How GoodGoodGolf Became a YouTube Sensation: 4 Secrets to Success

We spent the day with the guys behind GoodGoodGolf [music] to learn how they became one of the most successful sports channels on YouTube. What do you think makes a good GoodGood video? >> [screaming] >> Now the thing is, we don't really watch or play golf. I think that was my first time hitting a ball on a golf [music] course. How often do you golf? Not. But we do have a deep passion for telling stories in sports

and they've always been a big part of our lives. Today, the biggest shift taking place in sports is that some of the best stories are no longer in the hands of the networks, but with the athletes themselves and the super fans. Creators are now some of the most influential faces in sports media and at the center of that shift is GoodGoodGolf. What started with friends posting their golf videos on YouTube has turned into a sensation. GoodGood

is a powerful force in the game with a huge legion of fans. In the last year, they raised $45 million to grow their company, launched an apparel and equipment line in over 800 Dick's Sporting Goods locations, and signed a multi-year deal with the PGA Tour. And they have become a breakout business success worth studying. We made over $100,000 in 8 minutes. >> So, [music] as we play, you'll learn the four secrets to GoodGood success and how

they've managed to capture attention [music] when it's only getting harder to do. All right. So, we are at this golf course right now. It's called Tribute. It's in Dallas. We're about to play golf with a couple of the guys, Matt Scharff, Bobby, Colin, and Max. It's Samir and Matt versus Colin and me and Colin. Well, here we are, huh? Here we are. Here we are. >> uh this might sound like an obvious question. >> Oh boy.

But >> [laughter] >> but everybody has their own clubs? Yeah. Yeah. What do you mean like our own just like our own set of clubs? >> Yeah. Oh boy, Samir. >> We uh okay. [laughter] We got a lot to talk about, don't we? We're playing the best of three holes in what's called a scramble, meaning each player on the team will hit, but then they'll choose the best ball and play that one, which more often than

not is going to come from our teammate who has a lot more experience than we do. But we may surprise you. My goal is number one to win. Number two to not lose my ball. Okay. That see, not losing a ball, that is always an amazing That is like my goal every time. If I can not lose a ball, that's a that's a good day. All right, everyone ready? Oh my goodness. >> Brother. That's a beautiful

shot. That's absolutely crushed. Woo! What the heck? There you go. >> But that was supposed to go over there. That's okay. I think that's fine over there. >> Okay. Great freaking drive. I can whack on this thing. Holy mother of goodness. Guys, what are we talking about here? Where did that go? That like went in That's like on the green. That's in outer space. Well, all right. What What just happened? Are we good? I think so.

I hit a pretty good shot. Okay, I absolutely love that. That's money. >> All right, at least it's straight. Absolutely. >> that, that's actually beautiful. That's perfect. >> Let's go. >> Wait, you guys can see where this ball's going. Yeah. Like you you're clear on where the ball is going. >> in on the ball watching. >> I've absolutely no idea where that ball went. We're playing a scramble, so like we'll take the best shot out of

us two. >> Colin, let's go. Okay. I literally have no idea where that's going. >> right just left of the pin. How far? No, it's like 40 yards. I I think literally 6370 >> Could be anywhere. I have no idea where this is. Let's go. Hey, this is team Colin right here. Here we go. After we teed off, the first [music] reason why GoodGood has become so successful was made pretty clear. See, that's the beautiful thing

about golf is like we don't have [music] to set up a script or anything. It's a sport. There's going to be problem and solution all the time. So, the sport of golf kind of creates a plot. Cuz you're going to hit it in the rough, you have to figure out how it then obviously competition amongst [music] some of these six to eight guys. Sometimes what do we have? 10, 12 guys in a video? I think that's

what it is. We don't script anything. We just kind of go play a sport and what unfolds unfolds. I kind of like it. It's just authentic and genuine. Just go golf. It keeps you authentic. >> It does. Plus the sport's going to keep you authentic, too. You can't You can't fake golf. You got to go do it. >> the hell out of this. >> Yeah. Yeah. Exactly. Like Bobby said, golf [music] makes for the perfect story.

