You can now go behind the scens of the 2025 professional golf season.
Netflix released season 4 of Full Swing on Friday and it is 4 episodes, nice symmetry there, that are jam-packed with all sorts of action that started with Rory McIlroy winning the Masters (for the first time, we live in quite the new world) and culminated with the Europeans dismantling the Americans during the Ryder Cup at Bethpage Black.
Everything across the PGA Tour that happened in between is chronicled and with stellar interviews to provide quality context. I’ve seen the entire season and have 5 takeaways from things that really stood out.
Keegan Bradley LOVED being the Ryder Cup Captain
It should come as no surprise that Keegan Bradley adored being the United States Ryder Cup Captain and clearly took a lot of pride in the post he held.
Netflix made sure to show the infamous bag that Keegan never opened after Medinah, but it also showed the intimate details and intricacies that are involved in being the Ryder Cup Captain. Both Keegan and his wife Jillian discussed at length how much the Ryder Cup at large has taken over their lives in the last few years.
Interestingly, Keegan noted that he did plan to play at one point. He shared though that seeing how the rest of the American squad (what became the squad) played throughout the majors and the Tour Championship helped him realize they were ready for the task.
Ben Griffin is going to have a lot of success
One of those rising stars was Ben Griffin. It was appropriate that Ben, one of the stars of the 2025 season at large, was featured here.
Grififn recounted his story of how he stepped away from professional golf, fell into debt, and received financial help that allowed him to chase his PGA Tour dreams. It was particularly interesting seeing him during the week of the U.S. Open as it was obvious that he was absorbing the experience in its full and total capacity. Gratitude seems to be a guiding light of his and his family.
My favorite Ben Griffin note was that he shared that he took a moment at Bethpage Black to sort of just be thankful for the position that he was in. He is somebody that recognizes he is living the dream and wants to cherish every step of it.
Tommy Fleetwood remains perfect
Tommy Fleetwood walked off the 2025 PGA Tour season by taking home the Tour Championship and literally none of it was not absolutely enjoyable to re-live.
I’d argue that this was the story I enjoyed the most through the documentarian’s lens. Seeing Tommy re-live his own story, after acknowledging in filming prior that he knew about the narrative encircling him, while his friends in Justin Rose and Shane Lowry championed him along the way… sports are just the best.
Fleetwood goes about things the right way and it was powerful to see his moment get some special attention.
It is wild to look back on the U.S. Open delay
Sometimes things that aren’t that long in the rearview mirror can feel… way further back.
The U.S. Open that J.J. Spaun conquered is only 10 months old, but the rain delay that added to its theatric conclusion feels way longer ago in my mind. Watching all of that chaos and how it thwarted the field at the moment in time so many months later was a bit of a shock to my system.
The whole world heard about how Spaun’s daughter fell ill the night before he won and how he had to race out to get her medicine. His story specifically was told so well what with his arrival out of nowhere. He embraced his late-bloomer story and it made for a great watch.
Team Europe is just… different
One of the more incredible and absolutely painful things to watch was the Europeans dominate the American side at Bethpage Black during the Ryder Cup.
Sunday’s American rally was chronicled and several of the Europeans noted in their confessionals that they were a little on edge about how they almost blew it, but the thing that rang through more to me was how effortless becoming a team is for them. Seeing all of their connections and how they speak about one another… there is a reason why this is so natural for them. They are just playing as who they are as people.
