Social Media Influence

In December of 2022, I had finally completed my “Perfect” golf bag. My order from Callway Pre-Owned had arrived, a 17-degree UW. Going into my bag along with my Mavrik Max Driver, 21-degree X Forged UT, Rogue ST Pro irons, MD 4 wedges, and Odyssey #7 putter. Along with the Chrome Soft X ball I was ready to take on 2023 and score my best rounds. I had been watching No Laying Up for a while and have slowly been upgrading my bag to make those guys proud. Then during shift one day, I was doing a workout on the stair climber, I had pulled up the latest NLU video to pass the time. When I read the title “NLU Team Visits the Titleist Performance Institute.”, my heart sank down, and thankfully the gym was empty because the language used was too much for the fire station.

So it is safe to say I was influenced through social media personalities to purchase a company’s products. Much like how in another article I was influenced to purchase an NX2 range finder from Precision Pro. I began to ponder, do social media influencers have more sway on golf products than tour professionals? I am going to exclude those personalities like Rick Shiels and Peter Finch because unbiased and honest club reviews are their bread and butter. Plus, they have no sponsorship that impacts how their reviews end up.

Firing from the hip here I am going to say yes. Now that is not a bad thing, many different niches in today’s culture see social media personalities as the driving force for product purchasing. I think back to the days when I would see professional bodybuilders in ads for protein powders and pre workout drinks. Today however, the ones advertising those same supplements are fitness influencers from Instagram and Snap Chat. The same thing is happening in the world of golf. I think there are several reasons for this shift.

The only time I am going to see Rory or Tommy Fleetwood advertise the TaylorMade driver is either commercial, which I never pay attention to, or when they are featured on the Golf Channel during a round. Well, that is a big problem, because that might mean a total of MAYBE 12 minutes of them using their drivers on TV. So in a month I will see the TaylorMade driver in action for lets say 60 total minutes. So let’s take another example, Foreplay Golf, and compare the two. They post almost one video a week, averaging 40ish minutes of content. In that 40 minutes I am seeing multiple people of different skill ranges use the TaylorMade driver. The total time I am watching this particular product being played in a month is head and shoulders above the tour players. Now yes, TaylorMade does have their own You Tube page that features tour pros, but they also feature Foreplay Golf. Which to me is a bit of a wash.

I also think the You Tube golfer connects more to the consumer than tour pros. You Tubers are not professional golfers (generally), and already have that in common with the everyday golfer. Watching Eric Anders Lang toe hook a driver OB is so much more relatable to me than watching Scottie Scheffler get upset because he hit a 30 yard fade 320 right down the middle of the fairway when he meant to hit a 20 yard fade 330. This also as a huge impact for me as a consumer, because after EAL goes OB, watching him re-tee the ball and stripe a beautiful drive helps me say “Maybe that driver will help my golf game too because I have been in that position before.”

A little over a year ago I remember reading about how Rickie Fowler went from using super blade irons to more of a cavity back design to try and help his iron play. I thought that was interesting, but I am nowhere near that level and can’t not even come close to Rickie’s worst day hitting irons. Then, around the same time I saw a video with Eric Anders Lang talking about why he switched out of his P790 irons. He mentioned that when the spin increases and launch decreases with irons you gain consistency. He then mentions that was why he traded his P790 irons for P760's and saw a huge improvement in his score. Well, that made sense to me so I made a similar change and, surprise surprise, I saw the same positive changes.

So yes I still believe that the social media influencers have more impact on my decision when it comes to purchasing products than tour professionals. Not because I don’t watch pro golf or hate the PGA Tour, but because I can relate my golf game to the 10-handicap influencer who have the same tendencies that I do. Once I start complaining that my driver are 320 down the middle rather than 330 up the right center of the fairway, then my opinion might change. I just won’t hold my breath until then.