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Members Choice: Which movie character has the best golf swing?

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As golfers, we all quote the classic golf movies — such as Caddyshack and Tin Cup — ad nauseam. Hang around a golf course long enough and you’ll most certainly hear someone drop a “na-na-na-na-na,” a “gunga galunga,” or a “Noonan!” We just can’t help ourselves.

But one thing that golf movies tend to struggle with is utilizing actors with believable golf swings for their roles. If you put Shooter McGavin on the range at the U.S. Open, he’d easily be exposed. Or imagine watching David Simms warm up on the range at Augusta next to Louis Oosthuizen and Adam Scott. The main characters in golf movies are often touted as the game’s best players, but the actors who play the roles often don’t have the swings to match. Not saying that it ruins the movies, but avid golfers can tell something is a bit off.

That being said, some movie characters do have great, or at least passable golf swings. In that vein, we polled our GolfWRX Members to see what movie character has the best golf swing.

Below are the top-3 movie character golf swings, as voted by GolfWRX Members, and why. Join the discussion here.

3) Danny Noonan (Caddyshack): 13.33 percent of votes

SubaruWRX: Na na na na na na na na na na…

Medic: Do you do drugs, Danny? The guy (Noonan) had a really nice looking swing. Seem to recall that I read somewhere that the actor still plays.

2) Bobby Jones (The Legend of Bagger Vance): 14 percent of votes

BCULAW: The actor that played Bobby Jones in The Legend of Bagger Vance actually looked like he could play a bit. Can’t say that about many of the “actors who golf.”

sdandrea: Bobby Jones in Bagger, hands down.

hehateme2285: Jim Caviezal took his role as Bobby Jones seriously. Took a lot of lessons.

1) Roy McAvoy (Tin Cup): 24.67 percent of votes

bladehunter: It’s Tin Cup and it ain’t even close. David Simms looks like a Tin man with rusty joints.

Discussion: Join the discussion here.

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7 Comments

7 Comments

  1. Mike W

    Feb 14, 2018 at 12:19 pm

    It’s hard to credit Costner/McAvoy’s swing as a pro swing, I just don’t see it, he looks like at best a 10 handicap, whereas the fellow who plays Jones in Bagger Vance, that swing wouldn’t immediately trigger snickers if he teed it up on the range at a tour event.

  2. Dave Sanguinetti

    Dec 27, 2017 at 1:14 pm

    Your research is baaaad- Joel Gretsch is a professional acting and looking a lot like Bobby Jones. While Costner is a very good athlete, and has done many sports themed movies, NO ONE who sees this swing would ever confuse him with a pro golfer.

  3. Brandon

    Dec 26, 2017 at 3:48 pm

    The Unfinished Symphony of Roy McAvoy

  4. HOWARD THEISMAN

    Dec 26, 2017 at 3:45 pm

    Swings from ‘The Greatest Game Ever Played’ should be included. Great movie with great swings!

  5. ken

    Dec 26, 2017 at 3:28 pm

    Costner has a good move to the ball. Looks like he plays ,
    However the Actor ( Joel Gretsch) that played the part of Bobby Jones, had about the most natural, smooth golf swing of any actor I have seen in a golf movie.
    Bruce Mc Gill, who played the part of Walter Hagen also had a very good golf swing.
    Other actors that had good swings. Jerry Orbach of Law and Order and “Dirty Dancing” fame.
    Don Johnson’s swing in Tin Cup looked pretty authentic.
    In the movie “Greatest Game Ever Played” which chronicles the shocking win of the US Open by Francis Ouimet, the actor Shia LaBeouf . That actor’s swing was in need of some serious editing during the golf scene shooting.

