- 2 days ago
In this exclusive interview, Neil Tappin sits down with Rick Shiels to discuss, among other things, his plans for the future. He talks about the best videos he's made and the direction he wants to take his video content, including collaborations. We also ask Rick about the best way to get potential ways to get golfers from the range to the course.
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00:00I love when that record button gets hit, that's when I feel like I'm in my element.
00:04And she'll even admit now, back then, she thought, golf? What the hell?
00:09She had an imprint of what golf is. I'd never think again, seven, eight years ago,
00:15would I be going, staying at Robbie Williams' house and playing golf with him.
00:18There was the burn, the Swilkin Bridge burn, only 30 yards in front of him thinking,
00:22don't dunk it in there. Just Tiger, isn't it?
00:24Yeah, fair enough.
00:26Anything with Tiger. He'd quit on the spot if I didn't invite him.
00:32I'm going to have to refer to my notes a couple of occasions.
00:34It's fine.
00:36Okay. Right, Rick, so the idea of the interview is I'm sort of wanting to pick up the story
00:42from the last time that we sat down. It was Trafford Golf Centre.
00:46Yeah.
00:47It was spring, I think it was April 2015.
00:50Okay.
00:50And I read over the feature, right?
00:52Now, April 2015, you and Pete together had combined subscribers on YouTube of 75,000.
01:02You're now at 2.4 million.
01:04Yeah, it's changed a bit, hasn't it?
01:06Well, if I'd have said that to you, you know, in, what, seven years' time,
01:11you'd be at that level. What would you have said, do you think, back then?
01:13Well, I wouldn't have believed you. I think it was very difficult, and it still probably is now,
01:19to pick a number of what's the threshold, what's the ceiling.
01:22Yeah.
01:22And certainly back then, seven years ago, because they would, I'm not sure what the biggest channel
01:27was, it was either me and my golf or Mark Crossfield at the time.
01:32And they were on numbers bigger than us, or bigger than me, obviously, me and Pete had separate
01:36channels and still have. But it was like, what's the number? Is it 200,000? Is it half a million?
01:43Is it a million? I almost wouldn't allow myself to dream that there would be a million subscribers
01:47out there. And now I think, sat here knocking on the door, hopefully, by the end of the year
01:52to get to 2.5 million, you think, what the hell? What's the possibility? Is there 5 million out there?
01:57In seven years, if we sit down again, you know, what could be the number then? It's really exciting.
02:02Yeah. What have been the key moments, do you think, over those last seven years? What have been the
02:07kind of the big things that have helped you to get to the point where you're at that sort of level?
02:13It's sometimes quite hard to identify from your own standpoint, but I feel like we've always
02:20continued to evolve. I think that's the big thing in the content. The content seven years ago is very
02:25different to the content now. And the content next year will be different to the content this year.
02:29So we always try and evolve it. I've strengthened the team, you know, we're up to nine members of staff now.
02:35And, you know, I couldn't do it without them. You know, I'd be killing myself.
02:39Yeah, yeah, yeah.
02:40Back in the day, seven years ago, I was probably a one-man band then. Maybe I had my first videographer
02:45then, actually, an editor. Now I look at it and think, well, actually, we've got a full team now.
02:50It's a full production team. And, you know, taking on the right members of staff, you know,
02:55that's been instrumental. Took on Guy just over five years ago, just in the background.
03:00And taking on more editors, more skilled people. There's a really famous YouTuber called MKBHD,
03:09Marques Brownlee. He's a tech reviewer. And he summarizes it really well. He said,
03:13at the start, when you first start, you're like an octopus with eight arms and you're trying to do
03:17everything, but you're not very good at everything. So over time, you start to chop an arm off and you
03:23give it to someone who's a more expert in that field. So for example, I've chopped an arm off from
03:27editing. I don't know how to edit. People are better than that, than me. I chopped an arm off
03:31for videography. I chopped an arm off for the content ideas and creation. So I think over time
03:38now I know what I feel like I'm good at and allow other people who are much better than me do the job
03:43that they're really good at, that enhances the whole product really. But how important is that,
03:48because the videos still have that kind of organic feel of like, we are following you around and it's not
03:54overproduced and it's not kind of how, is that an important part of the whole thing?
