Austin Supper Club with Drew Mackintosh on THE LONG SHOT at Swingville!

April 9, 2026·50 min·4 clips

Drew McIntosh reveals how his film 'The Long Shot' captures Austin's true spirit beyond South by Southwest.

1. The Sport of Life with Trey Elling, episode 396, features the weekly Austin Supper Club segment recorded at Swingville golf simulator club in Austin, centered on a new independent film called The Long Shot. 2. Drew MacIntosh is the film's screenwriter; co-presenter Brian Stubbs is the founder of Genuine Article Bookkeeping and a regular Austin Supper Club co-host; TJ Brogdon is Swingville's founder and a second-half guest. 3. The episode's core purpose is to introduce listeners to 'The Long Shot,' premiering on Apple TV that weekend, and to encourage pre-purchases during the critical 48-hour launch window. 4. MacIntosh wanted to write an Austin movie for years but found the right angle when he connected it to the campaign to save Lions Municipal Golf Course on the near west side, which became the thematic inspiration for a fictional course under development threat. 5. He and director Austin Nichols began with Friday brainstorming sessions roughly five years before filming, initially developing a Ted Lasso-style workplace TV pilot before producer Jennifer Koochai redirected them to make a locally funded feature film. 6. The film stars Ryan Hansen as golf coach Ray Muller, who credibly hits golf shots, performs a song and dance routine, and does a rope-swing flip; Adrianne Palicki, known for Friday Night Lights and G.I. Joe, plays opposite him after she and Nichols traded roles on each other's projects. 7. Reggie Bush joined the cast as a Heisman Trophy winner character after Vince Young had a scheduling conflict on the planned 2005 national championship tribute scene; Bush's wife plays the real estate agent. 8. On the first day of filming at Willie Nelson's Cut and Putt in Spicewood, the crew arrived to find Nelson's two tour buses in the parking lot, offered him any role he wanted, but he had flown to Hawaii overnight before they could reach him. 9. Willie Nelson's Cut and Putt is described as an experience-first course where players are handed a patch of turf to place their ball on in the fairway because the conditions are rough; the property also includes a private recording studio. 10. Gary Clark Jr. licensed a song for the film's soundtrack after director Nichols sent him the film directly; Gary P. Nunn similarly opened his entire catalog after watching the movie and struck a favorable licensing deal. 11. The film was shot partly at Willie Nelson's Cut and Putt and partly at a second Austin course; the Austin skyline shot appearing behind the fictional course was added through post-production CGI. 12. MacIntosh notes that Days and Confused is often called the seminal Austin film even though Austin is never mentioned in it, which motivated him to make something that explicitly and proudly declares itself an Austin story. 13. The crew attracted local talent willing to work below their pay grade because they believed in the project; the entire cast flew in the day before filming began and were expected to immediately portray a found family who had played golf together for decades. 14. Temple Baker, known from Everybody Wants Some, and Justin Chatwin, known from Shameless, both receive praise from Stubbs; the crew's reaction to Reggie Bush on set contrasted with their usual celebrity indifference. 15. MacIntosh frames the film's conflict deliberately as 'haves vs. have-nots, slobs vs. snobs' rather than a simple anti-development argument, wanting to celebrate Austin's shared spaces without telling people not to move there. 16. Swingville founder TJ Brogdon opened the club on March 1st after finding the space—a former gas station—in the fall and completing construction in January; the location is on Guadalupe and 43rd Street. 17. Brogdon describes his target member as a 30-to-45-year-old with kids and a job who cannot disappear for six or seven hours on a Saturday; members can swing for 30 minutes, put kids to bed, then return at 8:30 p.m. 18. The tone of the episode is conversational and local-focused, with Trey and Stubbs sharing personal connections to Austin places mentioned in the film and frequently directing listeners to pre-order the movie. 19. Austin residents who grew up visiting Lions Muni, eating at local spots like El Dorado or Flows Wine Bar, or playing Willie Nelson's Cut and Putt will find the episode dense with recognizable landmarks. 20. Listeners outside Austin who have no familiarity with the city's specific neighborhoods, golf courses, or local culture will find much of the episode's texture opaque.

As heard by us

A grounded Austin film conversation that keeps golf, casting, and behind-the-scenes detail in view.

At a golf-simulator stop, Trey Elling and Brian Stubbs sit down with Drew Mackintosh for a conversation that treats The Long Shot as both a golf story and an Austin story.

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You get golf movie talk and Austin pride in one easy Thursday listen.

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