The rise of YouTube Golf and setting a new par for the leisure course

YouTube Golf is a recent form of digital leisure in which online audiences stream the content of creators who are driving a new market for a traditional sport. Many professionals and celebrities have joined the various channels, and the scale of audience and fan engagement highlights how different elements of the programmes have been embraced in comparison with established professional golf broadcasts. Crucially, many of the streaming figures, which are often in the millions of online views, are larger than those for mainstream tournaments. This paper provides an overview of the developments in this space that have led to reality-television-style programmes becoming part of the sport’s 2020s audience boom. It also highlights how golf in the YouTube space has adapted broadcast technology and brought players closer to fans, becoming a popular addition to the sport and digital leisure.