03:58Big time. I love making mistakes and leaving them in and not leaving them in, that's just natural.
04:03It's what we, what happens if I hit a terrible shot, we keep a terrible shot in. You know, and if I
04:08fuff a line or, you know, I don't quite deliver it how I want to, it's okay. Well, I don't want it to
04:13be polished. I don't, I don't want some fancy ND filter and a fancy, you know, color grading that makes
04:19it look less relatable. It almost makes it look like there's a barrier between the viewer and the,
04:25and the video. I do want it to have that nice natural feel. So when I up the production,
04:30you know, cause that's really key because YouTube's got so much bigger in that. You can't have bad
04:35production now. You can't have bad videos or you can't have bad sound and you can't, you know,
04:39all of those things are important. So it's just been an evolution really. But the, the big thing we've
04:46always stuck around that certainly my kind of motto, I would say in life to some degrees
04:50is innovate or die. And I feel like each year I've just tried to keep innovating and doing things that
04:57are different or no one's done before, enhancing the things that we used to do and, and not being
05:03too guided by the audience. Cause I think sometimes the audience, I think if, if the audience could
05:09dictate what the content would be, I'd probably still be at Trafford centre making coaching videos and
05:14doing club reviews where it's like, well, actually we're going to try and give the con the audience
05:19content they didn't know they wanted. Right. Okay. You know, the, you know, the,
05:23whether it's time with tour pros or whether it's, you know, doing this break 75 series or whether it's
05:29testing these illegal golf clubs, you know, the audience wouldn't have known that that was
05:33something they wanted. I think it's a, a quote that Steve Jobs did for Apple, you know,
05:38give the world what they didn't know they wanted. And so that's what we're trying to do in golf,
05:42YouTube content really in a, in a quite a deep, deep way. Yeah. No, but what about
05:48collaborations as well? You've had so many cool, different collaborations with different types of
05:53people from people who are very much a part of the game to people who very much are not part of the
05:57game. What have been the, the ones that you've enjoyed the collaborations that you'd like,
06:02that's something totally different. Didn't expect to be stood here with this person.
06:06Well, there's a number of people, you know, going back to one of the biggest YouTube channels in the
06:10world, Dude Perfect, the biggest sports YouTube channel in the world, 40 million subscribers.
06:15Like, you know, they are literally at the, at the top of their game. I've managed to do videos with
06:20those guys, with, with Robbie Williams, like not to nail you off, but I mean, that, that's an odd,
06:25you know, I'd never think again, seven, eight years ago, would I be going, staying at Robbie
06:30Williams' house and playing golf with him. Yeah.
06:32He want, he desperately wanting to film a video with me. I was, I didn't even take my video stuff
06:37the first time, because I didn't think I'll, I won't make a video. Yeah.
06:40And then he's inviting me down again, said, we need to make a video. I'm like, okay. Yeah.
06:44And Richard Hammond we had on recently. Yeah. Yeah.
06:46Richard Hammond, you know, again, from someone who almost had been quite openly how much he's hated
06:52golf, to have him on a golf YouTube video. Yeah.
06:55And then to be on his channel as well, doing a really fun golf challenge.
06:59Um, you know, and then there's other people in, in the kind of the podcast world that we've had on.
07:03So like, whether it be Bryson DeChambeau or whether it be, um, Victor Hovland or Martin Borgmeyer,
07:10who's the world long drive champion or, you know, some of the other YouTubers that are out in the,
07:14in the world now, like the good, good lads over in America are killing it.
07:18I've always been open to collaborations. And, and I feel like.
07:22I remember that from our first meeting, actually, you telling us that part of the reason that you got,
07:27I think you got past that bit of like, why, yeah, I remember there was a comment in there.
