McIlroy and influencers

[Chunkitgood]

As I understand it, McIlroy more or less said he wasn’t interested in the “creators” and cited his age.  (Feel free to correct me if I heard wrong.). I think he was probably just being polite.

[MattyO1984]

From the general tone of the comments on here, many WRX'ers have the same opinion as Rory. 

Edited March 13 by MattyO1984

[Creedo77]

The worst thing to happen to golf in the last 5 years 

[TheDeanAbides]

19 minutes ago, Chunkitgood said:

As I understand it, McIlroy more or less said he wasn’t interested in the “creators” and cited his age.  (Feel free to correct me if I heard wrong.). I think he was probably just being polite.

 

[kmbean]

It’s amazing these narcissistic hacks have grifted their way into getting paid to play/talk golf.

 

This Trent Ryan dude?  He seems nice but collecting a paycheck to make golf content?  It’s just unbelievable.  

[straightshot7]

4 minutes ago, kmbean said:

It’s amazing these narcissistic hacks have grifted their way into getting paid to play/talk golf.

 

This Trent Ryan dude?  He seems nice but collecting a paycheck to make golf content?  It’s just unbelievable.  

 

Obviously some people like those barstool hackers but I won't watch any of the guys that can't at least break 75.

 

Grant Horvat, George Bryan, and Wesley Bryan are at least good players. So is Luke Kwon and a few others.

 

I, like Rory, would still rather watch TPC but that's only on once a year. The YouTube is an extra that I watch when actual golf isn't on. It's not a replacement, clearly. 

[IndyArcher]

5 minutes ago, kmbean said:

It’s amazing these narcissistic hacks have grifted their way into getting paid to play/talk golf.

 

This Trent Ryan dude?  He seems nice but collecting a paycheck to make golf content?  It’s just unbelievable.  

 

I don't follow any of them, but why is it more outrageous to collect a paycheck to make golf content than it is to collect a paycheck to play golf? I have a difficult time envisioning how one is bad and the other good.

[hackeraz]

The crotchety old dude in me says he can't wait for this whole era of "influencers" to finally die out and go away. 

[Rory4Pres]

Sometimes I just want to watch people play golf worse than me...and the youtube golf content recreators provide that for me.  Makes me feel better about my game watching them hit it 320 and then missing a 4 footer.

[straightshot7]

4 minutes ago, IndyArcher said:

 

I don't follow any of them, but why is it more outrageous to collect a paycheck to make golf content than it is to collect a paycheck to play golf? I have a difficult time envisioning how one is bad and the other good.

 

I think because this Trent fellow is like a 20+ handicap and hideous to watch, not that making money on golf content is bad in general. 

[jjthomp2]

barstool sports content in general is awful. Their golf content? probably the worst in the business

[IndyArcher]

30 minutes ago, straightshot7 said:

 

I think because this Trent fellow is like a 20+ handicap and hideous to watch, not that making money on golf content is bad in general. 

 

If he's making money off of it, then there must be some people who find it valuable. Seems like a complete supply/demand thing unless he is actually intentionally deceiving people in some way. 

Again, I should qualify my comments with the fact that I have never watched any of them, but they must be offering some level of entertainment that some people appreciate. 

[jjthomp2]

Also, to add. Generally speaking, there are very few golf outlets for me where the coverage/media/socials is the least bit entertaining. I used to enjoy the ringer (generally speaking) could never bear to listen to their golf podcast. Pretty sure that guy was buzzed or drunk on every episode I listened to (small sample size because I couldn't stand it). The Fried Egg has a paywall up for most of their content (hard pass), the podcasts are okay if you can get over Andy's voice. No Laying Up is pay to play on their forum too. The history dives they've been doing on NLU are fun but the other pods they put out are just meh IMO. Finally for the grand finale, the creme de la creme, that Erik Lang bro, holy smokes. Anytime my YouTube algo's suggest one his video's I consider canceling my internet. Maybe it's my anti hipster views but this guy takes the cake. Mind boggling he's able to conjure up the corporate sponsors he has. If he was genuine, to his mission he'd only fly Spirit Air, take Greyhound buses and never step foot on top 100 courses. 

