Movies Inspired by Golf

Sports are one of the biggest inspirations for movie-making. In fact, most sports-related flicks make it big in the box office and are also appreciated by the critics. Basketball has produced films such as Hoosiers, Glory Road, Coach Carter, and Space Jam. Boxing has inspired the movies Raging Bull, Rocky, Million Dollar Baby, and Cinderella Man. The Longest Yard, Remember the Titans, and Jerry McGuire are all football movies. Friday Night Lights, Field of Dreams, Fever Pitch and A League of Their Own drew inspiration from baseball. Even cheerleading has produced the Bring It On series. But golf will not just let all these sports hog the movie limelight.

The romantic comedy Tin Cup leads the pack of fantastic golf movies. Directed by Ron Shelton (Bull Durham, White Men Can't Jump, Bad Boys II), Tin Cup sees the rise from the fall of wasted pro-golfer Roy "Tin Cup" McAvoy, played by Kevin Costner (Dances With Wolves, The Bodyguard and Waterworld). McAvoy falls in love with Dr. Molly Grisworld, played by Rene Russo, the girlfriend of PGA star David Simms, portrayed by Don Johnson. This prompts McAvoy to answer the dare of Simms by playing at the US Open. By participating in the golf tournament, will McAvoy get the attention of his beloved? Will he gain his self-respect? Or will he be back to being a washed-up athlete without a girl? This movie earned Kevin Costner a Golden Globe nomination for Best Performance by an Actor in Comedy/Musical.

It is easy to make romantic or dramatic movies about golf. But the Harold Ramis-helmed movie, the Caddyshack succeeded in making the sport really funny, at least in the silver screen. In fact, it was even ranked as the 71st funniest movie in America of all time by the American Film Institute in 2000. Starring actors Chevy Chase, Rodney Dangerfield, Ted Knight, Michael O'Keefe, and Bill Murray, Caddyshack follows the lives of rich golfers and the staff of an exclusive golf club. With eccentric characters, the movie's humor is crude, which may surprise you, but you will enjoy. Its lines are also very memorable. It is a riotous movie that will send golfers and non-golfers to the floor laughing.

Not every golf hero started as an expert. If you feel like golf is for you but you feel scared to try, then you should out the movie Happy Gilmore. Funnyman Adam Sandler (Little Nicky, 50 First Dates, Little Nicky) stars as Happy Gilmore, a wannabe ice hockey athlete. But he could not skate and his temper always gets the best of him. So, he ends up shifting his interest in the sport of golf. At first, he was still very emotional and aggressive while playing the game, and these cause him troubles, including a spat with other golf players. Golf enthusiasts knew that he had skill, but they did not respect him because of his attitude. To recover his grandmother's house which was facing seizure, Happy Gilmore had to focus more and train harder to beat his arch nemesis Shooter McGavin (played by Christopher McDonald in the PGA tour. Happy Gilmore starts gaining the respect of the players and audience with his renewed attitude and unorthodox technique. But will he maintain this to help his grandmother? Just like most Sandler movies, Happy Gilmore packs in the laughs, but it also tugs the heart.