Thank God Will Ferrell is funny – his golf comedy has nothing else going for it
Thank God Will Ferrell is funny – his golf comedy has nothing else going for it
Benji WilsonThu, July 16, 2026 at 7:02 AM UTC
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L-R: Jimmy Tatro, Will Ferrell and Luke Wilson in The Hawk - Netflix
In The Hawk (Netflix), a new golf comedy, Will Ferrell plays a washed-up former champion trying for one last shot at the big time. If you have any interest in golf, or comedy, you’ll recognise that this is the same set up behind Apple TV’s Stick with Owen Wilson, or last year’s film Happy Gilmore 2, with Adam Sandler. Certainly, in its first few episodes, The Hawk seems content to play down the same fairways that those two comedies did.
Perhaps The Hawk was already too far in development when they found out that other, manifestly similar scripts were in the offing, but it is hard to watch it without balking at a familiar template. Lonnie “Hawk” Hawkins (Ferrell) is once again an outlandish, have-a-go hero who crash-bangs into the stuffed-shirt golfing establishment fuelled on junk food and John Daly-like self-belief. Many of the running gags have rolled straight from one golf fiction to another, including the caddy who doesn’t know what golf is, the protagonist talking to the ball, the rickety RV being hammered across America by the golfer who can’t afford the hotel rooms and the Shooter McGavin-style cocksure nemesis (who, in a further non-twist of uniformity, is played here by Luke Wilson, i.e. Owen “Stick” Wilson’s brother.) In short, The Hawk starts out as The Happy Gil-Stick with Ferrell phoning in the same spoof sports routine that he did in Talladega Nights (race cars), Blades of Glory (figure skating) and Semi-Pro (basketball).
Two things save it from complete ignominy. Firstly, The Hawk is funny; at times very funny, which is always the first salvation of a hackneyed storyline. Ferrell and Fortune Feimster as the Hawk’s unlikely caddy Sam are a great odd couple, and their rude and rambling two-handers, many of which feel off-the-cuff, are some of the show’s best parts.
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Fortune Feimster and Ferrell prove a great odd couple - Netflix
In addition, about half-way through the 10-part series it’s as if the writers were told about all the other golf comedies out there and started looking for a point of difference. What they hit upon is a family estrangement story, and they manage to spin it out in to something you might even call affecting.
The Hawk has a son called Lance (Jimmy Tatro) who is also a pro golfer, but although Lance appears to be a jacked-up golf bro who thinks feelings are for losers, really all he’s ever wanted is his father’s approval. The story thus becomes whether Lonnie will put his son or winning the tour grand slam first. With a fair bit of plot machination The Hawk manages to keep the outcome unclear until a zesty twist right at the end.
Whether viewers will get to the end and enjoy that pay-off is the thing. I suspect there is a limited golf/US TV comedy Venn diagram crossover and that those who are in it will spend a lot of their viewing time noting the interchangeability of this, the most recent golf comedy, and the ones that came out less than a year ago. But as a keen golfer myself, as well as a keen student of infantile humour and spoofing, I recommend playing the whole course.
The Hawk is on Netflix now
Source: “AOL Entertainment”
