How ‘Happy Gilmore 2’ took the golf world by storm
A lot has happened in the past 12 months – career grand slams, Ryder Cup chaos and more. With 2026 just around the corner, our writers look back at the most memorable moments from 2025 and explain why they matter.
Stories from 2025 Issue 14: The blockbuster sequel
The budget is eye-popping, the star power is dizzying, and the entertainment value is dizzying. . . Controversial.
That’s it for Capital One’s The Match.
This year’s true golf-themed pop culture extravaganza—one that actually drew huge crowds—is a movie sequel that leans proudly into its own silliness while pulling every lever of the modern multi-platform marketing machine.
Admit it. You watched Happy Gilmore 2.
Even if you haven’t seen it, you’ve no doubt heard of this movie, the belated sequel to the 1996 original, starring Adam Sandler as an unlikely golf prodigy with a gutter mouth, a heart of gold, a hair-trigger temper, and a fast swing. Nearly 30 years later, the boy in plaid returns, carrying extra emotional baggage and surrounded by a massive supporting cast that includes Bad Bunny instead of Bob Barker, and just about every pro player you can name—all backed by a reported $152 million production budget.
For those of you keeping score at home, Netflix spent more on Happy Gilmore 2 than LIV Golf spent on signing Bryson DeChambeau.
To ensure a return on investment, the streamer-turned-studio turned the hype to hyperdrive. This isn’t so much the release of a movie as it is a multi-pronged attack on consumer culture. Subway has a special Happy Gilmore Meal deal. Callaway has reintroduced the Odyssey putter for hockey sticks. Topgolf hosted screenings at venues across the country. In Times Square, the New Year’s Eve ball was replaced with an oversized golf ball. That was in July, coinciding with the movie’s premiere. By then, if you haven’t seen Happy Gilmore 2, you might feel like you have.
This keeps you in good company. According to reports, the film set a Netflix record with 2.9 billion viewing minutes in its opening weekend.
What did those viewers see? Since it’s hard to spoil anything right now, the so-called plot begins with tragedy. No sooner had we pressed play on the streaming service than Happy hit his wife with the wrong golf ball. Flash forward a few decades and our traumatized hero finds himself in trouble. Out of money, in bad shape, and drinking heavily, he took up golf again to pay for his daughter’s dream of attending ballet school. Wild adventures ensue, with guest appearances at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am too numerous to count, including Paige Spiranac as a Dick’s Sporting Goods saleswoman and Post Malone as a gonzo TV commentator. Pretty much anyone with a pulse and Q level somewhere in between.
And then there’s this: Even as Happy struggles to save his swing, he’s being asked to save golf itself, which now faces an existential threat from an upstart rival track called Maxi Golf, funded by a bad guy named Frank Manati. Golf fans will immediately recognize Maxi Golf as a thinly veiled stand-in for LIV, while erudite film scholars may detect a more subtle allegory involving sea animals—a manatee here, a shark there. Get it? OK This is not Godard.
The Second Coming of Happy Gilmore is not meant to inspire highbrow thesis. But that doesn’t mean it can’t be read as a metaphor. With its celebrity saturation, hilarious content and pacing all tuned for TikTok-length attention spans, it holds up a mirror to contemporary life. Of course, contemporary golf is increasingly seeking to break away from its traditional role and is keen to expand its audience. At the same time, the outside world has reciprocated the interest in the form of mainstream documentary series like “Hot Fuzz” and big-name adoptees from all walks of life. LeBron James is now a golfer. Are there any country music stars who don’t play this game? The line between golf culture and pop culture has never been clearer. “Happy Gilmore 2” happily embraces this fact.
As a sequel to an old movie, it has an inherent nostalgia that’s enhanced by cameos from octogenarians like Jack Nicklaus and Lee Trevino. But its essence is rooted less in the past than in the present, which may provide clues to future developments. Like golf and all other forms of entertainment, movie series are always looking for their next audience. Today, Bad Bunny. What about tomorrow?
Mark your calendars for the 2055 release of Happy Gilmore 3, in which the titular star returns to the simulated world as a robot to help Team USA finally recapture the Ryder Cup on the virtual court of the Dome.
It doesn’t seem that far-fetched.
