Goofs

On the first hole of the three man contest, Junuh hits his shot in the sand. The camera shows the ball sitting on top of the sand. When Junuh goes to hit the ball out of the sand, it is very clearly buried in the sand.

On the 18th hole of the final round, Walter Hagen chips a good 3 feet past the hole, and the ball is still moving when we cut away. When he goes to putt out he taps in a putt just inches from the hole.

At the end of the match the lighting varies quickly and irregularly among late afternoon, night, twilight, and sunset.

In the final round, Junuh is wearing a collared shirt and tie. However, on the 18th hole, his shirt suddenly has no collar and he has no tie.

When Hardy is out in the rain hiding behind the tree watching Bagger, his clothes are soaking wet, but when Bagger calls him over, and we see Hardy from behind his clothes are now dry.

Having the best score on the 17th, Junuh should have teed-off first on the 18th tee, not last.

The second day of the match is a Sunday. The barber shop is open and the father is working a street sweeper - both unlikely to occur on a Sunday in the 1920s in the South.

There are many infractions of the rules of golf throughout the movie.

The opening scenes tells Junuh's history in flashbacks by zooming in on photos published in newspapers. Newspapers use black ink, which present a challenge for printing shades of gray. A half-tone process was developed in which photos were printed by using tiny black dots that blend in with the white space around them and appear gray to the eye at a distance. In close-up, the photos should have appeared as a conglomeration of dots. Instead, they appear crisp with smooth gradations, suggesting they zoomed in on actual photos instead of a newspaper.

When Adele pulls Junuh aside to ask about her having to wait 10 years to see him again, when he goes to hit the ball on the tee box, there is no ball to hit.

When the score is dead even between all three golfers, you can see the scoreboard showing Bobby Jones and R. Junuh 2 strokes behind Walter Hagen. You can only see this when Junuh finishes talking to Bagger Vance and walks away, because the sign is right behind him.

During the big 1930 golf match, there are numerous scenes of drinking in a very socially acceptable and legal manner. From 1919 until 1933 the U.S. was under Prohibition. Although there was much laxity in enforcing this law, which led to its being repealed in only 14 years, this was a situation where someone could not have gotten away with violating it.

When Bagger is instructing Junuh about "The Field", (Second Round, first day) he hands him a ball on a red tee. The tee is a plastic one. (Note the shape of the tee having a notch for fingers, rather than a single surface tee). At that era the tees were all wood. Plastic tees were not introduced to the game until almost the year 2000.

There is a John Deere model A or B tractor in the shop. These tractors did not begin production until 1934. The sheet metal indicates the tractor is a 1939 or later model.

Bobby Jones tells Junuh he is going to retire from golf after the tournament, which would set this part of the movie in 1930. However, in another scene a movie theatre is showing The Public Enemy (1931) with James Cagney, which wasn't released until the following year.

During the tournament when Junuh strikes the ball on his first tee shot and on his final putt the sound of the club striking the ball is heard before the club head makes contact.

As Adele Invergordon is walking towards the water to spread her father's ashes, one piper is clearly heard playing "Amazing Grace"; however, there are two sets of drones visible, indicating two pipers.

Several scenes supposedly depicting late afternoon/sunset show beautiful red skies over the ocean. However, Savannah Georgia is on the east coast of North America and the sun does not set in the east.

When Junuh is driving his car, he is stopped at an intersection in town by a throng of admirers who completely surround the car; however, in the next shot there are no admirers seen out his back window, and the road behind him is wooded.

When Bagger is explaining how grass "moves" to Hardy, he points to his right and says the sun rises from there, meaning east, which would mean he is facing north. However, he then sweeps his arm in front of him right to left and states that's the direction of the sun. It's not east to north to west, though-it's east to south to west.