[Zjhl2024]

why they decided to have the influencers on stage so much this year? the full swing interviews with them are already annoying enough

[lookylookitzadam]

But how will I know what influencer of the week is playing which model of direct to consumer irons if it isn’t broadcasted on TV? My iPad only has so much battery life so I can’t have YouTube on 24/7. I wish there was more influencer content. /s

 

 

[buckrogers71]

I am an old head (53) and really don't follow any of the "content creators". I like the guys on Bob Does Sports, but I wont go above whatever I see on Instagram. I feel a lot of these guys promote what is wrong with golf these days (wrecking carts, hacking up the course, making videos, and blaring music (for the record, I don't mind music in my cart BUT its pretty much for MY cart, not a fairway over, much less 3). I think that if Rory said that, what's the big deal? Everyone gets so offended when someone speaks their mind. He doesn't like it, not going to watch it. Sorry for the ramble

[TheDeanAbides]

A thread full of middle aged men whining about people doing something they love and hopefully making a few quid from it. Urgh. 

[otto6457]

There were a few "golf creators" I watched for awhile.  It was young guys trying to get to the Tour that were just out of college, or grinding on the mini tours.  I'm probably an outlier in this view.  But I miss fondly the folly of my youth trying to play golf for a living.  I can relate to the possibilities we all had in our minds when we started the journey.

 

I watched Ben Hadden, Luke Kwon, and Fredrik Lindblom when they were just getting started.  I enjoyed watching the grind and how they were dealing with trying to play professional golf.  They all seemed to drift away from their original goal and the videos all became fluff stuff and meaningless matches against other content creators.  Although Fredrik still occasionally posts some interesting stuff with his wife Hannah.

 

There was an unusual channel called "Chasing the Tour" that I stumbled on, where a rather average senior player was trying to make it to the Senior Tour.  Then he started doing equipment reviews and actually giving lessons which was pretty silly, considering I don't think he has ever broken 85 in a tournament, and his swing is hard to watch.  Not judging because the guy seems very sincere, he's just not a very good golfer and has next to a zero chance winning any tournament, let alone getting through Champions Tour Q-School.  I haven't checked on his channel in awhile so he may have given up.  

 

But the rest of the "golf influencer" landscape isn't my cup of tea.  But on the flip side, if it get's young people excited about golf then it's a good thing for golf.   

[Pnwpingi210]

4 minutes ago, TheDeanAbides said:

A thread full of middle aged men whining about people doing something they love and hopefully making a few quid from it. Urgh. 

From my perspective it’s more whining about the product the PGA tour put out (the broadcast) than the creators.  It was poor

 

 I have an opinion on their performance vs my expectations of what they would do, but that’s no whining about them.

[straightshot7]

1 hour ago, IndyArcher said:

 

If he's making money off of it, then there must be some people who find it valuable. Seems like a complete supply/demand thing unless he is actually intentionally deceiving people in some way. 

Again, I should qualify my comments with the fact that I have never watched any of them, but they must be offering some level of entertainment that some people appreciate. 

yeah, no one is denying that.

 

it is just the opinion of some that he isn’t appealing. 
 

Maybe the audience he appeals to is not very discerning.

 

McDonald’s is hugely popular. No one is arguing that there is an audience for it.

 

Does that make it quality food?

[Sixcat]

37 minutes ago, TheDeanAbides said:

A thread full of middle aged men whining about people doing something they love and hopefully making a few quid from it. Urgh. 

Boomers were saying the same thing 20 years ago about the fine folks that started this very website. 

[Carolina Golfer 2]

The definition of irony?

 

So let's see a bunch of random people on the internet, some of who are very good players and some who will never break 100, and might have 100 followers on any of their SM accounts,  complaining about random guys on TV who all generally have hundreds of thousands followers, most of which are decent to very good players with a couple guys who will never break 100 thrown in for entertainment play what was generally a very entertaining round of golf.   No one was forced to watch that I know of. 

 

Edited March 13 by Carolina Golfer 2

[subrew]

I watch a fair bit of YT golf, and I don't watch 99% of the content out there, nor do I watch probably 90% of the "creators."  My tastes lean towards Peter Finch and his team, and some of the Bryan Bros and Grant content.  I've never listened to a single No Laying Up podcast, nor have I watched more than five minutes of anything Good Good has ever published.  I think I've watched one Gabby Girl vid, only because she played against Nelly. 

 

So a lot like social media, if you keep your "friends" list fairly tight, you can stay in your own little bubble and enjoy what you enjoy.  You don't have to consume anything and everything.

 

The Creator Classic thing is a good example.  Despite watching YT golf, I've never seen a single vid with Roger Steele.  I only know him from last year's creator classic event.  I only know Trent is from some group of multiple guys that all suck.  Never watched a single one of their vids.  No idea who Suly is, as I'll never listen to their podcast.

