On the eve of the Players Championship, 10 of the biggest internet golf content creators teed it up at TPC Sawgrass in the second edition of the Creator Classic.
While their playing abilities vary, these personalities are all low-handicappers when it comes to cultivating an online following using golf as a platform, as their more than 3.5 million combined YouTube subscribers attest.
“YouTube golfers were once an afterthought,” said George Bryan IV, who co-stars with brother Wesley on Bryan Bros Golf, a channel with more than half a million subscribers. “Now, YouTube golf is a big player and a big asset in the golf world.”
Recently, the PGA Tour has placed a greater emphasis on showcasing players’ personalities. Miking up players for mid-round interviews, the new TGL indoor golf league and the Netflix documentary series “Full Swing” are prime examples. YouTube is another avenue to showcase personality and attract people to the game, and not just for professional golfers such as Bryson DeChambeau.
“That’s what YouTube’s bread and butter is,” Bryan said.
Last year, the first Creator Classic was held at East Lake Golf Club prior to the Tour Championship. Streamed on YouTube, it registered 2.7 million views. That made it the 37th most viewed non-shorts video on the PGA Tour’s YouTube channel out of several thousand.
“It’s a surreal thing,” said Nick Stubbe, aka Fat Perez of Bob Does Sports, a channel with nearly a million subscribers. “I think it shows the game of golf is alive, well, healthy and trending in the right direction.”
Stubbe played competitive golf through college and is a scratch golfer. However, he says he wasn’t good enough to turn pro and instead joined the corporate world as a full-time accountant. In 2022, Bob Does Sports and YouTube let him follow his dream.
“Golf has always been a passion of mine so growing up before YouTube golf you either made it as a pro golfer or got another job,” Stubbe said. “I had given up on that golf dream a while ago and this was almost a new lease on being able to be a part of golf for a living.”
Bob Does Sports is a channel featuring three main personalities: Stubbe, Robby Berger (Bobby Fairways) and Joseph Demare (Joey Cold Cuts). Despite the somewhat silly nicknames, Stubbe says they aren’t acting as characters. YouTube provides them an opportunity to be themselves for their viewers, something Stubbe found lacking when he worked as an accountant.
“I probably had to apologize for being this person for most of my life, especially in the corporate world,” Stubbe said. “Now I’ve found a lane where I can be myself.”
The Bryan brothers offer a different perspective. Wesley has played in more than 100 PGA Tour events and won at the 2017 RBC Heritage. George is a plus-6 handicap and has advanced to the second stage of Q-School. He believes people come to Bryan Bros Golf to watch high-level golf, but personality is important to succeed as a content creator.
Free from restraints, the members of Bob Does Sports can let their vibrant and comedic personalities take center stage in their videos, which attracts viewers. Stubbe says part of what makes the channel so successful is because golf is secondary.
“Golf feels more like the stage for our nonsense than the primary thing, and I would say evidenced by my two guys [Demare and Berger] you don’t need to be good at golf,” Stubbe said.
The Bryan brothers offer a different perspective. Wesley has played in more than 100 PGA Tour events and won at the 2017 RBC Heritage. George is a plus-6 handicap and has advanced to the second stage of Q-School. He believes people come to Bryan Bros Golf to watch high-level golf, but personality is important to succeed as a content creator.
“If people can see you smiling and having fun they are drawn to that,” George said.
A perhaps overlooked merit of YouTube golf is that at a time when the golf world is divided between the PGA Tour and LIV Golf, there are no such barriers for content creators. Channels like Fore Play, Bob Does Sports and Grant Horvat regularly collaborate with some of the biggest names on both tours.
Bryan Bros Golf has had players like Phil Mickelson and Sahith Theegala on the channel in the past year. Bryan says it’s not about allegiances, it’s about the shared love of golf and providing good content to the viewer.
“We don’t want to be partial to one side,” Bryan said. “We want to focus on having people on who are interesting people and good golfers.”
Stubbe agrees. He understands people aren’t tuning into Bob Does Sports for their political takes. They tune in to see them play with or against guys like Xander Schauffele and DeChambeau.
“If anything we’re hopefully an escape from that and a good laugh and a good time,” Stubbe said.
Ultimately, the more popular a YouTube channel is, the more money it will likely generate from views and ad revenue. While important, Bryan says that’s not the main focus.
“The most important thing isn’t the views,” Bryan said. “It’s about how we can create a fun golf community, give back and grow the game.”
On Wednesday afternoon at the Stadium Course, Horvat triumphed in the nine-hole creator showdown as more than 100,000 viewers streamed the event on YouTube. It was the first of three Creator Classics to be contested this year, with the next two events slated for May 7 at Philadelphia Cricket Club before the Truist Championship and Aug. 20 at East Lake before the Tour Championship.
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