5. Happy Gilmore: “Doing the bull dance. Feelin’ the flow. Workin’ it. Workin’ it.”
Pro golfer Gary Potter (Kevin Nealon) applauds Happy’s (Adam Sandler) unique celebration in Happy Gilmore. Sixteen years later, the movie still inspires golfers everywhere to try the running hockey-style golf swing. (Even Padraig Harrington—see this video.)
4. The Legend of Bagger Vance: “Inside each and every one of us is one true authentic swing. Something we were born with. Something that’s ours and ours alone. Something that can’t be taught to you or learned. Something that’s got to be remembered.”
Bagger Vance (Will Smith) teaches a young boy his swing theory in The Legend of Bagger Vance. It’s the perfect philosophy in today’s era of “Bubba Golf.”
3. Animal House: “Don’t think of it as work. The whole point is just to enjoy yourself.”
Misfit frat boys Otter (Tim Matheson) and Boon (Peter Riegert) take target practice at an abusive ROTC instructor in the timeless Animal House.
2. Tin Cup: “It’s alive, this swing, a living sculpture! And down through contact, always down, striking the ball crisply, with character. A tuning fork goes off in your heart and your balls.”
Teaching pro Roy McAvoy (Kevin Costner) explains the golf swing to student Molly Griswold (Rene Russo) on a dusty West Texas driving range in Tin Cup.
1. Caddyshack: “So we finish the eighteenth and he’s gonna stiff me. And I say, ‘Hey, Lama, hey, how about a little something, you know, for the effort, you know.’ And he says, ‘Oh, there won’t be any money, but when you die, on your deathbed, you will receive total consciousness.’ So I got that goin’ for me, which is nice.”
Golf cinema’s most famous caddie, Carl Spackler (Bill Murray), corners another young looper with a story in Caddyshack.
