Netflix ‘Full Swing’ ultimate viewers’ guide: Analysis, recaps, highlights

"Full Swing" takes viewers behind the scenes on the PGA Tour.

Full Swing

Whether you’re a golf nut who obsesses over the PGA Tour, a casual observer with a passing interest in the pro game or not a golf fan at all, Netflix's new Tour-focused docuseries, "Full Swing," has something for all viewers. One moment the show is explaining how cut lines work, the next it's delving into Brooks Koepka's confidence crisis or Joel Dahmen's deep bond with his caddie, Geno Bonnalie.

To guide you through the series (or offer you some insight and analysis if you’ve already devoured it), our staff reviewed all eight episodes. Highlights (and lowlights), most memorable lines, stuff you might have missed — it's all here. Scroll below for a short sample of each review. For much more, click the links.

Happy watching!

By Dylan Dethier

If the point of "Full Swing," Netflix's new docuseries, is to take us places we’d never go with people we want to know, the first scene makes a lot of sense.

We begin Episode 1, entitled "Frenemies," in the backseat of a car piloted by Justin Thomas, while Jordan Spieth rides shotgun. Before long we join them on a private jet, cracking cans of beer and flipping cards, $1,000 a pop. The pros — they’re not quite like us.

First, an important note: I was interviewed for the show and if you tune in (hopefully you already have!) you’ll hear me dotted in throughout, so I’m not pretending to be an impartial party. But the GOLF.com team is breaking down these episodes, one by one, and I’m eager to start us off.

The episode — which debuted immediately after the Super Bowl — features two of the show's biggest stars and establishes that Netflix got serious access…CLICK HERE TO KEEP READING

by Alan Bastable

When Brooks Koepka was in his ass-kicking, major-winning prime, the media would chide him for his aloofness. Perception was, he was too stoic, jocky, ungiving. Well, maybe Koepka had been saving himself for Episode 2 of "Full Swing," because in "Win or Go Home" he slices open his psyche, drops it on the operating table and dissects it for all the world to see. Scottie Scheffler also stars in the show — and his aw-shucks manner and uncanny ability to make the game look easy provide a nice dichotomy to Koepka's torturedness — but this is Koepka's moment. The unpacking of his battered ego makes for must-watch TV.

The episode opens at the 2022 WM Phoenix Open — think post-Brooksie-vs.-Bryson but pre-LIV — with Koepka, the defending champion, emerging from the tunnel on the raucous 16th hole. It's Sunday and he's deep in the hunt, in search of his first win in a year. Koepka not only can taste the victory but he also needs it, just as other mortals crave friendship or sunshine or oxygen. "Winning, it's an addiction, man," Koepka says. Alas, it's not to be. He misses the green and makes a sloppy bogey, setting up Scheffler for the W and what turns out to be a majestic…CLICK HERE TO KEEP READING

by Nick Piastowski

Episode 3 of "Full Swing" — "Money or Legacy" — features just Ian Poulter, but it introduces LIV Golf, and it focuses almost exclusively on the decision Poulter faced last year, between signing on with the Saudi-backed series, or staying with golf's established brands and potentially building upon Ryder Cup successes.

Where LIV stood early last year — the rival golf league is coming, it will be fronted by Greg Norman, big money is being offered to players to join, Poulter could be one of them — starts the episode, then it digs into Poulter. He's painted as a personality. ("My name is Ian Poulter and my profession is a wannabe golfer," he says early on.) He's touted as a Ryder Cup legend. (At one point, a narrator asks him: "Do you love playing in the Ryder Cup?" — to which he responds: "Do bears s**t in the woods? Ah, dear, do I love playing in…CLICK HERE TO KEEP READING

by Zephyr Melton

Episode 4 of "Full Swing" — Imposter Syndrome — gave us a glimpse into the life of one of golf's most magnetic personalities: Joel Dahmen. And while previous episodes have featured contrasts between two stars, this one explicitly followed Dahmen — plus his parter-in-crime, caddie Geno Bonnalie.