 

I would imagine for someone like Rory, his off season or early season time is now getting sucked up with obligations from Taylormade to partner with creators.  Some of the guys seem to love it.  Rahm was playing with Bryan Bros before he switched to LIV.  Bryson seems to love it.  Xander seems to enjoy some of it.  For Rory, it could just be irksome that he gets obligated to do video days with people he doesn't follow, know, or even understand.  Perhaps if he actually had a good friendship with someone who was a YT creator, he would think differently.

 

An example of that is Billy Horshell.  Years ago he played a pro-Am with Peter Finch at the BMW event on England.  They also did a fun challenge vid.  Every year after that Billy actually looks forward to seeing Peter's team, and comes up with his own challenge ideas.  One of Peter's vid/camera editors has talked about Billy texting him personally ahead of the BMW to see what they have planned. 

 

I feel like Rory is just grumpy Rory right now, and needs to find a YT friend.         

[Carolina Golfer 2]

30 minutes ago, subrew said:

I watch a fair bit of YT golf, and I don't watch 99% of the content out there, nor do I watch probably 90% of the "creators."  My tastes lean towards Peter Finch and his team, and some of the Bryan Bros and Grant content.  I've never listened to a single No Laying Up podcast, nor have I watched more than five minutes of anything Good Good has ever published.  I think I've watched one Gabby Girl vid, only because she played against Nelly. 

 

So a lot like social media, if you keep your "friends" list fairly tight, you can stay in your own little bubble and enjoy what you enjoy.  You don't have to consume anything and everything.

 

The Creator Classic thing is a good example.  Despite watching YT golf, I've never seen a single vid with Roger Steele.  I only know him from last year's creator classic event.  I only know Trent is from some group of multiple guys that all suck.  Never watched a single one of their vids.  No idea who Suly is, as I'll never listen to their podcast.

 

I would imagine for someone like Rory, his off season or early season time is now getting sucked up with obligations from Taylormade to partner with creators.  Some of the guys seem to love it.  Rahm was playing with Bryan Bros before he switched to LIV.  Bryson seems to love it.  Xander seems to enjoy some of it.  For Rory, it could just be irksome that he gets obligated to do video days with people he doesn't follow, know, or even understand.  Perhaps if he actually had a good friendship with someone who was a YT creator, he would think differently.

 

An example of that is Billy Horshell.  Years ago he played a pro-Am with Peter Finch at the BMW event on England.  They also did a fun challenge vid.  Every year after that Billy actually looks forward to seeing Peter's team, and comes up with his own challenge ideas.  One of Peter's vid/camera editors has talked about Billy texting him personally ahead of the BMW to see what they have planned. 

 

I feel like Rory is just grumpy Rory right now, and needs to find a YT friend.         

You don't know who Solly and said you never listen to his podcast, so you obviously know he's a pod-caster, and I suspect you know he's from NLU.   But want to play the  I'm too good for any of this stuff.

You seem to be ok with Peter Finch and Billy Ho doing fun things together.   It might interest you to know that Both JT, Jordan and Max have all done a lot of things with the NLU guys (yes they are sponsored by Titleist  and they all seem to enjoy it.

 

My whole point is don't knock something until you try it.  That's the way I am with almost all these creators.  I have  listened/watch almost all of them at some point.  Some it was never more than 5 minutes and Ihad enough.  others I never miss a broadcast of. 

[Rob G 89]

If you are curious how much they make off YouTube just YouTube here is a resource

just search channel  and it shows estimated revenue 

https://www.viewstats.com

[StoutKing]

Not sure why people get butt hurt one way or the other.  Sometimes youtube golf is interesting, sometimes it's not.  You don't have to watch it.

[PZero]

4 hours ago, MattyO1984 said:

From the general tone of the comments on here, many WRX'ers have the same opinion as Rory. 

Then you go to the toilet called r/golf on reddit and they love them.

Edited March 13 by PZero

[aenemated]

13 minutes ago, PZero said:

Then you go to the toilet called r/golf on reddit and they love them.

 

That's the worst place on the internet 😂

[Hawkeye77]

4 hours ago, Chunkitgood said:

As I understand it, McIlroy more or less said he wasn’t interested in the “creators” and cited his age.  (Feel free to correct me if I heard wrong.). I think he was probably just being polite.

I’d start with citing the actual comment which isn’t hard to find from the other day. He’s not into it and if others enjoy it great was the gist. Barely said anything and internet goes nuts. 

[ilikegolf26]

4 hours ago, TheDeanAbides said:

 

It was probably a TM contractual obligation to do that video for Rory. He didn’t want to be there voluntarily.