  6. S

    Dec 26, 2017 at 2:32 pm

    Jim cavaziel didn’t play Bobby Jones in the legend of bagger Vance. Joel Fritsch did. You’ve got yout Bobby Jones movies mixed up

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Tour Rundown: Bend, but don’t break

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I’m going to gush in this intro paragraph, to get the emo stuff done early. I’ve not pulled harder for a professional to win, than Cameron Young. I coach golf in New York state, and each spring, my best golfers head to a state championship in Poughkeepsie. I first saw Cameron there as a 9th grade student. I saw him three more times after that. I reconnecected with Coach Haas from Wake Forest, an old interview subject from my days on the Old Gold and Black, the Wake newspaper. He was there to watch Cameron. After four years at Wake Forest, Young won on the Korn Ferry Tour, made it to the big tour, almost won two majors, almost won five other events, and finally got the chalice about 25 minutes from the Wake campus. Congratulations, Cameron. You truly are a glass of the finest. #MotherSoDear

OK, let’s move on to the Tour Rundown. The major championship season closed this week in Wales, with the Women’s Open championship. The PGA Tour bounced through Greensboror, N.C., while the PGA Tour Americas hit TO (aka, Toronto) for a long-winded event. The Korn Ferry lads made a stop in Utah, one of just two events for that tour in August. The many-events, golf season is winding down, as we ease from summer toward fall in the northern hemisphere. Let’s bask in the glory of an August sunrise, and run down a quartet of events from the first weekend of the eighth month.

LET/LPGA @ Women’s Open: Miyu bends, but she doesn’t break

Royal Porthcawl was not a known commodity in the major tournament community. The Welsh links had served as host to men’s senior opens, men’s amateurs, and Curtis and Walker Cups in prior years, but never an Open championship for the women or the men. The last-kept secret in UK golf was revealed once again to the world this week, as the best female golfers took to the sandy stage.

Mao Saigo, Grace Kim, Maja Stark, and Minjee Lee hoped to add a second major title to previous wins this season, but only Lee was able to finish inside the top ten. The 2025 playing of the Women’s Open gave us a new-faces gallery from day one. The Kordas and Thitikulls were nowhere to be found, and it was the Mayashitas, Katsus, and Lim Kims that secured the Cymru spotlight. The first round lead was held at 67 by two golfers. One of them battled to the end, while the other posted 81 on day two, and missed the cut. Sitting one shot behind was Miyu Yamashita.

On day two, Yamashita posted the round of the tournament. Her 65 moved her to the front of the aisle, in just her fourth turn around a women’s Open championship. With the pre-event favorites drifting off pace, followers narrowed into two camps: those on the side of an underdog, and others hoping for a weekend charge from back in the pack. In the end, we had a bit of both.

On Saturday, Yamashita bent with 74 on Saturday, offering rays of hope to her pursuing pack. England’s Charley Hull made a run on Sunday closing within one shot before tailing off to a T2 finish with Minami Katsu. Katsu posted the other 65 of the week, on Saturday, but could not overtake her countrywoman, Yamashita. wunderkind Lottie Woad needed one round in the 60s to find her pace, but could only must close-to’s, ending on 284 and a tie with Minjee for eighth.

On Sunday, Yamashita put away the thoughts of Saturday’s struggles, with three-under 33 on the outward half. She closed in plus-one 37, but still won by two, for a first Major and LPGA title.

PGA Tour @ Wyndham: Young gathers first title near home

Cameron Young grew up along the Hudson river, above metro New York, but he also calls Winston-Salem home. He spent four years as a student and athlete at Wake Forest University, then embarked on tour. This week in Greensboro, after a bit of a break, Young opened with 63-62, and revved the engine of Is this the week once more. Runner-up finishes at the Open, the PGA, and a handful of PGA Tour events had followers wonder when the day would come.

On Saturday, Young continued his torrid pace with 65, giving him a five-shot advantage over his closest pursuer. Sunday saw the Scarborough native open with bogey, then reel off five consecutive birdies to remind folks that his time had, at last, arrived. Pars to the 16th, before two harmless bogeys coming home, made Young the 1000th winner of an official PGA Tour event (dating back to before there was a PGA Tour) throughout history. What’s next? I have a suspicion, but I’m not letting on. Mac Meissner closed with 66 to finish solo 2nd, while Mark Hubbard and Alex Noren tied for third.

