Feeding Your Golf Addiction in Winter, Pt. 7 – Watch a golf movie

This is the seventh in a series on things you can do to feed your golf habit during the off-season:

Watch a golf movie

If you can’t get out and play, watching a golf movie can fuel your golf addiction. Here’s a list of The GolfBlogger’s favorites. It’s quite subjective of course and my preference generally goes to biopixes and films that have a hint of real golf. Bagger Vance, for example, is a fantasy, but in his search for the ‘authentic swing’ he manages to hit something that every golfer knows.

The best game ever played

on Amazon

A faithful adaptation of the book that plays well on the big screen. No wonder, because the author, Mark Frost, once wrote the TV series Hill Street Blues. The casting is perfect and the story compelling. It’s the original sports story of David and Goliath. However, there are many subtle bits in this film that people who haven’t read the book will miss.

For example, the book discusses in detail the class conflict between professionals and amateurs. If you haven’t read the book, you’re missing the point that the professionals are always referred to by their first names – Harry Vardon – while the amateurs are referred to by an honorific – Mr. Ouimet.

Pewter cup

on Amazon

This Kevin Costner movie is like Bull Durham for golf. Costner plays a washed-up driving range professional who decides to play the US Open to win a woman’s heart. He is most famous for the scene in which he plunges ball after ball into a pond on the final hole of the Open.

“Going Tin Cup” has become a golf lexicon for repeatedly hitting balls into danger, hoping against all odds that you’ll finally make the shot. Maybe the sixth try will be the charm.

Dead quiet Perfect

on Amazon

Based on the And Jenkins novelthis originally appeared on TV. It follows a struggling professional golfer, played by Randy Quaid, as he travels around on tour. Very funny, but not on streaming and not immediately available.

Music by Tangerine Dream.

Bobby Jones, Stroke of genius

on Amazon

This movie may be a bit slow for non-golfers, but anyone who enjoys golf and history should find it entertaining. Jim Caviezel does a good job of portraying the stress Jones went through while playing championship golf.

I would love to see a biopix about Alexa Stirling, Jones’ childhood friend, who won three U.S. Women’s Amateur Championships. Stirling makes an appearance in this film.

Tommy’s honor

on Amazon

I loved the book about the young Tom Morris and the movie lived up to my expectations. It’s the story of golf’s first (and youngest) superstar and his tragic life.

The film – and the book – are also an illuminating window into the lives of people at the time. Being a “golf pro” was significantly less glamorous or profitable.

The Ghost of The Open

on Amazon

The Phantom of the Open is about Maurice Flitcroft, who became infamous after competing in a British Open qualifier in 1976 and shooting a 121. Flitcroft actually had no previous golfing experience or skill, but found a loophole that allowed him to compete as a professional.

Even after he was unmasked, he continued to regularly attempt to enter the Open and other tournaments in disguise and under pseudonyms.

Ultimately, it’s unclear to me whether Flitcroft was an active con artist, or simply deluded.

There is also a Michigan connection in the film, when Flitcroft takes a trip to Grand Rapids. Blythefield Country Club in Grand Rapids had long paid tribute to the 121 score with an annual member-host tournament named after Flitcroft. My friend Terry Moore from Grand Rapids (who is played in the film by comedian Michael Capozzola) invited the real Flitcroft to play in his namesake tournament in 1988. Flitcroft made the trip with his wife Jean and played, much to the delight of Blythefield and his guests.

Caddyshack

on Amazon

Caddyshack is a comedy classic. Like most guys, I can quote large portions of the movie by heart. I laugh every time I watch it.

The advantage of a golf movie is that the Murray brothers were caddies in their youth, so I imagine the characters and sketches are at least partially based on their experiences.

I want to believe there are Judges Smails and Al Czerviks at country clubs.

The legend of Bagger Vance

on Amazon

Based on the best-selling book. At first I didn’t really like this movie, but I really liked it.

Many viewers may not know that The Legend of Bagger Vance is loosely based on the sacred Hindu text Bhagavad Gita, in which the hero Arjuna (Junah in Bagger) refuses to fight but is taught by the god Krishna, who appears as Bhagavan (Bagger Vance).

Seven days in Utopia

on Amazon

It looks a bit like Bagger Vance, but with a cowboy. Lucas Black plays a young professional who has a meltdown and is brought back to his senses by Robert Duvall. It’s marginal entertainment, but Duvall makes every film better.

Pat and Mike

on Amazon

A Spencer Tracy classic – Katharine Hepburn. Hepburn plays a champion female golfer. The movie is actually one of their man versus woman comedies.

Hepburn was a good golfer, reaching the semifinals of the Connecticut Young Women’s Golf Championship as a youth. As an adult, she played at Bel-Air Country Club.

Follow the sun

on Amazon

Follow The Sun, a 1951 biopix of Ben Hogan, is more than a little hokey. Still, it does offer a glimpse into the lives of traveling tour professionals of that time. It was created after Hogan’s car accident and unexpected return to professional golf.

Notably, several golf professionals, including Sam Snead, Cary Middlecoff and Jimmy Demaret, appear as themselves in the film.

A gentleman’s game

on Amazon

Based on the novel by Tom Coyne, A Gentleman’s Game is a coming-of-age story. Timmy Price, a good golfer himself, is forced by his father to work as a caddy at the country club they belong to. There he learns some dark secrets.

Miracle on the 17th Green

on Amazon

Robert Urich stars in this TV movie about an advertising executive who loses his job and joins the Senior Tour. He catches fire when he suddenly starts seeing the magic line on his putts. It was Christmas
movie, and was somewhat entertaining. It falls outside the top ten best golf films, but is still worth mentioning.

Bobby Jones: How I play golf

on Amazon

After his playing career was over, Bobby Jones made a series of short golf instructional films. It is instruction, but also entertaining entertainment. The format of each short is the same: Jones meets a Hollywood star struggling with his game, then offers a lesson. The stars include WC Fields, James Cagney, Edward G. Robinson, Joe Brown and many more. The format of the lessons is often quite funny and entertaining.

You can also see them on YouTube

THE WORST “WAVE” FILMS

Happy Gilmore and Happy Gilmore 2

I can’t stand Adam Sandler. I only put this on the list so I could tell the world how much I despise this movie. It’s not about golf. It’s about a violent sociopath whose on-screen behavior is completely cringe-inducing and only appealing to people who haven’t outgrown their teenage years.

There. I said it.

Happy Gilmore 2 was only marginally better because Sandler himself has matured.

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