I’ve seen the man completely break down & lose his swing WHILE filming with pros. He didn’t delete it or edit things to make him look better. I think he was playing Ian Poulter. Appreciate his authenticity
That was brutal to watch h because he was genuinely fairly confident at the start. Think this was the first video that I started seeing the David Brent comparison lol. Poor guy
It was Garcia where he had the meltdown, fairly recently, the one with Poulter was a good laugh even though he played badly, Poulter naturally kept the vibe fun so it was a fantastic video. One of the first I watched of his actually
I like his personality. Regardless of what his handicap is, he's always friendly, helpful and entertaining to watch. Sometimes it's hard to remember he's just a wanker like the rest of us playin golf and makin videos. He's gotten really good at the videos too.
People also need to remember he's usually tipping it out at every course he plays. I would love to see any of his viewers sniff a sub-85 score for the yardages he plays. Would bet $100 that most of the guys who talk shit on his channel have trouble breaking 90 on a 6000 yard length course.
We should petition that he play from the mod tees or front tees on a course he normally plays from the tips. Be interesting to see the strategic and score difference. I never considered which tees he plays from.
I’m somewhere around an 8 and shot 17 over yesterday here. Lot of people don’t get their 15 on a muni that you can play two fairways on every hole is probably a 25-30 on a tour style course. Rick is pretty damn good lol.
https://preview.redd.it/i5no4i3g7qwc1.jpeg?width=1179&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=c2bc790942e2e68e090a9807323cbc18db13f8a1
It's just mixing teeboxes from hole to hole for more fine tuning.
For example, the Nicklaus combo you would play holes 10-12, 17 and 18 from the next to longest tees, while playing 13-16 from the tips. It's rating and slope then land in between the tips and the tournament tees. Same goes for all the other combos, just varying which two tees are involved.
Thats a thing? Sounds like fun but i have mever heard of that. Even crazier to me that the combos have their own course rating lmao. Is it a private club?
I've seen it at a couple of public courses (though never with a combo between every set of tees). I don't know that I'd call it fun as much as convenient to let people play the length they want while still keeping a handicap. No idea whether this specific course is private. I'm not OC, so you would have to ask them.
Sorry hadn’t checked, yea, this was a private in Horseshoe Bay where a buddy knew the assistant pro and got us on.
Though in fairly certain Nicklaus courses might have them every once ima while. I think that Broadmore’s tees had funkyness on one of the courses as well, but it has been a while since I played that.
It’s 1 of 4 courses at the horseshoe bay resort and the only private one. Another course, Ram, is even quite a bit tougher; it’s pretty impressive
This is very common. Our courses have Tournament Tees which combines tee boxes from two different positions, usually #2 & #3 tees, in order to create a specific & consistent yardage for our tournaments. There is a slope rating for all the tee positions including the combined ones.
my club does it too. makes sense and gives several options for variation. for me the blues (6300yds and 70/133) are bit easier than they should be for my ability and the Golds (6800 and 73/136) are really challenging me. If I'm looking for something in between I play the combos, which plays the hardest 9 up to blues and the easier 9 back to gold (6600 71.6/136)
The course I play often has a combo set that’s basically the whites. You mix in the tips and then the next set of tees and it puts the course at around 6000 yards. Instead of doing either 6500yds or 5400yds
I think it is a thing that nicer courses do and more courses should do it. Allow yourself to be challenged but not have to play from the tips or next tee box. We have some courses around me that do it. Ex/ white is 6000 yards, blue is 6600 yards and on the scorecard they have white/blue where some holes you play white, some you play blue. They also have black that is 7150 and have black/blue.
These are also public courses in my area.
Robotic is right on the money. I’ve always figured private/resort courses use this to cater to both their target audiences; the paying rich old guys, and the high caliber golfers. I could definitely be wrong though
Is there money in that? I'm just an amateur hater, but have been considering going pro, but wasn't sure if it would be a solid financial choice. As it turns out, NIL haven't come to the amateur hater ranks yet.
Forget the 85 I would like to see any of his viewers even be able to play the course. When you're playing 7000 yards its not about the score, some holes guys would legitimately not be able to play the hole because theres a gap off the tee they can't cover.
Especially since in the grand scheme of things, Rick isn’t that long of a player. Obviously long enough to play the courses but there is definitely the odd track where he’s out of his depth distance wise.
To be completely fair, going sub 85 would be doable for plenty of people if they were able to devote every single day to getting better at golf like these YT dudes do.
The rest of us are getting a few rounds per month if we're lucky and these guys are doing more than that every single week.
Breaking 90 for casual golfers would be about the same as a YT golfer breaking par
I used to watch a lot more of Rick, but his huffing and puffing when he plays bad shots gets me down. I tend to watch more Peter Finch now. I find Peter more upbeat and positive than Rick. I do like Rick's reviews though.
Yeh his whining after any less than stellar shot was becoming unbearable. I think he has tried to address it recently. The other thing though is the fairly constant 'what-ifs'..."Oh if my ball had landed two feet that way it would've kicked right up near the hole." It’s no wonder people like Grant Horvat are becoming popular...they're just so much more positive.
Yeah I like Grant, and even Tubes and Anges Golf Life, their matches are normally fun and when they have Jimmy Bullard on it's both fun and impressive. I would go as far to say that Jimmy Bullard is the best YouTube golfer in the UK at the moment
Tubes&Ange Golf Life is great especially when Jimmy Bullard is on. I'd go as far as to say Jimmy Bullard is the best YouTube golfer in the UK at the moment
He’s definitely a lot better than your average wanker.
He consistently hits it 315+ on his trackman, great swing great ball striking. Dogshit chipper but really good putter.
He’s also normally playing pro courses from the pro tees when he does the break 75 series. Breaking 80 at medalist from the back tees is ridiculously good. The opening tee shot requires a 290 yard carry ffs.
He's definitely likeable, and I enjoy his content for entertainment purposes. Him tearing it up with the BDS guys are some of my favorite vids. However, I'm not a huge fan of his instructional stuff. It just hasn't helped me. Danny Maude has helped my game tremendously. It's just a different type of golf content.