While the stars of the show featured to this point (Justin Thomas, Jordan Spieth, Brooks Koepka, Scottie Scheffler and Ian Poulter) are all oozing with self-belief and confidence, Dahmen is quite the opposite.

"All the best players, they’re way better than I am," Dahmen says. "I’ll never be a top-10 player in the world and I’ll never win majors."

Dahmen, who's currently ranked 90th in the world, is not your typical pro golfer. Unlike the top stars on Tour, he's not galavanting the globe in a chartered jet. His home is not a mega mansion, but rather a quaint house in Scottsdale, Ariz. And he shares few aspirations of becoming a top talent in pro golf.

"Somebody's got to be the 70th-best…CLICK HERE TO KEEP READING

By Jack Hirsh

Forget "American Dreams," which is the title of Episode 5 of "Full Swing," The episode could have just as easily been called "Dreams and Memories," as the show uses the lens of the 2022 U.S. Open to examine the different career stages of American Dustin Johnson and Brit Matthew Fitzpatrick.

Fitzpatrick and Johnson couldn't be more polar opposites at the beginning of 2022. Fitzpatrick had a standout amateur career, winning the 2013 U.S. Amateur — also at the Country Club — and winning seven times in Europe after turning professional, including two DP World (European) Tour Championships. But at the beginning of 2022, the 27-year-old was still looking for his first win on the PGA Tour.

Meanwhile, Johnson entered 2022 the alpha dog of the PGA Tour. From the time of his rookie season in 2008…CLICK HERE TO KEEP READING

by Josh Berhow

Episode 6 of "Full Swing" — "Don't get bitter, get better" — focused on two players and two paths, but one, Tony Finau, was the clear leading man. The show followed Finau and his family and gave viewers a peek behind the curtain of Finau, the father, who over the past year had his entire family (wife and five kids) travel with him to the majority of his PGA Tour stops.

Up until last season, Finau, who is 33, had won just twice on Tour while finishing second eight times. He then added two more runner-up finishes early in 2022. Why hasn't someone with his talent won more? What was holding him back? And was his family's close proximity on the road helping or hindering him? The latter was a storyline Netflix tried to push.

The other pro featured was Collin Morikawa, who won two majors before turning 25. Morikawa's storyline was the same but different, because most storylines are focused on winning. Morikawa did that a lot (five times) in a three-year span on Tour. In the episode, he seemed to be enjoying the perks of a young star and millionaire (private plane to the Masters, a meeting with Adidas to go through tournament scripting) while battling the harsh reality of the sport — it's really hard to win.

by Jessica Marksbury

Episode 7 of Full Swing — "Golf is Hard" — focused on two of the PGA Tour's lesser-known players (at least, at the time): 2022 rookies Sahith Theegala and Mito Pereira, as well as young Chilean star Joaquin Niemann.

The show endeavors to give an inside look at the pressure first-year Tour cardholders are under, how their ups and downs are shared by many: spouses, parents, and extended family members, and hammering the idea that rookie life, and pro golf is general, is tough.

The episode's first major drama is driven by Theegala's near-miss at the 2022 WM Phoenix Open. He was tied for the lead on the 17th tee on Sunday, but drove it into the water. His resulting double-bogey… CLICK HERE TO KEEP READING

by Sean Zak

Rory McIlroy knew what was coming. Both on the day he said ‘F—k you, Phil’ in front of the Netflix cameras and also just last week, when we talked about his episode, the eighth and final ep of "Full Swing."

McIlroy gave Netflix producers perhaps the quote of the show during a physio session. You could hear Scottie Scheffler cracking up, his body heaving, face down on a training table. McIlroy knew the cameras were on him and said what everyone was thinking: "I hope that makes it in."Then Scheffler replied with what everyone knew: "I guarantee that makes it in."

Last week, moments after he hit a tee shot on TPC Scottsdale's stadium hole, I asked McIlroy if he had watched his episode of "Full Swing." He said he had — that was the only one he’d consumed to date — adding…CLICK HERE TO KEEP READING