There is a moment in the sixth episode of the just-dropped third season of Netflix’s “Full Swing” series where Gary Woodland is checking in at a hospital to undergo an MRI to determine whether there has been any growth since doctors performed surgery to remove a lesion on his brain.
It didn’t matter that Woodland was the 2019 U.S. Open champion. He was another patient, standing at a desk, waiting to be invited back to lay in a machine that would look inside his head and, in effect, determine where his life was going.
When Woodland, in a hospital gown, slides into the MRI machine, the Netflix cameras are there.
When he comes out and he and his wife, Gabby, get the good news that everything is as it should be, the cameras get every bit of that, too.
That’s the magic of the “Full Swing” series, which debuted its seven-episode third season last night on the streaming service. It’s about the people more than it’s about the golf and with rare and sometimes raw access, it’s a compelling look at what’s inside something so familiar to golf fans.
“(Woodland) gave us amazing access and he was so willing to go there. It’s powerful,” said Chad Mumm, the series producer and the man who had the idea behind the franchise.
The new third season is more like the first season of the popular series, built more on characters than on a season-long narrative. The second season had the Ryder Cup as its climax. The third season has the Presidents Cup but it’s more about the whos than the whats.
Scottie Scheffler is there because how could he not be? This time his caddie Ted Scott is there too, sharing his story and Scottie’s.
Rory McIlroy is there again because how could he not be? But this time, he shares an episode with Shane Lowry, his mate from Northern Ireland. During the course of their victory in the Zurich Classic team event, the depth of their relationship shines through.
Lowry is especially revealing, talking about what it’s like to play against McIlroy and to be close friends with a player he struggles to beat.
The first episode focuses, in part, on Ludvig Åberg and he is charming. The same goes for Neal Shipley, the amateur who made the cut at the Masters last year and played the final round with Tiger Woods.
Ever wonder what it’s like in the Crow’s Nest atop the Augusta National clubhouse? The “Full Swing” crew is in there with Shipley, the rare access inside at Augusta a nod to the series’ tone and approach.
“We wanted to do an amateur story at the Masters. We hadn’t done one before. We focused on all of them and Neal made the cut,” Mumm said.
“He’s such a great character in his own right. Then this college kid gets paired with Tiger on Sunday at the Masters. It’s so earnest and relatable and heartfelt. Everyone has that fantasy. He’s living it.”
Justin Rose. Camilo Villegas. Min Woo Lee. Sahith Theegala. Wyndham Clark. They each own a piece of the story.
It’s moments like Lee and his girlfriend sitting outside talking about whether he wants to live in Las Vegas or Florida when Justin Thomas strolls by walking his dog. It’s a small moment with some small talk but it opens a window into what tour life is like away from the course.
There are some surprises, especially the behind the scenes segments during the filming of “Happy Gilmore 2,” complete with Adam Sandler making a cameo in the series.
Joel Dahmen shows up again but it’s about other players now.
“We made a deliberate choice to get back to the tone of Season One,” Mumm said. “In Season Two, by the time it came out, a lot of the macro drama about June 6 and LIV felt a little stale. Plus, there was no ending.
“Our stories work well with a beginning, a middle and an end. … It’s hard to make a T5 really work for an ending. Four top-10s in majors is a great season but for us it’s not quite enough.
“That’s why we like the team events. There are no T5s there. You’re going to get a big heartbreak or a celebration.”
The series does well at taking viewers places they could not otherwise go. Seeing players at home, in the gym or in the hospital rounds out what is often a one-dimensional picture.
This time, Keegan Bradley makes the team, playing his way onto the Presidents Cup squad after cameras caught his disappointment a year earlier when he learned he had been left off the Ryder Cup team.
No danger in that next year since Bradley is the Ryder Cup captain.
Three seasons in, “Full Swing” is part of the PGA Tour now. Players, caddies and wives know the Netflix crew. They understand where the lines are drawn even if they were slow to back off when Rory McIlroy’s manager gently waved them away as McIlroy walked out of the scoring area after losing the U.S. Open to Bryson DeChambeau.
The series does well at taking viewers places they could not otherwise go. Seeing players at home, in the gym or in the hospital rounds out what is often a one-dimensional picture.
It’s good enough to leave viewers wanting more. There are no official announcements yet but Mumm hinted at the future.
“I’d love to keep doing it for another 20 years,” he said.