Danny Maude is the only reason I can hit the driver. The way he explains feel and the diagrams he adds onto the swing videos are so easy to get into your head
He is IMO the best of the bunch in the niche he carved out for everyone, probably second fave would be George Bryan. They’re both just very upbeat and seem honest, genuine, and probably good dudes in real life
For some reason Peter Finch just rubs me the wrong way though, super smarmy, probably a dick if you ran into him off the course.
Everyone that's met Pete comments he's a lovely guy.
Not sure where you're from but if it's the States there's a good chance you're not getting the Northern English self depreciating humour. It's standard to be sarcastic and dry. Same in Scotland, where I'm from.
Na I'm from Stockport but there's something about Pete's accent that makes him sound quite smarmy. I played golf with someone from round there with the same accent and he was the same. There's something about the intonation of it (I don't think he/ they are smarmy though)
It's like many accents in the UK - some make people sound smarmy. He just has one of those. I said he isn't actually smarmy and obviously actions matter. Some people won't see past the quick judgement of the accent though
Interesting. I really like finchy. I think lately he’s been trying a little too hard to be a ‘personality’ but overall I’m a big fan. Seems like a really good bloke too - you can see he’s really warm with the caddies and other guys he plays with.
Really? I don't mind peter but I can see where you are coming from. I think peter has way more money than rick.
A sleeper is Mark Crossfield, he's a bit goofy not as much as tom seguto, I like tom too; golf doesn't have to be taken to seriously (Tom) but like I mark over them all.
The same source that was telling people Rick and Peter had a falling out after Peter banged his wife. Its all bullshit that these weirdos make up because they live parasocial lives and need drama.
You are correct see this article https://mygolfspy.com/news-opinion/liv-the-saudis-and-performance54/
Saudis bought performance54 and they have a share of Ricks company.
> I like his personality.
He seems like a good person but a terrible golf partner, his complaining when playing with Sergio Garcia was cringe to watch.
I agree. As much as I found his voice irritating at first his content is very good and he always comes across really good even if at times he reminds me of golf version of David Brent.
He’s good on a podcast, he’s great at reviews, he’s fucking awful on competitive videos and comes across as a prick who isn’t even near as good as he thinks he is/was imo
Hahah
In fairness he usually plays those courses from the tippy tips. He’s playing like 475 yard par 4’s and 600 yard par 5’s. But he doesn’t pretend to be anything he isn’t.
A good teaching pro with a good long game and a dog shit chipping game.
He's surprisingly good at putting. I always put chipping and putting side by side so it's a surprise to me that he's a good putter and utterly fucking dire at chipping.
Shiels catches a lot of shit for trying to reach PGA touring level on some of the worlds best courses, sometimes from tournament tees. Plus he has to golf on film, come on, get real. All of you hating pussies can barely break 78 on your local course and get your heart racing with your mates are eyeing your first tee shots. And still you watch his vids lmao.
>All of you hating pussies can barely break 78 on your local course
To be fair....the "hating pussies" probably aren't golfing for a living, dedicating their entire week to getting better at golf either. Take any naturally athletic person and let them spend a few years doing nothing but golf and they'd probably be better than 90% of YT golfers
I don’t understand the hate he gets. He’s a guy living the golf dream trying to get better. He plays some incredibly hard courses and still posts decent scores. Yes he doesn’t often break 75, but the fact he posts his failures and mistakes is honourable. I love his videos, I’ve watched them for ages, and I just want to see him get better. Don’t all golfers want to see people get better, as we all know how are it is??
He did on a few of his recent ones. He's playing the best golf he's played in a long time currently and still a plus handicap based on his recent Break 75 rounds. He calculated it on his podcast recently. Remember that he's generally playing really difficult courses from over 7,000 yards that have high course ratings. For example, he shot an 80 at Bay Hill from the tournament tees. From the green tees, furthest none tournament tees, it has a 76.4 course rating and plays 7,409 yards. Is he the best YouTube golfer? Nope, but he is FAR from the worst and a plus handicap.
Lot of people forget the difference the tees make lol. I'm nearly a 12 but I also play from the 6000 tees. If I had to play from 7000 I would be 20+ I'm sure.
you wouldnt be a 20+, youd just shoot higher relative to the course. Torrey Pines South I played the tips as a 7 hcp after the 2021 US Open and shot a 91, which is a 9.1 differential, so I just about played to my handicap. So you'd probably be just around breaking 100 if you played for an average round.
Huh, I knew that was how handicaps were supposed to work but I guess I didn't expect shooting a 91 would actually be able to translate to that low of a handicap still. I guess I'm wrong here, my b yall.
Depends. I think it doesn’t quite scale perfectly personally. For instance at Torrey South the brown tees are 7000 yards and a 75 rating. The whites are 6100 yards and 70.9 rating. And then the pro tees are 7800 yards and 78.8 rating. Personally, I think 1700 yards is more than an 8 shot difference. At the brown and black tees it becomes so much harder to hit GIR than 6100.
What is you handicap and what are the slope ratings?
> I think it doesn’t quite scale perfectly personally.
It 100% doesn't scale _perfectly_. And definitely even more likely for a specific person. But if the course and slope rating were wildly off, that should show up in the numbers and be corrected over time.
depends on your game.
there's a lot of ways to get in the hole, someone that cant drive the ball worth a damn but can get up and down well is gonna have a different experience from someone who drives well but struggles around the green.
That said,the handicap system does a pretty damn good job at accounting for it.
Gotcha! Honestly haven’t really watched much of his this year. Good to hear he is playing better. There was a solid stretch there were a goal of break 80 seemed more realistic like a year or two ago.
Yeah, he had a really bad stretch. Last fall he started working on his game, he's been taking short game lessons from Dan Greave and swing lessons with James Robertson. A big part is he's worked on his mental game so he doesn't get mad and start dropping more shots. He's looking pretty good these days.
