The most famous golf swing of all time does not belong to a professional golfer. Not Tiger Woods or Jack Nicklaus, the greatest to ever play the game. No, the most famous golf swing of all time belongs to Happy Gilmore. And on the 25th anniversary of the film, Adam Sandler decided to celebrate on Instagram with a little recreation. A gift to us all, really.
Widely regarded as one of—if not the greatest Sandman movie of all time, Happy Gilmore was released on February 16, 1996, and ever since, golfers across the globe have been trying to imitate the fictional hockey-burnout-turned-pro-golfer’s swing to little success. I can tell you from experience, it’s not as easy as Sandler makes it look in the movies. Though, of course, the real pros make it look easy, as they do with every other facet of the game. Nevertheless, on any given weekend, you’ll notice at least one guy out there trying to do it, and for good reason.
In the film, the running-start tee shot produces results. Happy’s seemingly the longest hitter on tour, driving greens unconventionally before Bryson DeChambeau could even say ‘fore.’ But does it work?
It can! The running start, theoretically, could lead to a faster swing speed, one of many factors that make or break the long ball. But you have to get everything else right, too. As any golfer knows, the key to hitting a solid golf shot is for the clubface to be square at impact. With that in mind, you can do almost anything you want before the moment of impact, so long as it’s square. (The game of golf, and the golf swing, are much more complicated than this, but I digress.)
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Mechanics aside, the Happy Gilmore swing is just downright fun to watch. And so we couldn’t ask for a better 25th anny celebraish from the Sandman himself than to watch him do it again. Better even is the fact that he calls out Shooter McGavin directly. Watch it for yourself, and enjoy.
We need more of this kind of stuff these days, man.
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