‘Tin Cup’ With Bill Simmons, Joe House, and Craig Horlbeck
Episode
117 min
Read time
2 min
Topics
Career Growth, Product & Tech Trends, Economics & Policy
AI-Generated Summary
Key Takeaways
- ✓Sports Movie Authenticity: Tin Cup succeeds by balancing accessibility for non-golfers with technical accuracy that satisfies experts. The production used real CBS broadcasters Jim Nantz and Ken Venturi, actual PGA pros as extras, and authentic tournament infrastructure to create credible golf coverage that elevates the final hour into genuine sports drama.
- ✓Costner Golf Training: Kevin Costner trained for one full year with Gary McCord and Peter Kostas before filming, developing a credible three-quarter swing that production wrote into the script as a character trait. The filmmakers sped up his swing in post-production and had him hit actual shots from 150 yards rather than using CGI or camera tricks.
- ✓Casting Economics: Production recruited PGA tour professionals as extras for SAG minimum wage of 600 dollars by offering their wives and girlfriends a banquet with Kevin Costner and Don Johnson. This budget strategy secured 35 PGA golfer cameos including Phil Mickelson, Craig Stadler, and Fred Couples without major expense.
- ✓Narrative Structure Choice: The film's two hour fifteen minute runtime divides into distinct sections, with the final hour functioning as pure US Open coverage. Shelton intentionally chose the controversial 12-stroke ending over a traditional sports movie victory, creating one of few sports films that rejects the heroic triumph formula despite studio pressure.
- ✓1996 Golf Context: The film released during golf's most transformative year: Tiger Woods won his third US Amateur, signed with Nike, launched his PGA career, Happy Gilmore premiered, and the Faldo-Norman Masters collapse occurred. This convergence reset golf's cultural relevance and established modern tournament coverage standards that the film captures.
What It Covers
Bill Simmons, Joe House, and Craig Horlbeck analyze the 1996 golf film Tin Cup, examining Kevin Costner's performance, the film's controversial ending, Ron Shelton's directorial choices, and golf movie conventions.
Key Questions Answered
- •Sports Movie Authenticity: Tin Cup succeeds by balancing accessibility for non-golfers with technical accuracy that satisfies experts. The production used real CBS broadcasters Jim Nantz and Ken Venturi, actual PGA pros as extras, and authentic tournament infrastructure to create credible golf coverage that elevates the final hour into genuine sports drama.
- •Costner Golf Training: Kevin Costner trained for one full year with Gary McCord and Peter Kostas before filming, developing a credible three-quarter swing that production wrote into the script as a character trait. The filmmakers sped up his swing in post-production and had him hit actual shots from 150 yards rather than using CGI or camera tricks.
- •Casting Economics: Production recruited PGA tour professionals as extras for SAG minimum wage of 600 dollars by offering their wives and girlfriends a banquet with Kevin Costner and Don Johnson. This budget strategy secured 35 PGA golfer cameos including Phil Mickelson, Craig Stadler, and Fred Couples without major expense.
- •Narrative Structure Choice: The film's two hour fifteen minute runtime divides into distinct sections, with the final hour functioning as pure US Open coverage. Shelton intentionally chose the controversial 12-stroke ending over a traditional sports movie victory, creating one of few sports films that rejects the heroic triumph formula despite studio pressure.
- •1996 Golf Context: The film released during golf's most transformative year: Tiger Woods won his third US Amateur, signed with Nike, launched his PGA career, Happy Gilmore premiered, and the Faldo-Norman Masters collapse occurred. This convergence reset golf's cultural relevance and established modern tournament coverage standards that the film captures.
Notable Moment
The panel debates whether the final scene's physics are plausible, concluding that a three wood from 237 yards with a persimmon head on steel shaft cannot generate enough spin to make the ball roll backwards on the green as depicted, calling it a fundamental violation of golf ball physics.