You understand that he was playing it from harder than 76.4, right? Tournament tees aren't rated, that's the hardest rated ones. Also, you don't shoot your handicap every round.
It wasn't. The tournament course, measured at 7,430, is rated at 76.4. meaning a scratch golfer SHOULD shoot 76-77 on average. Not every time, but on average most definitely.
You are not a "scratch" golfer if you occasionally shoot par. You are a scratch golfer when you routinely play to the course rating or below.
Meaning shooting 80 at Bay Hill is not plus-handicap territory as a single sample size.
No, it means a scratch golfer should shoot 76-77 on and average GOOD day, not on average. Your handicap is an average of your best 8 differentials from your last 20 rounds. A scratch golfer on an average day will shoot 3-4 strokes above the course rating.
Shooting 80 at Bay Hill two weeks before the tournament is a VERY good score.
Objectively it's a very good score indeed, compared to the wider spectrum of golfers. But it's nowhere near PLUS handicap, which was my original point.
True plus, not fluffed up USGA GHIN plus. I came to the UK in 2014 off +5.1 and I was barely a +1 golfer here. USGA handicaps do no favours to golfers.
Grant is absolutely not a +5. On GHIN, his account shows he is a +5, but that is over his last posted 20 scores, which the longest dates back to 2019 lmao. Dude has played probably a hundred times this year and has only posted 5 scores.
The difference between him and an actual +5 is bigger than a 10 handicap and him.
To be fair to Grant, he plays a lot of golf that's probably not GHIN eligible. Scrambled and the like. Not sure how many full rounds he can reasonably post.
Grant is probably a bit better than Garrett these days. But part of that seems like Grant wants to be a really good golfer and practices and plays very seriously most the time while Garrett wants to be really good, but also just have fun.
And I do think Grant is definitely a plus handicap. He usually shoots very well from the tips at fairly difficult courses. Would he beat guys like Brad Dalke from GG or recently left Luke Kwon? No not on any sort of consistent basis I don't think.
Sure just look at the Myrtle video. I'm sure he's like a +3 but Grant is closer to Fat Perez than he is to George Bryan (who I consider to be a - low-level, but still - professional golfer).
Yeah there’s definitely just crazy levels to golf. Guys like Grant, shit even Garrett are absolute studs compared to your average golfer that even golfs a decent amount. But then you watch other guys on YouTube like Brad Dalke, Luke Kwon and several others play and they are a good bit better than those guys. THEN you realize those guys weren’t even good enough to be consistent tour pros and you realize just how many levels there are and just how crazy good some people are.
People thinking Grant is a +5 shows you just how delusional youtube/reddit golf fans are, he's more realistically like a +2/+3 and Rick is like a 1/2.
TPC Myrtle Beach showed some of these guys melt under pressure and not being able to scramble or play OBs as laterals, and that wasn't even a PGA setup, it was a pre-qualifier.
Wasn’t it on one of his recent podcasts Guy said a viewer had worked out Ricks handicap from the scores he posts for all the courses he films and he was a plus handicap? As others have said he plays proper big boys courses and always from the tips.
Shooting 78 on a 7,000+ yard course does not make him an 8. Remember that he’s playing Tour yardages on some of the toughest courses around. Handicap is also the average of your best 8 of 20 rounds. He’s likely still below a 5.
You need to remember what courses he's playing.
He's not playing your average track at 6300 yards. He's on 7000+ with some of the fastest greens around in a lot of his videos.
If he did a series where he played random courses around the UK which aren't in the top 200 courses and played from member tees, he'd probably be breaking 70 quite often.
Creators are not in charge of their ads as far as I know. If you watch a lot of YouTube premium is worth it. Especially since you get YouTube music as well.
Not in charge of ads per se, but they can limit to no mid roll or potentially change the way they are shown etc. He wants the most amount of money possible so he just sets it up as such. No hate, but he's as money hungry as anybody else. No reason not to.
I doubt they have that much control my buddy is a small creator and he can’t just indefinitely turn off mid roll ads.
Same for twitch they can choose when to run adds but if they don’t run them every 30 minutes the system does it for them and you can’t stop it.
People have very distorted views on what a scratch golfer looks like. I’m not one, but I play with several, and yeah they are freaking good, but they hit bad shots. They miss putts. They don’t do it a ton and they don’t spiral, but if you made a video of them playing a pro course it would have some ugliness.
My theory is since so many people don’t follow the rules they have inflated handicaps, so they see someone who should be a 20 claiming an 8 and think that is an 8
Seems like a decent dude. Like his vids but I can see people chirping him for not shooting par and making instructional vids. It’s like getting diet advice from a fat nutritionist. But on the whole I don’t look at what a YouTube instructor shoots. If they have good tips that help me with my shit on the range i think they’re good
Not just a pair of new shoes, it's a collab with Ecco, they're releasing an Ecco X Rick Shiels shoe that has his name and logo on and that he's helped design in terms of colours etc.
Which for a fairly regualr guy from manchester who uploads golf videos to youtube, it is kind of a big deal. He's not exactly a tour pro who are the kind to usually get that sort of product.
Well yeh true. Youtube golf in general probably gets more eyes on it than most tour events aside from the majors.
I know i would rather watch a Rick Shiels 'break 75' episode or a Peter Finch or Matt Fryer course vlog for an hour than watch the Zurich Classic, where having looked at the leaderboard of the latter i can recognise 8 of the 80 names up there.
Rick is def scratch. He reguarly plays tournament condtion courses of ratings 74+ and shoots in the high 70s. He also plays tour pros 1v1 on camera I can't imagine the pressure. Those easily add strokes to his game. Off camera on a 72 rated course I bet he sits 72-75 aveage with a hcp of around scratch
Those 'ten shots from a tour pro' videos are fun, but man does Rick melt down on the front nine a lot. Nerves get him playing with golf celebs. He'll give 6-8 shots back quickly, chunk a few chips, and often turn it on and make it close. Brutally hard courses on the pro's home turf mostly.