The best stories are really just a series of problems that the audience is waiting to be solved. If there's no problem, there's no story. And golf, along with all sports really, provides the perfect framework for this. Each shot in golf is a new problem that the audience is waiting to be solved. So, this is what's called the two two-tiered green. Okay. You see the first bump? That's the first tier. Okay. And then you get up over

the second hump and that's the second tier. And it's a very difficult shot cuz you kind of want to land it in the second tier and like let it bounce. But we're not going to talk about that. You're going to step up and you're going to dial this in and you're going to probably make it. Wow. But I'm trying to go to the second tier. >> Yeah. Yeah. So, I got to hit it kind of hard.

Yeah, not too hard. Yeah. When you're doing a GoodGood video like are the stakes typically just competition? Friendly competition or do you guys add any other stakes? >> There's about a million on the line every time we play. Okay, got it. That's behind the scenes. Yeah. >> We do this thing called the GoodGood Cup where it's 17 to 18 videos and every video has a point system. Yeah. So, if you do poorly in one video, it

affects the outcome of all 18 videos. >> Uh >> So, those always get super competitive and at the end of the day, you're going to get competitive with your buddies. >> Yeah. Yeah. You got six, seven dudes out on the course. Yeah. But it's fun. I think feel like people enjoy that. Yeah, they do. All right. Well, let me let me hit this Let me get in there. All right. If this goes in, we'll do a

$5,000 GoodGood gift card giveaway. Wow. Here's the stakes. Damn. Stakes. Yeah. Yeah, we were We were talking during the sketch show. Yeah. Not the worst thing in the world. >> Not the worst thing in the world. >> Not the worst thing in the world. Good for you. >> Yeah, we can do that. We're going to add some extra stakes to this game. Every time we flub a shot like Samir just did, we'll add a piece of

our Press Publish merch to a bundle that we'll give away to one of you in the comments. To enter, you just need to comment below team Colin or team Samir. But to make it even more interesting, GoodGood said that they would add some of their merch as well whenever they flub a shot. And if we don't message you and you don't win, you can still purchase a collaborative Press Publish times GoodGood bundle on our store thanks

to a feature from the sponsor of this episode, Shopify. Shopify has truly allowed us to turn so many of the ideas that Samir and I have into actual businesses. And to this day, one of the most impactful things in our career has been seeing people wear our Press Publish merch. And for GoodGood, like most creators, they built their business on Shopify. What was the pitch and why did you know it was going to work? Um it

was content-focused apparel company. It is hands-down one of the things they do best and we'll touch on that a little bit later in the episode. >> We found that one of the best ways to grow on YouTube was to collaborate with other creators. And now that's something you can do directly within Shopify with Collective. With Shopify Collective, creators can now collaborate with brands and other creators by selling their products within their stores. So, you can give

your audience products they might like without actually carrying new inventory. And then when you sell an order on your store, it goes directly to that brand or creator so that they can actually fulfill it. Once you download the app, you just go into your Shopify admin and you'll see Collective right there. I sent a sign-up link to the guys at GoodGood. We talked through the items that we wanted to include together >> [music] >> and they

showed up right here in Shopify so that I could add them to the bundle before adding my own image and [music] setting it live. So, if you're a creator or an entrepreneur and you have an idea, you can click the link in the description >> [music] >> shopify.com/colinandsamir and you can get a free trial to get your store started. And now for the rest of the episode, whenever we hit a really bad shot, you'll see the

product that we added in the bottom corner thanks to Shopify. Ooh. >> Go. Beautiful. Don't go up there. >> Get legs. Sit. Get legs. >> Get up there. Get up there. Get up there. Get up there. Yes. All right, I get it now. I'll get it. And then you just do that every single time and we'll never lose. This is probably the hardest shot in golf the least practiced by amateur golfers. It's a hard shot. >>

