Apple TV’s ‘Stick’ Season 1 Recap: How Pryce and Santi’s Debut Run Played Out

‘Stick’ stars Owen Wilson as Pryce Cahill, a former Tour pro whose career derailed prematurely twenty years ago. The comedy drama blends golf, mentorship and second chances, and it follows a washed up athlete who tries to guide a young prodigy while repairing his own life.

This recap of the first season of ‘Stick’ walks through the setup, the middle stretch, the finale and what the renewal means. The series premiered on Apple TV+ with three episodes released together, followed by weekly releases through July 23. Spoilers follow for anyone who has not finished the run.

‘Stick’ Season Recap From Pilot to Road Trip

The pilot finds Pryce down on his luck when a chance encounter at the driving range sends him on a mission to secure the opportunity of a lifetime. That chance meeting introduces Santi Wheeler, the teenage talent Pryce decides to mentor.

The backstory explains why Pryce is so stuck. His rival Clark Ross, played by Timothy Olyphant, said something so insensitive that Pryce punched him and lost his golf tour card. That moment sits at the center of the comeback story the show builds.

By the third episode the group hits the road in the RV belonging to Mitts, and Pryce’s coaching methods are tested in their first tournament. The road setting gives the series its found family feel and its easygoing rhythm.

Critics were warm but measured on the early going. One review called the show likeable and comforting while warning that it seemed risk averse and a little too familiar.

Santi, Zero and Pryce in the Middle Episodes

In the fourth episode Pryce does everything he can to break through to Santi and get him back to training, while Zero is presented with an unexpected offer. The offer sets up the season’s central emotional tension.

The fifth episode, which premiered on June 18, has Santi enter a critical qualifier with a new caddy in Zero, while Pryce sends covert coaching signals. Pryce had stepped down as caddy after faking a leg injury. Santi and Zero also share a kiss in that episode.

The romance does not last in the middle of the season. Santi learns that Zero became his caddie only after Pryce paid her, and the betrayal breaks the relationship even though Zero truly liked him.

Family money and old rivalries follow. Ahead of the U.S. Amateur Championship, the sixth episode gives everyone a rest day while Santi makes a painful discovery. The eighth episode then hatches a brazen plan to hustle Clark Ross and lets Pryce try to prove he was always the better golfer.

Finale Ending Explained for Santi and Pryce

In the finale, which debuted on July 23, an unexpected visitor returns to Santi’s life and threatens to derail his performance in a PGA Tour tournament. The visitor turns out to be tied to the most damaging relationship in his life.

Santi’s struggles with his psychologically abusive father, Gary, come to a head when he misguidedly appoints Gary as his caddie during the tournament. Once Santi began to make faulty shots, his father fell back into old habits and left the teenager even more rattled.

Santi improves after Pryce returns as his caddy, though the points lost early affected his overall score and he could not beat professional Collin Morikawa at the Ready Safe Invitational. The result reads as a loss on paper but a step forward for the partnership.

The closing moments tie off several threads. Clark Ross starts to applaud Pryce, to his surprise, amid a cheering crowd of fans. The finale also shows Zero by Santi’s side at the end of the tournament.

Season Two Renewal and What Comes Next

Apple TV+ renewed the sports comedy for a second season. The announcement landed just as the finale premiered, and the show had often topped Apple TV+ viewership charts during its run.

The second season will pick up where the first leaves off, and Wilson, Peter Dager, Marc Maron, Mariana Treviño and Lilli Kay are all expected to return. That continuity suggests the story will stay close to Santi’s early career.

The first season also leaned on real golf names. Cameos included Tour players Collin Morikawa, Keegan Bradley, Max Homa and Wyndham Clark, along with broadcasters Jim Nantz and Trevor Immelman.

Open questions remain heading into the next run. Fans and writers have wondered whether Clark gets a redemption arc and whether Santi and Zero will find their way back to each other. Do you think Pryce can finally make peace with golf by coaching Santi, or does Clark’s late applause hint at a rivalry that still has more to say, and where do you want the next season to take them?