Golf Movies

There have been many golf movies made over the years. Golfers and non-golfers alike have their favourites. If a movies is well made, the fact that it is wrapped around the game of golf should not matter. In fact, all good golf movies are stand alone movies that simply use golfing as an incidental part of the movie’s overall plot.

Tin Cup is sometimes ranked as one of the best golf movies. It starred Don Johnson and Kevin Costner. The storyline involves a one-time golf pro who has seen better times. When a former friend shows up at his run-down driving range and asks him to be his caddie in an upcoming competition, his desire to be a champion once again is renewed. This easy-going comedy has its best laugh in the fact that Kevin Costner took 86 attempts in real life to make one of the neat perfect shots seen in the movie.

The Greatest Game Ever Played is based on the 1913 US Open. This is where a young Francis Ouimet, played in the movie by Shia LaBeouf, lines up against his golfing hero, Harry Vardon, 1900 US Open Champion who is played in the movie by Stephen Dillane. There are those who say that as golf movies go, this one was a bit boring. It tried too hard and didn’t succeed enough.

Bagger Vance is perhaps the most unusual of all golf movies. It stars Will Smith as a mystical kind of caddie who wakes up the dormant genius a run-down former local champion in Atlanta, played by Matt Damon. With Charlize Theron somewhere in the middle providing the glitzy female allure, this movies emphasises the mental aspect of the game. It comes across in a gentle, but wonderful way. You certainly do not have to love golf to like this, one of the best ever of all golf movies.

Not all golf movies are serious. Comedy lends itself well to some of them. Caddyshack is memorable only for its attempts at trying too hard to be funny, though some of the gophers did well, but Happy Gilmore on the other hand, just about made it. Starring Adam Sandler and featuring appearances by real golf stars, Bob Barker and Lee Trevino, Happy Gilmore is about the unlikely antics of a hockey player who discovers that his hockey skills can accidentally produce some of the greatest golf drives ever made. It has some very funny moments.

There have been golf movies that have displayed the lives and successes of famous names, such as Bobby Jones, Ben Hogan and others. Some are simply golfing stories that have fictional characters who are golfing champions, and of course, some work better than others. Given the great passion many people have for golf there will likely always be new golf movies to watch and enjoy.