Korn Ferry Tour @ Utah Championship: Are you Suri it’s Julian?

Who knows exactly when the flower will bloom? Julian Suri played a solid careet at Duke University, then paid his dues on the world’s minor tours for three years. He won twice on two tours in Europe, in 2017. Since then, the grind has continued for the journeyman from New York city. At age 34, Suri broke through in Beehive state, outlasting another grinder (Spencer Levin) and four others, by two shots.

Taylor Montgomery began the week with 62, then posted 64, then 68, and finally, 70. That final round was his undoing. He finished in that second-place tie, two back of the leader. Trace Crowe, Barend Botha, and Kensei Hirata made up the last of the almost quintet. As for Suri, his Sunday play was sublime. His nines were 32 and 31, with his only radar blip a bogey at ten. He closed in style with one final birdie, to double his winning margin. Hogan bloomed late…might Suri?

PGA Tour Americas @ Osprey Valley Open presented by Votorantim Cimentos – CBM Aggregates

Some tournament names run longer than others. This week in Toronto, at the Heathlands course at TPC Toronto, we might have seen the longest tournament title in recorded history. The OVOPBVCCBMA was a splendid affair. It saw three rounds of 62 on Thursday, but of those early risers, only Drew Goodman would stick around until the end. 64 was the low tally on day two, and two of those legionnaires managed to finish inside the top three at week’s end. Saturday brought a 63 from Patrick Newcomb, and he would follow with 64 on Sunday, to finish solo fourth.

Who, then, ended up winning the acronym of the year? It turns out that Carson Bacha had the right stuff in TeeOhhh. Bacha and Jay Card III posted 63 and 64, respectively, on day four, to tie for medalist honors at 23-under 261. Nathan Franks was one shot adrift, despite also closing with 63. If you didn’t go low on Sunday, it was about the check, not the championship.

Bacha and JC3 returned to the 18th hole twice in overtime. Card nearly chipped in from the thick stuff for birdie, while Bacha peeked and shoved a ten-feet attempt at the win. On the second go-round, Card was long with his approach, into the native grasses once more. He was unable to escape, and a routine par from the fairway was enough to earn the former Auburn golfers a first KFT title.

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Tour Photo Galleries

Photos from the 2025 Wyndham Championship

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GolfWRX is live this week from the final event of the PGA Tour’s regular season, the Wyndham Championship.

Photos are flowing into the forums from Sedgefield Country Club, where we already have a GolfWRX spirit animal Adam Schenk WITB and plenty of putters for your viewing pleasure.

Check out links to all our photos below, which we’ll continue to update as more arrive.

General Albums

WITB Albums

Pullout Albums

See what GolfWRXers are saying and join the discussion in the forums.

 

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BK’s Breakdowns: Kurt Kitayama’s Winning WITB, 3M Open

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Kurt Kitayama just won his 2nd PGA Tour event at the 3M Open. Kurt is a Bridgestone staffer but with just the ball and bag. Here are the rest of the clubs he used to secure a win at the 2025 3M Open.

Driver: Titleist GT3 (11 degrees, D1 SureFit setting)
Shaft: Graphite Design Tour AD VF 7 TX

3-wood: Titleist GT1 3Tour (14.5 degrees, A3 SureFit setting)
Shaft: Graphite Design Tour AD DI 8 TX

7-wood: Titleist GT1 (21 degrees, A1 SureFit setting)
Shaft: Graphite Design Tour AD DI 9 TX

Irons: TaylorMade P7CB (4), TaylorMade P7MB (5-PW)
Shafts: True Temper Dynamic Gold Tour Issue X100

Wedges: Titleist Vokey Design SM10 (52-12F, 56-14F), Vokey Design WedgeWorks (60-K*)
Shafts: True Temper Dynamic Gold Tour Issue S400

Putter: Scotty Cameron Studio Style Newport 2 Tour Prototype
Grip: SuperStroke Zenergy 1.0PT

Grips: Golf Pride Tour Velvet

Ball: Bridgestone Tour B XS (with Mindset)

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