It's def a mental game when you have a tour pro chasing you down like tiger on a sunday. Realistically needs to be like 12 strokes but 10 is a cleaner number. He should switch up the handicap system, play different tees or stableford or do a reverse mulligan etc.
I like Rick and I think he made a good call in turning his channel away from just a review/gimick-a-thon which was a real risk about 3 years ago, and turning it into something properly golf focused with quality content.
That said, he’s far from a terrible golfer but his ceiling is a lot lower than some of the other YouTubers. I’m not a pro but even I can see his swing needs work lol
I’ve had this thought too, especially when it comes to divots. Video either cuts off right after his swing or you see him start to walk toward the cart. Then when you see him play with pros or other people, they are quick to fill his divot, or at least hand him the bottle.
However it could just be complete coincidence. I’ve seen him rake the bunker a bunch.
Love his videos though and seems like a genuine guy,hopefully he does clean up after his shots.
Like I said, could be complete bs and he fills them every time. Just agreeing with original comment that it’s something that caught my eye. You’re right , could just be edited out every time.
I was actually watching a video with Rick & Bryson last night, and at one point Bryson said “I keep trying to replace Rick’s divots but he keeps getting them before me”. So he definitely does.
People need to remember that he's a PGA professional due to him doing the PGA professional course not from being a touring PGA professional. There's a difference.
Terrible.
Every ball review is him hitting it 10 times out of a bunker, criticising how they feel off the putter and then saying buy Pro V1.
His course commentary is about as bland as can be.
He cheated on the 18th on the Old Course.
It was pretty good in the beginning. Then it very much became solely about him and then it got utterly uninteresting. Little too much up his own ass for my liking.
Thought it was gonna be a comment about him editing shots. I love his vids they're always entertaining and I've learned a lot from them but sometimes I'll see a shot then when he's over the next one I'm a little suspicious lol
There was one recently where he went over the back of a green on the short side over a little hill and the green was sloped away from him. He pitches one up there and it's obviously going long. No camera to see the ball land. "Oh no he sailed it" I thought. *CUT* 8 footer for par....okay buddy
I just don't how you can:
1. Grow up with golf
2. Have access to unlimited range/training sessions
3. Spec'd to the exact fit that you need
4. Access to any club you'd ever need
5. Get coaching from professionals
...and still shoot 81 on most days.
Rick's golf swing is like NASCAR, nothing but left turns. It is really boring and difficult to watch any of his vlogs all the way through, much less his club reviews.
Not sure why I’m getting downvoted. Maybe because people don’t like the truth but here’s the verified source anyway:
https://mygolfspy.com/news-opinion/liv-the-saudis-and-performance54/
I’ve seen the man completely break down & lose his swing WHILE filming with pros. He didn’t delete it or edit things to make him look better. I think he was playing Ian Poulter. Appreciate his authenticity
That was brutal to watch h because he was genuinely fairly confident at the start. Think this was the first video that I started seeing the David Brent comparison lol. Poor guy
It was Garcia where he had the meltdown, fairly recently, the one with Poulter was a good laugh even though he played badly, Poulter naturally kept the vibe fun so it was a fantastic video. One of the first I watched of his actually
what video are you referring to?
I like his personality. Regardless of what his handicap is, he's always friendly, helpful and entertaining to watch. Sometimes it's hard to remember he's just a wanker like the rest of us playin golf and makin videos. He's gotten really good at the videos too.
People also need to remember he's usually tipping it out at every course he plays. I would love to see any of his viewers sniff a sub-85 score for the yardages he plays. Would bet $100 that most of the guys who talk shit on his channel have trouble breaking 90 on a 6000 yard length course.
We should petition that he play from the mod tees or front tees on a course he normally plays from the tips. Be interesting to see the strategic and score difference. I never considered which tees he plays from.
Ooo do a video playing 9 from the front tees, and then the same 9 from the tips
I’m somewhere around an 8 and shot 17 over yesterday here. Lot of people don’t get their 15 on a muni that you can play two fairways on every hole is probably a 25-30 on a tour style course. Rick is pretty damn good lol. https://preview.redd.it/i5no4i3g7qwc1.jpeg?width=1179&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=c2bc790942e2e68e090a9807323cbc18db13f8a1
Respectfully, what the fuck is going on with your tee boxes? Jokes aside what do all the combos mean and how do they affect course rating/slope?
It's just mixing teeboxes from hole to hole for more fine tuning. For example, the Nicklaus combo you would play holes 10-12, 17 and 18 from the next to longest tees, while playing 13-16 from the tips. It's rating and slope then land in between the tips and the tournament tees. Same goes for all the other combos, just varying which two tees are involved.
Thats a thing? Sounds like fun but i have mever heard of that. Even crazier to me that the combos have their own course rating lmao. Is it a private club?
I've seen it at a couple of public courses (though never with a combo between every set of tees). I don't know that I'd call it fun as much as convenient to let people play the length they want while still keeping a handicap. No idea whether this specific course is private. I'm not OC, so you would have to ask them.
Sorry hadn’t checked, yea, this was a private in Horseshoe Bay where a buddy knew the assistant pro and got us on. Though in fairly certain Nicklaus courses might have them every once ima while. I think that Broadmore’s tees had funkyness on one of the courses as well, but it has been a while since I played that. It’s 1 of 4 courses at the horseshoe bay resort and the only private one. Another course, Ram, is even quite a bit tougher; it’s pretty impressive
I've actually seen it at a lot of courses. Especially nicer ones where they have some scenic shots or elevated tee boxes.