There's multiple ways you could approach it. You could kind of hit behind it, explode it out, or you could pick it and get it up there. Literally the hardest shot in golf consensus amongst everyone. >> hear that? >> Yeah, you got it. Try opening the face a little bit and just swinging at it. Yeah, just swing at it. Just get it. That's good. >> Hey! That's good. >> Honestly, the fact that we were out, that was

amazing. That was impressive. Oh, there we go, Colin. Go. Get up there. That's going to be a tough putt, but I'll take it. I feel like at this point, I don't know the speed of the greens. I just send it. Okay. Send it. Send it is my advice. >> Loud and clear. I sent it too much. Hey, that's That's better than back down here. Okay. Come on. >> Okay. >> Colin Ross. Let's go. >> Great putt.

How hard do I want to hit this? Just feel it. Let your body tell you. Yeah. Oh my >> do it. Let your BODY DO IT! LET YOUR BODY DO IT! LET your body work. Damn. Let's go. >> Wow, that felt good. With Samir sinking that putt, he and Matt go up one nothing in this best of three holes challenge. Also like back to the creation of the videos, I feel like it's pretty clear we just

We just follow with the camera. Yeah, of course. >> I like too that like Max, I can hear you. When Colin speaks, I can hear Colin behind the camera. It's just super comfortable. Like that's the difference between YouTube and TV. You're never going to hear the guy behind the camera ask that question. >> Yeah. Yeah. [music] I really uh when I dreamt up how this was going to play out today, I didn't didn't foresee Samir making

that putt and him being on top. But but that's golf, I guess. And you freaking knocked it in. What a dog. >> really fun. So, wait, your story is you You pursuing acting, weren't you? Sure was, I uh went to college at Sterling, Kansas. Okay. Uh and was pursuing um >> [laughter] >> I did a lot of theater stuff. I really really loved performing in front of people. I loved watching like people laugh if I said

something funny. That was always kind of like a dream yeah for me to like go to college and then do theater and then get on Broadway or if I got really good at golf, go to Q school, get my card, go to the tour. And as you can see, none of that worked out. Yeah, well. But you're doing both the things. >> But I am kind of doing both. >> You're performing and you're playing golf. Yeah,

and that's what I started to realize after I had gotten in gotten into YouTube a little bit. Uh me, Garrett, and Stephen, we filmed a bunch of videos together, built GM Golf up pretty big, and kind of changed the game for golf, playing with frying pans, the wheel not a deal was a big success, a big hit. And so like we're really doing crazy things, playing with spatulas on the golf course, and people were like, "Brother,

like they're so accustomed to golf club, golf ball, tee, >> Yeah. no talking. Right. And and I am an absolute, as you can tell, maniac. Right. Right. Right. >> So I bring that to the YouTube game, and people are like, "Dude, this guy needs to shut it down. Shut it down." The second reason [music] Good Good has been so successful is that they respect their audience's time, which is something that many legacy media outlets don't do.

[music] Did you realize it was boring? Yeah, I grew up every Thanksgiving, [music] my grandpa would turn on golf to fall asleep. Like that was his [laughter] that was his nap time. >> Yeah. >> [music] >> There's just not enough action for them to not be showing more personality. Compared to where it used to be. This for birdie and 14. Good Good and the top sports creators today have innovated on their game to make [music] it

move faster, be more visual, and packed with way more personality. >> [screaming and groaning] >> I go first? Yep. Oh. Where'd it go? I lost it. Yeah, I went way under. Not good. It's more of a pop fly. I think we're in his head after that putt. Yeah, you're in everybody's head. You're in my head even. That was freaking nuts. [laughter] Let's go do it again. >> Let's do it. I got one. If you teed it

up a little lower, you'd be cranking it. >> I'll take one more just We'll practice. Even go a little bit lower than that. You good, man? Everything all right, or am I in your head from that putt? Oh, he said hello. All right. I'll see you on the green, man. Don't even worry about it. That has some speed. All right. All right. I think we may both have a future in golf here. Wow, that was crickets.

