Spoiler alert!
Full Swing, Season 2 begins, perhaps somewhat appropriately, with Rickie Fowler and Jordan Spieth firing golf balls into a port-a-potty, where inside Adam Hadwin is taking his time.
From there, it’s an eight-episode dash through last year’s professional golf season, starting in Phoenix and culminating with the Ryder Cup in Rome.
Here are the five biggest revelations:
Rory’s complete reboot
Other than the fact that Rory McIlroy’s Spotify looks a lot like mine – Shotgun Start, Encanto Soundtrack – Episode 1 pulled back the curtain on McIlroy’s frustrating spring, which was lowlighted by a missed cut at the Masters.
“It was my best chance to win major in a long time,” McIlroy said of the Masters. “I was so far from where I thought I should’ve been.”
Making matters worse, a strong showing by several LIV Golf players gnawed at McIlroy, who added, “I was pissed at the coverage that got. Does it legitimize LIV? Probably. But it still doesn’t change the fact that it is what it is.”
While McIlroy would top-10 in each of the last three majors, his frustrations continued after a T-7 at the PGA Championship (by the way, the lack of Michael Block coverage was surprising). A camera shows McIlroy and his manager walking into the locker room as McIlroy bemoans his technique and his inability to win the biggest tournaments.
“I almost feel like I want to do a complete reboot,” McIlroy said. “It feels so far away. I feel good enough to f—ing top-10 in my head, but not good enough to win … like f—ing win majors.”
McIlroy said later of that moment: “It was a wake-up call for me to say let’s just focus on the golf for a little bit.”
Joel’s resistance
For much of Episode 3, Joel Dahmen’s caddie, Geno Bonnalie, is making every effort to set Dahmen up with a sports psychologist. Even as he continues to self-destruct on the golf course, Dahmen is resistant.
Bonnalie is filmed saying that his boss hasn’t been himself “for the last … while.”
Dahmen’s wife brings up her husband’s excess drinking and his bad attitude dragging everyone down with him.
One telling moment came at The Players when Dahmen, a new father, asks Bonnalie, “If there were five babies crying, could you pick out your kid’s crying?” Bonnalie responds, “I think so. How about you? Are you in tune?” Dahmen: “No.”
Finally, Bonnalie decides to give Dahman an ultimatum: If Dahmen doesn’t get help, he’ll need to find a new caddie.
“If he doesn’t see someone, what’s the point of me being here?” Bonnalie tells the camera.
On a private flight back from the U.S. Open, Dahmen tells Bonnalie, “This isn’t working.” Bonnalie, who already has a mental coach in mind for Dahmen, responds, “If you don’t talk to this guy…” Dahmen interrupts, “You’ll leave me?” Bonnalie answers, “Ya,” but that he doesn’t want to. He’d rather, Bonnalie says, work for Dahmen for $750,000 a year than Talor Gooch for $17 million a year.
“Why are you being so stubborn about this?” Bonnalie asks.
It’s an emotional, tough-to-watch back-and-forth as Dahmen reveals, “Being famous and shooting 76 is the worst f—ing in my life.”
Eventually, Dahmen agrees to seek help and Bonnalie breaks down. Dahmen gets up and hugs his friend and caddie.
“I don’t even know why I like you,” says Bonnalie, half crying, half giggling.
“Thanks for caring about me,” says Dahmen, also choking up.
Bonnalie: “I love the f— out of you and I can’t thank you enough.”
Dahmen: “I’m going to get rich.”
Bonnalie: “Please do.”
Tommy Boy
Episode 4 certainly hammered home the fact that Tom Kim is 21 years old. The episode begins with Kim at a video shoot trying to recite, “Make it, earn it, win it, prove it,” for the camera. He struggles to remember the order and makes countless attempts before finally getting it right. But wait, they need one more take!
He’s then shown at home in Dallas, riding around a motorized cooler modeled after a truck. He shows off his Thomas the Tank Engine diecast. But the funniest moments occur at Augusta National, where not only does Kim accidentally wander into the Champions Locker Room, he also is informed by defending champ Scottie Scheffler that he parked in a parking spot reserved only for green-jacket winners.
Keegan’s snub
Season 2 ends with back-to-back episodes focused on the Ryder Cup. Though most of the runtime reveals little about what happened in Rome that we didn’t already know, the best part is a camera being at home with Keegan Bradley and his family as Bradley awaits a call from U.S. captain Zach Johnson.
Bradley, in Episode 6, calls his 2014 Ryder Cup singles loss to Jamie Donaldson, which sealed the Euros’ victory, the lowest point of his career. He also talks about his suitcase from 2012, which he’s yet to open and still sits in his closet.
“He’ll say [the Ryder Cup] some of the best and absolute worst memories of his life,” Bradley’s wife, Jillian, said. “… I think just the thought of opening it, reliving the grief of how that ended, was just kind of too much to bear.”
Added Bradley: “I just hope someday I get to win a Ryder Cup and open that thing and have a peace of mind moment. I’m thinking about the Ryder Cup every second of every day.”
After winning the Travelers, Bradley is shown whispering to Jillian, “Do you want to go to Rome?”
However, Johnson has other plans. He calls Brooks Koepka, then Spieth, then Fowler. Then it’s Bradley’s turn.
“Hey, buddy,” Johnson tells Bradley over the phone. “Thanks for being patient with me. There’s no easy way to say this, my friend. I find it just best to go in a different direction this year. It’s nothing you did or didn’t do because you’re amazing. … I would love to take 30 guys, and I cannot.”
Bradley, sitting on the arm of his couch as his sons throw around a football, responds: “OK, Zach. I understand. Wishing you obviously good luck and hope that you guys go over there and win it.”
He then hangs up.
Hat Gate sound
Sadly, with Patrick Cantlay not agreeing to an interview with Netflix, his role in the Ryder Cup drama wasn’t expounded upon. The U.S. team shutting out cameras hurt the storyline, too. Really the only new material is an exchange on the 18th green that Saturday evening between Shane Lowry and Joe LaCava.
“Hey, Joe, get out of the way you prick!” Lowry shouts at LaCava as he’s waving his hat next to McIlroy on the green.
After the match is over, Lowry walks up to LaCava and repeats, three times, “Joe, you were on top of him when he was putting!”
LaCava tries to explain: “I wasn’t in his line … I just wanted to celebrate.”
Lowry: “You get it when you’re here. We get it when we’re there Ok, it’s just all fun and games.”
Chimes in Justin Rose: “It was actually quite funny, but then you just went a touch too long.”
LaCava: “You’re right. … It’s all good.”
Thomas Bjorn then arrives and tells his guys: “Just leave him a-f—ing-lone.”
The exchange seems relatively calm, which makes McIlroy’s reaction later in the parking lot seem even more bizarre.
There’s one moment from the aftermath where an unidentifiable (to me, at least) European player is heard saying, “They’re gonna f—ing feel it tomorrow.”