07:32It was like, you started doing it and then Pete started doing it.
07:35And you were sort of looking at Pete going, Oh, I see you're doing it as well.
07:38And then you decided, actually, maybe we're better off kind of working a bit more together.
07:40Yeah. I don't, I've not never had an issue with collaborating with different, um, content creators.
07:48As long as it's just good content. Yeah.
07:50But that's the thing, as long as it's really solid, great content, and I'm sure I've probably missed a handful of names out there.
07:56Is there any, like a handful of anyone that I've really missed out on that list?
07:59Adam Scott, Lee Westwood.
07:59Oh yeah.
08:00Just Adam Scott.
08:01Sorry, Adam Scott, Lee Westwood, Tommy Fleetwood.
08:03Yeah.
08:04Um, Sir Nick Faldo.
08:06Yeah.
08:06You know, it's Tom Watson, Tom Watson.
08:10Um, yeah, it, it, it's been a mix of people in the golf YouTube world.
08:16People in what would be outside of golf, but in the mainstream media.
08:21Yeah.
08:22And then really high profile people in the world of golf.
08:25Yeah.
08:26You know, and I think the audience seemed to really, really love it.
08:30Cause it's like, Oh God, that's, that's like Rick.
08:33Yeah.
08:33The lad from, you know, Bolton.
08:35He's now hitting shots off the roof of the old course hotel, down to 17th green.
08:39Yeah, yeah, yeah.
08:40Um, things are playing the old course in reverse with Tom Watson, or I actually played the old course
08:45in reverse with Minwoo Lee as well.
08:47So it's like really just cool opportunities.
08:49Yeah.
08:50I think sometimes it's probably chats like this or maybe in 20, 30 years when I sit down
08:55and maybe I'm retired, I'll, I'll look back at it and go, I did some pretty cool stuff.
09:01I did some pretty cool stuff back then, didn't I?
09:03Yeah.
09:03I think sometimes when you're living in it, you don't quite fully appreciate it.
09:06No.
09:06Because the next thing's coming up or the next project or, um, the next collaboration or something exciting.
09:12Yeah.
09:13I look forward to in a, in a few years to sit down and everything's documented.
09:18That's it.
09:18Everything's on video.
09:19Yeah.
09:19I can sit back and watch and probably cringe at how bad it was because hopefully again,
09:24we're at a different level in our YouTube journey and to go, yeah, that was, that was pretty cool.
09:30So, so where does YouTube fit in the kind of the whole, sort of the whole range of things
09:35that you want to be involved in that you want to do is, is YouTube very much the number
09:39one thing and always will be, or the, the non YouTube stuff.
09:42There is, there are, we've seen you, you know, at the open doing other stuff outside of YouTube.
09:46Where does it all sort of fit together?
09:48YouTube is the number one.
09:49It's the driver of the ship.
09:50It's the, it's the thing that, that probably excites me the most still, um, as much as we do
09:56have many different assets to the business now, whether it's the podcast or the Facebook page
10:00or other social media or presenting work for me, YouTube is, is what started it all.
10:06And I, and I still think there's huge opportunity for growth and that's a crazy thing to say,
10:11but you know, you read the stats where there's 65 million golfers in the world,
10:15but we're only chatting to a small percentage at the moment in the grand scheme of things,
10:19which is crazy.
10:21I have got other dreams and ambitions I want to do outside of the media world,
10:24whether it's, you know, facilities or whether it's golf courses or whether it's setting up,
10:28you know, the, the biggest, um, amateur golf tour or whether it's setting up, um,
10:35the, the biggest way of getting people into golf, kids getting into golf or, you know,
10:39I've got big dreams and ambitions around that, uh, which will coincide with what we're doing on
10:44social media, but still YouTube is the number one platform.
10:48And what we put currently at the moment, it's still 80, 80 odd percent of our time into really.
10:54Watch this space. I wanted to ask you about the, the reviews channel.
