Golf is a sport that can be extremely challenging to those that play it. It is just you, your clubs and a ball, so the possibilities to get things wrong feel endless. You can hit a brilliant shot one minute, then a terrible one the next, having felt as though your swing was identical both times.

It is a sport that is addictive thanks to that one great shot you hit, but it is also one that encourages the participants to try to find out as much information about it as they possibly can; after all, if you can see how Tiger Woods hits the ball so well, surely you’ll be able to do it too?

That’s where documentaries come in. Being able to sit down in front of the television and listen to other golfers talk through their travails with the sport, particularly the successful ones, feels quite liberating. The question then becomes, which are the best ones to watch?

The Short Game

If you want to be really good at golf, you should start playing the sport from an early age. Obviously, that advice comes too late for most of us, but watching a documentary about seven-year-old and eight-year-old golfers playing in the 2012 US Kids Golf World Championship might at least show you where you went wrong.

The documentary starts six months before the World Championships get underway, visiting the homes of the participants in the likes of Manila, Paris, Shenzhen and Johannesburg, meeting both the children and their parents as they go through the process of taking part in the tournament.

As well as following the lives of the kids as they spend the months building up to the World Championship, we also hear from numerous golfing legends, giving their own insights into the game. Annika Sörenstam, Jack Nicklaus, Chi-Chi Rodríguez and Gary Player all have things to say about the pressures of the sport that they made careers out of.

As you might imagine, many of the kids struggle to cope with their emotions as they go through the trials and tribulations of playing golf in a genuinely competitive environment, but it’s a brilliant and fascinating watch.

Full Swing

As interesting as it is to watch young kids struggling with the pressures of playing golf in a competitive way, it is nothing when compared to how the professionals cope. The success of Drive to Survive on Netflix meant that the streaming company wanted to branch out and look at other sports in a similar manner.

Although they could technically have gone with the same title for the golfing version, they instead decided to call it Full Swing. The format is pretty much the same, however, giving you a behind-the-scenes look at the way the players work on the PGA Tour.

Golfers such as Dustin Johnson, Jordan Spieth, Brooks Koepka and Rory McIlroy all have their say, amongst others, showing us the lives that they lead throughout the seasons. The first season is interesting because it was filmed just as LIV Golf was launching, meaning that we can see why players such as Ian Poulter decided to make the jump to the Saudi Arabian-backed alternative to the PGA.

Season 2, meanwhile, builds up to the Ryder Cup taking place in Rome, Italy, showing the manner in which the battle comes to an emotional end. If you want to know about the lives of professionals, this is the documentary for you.

Loopers: The Caddie’s Long Walk

Some of the most knowledgeable people in the world of golf are also the most forgotten, with the best caddies knowing not only the lay of the course but also the best approach to take it on. This documentary talks us through the history of the men and women that have carried the bags of the pros, all given some levity thanks to the narration from Bill Murray, himself a keen golfer.

The truth of the matter is that this isn’t going to be a documentary for people who don’t already have a love of the sport, but if you do then it will provide you with some genuinely fascinating insights.

The documentary doesn’t shy away from the issues that have long affected golf as a sport, including the boundaries put in place on people because of their gender, race and class.

Yet the main focus remains on the caddies, putting the history of their place in the game front and centre. Some of the best golfers in the world wouldn’t have done as well as they did if not for the people giving them advice about what club to take, what shot to hit and generally acting as a sounding board for them. Loopers: The Caddie’s Long Walk might well give you some advice you didn’t know you needed.

Seve the Movie

There is an argument to be made that Severiano Ballesteros is one of the most influential golfers ever to play the game. The son of a farm labourer, he turned professional in the sport when he was just 16, blazing a trail that showed others the way to get into the sport as long as they had the skill and the drive.

Seve the Movie is a documentary that looks to trace the incredible journey that the Spaniard went on, winning friends throughout the sport as he picked up 85 victories as well as five Majors. Those that remember seeing him play may well find this an extremely moving watch.

“Ladies and gentlemen. The greatest golfer in the world . Severiano Ballesteros! “

SEVE : THE MOVIE (2014)

Starring: Seve Ballesteros. Jose Lius Gutiérrez . Jose Navar

Director: John-Paul Davidson

My Rating: 8 out of 10 pic.twitter.com/ZbNRtK4VcM

— We Love Movies !!! 🎥 (@MoviePolls4U) September 22, 2018

For younger generations, it might well prove to be an educational experience, seeing not only Seve’s incredible ability as a golfer but also the drive needed to succeed at the top level. Whilst Seve had innate talent as a golfer, his natural ability alone wasn’t enough to see him win at the sport’s upper echelons.

Instead, it was his obsessive nature that saw him able to win the biggest trophies in the game, as well as get the best out of others in the likes of the Ryder Cup. Whether you’re only just starting out in golf or have been playing for years, this is the documentary for you.

Tiger

Speaking of documentaries that tell you about the drive and passion of one man, Tiger is another that you should have on your list. Considered by many to be the Greatest of All Time, Tiger Woods has endured both the highest of highs and the lowest of lows during his career.

This two-part documentary charts his entire life, which includes when he made a remarkable comeback in 2019 to win the Masters. It is a series that looks at some of the most important themes in life, not just golf, including redemption, dignity and the idea of greatness itself and what it does to a person.

A big part of the documentary’s appeal for many will be the fact that it contains numerous interviews as well as large chunks of footage that has never been seen before, giving you a real insight into the life of one of the game’s finest ever athletes. Tiger Woods isn’t just a special golfer with bags of talent, he’s also one of the most driven athletes in any sport.

On top of that, his life has been through some genuinely tragic moments, both of his own making as well as things outside of his control. It is a fascinating watch, whether you’re a golf lover or not.

Uneven Fairways

There are numerous documentaries out there about the struggles of people other than privileged white men to get into golf, including the excellent The Founders, about a group of trailblazing women who fought against the male-dominated sport’s governing bodies to pave the way for others.

Uneven Fairways is another excellent offering, narrated by Samuel L. Jackson and telling the story of African American golfers and their rich history with the sport. Many of the players who took to the fairways in spite of how stacked against them things were feature in this piece.

The landscape of the sport has, thankfully, changed dramatically over the past 100 years, meaning that nowadays numerous non-white golfers are part of the PGA Tour and beyond. Tiger Woods was able to become one of the game’s most successful players precisely because of the work done by the numerous Black golfers that went before him, which this documentary pays tribute to.

If you want to get a sense of how much golf has changed and, arguably, how far it still has to go, you could do a lot worse than to sit down and watch Uneven Fairways, which is one of the shortest documentaries on the list.