had the golf looked real.
Im supposed to believe that matt damon who has the swing of a 20 handicapper is supposed to be hitting the ball longer than Bobby Jones?
And the fact they call junahs swing "sweet"
takes me out of the film every time.
I have seen plenty of golfers with terrible swings who are off low handicaps. In professional golf you only have to look at Jim Furyk to see that you can have a bad 'looking' swing and still play the game fantastically.
I really love this movie..always inspires me to go out and play 'the greatest game there is.'
Agreed with the original poster. Damon's swing was not believable. Especially since they called it 'sweet.' ...last I checked no one has referred to Furyk's swing as sweet. More like weird. He does great with it, but it's not pretty.
If I recall, there is a part when Damon hits what is supposedly a good shot, but you can see the beginning of the ball flight, and it's thin as hell. Almost a top.
Loved Damon's acting, I just wish they would've trained him a little more. But I guess I'd take the great acting over a perfectly realistic golf game.
It says he only had one month to learn,and had never played before,so i reckon he did ok,got to have a bit of leeway in these sporting movies,cant be any worse then say for example having someone like robert redford in the natrual meant to be a great hitter surley?
shareRemember guys that this movie is set in a time when 'professional' golf was in its infancy, a time when the game was played with hand-carved drivers and fairway woods (generally with hickory shafts) and hand-forged irons. No stainless-steel or graphite shafts, no titanium R7's and sure as hell no Scotty Cameron putters. Golf back then in the 1920's was an elitist sport slowly being popularised by the fame of people like Bobby Jones, Walter Hagen, Harry Vardon, Francis Ouimet and others. We are now 80 years on! Just look at the way tennis has evolved over the same period - Roger Federer's serve is a product of the 21st century - imagine how the game was played when the Great Gatsby was strutting his stuff! Its the same with golf.
By today's standards a 1920's swing looks very strange indeed but remember: 1) there were very few teaching professionals back then and therefore these men were largely self-taught and 2) the rhythm of their swing had to compensate for the ‘whip’ in the hickory shaft . You have to admit that given the tools that they had to work with, they didn't do too badly. To put that into perspective; the typical driver that a tour pro would have been using to win majors just 15 years ago is about the same size as a modern 3-wood !
Is there anyone out there who would care to play a round at the Newport Country Club with the clubs that Bagger Vance was toting in Junuh's bag ?
wow i havent looked at this post in a year
The difference between furyk and damon. and old swings and new swings
is that matt damons swing doesnt look athletic even. its ugly as hell but it doesnt even look athletic.
even someone like furyk who has an ugly swing, he is still on balance and you can tell he has control of his body and club
just stop complaining dude...everything doesn't have to be perfect; everything could be better. it's the underlying meaning that is important.
shareTotally agree. I think people just want to bash Damon and Smith for some reason. This is a very good movie...no matter how many morons tell me otherwise
"dad, I dug a hole."
I read in several places that Damon either cracked or broke a rib or two early in the filming, so he was definitely in pain every time he swung the club. That probably accounts for the lack of a "sweet" swing.
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