Nothing. Oh, yeah. Future Future Golf College coming in hot. Yeah, thanks for the confidence. You should start a golf channel, dude. Yeah. Cool. Yeah. >> [laughter] >> So it'll be instead of GM Golf, it's CS Golf. CS Golf. CS Golf. Colin's got a lot of movement before he hits. Yeah. Yeah, I got to Yeah. Got to come like he's warming up his body. Oh my god. Sit. That hole. That's straight downwind. That is a bomb. >>

the green? No, there's some crap over there. There's a little creek and like stuff that comes out over there. You're the dog. You're the dog we've been needing. >> [laughter] >> You're the dog. You guys really could capture the Indian market if you let me in the group. You know? I'm trying, man. >> of Indian golfers out there. I'm only got 8%. I can't do it all, man. >> [laughter] >> All right. >> That's a good

warm-up. Yeah. Yeah, that's the This what you guys do? >> the Phelps? Is that what he does? Yeah. Just dive in. There it is. Yeah. Yeah, it's going to be big. Yeah. Hey. It's in play. We'll fix that in post. Yeah. It's all right. Yes. Yep, add a different tracer. Yep. I loved I loved when you hit the fairway. [laughter] I love when you hit the fairway. >> man. Well, that's in the hole. That's his fourth

one one. Get a big hop. That's going to be right up there. Good ball. Wow. All right. So what do we do now? Do I hit my ball? No. No. Okay. Now we go pick it up. Still don't get it. He always hits He always hits Shark's ball. >> Come with me. All right. Come with me. I'll take you where you need to go. We'll just stop the video on my putt. As a reminder, because Samir

sunk that putt, and considering we're only playing three holes, Colin and I have to win this hole in order to tie it up. >> [music] >> Because if we lose, the game is over, and there's no way that we can earn more points than them. Well, one more. One more. One Yep. Yep. No one saw it. No one saw Samir really just flubbing that shot. Oh, yeah. Wow. He's going to pretend like that didn't happen, but

it totally did. Well, Molly. Yep. Yep. Don't even worry about it. Yep. Hey, Samir. Yeah. Is that your second shot? No. Okay. Interesting. I would say nothing. Oh man. All right, straight into the sand trap. That was great contact. Good contact. >> Great contact. Again, this is a very difficult shot in golf. Wow. Go go go go go. Wow. Gosh dang it. See, Samir, that is what I like to say sucked. I know you probably thought

it was good, but >> it was great. I needed to carry like another 3 yards and it would have hit the green. >> I'm in the sand pit. Is that what it's called? Sand pit? Sand pit, the bunker. I'm in the bunker. I want to say it's probably like a 50 or 60% swing for you on this. They have a They're in a great spot here. That is amazing. Oh, what a spin. Great shot, though. Yeah,

that was great. That's like a great feeling. I think I'm going to start golfing. Yeah, he's like annoyingly good at that thing. >> Yeah, he's pretty good at golf. >> Yeah. Yep, that's bad. Actually, might not be bad. >> not bad, right? Your guys' stuff is, I would assume, majority watched on television. Or a high percentage is watched on living room TVs, right? >> Yeah, that's where I think like 70% of our viewers come. 70% of

your viewers come from a connected TV. And they're probably watching for All right, Garrett told us they're watching for 50 minutes on average, right? So like They have a little reality TV. It's a reality show, right? Yeah, they're watching a reality show. Pretty much. If you watch any of Good Good's videos, you'll realize that they are really long. Just in the past week, they uploaded over 7 hours worth of video. And all of this available time

is another one of the keys to why Good Good has been so successful. In a world where so many videos are being uploaded every single day, if you want to build a deep connection with an audience, you need to give them more time that they can spend with you. It's a large part of the reason that streamers are some of the most influential creators on the internet today. With that in mind, as we look to the

future of what happens on this platform, like the obvious thing is it's going to move in the direction of where TV was. The Sharpen Samir podcast. >> Samir's so talkative, >> [laughter] >> and I guess so is Sharpen. So it's like I mean, I guess that's a pretty good trait to have for y'all's show. One of us has to be, >> [laughter] >> like it's a talk show, so. And we've got Sharpen, he's our talkative one.

