Golf YouTube goliath Rick Shiels told Golf Monthly that the biggest issue for the sport right now is getting prospective new players out of the driving range and onto the golf course.
In a wide-ranging exclusive interview with Golf Monthly, Shiels talks about many things including his best collaborations and ambitious plans for the future – but also about what he sees as a big problem getting new players out onto the course.
Shiels is one of the biggest online golf creators in the world, but his heart still lies in both product testing and coaching – although in-person lessons have had to be sacrificed as his profile and business have gone through the roof.
Now believing that “golf is cool” the sport is still struggling to convert interested new players from the range and simulators and out onto the course to play 18 holes – and providing a stepping stone or bridging the gap between the two could spark a huge wave of new golfers.
“I still think there’s a massive missing gap in the pathway to get people getting onto golf courses, there’s a huge opportunity that needs to be captured,” Shiels tells Golf Monthly.
It’s even something that Shiels is thinking of trying to do himself in his ambitious future plans – creating new facilities to encourage more people into golf.
“There’s nothing in between and I feel there needs to be – and hopefully that’s something I’ll be able to help with in the future.
“There are golfers who just play on the driving range and they’ve never stepped foot on a golf course in their lives, and that’s great, I’m not saying that’s a bad thing, at least they’re participating in golf.
“But between the driving range or watching on TV to actually getting through the door at a golf club (there’s still a gap), it’s getting easier, don’t get me wrong, the barriers have started to lift at golf courses.
“And I don’t think it’s that, I think it’s the actual golf aspect of it, so going from the driving range to playing 18 holes is very, very different.
“I feel like there need to be much smaller golf courses, a stepping stone from a driving range – maybe little nine-holers that have massive holes or places that have just three or four holes, proper sized holes, but you can play easily and there are no dress codes and you can just go and have fun.
“The amount of rounds that are being played in the metaverse at the moment is scary – hundreds of thousands of rounds a month.
“How do we get…
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