What to Watch Before the Masters: Essential Golf Films and Content
The week before the Masters is the best week of the golf calendar. The azaleas, the first CBS broadcast, Verne Lundquist's retirement, the specific quality of April in Augusta — it's the week that golf culture operates most completely as a shared experience. Here is what to watch in the days before the tournament to arrive in the right frame of mind.
Caddyshack (1980)
Start here. Not because Caddyshack is the best golf film ever made — it is — but because watching it on the Wednesday before the Masters begins establishes the right register for the week: golf as a source of joy, absurdity, and cultural identity. The "cinderella story" speech watched on Wednesday. The final round watched on Sunday. The contrast between Carl Spackler's relationship to Augusta National's setting and what the Augusta grounds actually look like in April is part of the experience.
The 1986 Masters Final Round
The full broadcast is available and is worth watching in its entirety annually. The specific texture of mid-1980s CBS golf coverage — Pat Summerall, Ken Venturi, the graphics, the camera positions — combined with the knowledge of what's coming (Nicklaus's back nine) and the genuine uncertainty of watching it without knowing (if you can manage it) makes this the single best Masters viewing experience available outside attending the tournament in person.
If you can only watch the back nine, start at the 9th hole and don't stop until the trophy ceremony. The birdie at 9, 10, 11. The eagle at 15. The 16th.
Happy Gilmore (1996)
Happy Gilmore before the Masters is not thematically connected to Augusta National — the film's golf culture is the PGA Tour's public-facing club professional world, not the private Augusta experience. It belongs in the pre-Masters viewing list because it is the best sports comedy ever made and because the specific joy of watching Happy hoist the gold jacket is a useful emotional preparation for watching an actual champion hoist an actual green jacket on Sunday.
Augusta National: Golf's Most Famous Secrets (Documentary)
Multiple documentary treatments of Augusta National's history — the Bobby Jones story, the MacKenzie design, the Clifford Roberts years, the civil rights history of the club's membership, the specific traditions — are available on streaming platforms and YouTube. Any of the credible long-form treatments provides context for the Masters broadcast that the TV coverage itself doesn't offer time to provide.
The 2019 Tiger Woods Final Round
Watch the 2019 Masters final round if you missed it or want to see it again before this year's tournament. The crowds following Tiger from the early holes. The 15th, 16th, 17th. His children at the 18th green. The green jacket ceremony. It is the best single golf broadcast of the past decade and the one most worth revisiting annually.
FAQ
What is the best golf movie to watch before the Masters?
Caddyshack is the standard pre-Masters viewing recommendation for its tonal preparation — golf as joy and culture rather than sport. The 1986 Masters final round (available online) is the essential historical viewing. Both belong in the week-before-Masters rotation.