If you know your golf, the chances are you know about Rick Shiels.
The YouTube star is one of the biggest names in the sport when it comes to online following, with two million viewers subscribed to his channel, some of the best players in the world in his contacts list and the world’s most listened to golf podcast.
Not bad for a humble golf coach who only started uploading to try and sell a few more lessons.
‘The very first YouTube video that I did was in 2012, so nearly 10 years ago,’ he told Metro.co.uk. ‘The whole reason I started was that I thought it was the most effective way of promoting my lessons at Trafford Golf Centre (in Stratford, Manchester).’
‘I thought, “How could I potentially promote myself without spending money?” I was a big fan of YouTube anyway. There were a couple of golf coaches on there and I thought, “This could be great. I couldn’t really see myself doing something like this.”’
He puts his transition to being on camera down to his school days, saying: ‘I actually came out of school with two main qualifications in PE and drama. So weirdly, I kind of blended those two skills together. I always had a passion for acting at school, so being on camera wasn’t overly strange. It took me a few years to get my personality across.’
It worked, and quickly too, with Rick adding: ‘I became a very, very busy golf coach over a very small period of time. In fact, probably the busiest golf coach in the UK at the time. I was delivering 60 hours plus lessons a week and 90% of those clients in the end, were coming from watching me on YouTube.’
It’s a good time to be in the game, at the moment. The sport has experienced an explosion in popularity over recent times, with millions picking up golf since lockdown hit – thanks to the fact that it’s just about the only sport you can play while social distancing – and Rick has been helping new players up their game with tips and tricks on his channel in that time.
His videos are full of insight to help players improve, and it’s the kind of stuff people had to pay to be taught in pre-YouTube days – but is Rick ever worried about giving away so much insight for free?
‘I was worried at first about giving away ideas,’ he said. ‘And I remember a lot of other golf coaches telling me that I was daft for giving away all of my secrets and my tips that I coach.’
His honesty is refreshing. While plenty of vloggers like him might shy away from showing weaker elements of their game, or cut their bad shots altogether from the final edit, Rick isn’t afraid to share the less than impressive shots he hits out on the golf course with his viewers.
‘I think it took me a while to be comfortable with it,’ he said about showing viewers his mistakes. ‘It took me a while to realise that, actually, people who are playing golf and people who are struggling to learn golf, they appreciate honesty. I’m a perceived good player, but I also hit bad shots. That’s just golf. It’s how you deal with it that matters. I don’t get angry, I kind of laugh it off, and the viewer really enjoys it.’
He added: ‘Sometimes you think you’re the only person in the world that hits bad shots. So for me, being able to show a duff shot every now and again humanises it.’
Rick’s most watched clips include everything from coaching tips, to videos comparing real golf clubs with knock-offs from Wish, to challenges against comedian and self-confessed Bad Golfer John Robins – but he has a clear idea of who his dream video would feature.
‘Tiger Woods is the reason my 11-year-old self got into golf in the first place back in 1997, coincidentally when Tiger won the Masters,’ Rick said. ‘He is the reason why I’m doing golf, he is the reason why I’m doing YouTube, he is the reason why golf is in the place that’s in now.
‘To be able to shoot anything with Tiger – even if it’s just cleaning his golf clubs – would be phenomenal. It’d be a passion piece for me, but as golfers we love Tiger so much, so that’d be amazing.’
Has he tried to get in touch with him? ‘I try most days,’ Rick joked. ‘I feel like I need to employ someone just to be just hound Tiger’s management.’
Someone else on his radar is Bryson DeChambeau, the game-changing and often controversial 2020 U.S. Open who hits the ball a staggering 400 yards, who Rick believes is doing more for the sport than anyone since Tiger.
‘Nobody has become close to Tiger in attracting new golfers over recent years,’ he says. ‘Bryson’s got that – and I hate to say it – that X factor that can really, really shine a positive light onto golf. So being able to do something with him and look at the way he’s changing golf really excites me.’
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