Becoming Redwood 2012

On a day when radio reports mention Jack Nicklaus firing his caddy, Chad Willett plays Ethan as he drives a VW microbus across the Canadian border with Jade Jennifer Copping and their young son Ryan Grantham. When Jade can’t go on, Ethan crosses the border with his son, starting a journey that blends a free‑spirited past with a volatile present.

At eleven, Redwood imagines himself tied with Nicklaus in the 1975 Masters and poised to win, a fantasy that grows larger as he secretly hires Nicklaus’ former caddy, Viv Leacock. Although his father won’t let Redwood watch TV alone, the boy sneaks in to view golf commentators at night, and those voices become part of his daydreams, alongside the caddy and the imagined golf glory.

Back in the political world, President Carter’s policy to allow fled families back into the United States doesn’t make Ethan’s life any simpler. He faces drug‑related charges while continuing to grow marijuana, which he sells to Darcy Laurie, the man known as Jonno, further entangling his fragile situation. Redwood remains mostly unaware of the full truth about his mother’s circumstances, clinging to a belief in a brighter, simpler outcome.

As circumstances shift, Redwood rejoins his mother in rural California. She returns with Arnold Potter, Derek Hamilton, and their household has two older sons, Josh and Todd Potter. There’s also the enigmatic Earl in the basement, portrayed by Scott Hylands. Arnold, who once wanted to serve in Vietnam but did not fight due to a disability, is determined to mold his sons into men. He resists special treatment for Redwood, who was raised as a vegetarian and now faces the clash between his beliefs and the hunting traditions of the new family.

The film follows a dual tension: can Redwood outpace his own dreams of a green jacket—he truly believes he could win—and can Ethan and Redwood ever carve out a normal life together? Arnold’s tough love sits against moments of care, and the bond among the Potter men unfolds with both rough edges and surprising tenderness. The story keeps you watching, balancing the pull of a boy’s unlikely fantasy with the pull of a family trying to redefine itself.

In the end, the question remains not just whether Redwood can beat Nicklaus, but whether the fractured ties of the past can yield a stable future for a boy who has learned to hold two very different worlds in his heart.