>> Yeah, you got to have him. I'm I'm the Colin. I'm like the editor, right? >> [laughter] >> Truly, I I just I don't know how I ended up on camera, but I don't even know who I I'm just Bobby. I come out here and golf, [laughter] dog. Yeah, we don't just come and I don't think we have a Bobby. When did you get the Good Good tattoo? Uh which arm is it on again? I probably

got this 2 and 1/2 years ago. 2 years ago, 2 and 1/2 years ago. How has Good Good changed your life? Like so much so that you got a tattoo on your arm. It's changed my life in so many ways. I mean, I don't know if you know anything about this, but I got sober 7 years ago. >> watched your um like hour-long video. I said it during the recording that I got like I went down

a rabbit hole and ended up on your channel. Yes, sir. Not the whole thing, but I watched a long part of it. I give you a lot of credit for that video, man. It's not easy to do stuff like that. >> There were a lot of people I looked to that helped me out through those times where I did have some struggles with Tourette's and everything around that, then drug and alcohol addiction. And I'm like, if

those people were lucky enough to give me so much light and hope when I was in those points, I'm blessed have a platform I can be that person to someone as well. The biggest thing for me is after putting my parents through all that stuff with drugs and alcohol and everything, I just want to make them proud. That's the biggest thing Good Good's given me is this platform and everything. My parents love that I get to

travel the world. It makes them proud. >> That's awesome, man. Yes, sir. That's so cool. I appreciate you. >> You guys are like you represented well, man. Thank you. Like all you guys. It's fun to watch. >> Thank you, brother. All right, here we go. Samir just gave me a look like, "Hey, man, I'm trying to make this putt." I mean, if they miss, y'all got a chance to tie it up. >> Yeah. Unless Samir just

drops this again. It's okay. We Oh, what is that? I think it helped you. Hate to see it. Dang it. With those two missed putts, this was our chance to tie it up and go to a third hole tiebreaker. This one is going to break a little bit to the right again. It's downhill. It's going to be quick. It's going to be very quick, not uphill like last time. So don't send this one, okay? Uh-oh. Do

it. Do it. >> [screaming] >> Let's go, baby. Are you kidding me? Let's go. Brick. What a putt. All right. All right. All right. He's calling, baby. Wait, we're all square? Yeah, we got to finish this out. He's figuring out. I'm getting worse, he's getting better. Yeah. I'm proud of you. That's a freaking putt. Are you kidding me? Colin and Samir are making putts out here, man. All right. All right. All right. I didn't even know

how to celebrate. I was like, "How do you do this in golf?" It's good man. You're an athlete. Literally. Dude, that was classic. Which way are you and Samir? He made a 9-footer. That was like a 25-footer. That was wild. See what I mean? That's like with golf, like when that happens, you like that is like you want to come back so much. >> You also You're chasing that just like And you forget you're filming. And

I think that's the important thing. 100%. Our best episodes of our show are when you totally forget there's cameras on. 100%. Hopefully you guys have made some putts. All right. So now we're in like real competition. Yeah, now now it's like Our last hole. All right. Everything we've done doesn't matter. Yeah. Okay? Now we got to like lock in it's a par three, not very long, the wind's in our face. Leg will right there coming in

hot. Got to lock in. This is where the stakes get high. This is where the stakes get high. Cue the music. Bobby, how far did you say it is? Uh from these tees it's probably about 120 125. >> we going? Right here. Right there? Yeah. Samir's looking out here like What kind of course is this? I'm just trying to get there. Yep. You guys got honors. It's like mini golf. Sometimes the par three is the hard

ones though. This is mini golf. Yeah, for some reason it's more nerve-racking when you know you could get it there. Yeah. Yep. Okay. This guy can swing it. He can. Great shot. Your swing this generally Wow. just super impressive. >> swinging. He is just getting better. >> yeah, I'm getting better by the second here. >> like that. Luckily it's the last one so he's done. Honestly I I really think I'm going to start golfing. This is