10:58Uh, I know you've already, you've spoken about it on your own, but just give us a,
11:01why did you decide to set up another YouTube channel and focus it on, on club reviews?
11:08Um, the number one thing, I still love testing products. You know, I get,
11:12I get excited about the new product that comes out and I'm sure you guys do, you know,
11:17you guys obviously review products, you know, from every single brand, from every different asset.
11:21And I, and I've thoroughly still want to review the next set of irons or driver or wedges or putters
11:29or whatever it may be. I think the challenge where we've come to at the moment is the main channel.
11:34We really trying to, um, specialize ourselves on, on standout content.
11:38Right. Okay.
11:38Content that makes people go, wow, that was good. That was cool. I really remember that.
11:44And we'll still feature reviews on our, on the main channel.
11:47Okay. So some of the flagship drivers, so like TaylorMade and Calloways and ping drivers,
11:52et cetera, will still feature on the main channel because there's such an appetite for that.
11:56Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
11:58We get sent a lot of products and there is a lot of product that gets released every year.
12:02Yeah.
12:02And I still want an avenue and a space to be able to review that product.
12:06Not too dissimilar to how I used to do it, even in the same, in this room all those years.
12:10Yeah.
12:11Where, you know, I still love the thought and the opinion to be able to give my information
12:16and my, um, feedback and my, my critique about a new set of clubs.
12:22Um, and I, and I think that therefore I still want to be known as a club reviewer.
12:26Okay.
12:26And that's probably got lost a little bit over the last few years because I don't do it as often.
12:30Yeah.
12:31So with this new channel, we can specify just all club reviews that are brand new clubs that have come out,
12:38whether it's irons, wedges, drivers, whatever it may be, we've got a platform where they can all sit.
12:43So if people still want club reviews, there you go. You can, you can have that channel.
12:47Yeah.
12:47You know what you're getting with that channel.
12:48Yeah.
12:49But come to the main channel for some other bits of variety of content as well.
12:53Are you going to be able to fit it all in?
12:54Yeah.
12:54Yeah.
12:55Yeah.
12:55Yeah.
12:56There's way more time we can shoot.
12:57Okay.
12:58Yeah. I feel like, um, we've just take, we've just extended the team even further.
13:02We've just taken on some more videographers because the challenge we have sometimes we're
13:06getting a bottleneck where when things are getting edited, we've got nobody to shoot content.
13:10Right. Okay.
13:11So we're trying to streamline the process now where we can shoot more content.
13:16Um, maybe, maybe more in bulk and maybe more in advance and then it can get edited as we go along.
13:22Yeah.
13:22Which will free me up a little bit as well to actually do other projects that I want to do.
13:26But we've, we've certainly got time.
13:28Yeah.
13:29And I'm, I'm still a million percent passionate about it.
13:32And I, and I, it, what gets me up every day.
13:34My most enjoyable part of creating what I do in a day to day is making videos.
13:40Yeah.
13:40I love when that record button gets hit.
13:42That's when I feel like I'm in my element.
13:44So the more I can do that.
13:45Yeah.
13:45I don't want to be doing emails and boring stuff like that.
13:49I hate any of that.
13:50I hate admin.
13:50I hate, I hate any of the back office stuff, but get me in front of a camera.
13:54And that's where I feel like I, that's my strength.
13:57And that's where I feel like I, I, I enjoy what I do the most really.
14:02Yeah.
14:02And where does coaching fit in?
14:03Is coaching now, there's just no time for coaching to fit in as part of it?
14:07Or do you want to still be involved in coaching somehow?
14:09It, it feels like something's got to give, right?
14:12I don't know.
14:15I would still say, and stats I think would prove this, that I'm probably still the most
14:19watched golf coach on the planet.
14:22Yeah.
14:22And hopefully I still give a lot of my coaching videos that I've done over the last 10 years
14:27are still relevant.
14:29Yeah.
14:29You know, they've not changed.
14:30They're not, they've not aged.
14:32You know, even coaching videos we did six, seven years ago now still get hundreds of
14:36thousands of views every single year.