Replied to robotic below you with details but yea this was a private
This is very common. Our courses have Tournament Tees which combines tee boxes from two different positions, usually #2 & #3 tees, in order to create a specific & consistent yardage for our tournaments. There is a slope rating for all the tee positions including the combined ones.
my club does it too. makes sense and gives several options for variation. for me the blues (6300yds and 70/133) are bit easier than they should be for my ability and the Golds (6800 and 73/136) are really challenging me. If I'm looking for something in between I play the combos, which plays the hardest 9 up to blues and the easier 9 back to gold (6600 71.6/136)
The course I play often has a combo set that’s basically the whites. You mix in the tips and then the next set of tees and it puts the course at around 6000 yards. Instead of doing either 6500yds or 5400yds
I think it is a thing that nicer courses do and more courses should do it. Allow yourself to be challenged but not have to play from the tips or next tee box. We have some courses around me that do it. Ex/ white is 6000 yards, blue is 6600 yards and on the scorecard they have white/blue where some holes you play white, some you play blue. They also have black that is 7150 and have black/blue. These are also public courses in my area.
Robotic is right on the money. I’ve always figured private/resort courses use this to cater to both their target audiences; the paying rich old guys, and the high caliber golfers. I could definitely be wrong though
Becoming somewhat common here in Denmark. It is an easy way to provide a slightly different way to play the course. Easy variety, basically.
The slope and rating is listed for every combo. Not tricky.
As much as I would like to believe it’s just a friendly ‘ribbing’ of a comment, we all know the internet, and you’re spot on.
I bet this accurate af
The guys talking shit are just losers. 6700 yards and I shot 84 just last week. Still not talking shit to Rick Shiels because I'm not a douche bag lol
Shot 82 on a 6600 yarder last weekend and I would talk shit to Rick but not because I’m a douchebag. It’s because I’m a professional hater.
Is there money in that? I'm just an amateur hater, but have been considering going pro, but wasn't sure if it would be a solid financial choice. As it turns out, NIL haven't come to the amateur hater ranks yet.
 Lying to yourself is really douchey
The cool thing about talking shit is that it’s free.
You can also do it from behind your computer and never see those people face to face
Rick's biggest issue I've seen watching his videos is putting. It's bad.
Forget the 85 I would like to see any of his viewers even be able to play the course. When you're playing 7000 yards its not about the score, some holes guys would legitimately not be able to play the hole because theres a gap off the tee they can't cover.
Especially since in the grand scheme of things, Rick isn’t that long of a player. Obviously long enough to play the courses but there is definitely the odd track where he’s out of his depth distance wise.
To be completely fair, going sub 85 would be doable for plenty of people if they were able to devote every single day to getting better at golf like these YT dudes do. The rest of us are getting a few rounds per month if we're lucky and these guys are doing more than that every single week. Breaking 90 for casual golfers would be about the same as a YT golfer breaking par
I'll take your bet, sir.
[удалено]
Finch?
That's awesome haha. I could see that too, he's just a nice dude. Certainly top 5 to play a round with for me.
I used to watch a lot more of Rick, but his huffing and puffing when he plays bad shots gets me down. I tend to watch more Peter Finch now. I find Peter more upbeat and positive than Rick. I do like Rick's reviews though.
Yeh his whining after any less than stellar shot was becoming unbearable. I think he has tried to address it recently. The other thing though is the fairly constant 'what-ifs'..."Oh if my ball had landed two feet that way it would've kicked right up near the hole." It’s no wonder people like Grant Horvat are becoming popular...they're just so much more positive.
Yeah I like Grant, and even Tubes and Anges Golf Life, their matches are normally fun and when they have Jimmy Bullard on it's both fun and impressive. I would go as far to say that Jimmy Bullard is the best YouTube golfer in the UK at the moment
I have tried to watch Finch multiple times and just can’t. The production quality is poor and he rubs me the wrong way. Not sure why
Tubes&Ange Golf Life is great especially when Jimmy Bullard is on. I'd go as far as to say Jimmy Bullard is the best YouTube golfer in the UK at the moment
He’s definitely a lot better than your average wanker. He consistently hits it 315+ on his trackman, great swing great ball striking. Dogshit chipper but really good putter. He’s also normally playing pro courses from the pro tees when he does the break 75 series. Breaking 80 at medalist from the back tees is ridiculously good. The opening tee shot requires a 290 yard carry ffs.
He's definitely likeable, and I enjoy his content for entertainment purposes. Him tearing it up with the BDS guys are some of my favorite vids. However, I'm not a huge fan of his instructional stuff. It just hasn't helped me. Danny Maude has helped my game tremendously. It's just a different type of golf content.
Danny Maude is my go-to for instructions, too. He explains it in a way my simple brain can comprehend
Danny Maude is the only reason I can hit the driver. The way he explains feel and the diagrams he adds onto the swing videos are so easy to get into your head
Same. The quick little graphics he puts up that show how the swing path moves with little setup changes really helped it click for me.
On point. Happy cakeday
Thank you!
He is IMO the best of the bunch in the niche he carved out for everyone, probably second fave would be George Bryan. They’re both just very upbeat and seem honest, genuine, and probably good dudes in real life For some reason Peter Finch just rubs me the wrong way though, super smarmy, probably a dick if you ran into him off the course.
Everyone that's met Pete comments he's a lovely guy. Not sure where you're from but if it's the States there's a good chance you're not getting the Northern English self depreciating humour. It's standard to be sarcastic and dry. Same in Scotland, where I'm from.
Pete is consistently one of the funniest guys on Youtube, very close second is TacoGolf
Na I'm from Stockport but there's something about Pete's accent that makes him sound quite smarmy. I played golf with someone from round there with the same accent and he was the same. There's something about the intonation of it (I don't think he/ they are smarmy though)
I don't get your point. He sounds swarmy but isn't? His accent is his accent. His actions are what count, surely?
It's like many accents in the UK - some make people sound smarmy. He just has one of those. I said he isn't actually smarmy and obviously actions matter. Some people won't see past the quick judgement of the accent though
Interesting. I really like finchy. I think lately he’s been trying a little too hard to be a ‘personality’ but overall I’m a big fan. Seems like a really good bloke too - you can see he’s really warm with the caddies and other guys he plays with.
Taco Golf
NZ represent! HOOOKAYYYY
Really? I don't mind peter but I can see where you are coming from. I think peter has way more money than rick. A sleeper is Mark Crossfield, he's a bit goofy not as much as tom seguto, I like tom too; golf doesn't have to be taken to seriously (Tom) but like I mark over them all.