so fun. How you said you played lacrosse, right? >> Yeah. It's the exact same kinetic chain just different plane. I did too. Yeah. >> [laughter] >> You were the attackman though, right? So you just shot. So it makes sense. >> scored goals. >> Yeah, exactly. All right. >> walked around and did nothing so actually you're you know what we're done talking to you. Get out of it. Wow, calling. Be good. So that's how hard you're trying

to hit it? Yeah, it's got to go. Let's go. >> What a shot. That's a shot. >> god. Yeah, that's uh that's what I like to call a golf shot. Lot of wind. Yeah. This shot ain't easy, man. Oh, wow that was great contact. Okay, let's go on the other way though. >> That's gone though. That's gone but it kicked right somehow. >> Yep. Yeah, kicked right on that hill anybody. All right, no pressure Sharf. Let's

go. Great swing. Sit down. Sit. >> Hit a brick house. Sorry Samir. Ooh, I listen. back. We're good. We're good. We're good. It's all good. So here's how it goes, right? They they miss, you get a shot. We get it we get it they'll make par we get a chance to get up and down. Anything could happen, especially today. Today something's in the air I can feel it. We're not in a great spot. Yeah, stand just

a little closer to it. Yeah, get your feet closer. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Let's make this man look like a golfer. That's okay. It didn't count. It doesn't count. Oh, you just hit behind it, honestly. That's okay. You just hit behind it. I think that would have actually went in the hole. >> That would have gone in the WHAT ARE YOU LAUGHING AT? HUH? That would have gone in the hole. Yeah. Every shot he's hit would have

been in. Oh my, no. Samir, I bricked it up. Why did that come out so All right. All right, we're good. We're still good. We could still win. Could still technically win if they somehow three putt from there. Technically we could still win. If they three putt from there. Got to drain it. Yep. Just think about hole one, baby. Think about hole one. SIT HIT THE HOLE. WOW. >> WHAT A PUTT, DUDE. >> That was tough

to watch. Don't do it, Sharf. They don't want me to do it. Oh my. Dang it, I got scared of you hitting it long and I got scared of hitting it and now I got scared of everything. Stay up. Stay up. Wow. Great putt. Are we still in the game? No, they won. We're not in the game. No, they they're I mean they have to tap in for par and we lose. But they haven't tapped it

in yet. I mean if they miss that >> I'm just saying they haven't like how are we so sure that they're going to make it? All right. Now the game's over. Everybody good? All right. It's over. It's over now. Everybody good? Gosh, dang it. The last reason that Good Good has been so successful [music] has to do with their business and what we call content product fit. It means that all of the products that they sell

to their audience integrate seamlessly into all of their videos. And their apparel and equipment line has become incredibly successful. Most importantly, it has allowed them to decouple their views from their revenue. So they don't have to reach a ton of people, they just have to reach the right people. And they can focus on serving their audience rather than serving the algorithm. Show's how you wrap up a Good Good. All right. Well, that's going to wrap up

the video. Hopefully you guys did enjoy that. That was honestly a lot of fun. Honestly having Colin and Samir out here playing it was a lot of fun. Colin and Colin did take the dub. Almost had back-to-back birdies so that was really fun to watch. Samir, he drained a birdie putt out there as well. We were close. >> We were close. >> But yet we lost and now we have to sit with that for the rest

of our lives. Do you understand me? That's right. So we play again? That's how we play again. But seriously that was Yeah. Rematch coming soon. Maybe some more holes, a lot of fun. Colin, Samir, you guys are awesome. Hope you guys did enjoy. We'll see you next time. Subscribe. Peace. Thanks to Good Good for having us out on the course and thank you again to Shopify for sponsoring this video. Click the link in the description, you

can get a free trial. Also, if you want to enter the giveaway [music] remember comment below either team Colin or team Samir. Now if you don't win, you can still purchase the Press Publish times Good Good bundle also linked in the description.