The golfer, who is featured on season 4 of 'Full Swing,' talks to PEOPLE about making his professional comeback — and wiping away his financial struggles
Credit: Netflix
NEED TO KNOW
- Ben Griffin overcame financial struggles and credit card debt to make a successful return to professional golf in 2021
- With sponsorship support, Griffin focused solely on improving his game, leading to his first PGA Tour win in 2025
- Griffin fulfilled a lifelong dream by competing in the 2026 Masters, calling the experience “incredible” and validating his journey
Ben Griffin isn't shy about sharing his story. The golfer, who is featured on season 4 of the Netflix sports docuseries Full Swing, has been open about his financial struggles, which initially derailed his dreams of competing on a professional level.
On the show, Griffin, 29, admitted his "professional golf journey has been a roller coaster," in large part due to the fact he "didn't play well" after making his professional debut in 2018.
Not only that, but according to the docuseries, professional golfers are considered "independent contractors" and are responsible for their own expenses, from travel and accommodations to hiring caddies, which can amount to $40,000 to $50,000 any given season. And if a player is not winning tournaments, then they're not collecting a paycheck.
"Starting out in golf, it's a very difficult journey," Griffin candidly tells PEOPLE, explaining that unlike other professional sports, "There's nothing guaranteed [in golf]." As he puts it, "You can go out and you can win every single major championship and you can be worth $25 million in one year," or "You have a bad year, and you can lose your card and be back on the Korn Ferry Tour."
Credit: Netflix
In Griffin's case, his poor performance shortly after going pro led him to accumulating $17,000 in credit card debt. "For me, the system made it so difficult to make it that I didn't want to gamble on myself anymore," he said on camera, adding he needed to step away and prioritize becoming financially stable.
In 2021, he walked away from sport — even leaving behind a "lifelong dream" of playing at the Masters, he tells PEOPLE — and became a loan officer at Lord, Abbett & Co., where he started collecting paychecks and was able to pay rent again.
It wasn't long before CEO Doug Sieg told Griffin he was too good of a player to be working in the office and offered to sponsor his return (and cover all his expenses). "I decided to make a comeback to golf in 2021," Griffin said on the Netflix series, adding, "I really credit him for all my success."
But it wasn't just as simple as Sieg cutting a check for Griffin. "I had a talk with him about this. I was like, 'I literally don't want to come back to golf unless I can focus on just trying to win,'" the athlete recalls to PEOPLE about the discussion they had about his potential return. In response, Seig told him, "I'm going to make sure that you have everything you need to try to be the best possible golfer you can."
The other element was timing. Griffin says they had to wait until the start of the next season, which ended up being in 2021, for him to step onto the green again. "I made sure the timing was good, because when Doug originally wanted to sponsor me and get me back to golf, it was in the middle of the season," he recalls.
Once that was sorted, Griffin reverted his mindset back to "when I was a kid, trying to win and move up rankings." He says, "I wasn't thinking about the financial implications of my finishes, I was thinking more about, 'How can I get to the PGA Tour? How can I be the best possible golfer I can be?' "
Credit: Netflix
Of course, he wasn't a star overnight — and it took a couple of years for everything to lock into place. "It's not like I was a millionaire all of a sudden with Doug, but I didn't have to think about money," Griffin says, noting that to play the best he could for Sieg meant staying healthy, being focused on the game, doing everything he could to become the best possible golfer. "And that's what I did for a long period of time and made it on the PGA Tour."
It was during the 2025 season, the year that cameras followed Griffin around on and off the course, that he finally turned things around — and started winning big. That April, he earned his first PGA Tour win at the Zurich Classic with partner Andrew Novak and took home $1,392,000.
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It was the "monkey off the back" Griffin needed, he tells PEOPLE, and finally realizing the potential of his comeback journey. "It was just an extremely cool reward to finally be a PGA Tour winner after a period of time where I was never even thinking about being a professional golfer again," he says. "That win was just validation of a lot of hard work."
He adds, "It was just so fulfilling for me and so fulfilling for Doug."
Credit: Netflix
Griffin went on to clinch the Charles Schwab Challenge the following month, taking home $1,710,00, and the World Wide Technology Championship in November 2025, where he won $1,080,000. In total, he won an estimated $4,182,000 in 2025.
His dominant performances also landed him a coveted spot on the American team for the 2025 Ryder Cup, which sees top U.S. players face off against a delegation of golfers from Europe.
This year, as he continues to build on the momentum of 2025, Griffin made his debut at the 2026 Masters, which played out in Augusta, Ga. from April 9 to April 12 . Although he didn't clinch the title — Northern Irishman Rory McIlroy went on to win his second consecutive green jacket — it was still a meaningful experience for the player.
Describing the overall experience as "incredible," he says, "That's a tournament every kid that plays golf — or dreams of playing competitive golf or professional golf — dreams of playing. And so for me, it was a lifelong dream realized."
"Now, my competitive side wanted to focus more on trying to win the golf tournament and try to learn the course and be as prepared as possible for Sunday, but there were so many moments where I couldn't help but just pinch myself and realize how cool it was to be inside the ropes and be a player at Augusta, a tournament that I grew up watching with my dad and with family," Griffin continues. "There's just so much validation in finally making it into the Masters and it's just such a really cool experience."
Full Swing season 4 is now streaming on Netflix.
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