Episode Transcript
This episode is brought to you by United Airlines. Here's something worth watching, the award winning United Airlines app. On every trip, you can flip through time saving travel hacks, like a personalized airport map with door to gate directions, Binge watch real time flight updates, like a live calendar boarding, even if your home screen's locked, and watch it automatically move you from a middle seat to an eye or a window if one opens up on your flight. Get it before your next trip at united.com/app. This podcast is sponsored by PayPal. Let's talk holiday shopping. Make the most of your money with PayPal. They give you the flexibility to pay in four. No fees. No interest. So whether it's the must have toy or a tiered cheese board, PayPal helps you make the most of your money this holiday, subject to approval. Learn more at paypal.com/payin for PayPal Inc nmls91045seven. The rewatchables is brought to you by the Ringer Podcast Network, where you can find fairway rolling whichever else. Yeah. Good golf season. Scottie Scheffer won every tournament. Mark Hubbard won none. Hey. Still a good tournament. Hey. Mark. How are you? My favorite golfer. I wanna win a tournament. Made a nice push. Craig Horbeck. You can find him on the ringer fantasy football show. He has produced this podcast for most of the 03/1999 movies that we've done. This is movie number three ninety nine. And we have a special wrinkle Executive producing today's podcast, Jacko. Yeah. Mean house's buddy from college. You've heard him on my podcast many times. You're gonna just chime in like Gelman on Regis and Kathy. Come true. I always wanted to be Gelman. It's finally coming true. It's been fantastic. This is gonna be an unbelievable rewatch. Well, Tin Cup is next. Tin Cup, 1996. Kevin Costner, a very, very good sports movie. It's very flawed. It has a controversial ending. Ron Shelton, who did Bull Durham, he did White Man Can't Jump. Did a bunch of other movies then 10 kump. This is like his big trilogy. He said to Premier magazine in 1996, the key in making a sports movie is that you have to make it accessible to a person who hates the sport, but you also have to make the guy who knows the sport inside out say they got it right. They do that house in Tin Cup with golf. I think so. There is enough of the ring of truthiness to the to the way the golf is presented, especially with the infrastructure. This the the CBS stuff is is amazing. I mean, Jim Nantz is is, you know, next level. Ken Van Shure is next level. Like two movies. When we get to the actual US Open, it turns into a different movie, and I'm here for it. Yeah. It's long enough to be two movies. I don't know why this movie is two hours and fifteen minutes, but the last hour …
Get the full transcript (23,511 words) + summary by email — free
One-time email with the complete transcript and AI summary of this episode. No account needed.
One email, no spam. We’ll also show you what SignalCast does.
You just read a 3-minute summary of a 114-minute episode.
Get The Rewatchables summarized like this every Monday — plus up to 2 more podcasts, free.
Pick Your Podcasts — FreeKeep Reading
More from The Rewatchables
‘L.A. Confidential’ With Bill Simmons, Chris Ryan, Sean Fennessey, and Andy Greenwald
Mar 31 · 150 min
The Prof G Pod
What Comes After the Iran War? — with Rep. Jim Himes
Jul 2
More from The Rewatchables
‘The Nice Guys’ With Bill Simmons, Chris Ryan, and Rob Mahoney
Mar 24 · 89 min
The Bulwark Podcast
Bill Kristol: A Madman's Way of War
Mar 2
Books, tools, and gear mentioned in this episode
SignalCast may earn commission on purchases via these links. As an Amazon Associate, SignalCast earns from qualifying purchases.
Products
“The film released during golf's most transformative year: Tiger Woods won his third US Amateur, signed with Nike, launched his PGA career, Happy Gilmore premiered, and the Faldo-Norman Masters collapse occurred.”
More from The Rewatchables
We summarize every new episode. Want them in your inbox?
‘L.A. Confidential’ With Bill Simmons, Chris Ryan, Sean Fennessey, and Andy Greenwald
‘The Nice Guys’ With Bill Simmons, Chris Ryan, and Rob Mahoney
A CR Month Mailbag!
‘To Live and Die in L.A.’ With Bill Simmons, Chris Ryan, and Sean Fennessey
‘Fargo’ With Bill Simmons, Chris Ryan, and Kyle Brandt
Similar Episodes
Related episodes from other podcasts
The Prof G Pod
Jul 2
What Comes After the Iran War? — with Rep. Jim Himes
The Bulwark Podcast
Mar 2
Bill Kristol: A Madman's Way of War
Everything Everywhere Daily
Feb 2
Everything You Never Really Cared To Know About Groundhog Day
The Bulwark Podcast
Jan 26
Bill Kristol: The Murder of Alex Pretti
20VC (20 Minute VC)
Jan 22
20VC: Sam Altman vs Elon Musk: The $100BN Battle | The Implosion of Thinking Machines | Can VC Survive Public Market Pricing Today? | ClickHouse and Replit's New Rounds: Analysed
Explore Related Topics
You're clearly into The Rewatchables.
Every Monday, we deliver AI summaries of the latest episodes from The Rewatchables and 192+ other podcasts. Free for one show.
Start My Monday DigestNo credit card · Unsubscribe anytime