There comes a time in every person’s life when the universe tells them their best athletic days are behind them. For some, it’s pulling a hamstring jogging to first in a rec softball league; for others, it’s missing out on making the All-NBA Team for the first time in 22 years. Either way, the road from there leads to the same destination: the first tee.
Now driving: LeBron James.
The NBA’s all-time leading scorer has taken up the hobby that cements his unc status: golf. James has launched his own YouTube golf channel — you can find it at the easy-to-remember address of youtube.com/@lebron — and kicked off matters with a 96-minute reunion of the 2016 Cavaliers working their way around some famous Scottish links:
If you’re not familiar with the YouTube golf ecosystem, here’s a quick primer. Hordes of social media content creators — largely though not exclusively rumpled white dudes with loud voices and louder golf shirts — are now swarming the world’s golf courses with cameras and drones in tow. They post sleek video recaps of their rounds, tricked up with music, stats and graphics, and capped with thumbnails that all look roughly alike — the players with outsized expressions of shock or joy, blue-sky-and-golf-course background, and some absurd teaser question (“Can we break par with a stick of firewood?”)
YouTube golf round videos, which can run more than two hours, pinball between hysterical, numbing, grating and inspiring … and they’re immensely popular. Rick Shiels has more than three million subscribers, Good Good Golf has 2.1 million, Grant Horvat has 1.8 million, Bob Does Sports has 1.5 million, and some guy named Bryson DeChambeau has 2.84 million following his non-major, non-LIV golf exploits.
Golf is the perfect medium for these sorts of videos. Equal parts competition and contemplation, golf allows for both feats of athletic prowess (monster drives, miraculous sand saves, double-breaking putts) and long stretches of discussion, storytelling and trash-talking. Golf courses are spectacular and unique visual canvases. Plus, most of the people watching play golf themselves — a highly appealing demographic from a monetization perspective.
So into this space comes James, in what must be for him an unfamiliar position — overmatched underdog. Bob Does Sports, Good Good and the rest of the YouTube golf ecosystem have several years’ headstart on him, and they’ve created the language that LeBron is now learning. If he’s looking to make a second career of this, he’s already trailing in some pretty substantial wakes.
(Screenshot)On the other hand, well, he’s LeBron freaking James. He’s one of the few “doesn’t move the needle, he is the needle” athletes in America. Plus, he loves golf, his game is decent enough to keep up with better players, and he’s undeniably charismatic and at ease on camera.
In his debut video, James and five former Cavs teammates — Channing Frye, Richard Jefferson, Kevin Love, J.R. Smith and Tristan Thompson — carve their way around Castle Stuart Golf Links at Cabot Highlands, a former host of the Scottish Open. Smith, who played college golf after his NBA days, is by far the best of the group, while Thompson, who had played exactly one day of golf before filming began, is by far the worst. But everyone’s clearly enjoying themselves, with the easy camaraderie of former teammates on a buddies’ golf trip.
So where does LeBron take this? Pretty much anywhere he’d like. It’s realistic to assume he can take cameras onto virtually any course he wishes, playing with virtually anyone he wants in his foursome. Plans call for roughly one new video a month, with segments on food, wine, local culture and firepit conversation.
James is following in the path of golf-obsessed star athletes, a number that includes Caitlin Clark, Mike Trout and Tom Brady. Like his fellow basketball GOAT, Michael Jordan, James is at ease on the golf course, but unlike Jordan, James is pursuing a more democratic version of the sport. Where the famously private Jordan built an entire exclusive club — Grove XXIII in Florida — James is out among the people … sort of.
By putting his golf swing on YouTube for all to see and critique, James is showing that, in this way at least, he’s one of us, shanks and all. It’s a sharp move; golf as a recreational sport continues its post-pandemic growth, and golf as a YouTube property is a growth stock, too. Plus, it’s just fun to watch dudes play golf with no mention of Saudi influence, or the size of their paychecks, or any of the myriad other issues that have dogged professional golf for the last five years.
Maybe this will lead to a second career for James as his day job winds down, or maybe it’ll be just another lark. Either way, he’s inviting you along for the ride, and a seat at the firepit. For a few minutes, at least.
Leave a Comment