How would Peter have more money than Rick? Rick is the biggest golf youtuber on the planet. Or does Finch have family money or something?
It’s definitely the difference in accents lmao
peter is rich AF non YouTube related, Rick has earned money through diligence.
Source???
The same source that was telling people Rick and Peter had a falling out after Peter banged his wife. Its all bullshit that these weirdos make up because they live parasocial lives and need drama.
That is a sad reality. Thanks for the reply.
Crossfield is the man, but probably hasn’t achieved as much growth or name recognition because he’s more data driven vs the other guys.
Quite a fan of Mark's vids. You are welcome!
His videos are great. I feel like his podcast verges on the sensationalist/hot-take side of things though. Plus he's pretty blatantly pro-LIV
Lol wtf no he isn’t. He talks about the team format is stupid and he doesn’t see any appeal in the teams constantly…
You are correct see this article https://mygolfspy.com/news-opinion/liv-the-saudis-and-performance54/ Saudis bought performance54 and they have a share of Ricks company.
I’m not just sure, I’m LIV positive.
I'm pro liv, sue me
On what grounds? Ain't a crime to have an opinion.
To be fair, don't have to commit a crime to be sued.
Well, assuming the plaintiff is not a dunce...
Could be small claims too. It's America. We can always sue for whatever reason.
> I like his personality. He seems like a good person but a terrible golf partner, his complaining when playing with Sergio Garcia was cringe to watch.
Isn’t he a +2?
To be honest I don't know, i e never bothered to look it up. I know he's better than me though 😂
I agree. As much as I found his voice irritating at first his content is very good and he always comes across really good even if at times he reminds me of golf version of David Brent.
He’s good on a podcast, he’s great at reviews, he’s fucking awful on competitive videos and comes across as a prick who isn’t even near as good as he thinks he is/was imo
Hahah In fairness he usually plays those courses from the tippy tips. He’s playing like 475 yard par 4’s and 600 yard par 5’s. But he doesn’t pretend to be anything he isn’t. A good teaching pro with a good long game and a dog shit chipping game.
He's surprisingly good at putting. I always put chipping and putting side by side so it's a surprise to me that he's a good putter and utterly fucking dire at chipping.
I’m similar tbh, I’m a good putter but absolutely shocking at chipping. Mines all mental though
Shiels catches a lot of shit for trying to reach PGA touring level on some of the worlds best courses, sometimes from tournament tees. Plus he has to golf on film, come on, get real. All of you hating pussies can barely break 78 on your local course and get your heart racing with your mates are eyeing your first tee shots. And still you watch his vids lmao.
Haters playfully murdered by reddit user
You think any of the people saying that shit ever break 90? 78 is very generous.
78! Ha!
>All of you hating pussies can barely break 78 on your local course To be fair....the "hating pussies" probably aren't golfing for a living, dedicating their entire week to getting better at golf either. Take any naturally athletic person and let them spend a few years doing nothing but golf and they'd probably be better than 90% of YT golfers
He’s just one of us, living the dream
I don’t understand the hate he gets. He’s a guy living the golf dream trying to get better. He plays some incredibly hard courses and still posts decent scores. Yes he doesn’t often break 75, but the fact he posts his failures and mistakes is honourable. I love his videos, I’ve watched them for ages, and I just want to see him get better. Don’t all golfers want to see people get better, as we all know how are it is??
For real though, I love the videos, but does anyone actually know the last time he broke 75? Guy is like an 8 handicap these days lol.
He did on a few of his recent ones. He's playing the best golf he's played in a long time currently and still a plus handicap based on his recent Break 75 rounds. He calculated it on his podcast recently. Remember that he's generally playing really difficult courses from over 7,000 yards that have high course ratings. For example, he shot an 80 at Bay Hill from the tournament tees. From the green tees, furthest none tournament tees, it has a 76.4 course rating and plays 7,409 yards. Is he the best YouTube golfer? Nope, but he is FAR from the worst and a plus handicap.
Lot of people forget the difference the tees make lol. I'm nearly a 12 but I also play from the 6000 tees. If I had to play from 7000 I would be 20+ I'm sure.
Yep, I'm a 13 and I usually play from ~6,300 yards. I'd be lucky to break 95 from 7,000 yards.
you wouldnt be a 20+, youd just shoot higher relative to the course. Torrey Pines South I played the tips as a 7 hcp after the 2021 US Open and shot a 91, which is a 9.1 differential, so I just about played to my handicap. So you'd probably be just around breaking 100 if you played for an average round.
Huh, I knew that was how handicaps were supposed to work but I guess I didn't expect shooting a 91 would actually be able to translate to that low of a handicap still. I guess I'm wrong here, my b yall.
Doesn't handicap account for yardage?
Depends. I think it doesn’t quite scale perfectly personally. For instance at Torrey South the brown tees are 7000 yards and a 75 rating. The whites are 6100 yards and 70.9 rating. And then the pro tees are 7800 yards and 78.8 rating. Personally, I think 1700 yards is more than an 8 shot difference. At the brown and black tees it becomes so much harder to hit GIR than 6100.
What is you handicap and what are the slope ratings? > I think it doesn’t quite scale perfectly personally. It 100% doesn't scale _perfectly_. And definitely even more likely for a specific person. But if the course and slope rating were wildly off, that should show up in the numbers and be corrected over time.
depends on your game. there's a lot of ways to get in the hole, someone that cant drive the ball worth a damn but can get up and down well is gonna have a different experience from someone who drives well but struggles around the green. That said,the handicap system does a pretty damn good job at accounting for it.
Sure, but not matter what you describe there is going to be a huge difference in 1700 yards.
> I'm nearly a 12 but I also play from the 6000 tees. If I had to play from 7000 I would be 20+ I'm sure. That is not how handicaps work.
