'Stick' creator Jason Keller takes a swing at the game of life through golf

On the astir basal level, “Stick” is astir a prematurely washed-up golfer who takes a teen prodigy nether his helping and connected the road. Off they spell successful an RV to deed immoderate large amateur tournaments, accompanied by the kid’s parent and the aged pro’s irascible buddy. The kid gets to autumn successful emotion with a free-spirited lass. Adventures are had. Lessons are learned.

But precise small astir play takes spot connected a basal level (except possibly successful “Caddyshack”). The athletics is rife with metaphors. Lay up oregon spell for broke? (see also, “Tin Cup.”) Keep your chill nether unit oregon suffer it successful the soil trap? So it makes consciousness that “Stick,” premiering June 4 connected Apple TV+, uses the crippled of play to instrumentality a plaything astatine the crippled of life.

The wash-up, Pryce Cahill (played by Owen Wilson), seeks redemption. Years back, helium flipped retired connected the course, and his beingness has been successful escaped autumn since — helium and his woman (Judy Greer) are getting a divorce, and their location is being sold. But past helium meets the 17-year-old prodigy, Santi (newcomer Peter Dager), who helium sees arsenic the cardinal to a 2nd chance. Santi, meanwhile, knows he’s good; erstwhile helium pummels a ball, it sounds similar a sonic boom. But his archetypal manager was his hard-ass, now-vanished dad, and Santi present has occupation taking play earnestly oregon respecting his elders.

These quality elements intrigued bid creator Jason Keller acold much than thing that mightiness hap connected the links. “I emotion golf, but I’m not bully astatine it,” helium said. “I americium routinely frustrated by it.”

Owen Wilson, left, Judy Greer and Peter Dager successful a country from “Stick.”

(Apple)

Frustration, of course, is simply a cosmopolitan quality. So is disappointment. These are the elements that pushed Keller, who wrote the screenplay for the 2019 movie “Ford v Ferrari,” to make “Stick.”

“Long earlier the communicative was acceptable connected a play course, I was truly funny successful exploring a quality who had not lived up to expectations,” helium said. “I was funny successful characters that had large committedness but yet didn’t execute that promise. What happens to idiosyncratic afterward? How bash they respond to that? Do they fto themselves beryllium defined by not achieving that level, oregon bash they effort to reconcile that? Does it motivate them to excel successful different areas of their life?”

Wilson, who besides readily admits his play crippled isn’t the strongest — “My dada and my brothers played, but I was ever intimidated by it” — sees different cardinal parallel to life: As overmuch arsenic you question perfection, you tin ne'er execute it.

“There’s a small spot of a chess happening with golf, successful that you tin ne'er truly maestro it,” helium said. “That tin consciousness similar beingness too. People speech astir Tiger Woods winning the Masters by similar 12 strokes and deciding his plaything isn’t rather right. Pryce talks astir however the crippled takes and takes and takes. I deliberation radical consciousness that mode astir beingness arsenic well.”

Mariana Treviño, the Mexican histrion who plays Santi’s mom, Elena, agrees that “Stick” is astir dealing with hardships. “Elena is successful a infinitesimal successful her beingness wherever she had a large disappointment,” she said. “Her household broke down. Sometimes successful beingness erstwhile thing precise beardown happens to you, you conscionable benignant of unopen retired from the world. You deliberation that you’re going to support that coiled by conscionable not moving excessively overmuch from a place, oregon not straight confronting thing that is painful.”

“Long earlier the communicative was acceptable connected a play course, I was truly funny successful exploring a quality who had not lived up to expectations,” said “Stick” creator Jason Keller.

(Matt Seidel / For The Times)

If this each sounds a tad serious, “Stick” truly isn’t. As with astir thing starring Wilson, whose Texas/California chill works conscionable good successful the series’ Indiana mounting (Keller hails from Indianapolis), “Stick” feels casual and breezy adjacent erstwhile it gets into heavy-ish themes. The code suggests a riff connected “Ted Lasso” but with play alternatively of soccer.

Wilson and Marc Maron, who plays Pryce’s grumpy, long-suffering champion bud (who is dealing with grief of his own), support up the dependable banter of 2 guys who cognize each other’s foibles and effort to defy the impulse to poke them. Zero, Santi’s caller person and beingness guru played by Lilli Kay, is simply a self-described “genderqueer, anticapitalist, postcolonial feminist,” and the bid manages to person amusive with her without making amusive of her.

Elena, meanwhile, is mildly suspicious of the full endeavor, but she finds the aging achromatic golfers amusing. She besides likes the currency Pryce has thrown her mode for the privilege of coaching her son.

Put them each unneurotic successful an RV, and connected a bid of play courses, and you’ve got the makings of a modern household comedy. Except astir of the “family” aren’t related.

“They’re a benignant of a recovered family, and they are each precise antithetic personalities,” Keller said. “But yet they are what each different needed, and nary of them knew it. I deliberation that’s the quality and the amusive and the bosom of the show. We’re watching a radical of radical that don’t acceptable unneurotic astatine first, and past they recognize they needed each other. I anticipation that warmth and the feel-good constituent of that is felt by audiences.”

“They’re a benignant of a recovered family, and they are each precise antithetic personalities,” said Jason Keller astir the characters. “But yet they are what each different needed, and nary of them knew it.” Lilli Kay, left, Mariana Treviño, Judy Greer and Marc Maron successful “Stick.”

(Apple)

But that consciousness of large disappointment, and the question of however to crook the page, inactive lingers implicit the story. Keller is intimately acquainted with that benignant of challenge.

He was 25, recently arrived successful Hollywood, erstwhile doctors discovered a benign encephalon tumor. It was successfully removed, but the consequent nervus harm meant Keller had to retrain his encephalon to fto him locomotion again. Now 56, helium says helium “didn’t recognize what a acquisition that hard acquisition was. I became precise grateful for being physically healthy.”

Keller utilized that sink-or-swim acquisition to constitute his “Stick” characters. “Everybody has a constituent successful their beingness that conscionable brought them to their knees,” helium said. “It could beryllium a divorcement oregon the decease of a loved one. We each look these idiosyncratic tragedies oregon challenges. What bash you bash with them aft you spell done ’em and past ’em? That’s the existent question.”

Even Santi, the youngest quality successful “Stick,” has been burned by life. “He’s scared, and helium has each crushed to be,” Dager said. “His begetter near him.” And helium responded by gathering a hard ammunition and walking with a swagger.

Dager embraced the full package. “I fell successful emotion with his past but besides his psyche and the mode helium protects himself with the wit helium uses arsenic a defence mechanism,” Dager said. “And past erstwhile we get to cognize him and helium starts to autumn successful emotion and helium starts to spot people, you truly spot the kid. You spot who helium really wants to be.”

And if you bash hap to beryllium a golfer, if you cognize a birdie from an eagle, an robust from a wood, “Stick” doesn’t skimp connected the sports stuff. It mightiness adjacent animate you to spell retired to the store and excavate that moldering acceptable of clubs. Or not.

“The golfers I’ve shown it to person connected to it and appreciated it astatine the level of the sport,” Keller said. “And the others who person seen it who are not golfers look to beryllium responding to it astatine a purely affectional quality level. I deliberation they’re connecting to it. We’ll spot if we got it right. I anticipation we did.”