeering at him from the stands, but Cantlay responded with his play, winning a key match, leaving his caddy and a crowd of his teammates waving their hats in the air on the 18th green after his victory, an iconic moment in the dramatic event. However, Europe maintained their early lead and won the Cup, a triumphant moment for McIlroy and Donald, and a somber time for the heavily-favorited Team USA.

I asked a member of the Collegiate boys golf team, Ryan Holdych (‘24), and avid golfer Mason Quigley (‘24) about their thoughts on season two of the show. Holdych said, “The juxtaposition of Wyndham Clark and Joel Dahmen’s mental battles was fascinating, and the inside look at the 2023 Ryder Cup was very entertaining, but I thought a couple of episodes in the middle were kind of slow.” Quigley talked about how he enjoyed just seeing the real lives of Tour golfers: “it was interesting to see different characters on tour, like Tom Kim as a young guy who can still perform in the biggest moment, and Justin Thomas, who is known for being one of the most talented golfers on tour who struggled in this season, and was a super interesting person to track at this stretch in his career.”

Each of these opinions jibe with my overall takeaway, that the focus on the PGA-LIV merger and the 2023 Ryder Cup were both incredible headlines for season two. While some episodes were slow, the show highlighted some awesome stories and people that make Full Swing season two must-watch TV.