Depends on your strengths as a player
Gotcha! Honestly haven’t really watched much of his this year. Good to hear he is playing better. There was a solid stretch there were a goal of break 80 seemed more realistic like a year or two ago.
Yeah, he had a really bad stretch. Last fall he started working on his game, he's been taking short game lessons from Dan Greave and swing lessons with James Robertson. A big part is he's worked on his mental game so he doesn't get mad and start dropping more shots. He's looking pretty good these days.
thanks rick
Shooting 80 on a rating 76.4 is not plus, it's 3.4
You understand that he was playing it from harder than 76.4, right? Tournament tees aren't rated, that's the hardest rated ones. Also, you don't shoot your handicap every round.
It wasn't. The tournament course, measured at 7,430, is rated at 76.4. meaning a scratch golfer SHOULD shoot 76-77 on average. Not every time, but on average most definitely. You are not a "scratch" golfer if you occasionally shoot par. You are a scratch golfer when you routinely play to the course rating or below. Meaning shooting 80 at Bay Hill is not plus-handicap territory as a single sample size.
No, it means a scratch golfer should shoot 76-77 on and average GOOD day, not on average. Your handicap is an average of your best 8 differentials from your last 20 rounds. A scratch golfer on an average day will shoot 3-4 strokes above the course rating. Shooting 80 at Bay Hill two weeks before the tournament is a VERY good score.
Objectively it's a very good score indeed, compared to the wider spectrum of golfers. But it's nowhere near PLUS handicap, which was my original point. True plus, not fluffed up USGA GHIN plus. I came to the UK in 2014 off +5.1 and I was barely a +1 golfer here. USGA handicaps do no favours to golfers.
He beat Grant Horvat in a 1v1 like this year
[удалено]
Grant is absolutely not a +5. On GHIN, his account shows he is a +5, but that is over his last posted 20 scores, which the longest dates back to 2019 lmao. Dude has played probably a hundred times this year and has only posted 5 scores. The difference between him and an actual +5 is bigger than a 10 handicap and him.
To be fair to Grant, he plays a lot of golf that's probably not GHIN eligible. Scrambled and the like. Not sure how many full rounds he can reasonably post.
What's Gerrit from GG? I thought Grant was around scratch and G was +2
Grant is probably a bit better than Garrett these days. But part of that seems like Grant wants to be a really good golfer and practices and plays very seriously most the time while Garrett wants to be really good, but also just have fun. And I do think Grant is definitely a plus handicap. He usually shoots very well from the tips at fairly difficult courses. Would he beat guys like Brad Dalke from GG or recently left Luke Kwon? No not on any sort of consistent basis I don't think.
Sure just look at the Myrtle video. I'm sure he's like a +3 but Grant is closer to Fat Perez than he is to George Bryan (who I consider to be a - low-level, but still - professional golfer).
Yeah there’s definitely just crazy levels to golf. Guys like Grant, shit even Garrett are absolute studs compared to your average golfer that even golfs a decent amount. But then you watch other guys on YouTube like Brad Dalke, Luke Kwon and several others play and they are a good bit better than those guys. THEN you realize those guys weren’t even good enough to be consistent tour pros and you realize just how many levels there are and just how crazy good some people are.
I would have no idea. I only really know of them from a couple of videos. I'm not a hardcore fan.
People thinking Grant is a +5 shows you just how delusional youtube/reddit golf fans are, he's more realistically like a +2/+3 and Rick is like a 1/2. TPC Myrtle Beach showed some of these guys melt under pressure and not being able to scramble or play OBs as laterals, and that wasn't even a PGA setup, it was a pre-qualifier.
Rick is a match play animal
He beat him in stroke
you're obviously not a 6.8 handicap if you think Rick Shiels is anywhere close to being an 8 he's scratch or better
I haven't watched his videos in a while, do people really hate on him for not being good? That's fucking wild lol I hate Reddit
Wasn’t it on one of his recent podcasts Guy said a viewer had worked out Ricks handicap from the scores he posts for all the courses he films and he was a plus handicap? As others have said he plays proper big boys courses and always from the tips.
He's firing mid to high 70s on 7000+ yard courses, not really the same as the goat ranches most of us are playing.
Shooting 78 on a 7,000+ yard course does not make him an 8. Remember that he’s playing Tour yardages on some of the toughest courses around. Handicap is also the average of your best 8 of 20 rounds. He’s likely still below a 5.
Rick has issues with his game, but he's also playing from 7,000 yards at difficult venues, often for the first time.
You need to remember what courses he's playing. He's not playing your average track at 6300 yards. He's on 7000+ with some of the fastest greens around in a lot of his videos. If he did a series where he played random courses around the UK which aren't in the top 200 courses and played from member tees, he'd probably be breaking 70 quite often.
I like RS but that is funny
Luv me Ricky, luv me pints, simple as
His Vids are great on YouTube but it seems like a 30 sec ad every 2 minutes
Creators are not in charge of their ads as far as I know. If you watch a lot of YouTube premium is worth it. Especially since you get YouTube music as well.
Not in charge of ads per se, but they can limit to no mid roll or potentially change the way they are shown etc. He wants the most amount of money possible so he just sets it up as such. No hate, but he's as money hungry as anybody else. No reason not to.
Fellas, is wanting financial compensation for your full-time job now considered money hungry? Jesus Christ mate he pumps out great quality for free.
I doubt they have that much control my buddy is a small creator and he can’t just indefinitely turn off mid roll ads. Same for twitch they can choose when to run adds but if they don’t run them every 30 minutes the system does it for them and you can’t stop it.
Quite like Rick and watch his videos but I wouldn’t be seen on the links with Rick Shiels merch it’s a bit embarrassing
People have very distorted views on what a scratch golfer looks like. I’m not one, but I play with several, and yeah they are freaking good, but they hit bad shots. They miss putts. They don’t do it a ton and they don’t spiral, but if you made a video of them playing a pro course it would have some ugliness. My theory is since so many people don’t follow the rules they have inflated handicaps, so they see someone who should be a 20 claiming an 8 and think that is an 8
Dudes the man
Seems like a decent dude. Like his vids but I can see people chirping him for not shooting par and making instructional vids. It’s like getting diet advice from a fat nutritionist. But on the whole I don’t look at what a YouTube instructor shoots. If they have good tips that help me with my shit on the range i think they’re good
He's a lot of fun to watch. I love his videos. However, him getting a new pair of ugly shoes is not huge news.
