Sports documentaries have become as commonplace as Marvel comic movies in recent years and the success of Netflix’s “Full Swing” has amped up interest in the golf space. [Check out the doc “Una Famiglia,” on the Ryder Cup YouTube Channel if you’ve got some downtime during the holidays.]
Full Swing’s popularity is likely one of the reasons that the PGA Tour has entered the game. It has already produced some quality content with the likes of “The Turn,” showing what it’s like to try to make it to the big leagues. But its two latest offerings raise the bar by focusing on the dominant season of world No. 1 Scottie Scheffler in one show — “Scottie ’24” — and Xander Schauffele, who won two majors last season in a breakout season — in “Xander Embedded.” Both are worthy subjects and it’s debatable who had the better season of the two. I’ve only watched a pre-screener of Scottie ’24 but it is some of the best work I’ve seen from the Tour’s TV unit in a while.
While Full Swing is made for the casual fan, this felt geared to the golfer who may have watched every minute of every tournament and still wanted more from Scottie, who, let’s be honest, isn’t always the most riveting interview. Here Scheffler gives more insight than he has on certain topics and tournaments than he’s shared during his pre-tournament and post-round banter with the media. As closely as I follow the game, I still learned stuff from Scottie about how concerned he was about his swing mechanics after the first round at the Masters and how he told his caddie at the turn that he wanted to break his putter and use his lob wedge the rest of the final round at the Olympics, which he went on to win with a remarkable back-nine performance. He comes off funny, self-deprecating and more relatable, and like some of the other all-time greats, he couldn’t remember much about some of his worst shots.
One of my favorite scenes is when the Tour’s Sean Martin, who served as producer on the project, asks Scheffler about his shank in the first round of the RBC Heritage. Scheffler can’t recall it until Martin reminds him about it. Even then, Scheffler brushes it off as one of his few bogeys that week, only for Martin to correct him that it resulted in a double bogey.
Scheffler’s first-person accounts are telling but the documentary also sat down with Scheffler’s caddie Ted Scott, who is a tremendous interview subject when he wants to be, and Scheffler’s longtime swing instructor Randy Smith. I wish they had included more from wife Meredith, who seems to make a habit of telling all of the foes her husband has beaten that she is proud of them. All of the players you expect to hear from are interviewed – Tiger Woods, Justin Thomas, Xander Schauffele, Jordan Spieth, Sam Burns, Keegan Bradley, Collin Morikawa and Ludvig Aberg among them – and pay their respects. Thomas Detry, who played alongside Scheffler in the final round when he shot a 62 at the Olympics, and Nate Lashley, who was paired with Scheffler for his final-round 64 at the Players Championship, were a nice touch. Golf Channel’s Brandel Chamblee and CBS’s Trevor Immelman break down Scheffler’s season as only they can.
But the guy who steals the show is Brad Payne, the Tour chaplain who doubles as Scheffler’s mental coach. He was an unexpected participant and gave new insight into Scheffler’s mindset at various times in the season and easily my favorite, fresh anecdote after Scheffler was arrested at the PGA Championship. He recounts how Scheffler tells him, “All I want to do is watch a movie tonight.”
Payne’s response is priceless: “I said, you know what, we should watch The Fugitive tonight.”
That is an all-timer as is Scheffler’s response, according to Payne. “He said, ‘Wow, that might be a little too soon,’ ” Ya think!
The documentary largely ends with Scheffler claiming the Tour Championship and FedEx Cup. Count me a bit surprised that the Presidents Cup wasn’t a stand-alone segment but I appreciated the restraint. Scheffler’s unofficial win in the Bahamas feels like it was tacked on after the fact and a little forced at the end. But overall, Scheffler’s season of dominance deserves to be chronicled to this extent and anyone who cared enough to watch Scheffler win seven times officially and draw comparisons to some of Tiger’s finest seasons is going to want to relive his magical moments for posterity.
“Scottie 24” premieres Dec. 23 at 9 a.m. ET on the PGA Tour YouTube channel, with a network premiere on Golf Channel set for Jan. 1, 2025, at 7:30 p.m.
“Xander Embedded” debuts on Dec. 27 at 9 a.m. ET, on the PGA Tour YouTube channel, PGATour.com and PGA Tour social channels, with six additional episodes of the series set to release throughout the 2025 season.
This article originally appeared on Golfweek: Scottie Scheffler documentary from PGA Tour gets two thumbs up
