Wait, Happy Gilmore 2's Crazy Golf Challenges Weren't All CGI?

SPOILER WARNING: The following article gives away a few details from the Happy Gilmore 2 ending. So, if you have not yet watched the new 2025 movie, why don’t you just go to your home and stream it before you continue reading… or, at least, proceed with caution.

I was shocked by how much I enjoyed Happy Gilmore 2, but to see critics split over Adam Sandler’s sequel was not too surprising. In fact, I have seen a lot of criticism noting how the film’s third act, in which the titular golfing champ takes on some strangely elaborate tee time challenges, feels like it was created by AI, and not just the content of the script.

Well, I must say, I thought those sequences were a lot of fun, and I feel even better about them now that I know they were largely filmed practically. Yeah, that’s right, the makers of Happy Gilmore 2, which is now available to stream with a Netflix subscription, actually put in the effort to bring their ridiculous ideas to life on camera. Here's how they did it.

Happy Gilmore 2's Maxi Golf Sequences Were Shot On Real Courses

It makes sense to me that some viewers of Happy Gilmore 2, even those who enjoyed it like our own Corey Chichizola – read his review here – might have assumed that the cartoonish challenges that Adam Sandler’s iconic character faces in the Maxi Golf League tournament are created by CGI. However, that is what makes the fact that these scenes were created with full-size sets all the more shocking and satisfying.

According to Golf Digest, a leading golf course construction company called LaBar Renovations was commissioned to help the film’s crew construct the absurd sets they needed on golf courses across New Jersey, sometimes within a day or two of being notified. LaBar even needed to make sure that the modified holes were reconstructed as they were for regular golfers to use afterward as soon as possible.

Even The Rotating Golf Green Was Real

Most of the Maxi Golf sequences in Happy Gilmore 2 were shot at Fiddler’s Elbow Country Club, including what has to be the most absurd challenge on the tournament: the final hole, located on a green that begins to rotate just as Happy and his caddy, Oscar (Sandler fan Benito “Bad Bunny” Ocasio) step onto it. Yeah, even the spinning green was legit.

LaBar spent weeks, as opposed to mere days like many of the other sets, designing and building the set for this climactic moment, which was achieved by installing hydraulics underground that allowed the crew to control the green’s rotation. Golf Digest also mentions that the deep sand bunkers near the rotating green were also built right next to it, just as they appear in the film.

I can understand why some Happy Gilmore 2 viewers might have been turned off by the insane amount of callbacks and cameos or the unexplained absence of Allen Covert’s character, Otto, from the original. However, I hope that knowing that practical effects were used to bring this film to life helps the haters respect this fun little comedy a little bit more.