Happy Gilmore may be back on the golf course this week with the release of Happy Gilmore 2 on Netflix, but the man responsible for teaching him the game won’t be joining him.
No, I’m not talking about Chubbs (RIP Carl Weathers). I mean pro golfer Mark Lye.
I recently spoke with Lye about what it was like to serve as the golf consultant on the original film. During our interview, he also answered a question I’ve been dying to know the answer to ever since the iconic movie’s release in 1996: Is Happy’s putter regulation?
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How did you become involved in Happy Gilmore?
I happened to know the family of the producer. His name is Robert Simonds Jr., and his dad, Robert Simonds Sr., and I were close friends. He told me Adam Sandler and Tim Herlihy were doing a movie, and they wanted me to be the script consultant. So they sent me every version of the script, the first of which was completely undoable.
Why was that?
Because they desecrated every major golf organization, like the Masters Committee, the U.S. Open Committee and the Royal & Ancient. I said, “We really need to be soft on these guys.” I also said, “You can’t have a guy acing every other hole. We want to make it somewhat believable.” Through, I think, the fifth script consult, after I redlined everything out four or five times, I said, “You guys can get away with this one, but I don’t like the part about marking the ball with a cookie and then eating the cookie.” They said, “No, no, no. That’s a fun part of the movie.”
Then they asked me if I could get them to a couple tournaments so that they could see how to set up and everything. I got them in the locker room at a couple of places like the L.A. Open and the Colonial National Invitational. They went to the Colonial, and they said, “Okay, we got this. We don’t even need to go to L.A.” They had it all figured out.
About the time that they were going ahead with putting the finishing touches on the movie, they said, “Hey, are you going to be in Canada anytime in the summer?” I said, “Yeah, I’m going to be up at a place called Swannies Set, which is a big 36-hole golf club just outside of Vancouver.” They said, “That’s perfect. We’re going to write you into the movie.”
So they wrote me into the movie, and they ended up using the Swannies Set Golf Clubhouse for one of the tournaments there, which is kind of cool.
What do you remember about shooting your cameo?
I asked them how the movie was doing. They said, “This is going to be a blockbuster.” And I said, “Well, how do you know?” They said, “Wait until you see the Bob Barker scene. This is really going to be hilarious. It’s going to be like Animal House or Blues Brothers.” Man, they were right.
Did you teach Adam Sandler to golf at all?
I did not, but he played a little golf and so did Christopher McDonald. To make them look real, though, they had some body doubles in there.
What were both of those guys like to work with?
Well, Adam Sandler is, of course, extremely talented, but very kind of meek until the cameras are rolling. Then he comes into this completely different, almost body invasion that’s funny and just crazy. It wasn’t a stretch for Christopher McDonald to play his part. He’s got a little of that in him. Bob Simonds and the director Dennis Dugan were fun guys. We would get done with the scene, and they would laugh their asses off.
In the movie, how believable is Sandler as this great golfer?
It depends on what audience you’re after. It might be fine for the average moviegoer, but as a Tour player, we know. You can’t hit the ball like he does. You can’t putt like he does. You can’t do that. He’s not believable.
How long do you think Happy Gilmore would have lasted on the Tour?
Probably not after the first event. The way he acted, slamming the clubs and the language, he would have been gone.
Would miniature golfing actually help a golfer with their short game?
No. It doesn’t.
Is his putter regulation?
No, but it’s part of the stupidity of the movie, and the reason Adam Sandler’s movies do so well is because they’re stupid. I’m excited to see what they do with the new one.
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