It’s been a long winter without golf in England. Frozen courses and the lockdown have kept us at home. I’ve been looking for a way to keep the golf bug going and I found it. YouTube!
It’s not possible right now to hit golf balls and remind ourselves how hard the game is. Watching pro golf on Sky or the Golf Channel is fine but that’s not the same as getting out with friends, having a laugh, duffing a few shots, and hopefully hitting enough good ones to keep us coming back. Thanks to YouTube, it’s easy to at least watch others doing that. You can also get an insight into other places and courses as well as a few hints and tips for when we can get onto the course again.
There are thousands of content creators putting golf material on YouTube and I can’t claim to have seen them all. Some big names tend to dominate YouTube golf (looking at you Rick Shiels) and you can see why. They publish product reviews, coaching tips and playing challenges, often producing broadcast quality material, and mixing that with the classic YouTube handheld selfie video cam. As much as I like their content, and I do, Rick Shiels and a few other big names don’t make my personal favourite list. That’s the thing about personal favourites, they’re personal, and these are the channels I’ve gone back to over and over during lockdown. If you have a bit of time and want a golf fix, give them a watch
Best Overall
Dan is a golf pro at Torquay golf club and runs this channel with a few friends. The focus of the channel has developed to be on course Vlogs but there are occasional product reviews and coaching tips. Sadly the course Vlogs have dried up a bit in recent weeks because of lockdown but the archive is fantastic.
Why it’s great:
There’s going to be a theme here. All my favourites tend to specialise in one thing. Dan does some product reviewing and coaching videos and he brings a good approach to those, but where this channel excels is the course Vlog. These are easily the best I’ve seen on YouTube. He has a group of friends who are mainly golf pros or scratch golfers and they play informal games, capturing the banter around good and bad shots and at the same time giving a bit of background about the course. They’ll play a full round divided into six parts with separate videos released over the course of a week. The tone is perfect, like having a good day out with friends and although they are all good golfers there’s absolutely no posturing and no hiding the bad shots. As you go back through the history, you can see how they have improved the format and the photography and they now produce some stunning images of great courses. There’s also a regular Sunday morning show with Dan and his main sidekick Lester catching up on what’s been happening on the channel and sometimes in the wider world of golf. That’s become a regular watch for me. Again, the tone is just right as you feel you’re joining a great chat with a couple of friends – with bonus dancing (you have to watch to get that!).
Could do better:
My only complaint would be that sometimes the sound quality drops, especially with the on-course chat. I think they rely on (good) microphones attached to the cameras rather than individual mics and as people move further from the camera words can get lost.
Best Coaching tips
Matt is a PGA pro from the north of England. He does occasional product reviews and on course Vlogs but short coaching videos are his focus.
Why it’s great
Matt keeps it simple, with short focused ‘lessons’ filmed on course or at the range. Covering all aspects of the game. The bite sized format works really well, and he’s got an engaging, straightforward approach that I think most people will relate to. I’m looking forward to seeing if any of his advice makes a difference when I get back onto the course
Could do better
He tends to jump about a bit from topic to topic. It would be good to get a series of videos on a theme.
Best Entertainment
Liam Harrison has assembled a cast of characters aged from 18 (young man Josh) to 80 (old man Pat) and various points in between. The main content is short 3 or 4 hole matches between two or more of the regulars who are all mid to low mid handicappers with occasional guest slots from pros. The matches are the usual golf formats; match play, strokeplay or stableford with occasional imaginative twists and catch phrases (which you see some of below) added for laughs. It’s based around Golf, but the emphasis is very much on the Mates with Liam’s regular message being, ‘this channel doesn’t have subscribers, you’re all Golf Mates’.
CB (career best)
It’s great fun. Nothing is taken too seriously, and Liam brings a level of warmth and enthusiasm that has struck a chord with viewers around the world. There’s a lot of humour some good and bad golf and some terrible singing. Looking back, you can see how much the production quality has improved and it’s now probably the best produced channel on this list, with the sound quality giving it the lead over Dan Hendriksen.
Chicken and rice
The channel works best in the short match format. Occasionally it moves into different territory, for example chat sessions or product focused shows and these are a bit hit and miss.
Best Geekfest
We all like to get into the technical aspects of golf from time to time. If you are the kind of person who is looking for numbers, and lots of them, to support product reviews or coaching tips or techniques this is the place for you. It’s the science of golf taking full advantage of tracking technology.
Why it’s great
You really will be astonished that there’s so much in it and Mark brings real enthusiasm to his analysis, drawing you in even if you’re not playing at the level where this makes a huge difference.
Could do better
Unless you’re an absolute enthusiast around the technical side of golf it will get a bit much sometimes but there’s still plenty to keep coming back for.
Others you should check out:
It’s hard to talk about YouTube golf without mentioning Rick Shiels and Pete Finch for great all round good golf content. One other channel I’d highly recommend that nearly made my list is Bad Golf. Two comedians with a shared enjoyment for the game. It’s fun and a reminder that golf can be enjoyed even if you’re not able to carry 250 yards every time you pick up a driver.
So there you have it, YouTube channels that have kept my golf fix going through lockdown. I'm always on the lookout for more though so, as every good YouTuber would say, comment below if you've got any favourites you'd recommend or any thoughts on the channels I mentioned.