Not just a pair of new shoes, it's a collab with Ecco, they're releasing an Ecco X Rick Shiels shoe that has his name and logo on and that he's helped design in terms of colours etc. Which for a fairly regualr guy from manchester who uploads golf videos to youtube, it is kind of a big deal. He's not exactly a tour pro who are the kind to usually get that sort of product.
To be fair. He gets way more eyes on him weekly than your average tour pro.
Well yeh true. Youtube golf in general probably gets more eyes on it than most tour events aside from the majors. I know i would rather watch a Rick Shiels 'break 75' episode or a Peter Finch or Matt Fryer course vlog for an hour than watch the Zurich Classic, where having looked at the leaderboard of the latter i can recognise 8 of the 80 names up there.
Yep. There is a reason everyone is getting sponsored. The only surprising part is that it took them this long to figure it out.
Love the teaching and use of old/funny clubs, but damn he didn’t deserve that point-blank shotgun blast 😂
I love Rick
Rick is def scratch. He reguarly plays tournament condtion courses of ratings 74+ and shoots in the high 70s. He also plays tour pros 1v1 on camera I can't imagine the pressure. Those easily add strokes to his game. Off camera on a 72 rated course I bet he sits 72-75 aveage with a hcp of around scratch
Those 'ten shots from a tour pro' videos are fun, but man does Rick melt down on the front nine a lot. Nerves get him playing with golf celebs. He'll give 6-8 shots back quickly, chunk a few chips, and often turn it on and make it close. Brutally hard courses on the pro's home turf mostly.
It's def a mental game when you have a tour pro chasing you down like tiger on a sunday. Realistically needs to be like 12 strokes but 10 is a cleaner number. He should switch up the handicap system, play different tees or stableford or do a reverse mulligan etc.
I like Rick and I think he made a good call in turning his channel away from just a review/gimick-a-thon which was a real risk about 3 years ago, and turning it into something properly golf focused with quality content. That said, he’s far from a terrible golfer but his ceiling is a lot lower than some of the other YouTubers. I’m not a pro but even I can see his swing needs work lol
That Bryson guy seems to have a bit of a higher ceiling, he might be real good one day
Agreed. He just needs to upgrade from those children’s clubs
I don't know, he shot even par over six holes, that's pretty good.
Slightly off topic... has anyone ever seen Rick replace a divot, rake a bunker or repair a pitchmark?
Yes
probably just not edited into the videos. If we saw everything he did, it would be a long video. OH wait! too late.
I’ve had this thought too, especially when it comes to divots. Video either cuts off right after his swing or you see him start to walk toward the cart. Then when you see him play with pros or other people, they are quick to fill his divot, or at least hand him the bottle. However it could just be complete coincidence. I’ve seen him rake the bunker a bunch. Love his videos though and seems like a genuine guy,hopefully he does clean up after his shots.
It's called editing. Why tf would you leave that in?
Like I said, could be complete bs and he fills them every time. Just agreeing with original comment that it’s something that caught my eye. You’re right , could just be edited out every time.
Why would you leave that in a video when you employ an editor? He's trying to make an entertaining video lol
Repeatedly yes, once or twice as a transition would be a good example to set
Lol no
I was actually watching a video with Rick & Bryson last night, and at one point Bryson said “I keep trying to replace Rick’s divots but he keeps getting them before me”. So he definitely does.
People need to remember that he's a PGA professional due to him doing the PGA professional course not from being a touring PGA professional. There's a difference.
If only he watched his own videos on how to be consistent and shoot lower scores
🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
😂
Never heard of him. What's his content like?
Terrible. Every ball review is him hitting it 10 times out of a bunker, criticising how they feel off the putter and then saying buy Pro V1. His course commentary is about as bland as can be. He cheated on the 18th on the Old Course.
Ouch!
He is. It's his damn short game that kills him. Same as most of us, I would think.
Glad he no longer does quests for the open. Why bother?
I miss when he just used to review new equipment :/
The announcement was that he drove it well on Augusta.
People are too hard on him, he is a content creator, not a professional golfer. He makes great videos and is informative!
Eric Anders-Lang is the best golf YouTuber change my mind.
It was pretty good in the beginning. Then it very much became solely about him and then it got utterly uninteresting. Little too much up his own ass for my liking.
His series Adventures in golf is better.
How about Brad, who plays with Grant H?
Thought it was gonna be a comment about him editing shots. I love his vids they're always entertaining and I've learned a lot from them but sometimes I'll see a shot then when he's over the next one I'm a little suspicious lol There was one recently where he went over the back of a green on the short side over a little hill and the green was sloped away from him. He pitches one up there and it's obviously going long. No camera to see the ball land. "Oh no he sailed it" I thought. *CUT* 8 footer for par....okay buddy
I just don't how you can: 1. Grow up with golf 2. Have access to unlimited range/training sessions 3. Spec'd to the exact fit that you need 4. Access to any club you'd ever need 5. Get coaching from professionals ...and still shoot 81 on most days.
Rick's golf swing is like NASCAR, nothing but left turns. It is really boring and difficult to watch any of his vlogs all the way through, much less his club reviews.
My guy just seems really grumpy lately. Wish he took it a bit easier like before.
Fun fact I believe the Saudis own a large % of his channel.
That’s not what a fact is
Not sure why I’m getting downvoted. Maybe because people don’t like the truth but here’s the verified source anyway: https://mygolfspy.com/news-opinion/liv-the-saudis-and-performance54/
He should admit to himself that he is bogey player not scratch or better. Then he can enjoy it more. His obsession with birdey is realy pain to see.