14:39Because we, we did well back then to shoot it in a way that would last.
14:43Yeah.
14:43You know, we wanted it to be evergreen content and it still is.
14:47Coaching videos will still be a part of the channel and we've got some exciting ones coming
14:51next year.
14:51And I still want to be able to create and I still want to be known as a golf coach as well.
14:55Like that's my passion.
14:56That's what, that's really why I got into YouTube.
14:58You know that story.
15:00And, and, and you know, that's what I still see myself as.
15:03I still see myself as a, well, I wear many different hats, but I still see myself as
15:07a PGA golf professional, a coach.
15:11In-person coaching is the thing that I have to give, which is a shame.
15:16The last place I actually coached was in this room in 2020 in person.
15:21Do you miss that?
15:22I do.
15:23Yeah.
15:23Yeah, I really do.
15:25And I've had a couple of opportunities, like even coaching Richard Hammond on the channel
15:29recently.
15:30And it's things like, you go, you know, I really like this.
15:34And I think I'm really good at it and I really enjoy it.
15:37And I see results.
15:39And I think the main reason why I see results is a lot of the students that come to me,
15:42trust what I say.
15:43Right.
15:43Yeah.
15:44Already.
15:44There's not that barrier.
15:45So that really helps.
15:47Where do you feel about where golf sits in relation to other sports and how it's grabbing
15:52people's attention and the way in which people are interacting with it?
15:55I think that an easy answer to that is golf has become cool.
16:00And I don't think it ever was.
16:01And I think over the last 10 years, but maybe even longer, it's becoming cool.
16:07I remember speaking, I met my wife 15 years ago and when I was chatting her up and, you
16:14know, trying to get things going, she asked, what do I do?
16:18And I said, I'm a golf pro.
16:19And I was an assistant pro at the time.
16:21And she like kind of rolled her eyes.
16:23And when I actually ended up telling her what I did as a living, I work in a pro shop selling
16:28chocolate bars and drinks.
16:30She even more kind of was like, what the hell?
16:32And she'll even admit now back then she thought, golf, what the hell?
16:36Like, it's not, it's not like she had a, she had an imprint of what golf is.
16:41It was flat caps.
16:42It was old men.
16:43It was pipes.
16:43It was plus fours.
16:44It was everything that golf isn't.
16:46Yeah.
16:47Yeah.
16:47But that was her perspective of it.
16:50I speak to her now and I speak to her friends and now I'll introduce myself as a golf pro,
16:55even to people who don't know me from social media.
16:57And it's like, oh wow, golf.
17:00Like, and they have a different opinion of it.
17:02Yeah.
17:03Like they know it's now a lot cooler.
17:04You're getting celebrities getting into golf.
17:06Like some of the biggest names in sports outside of golf are into golf.
17:11Yeah.
17:12Some of the big Hollywood stars are into golf.
17:14Some pop stars and et cetera are into golf.
17:17And all of them posting it on their social media and everything else.
17:20It's made golf cool.
17:22Yeah.
17:22Like golf fashion's different.
17:24We both were sat here wearing hoodies.
17:25We wouldn't have been sat here when we did that interview seven years ago.
17:28Well, I think you're in a shirt and tie.
17:29And a suit, if I remember from memory.
17:31But you know, I think all those things that have made golf
17:35feel traditional and stuck in the past, they're all getting banished.
17:38Yeah.
17:38Places like this where you can come down and we're down at Prairie Sports Village now,
17:42we're driving range where you can go and whack some shots on top tracing.
17:45You can have a beer and you can grab some food and you can hang out with your friends.
17:49It's in a different space.
17:50It's in a totally different avenue.
17:54And as much as I've got no probably hard-hitting facts on this,
17:56and I'm sure you will have more, I've noticed from the type of people
18:00who come and spot me and they've watched the videos, it's a different type of crowd.
18:04It's a different, totally different.
18:06Yeah.
18:06Totally different.
18:07How do we make the most of that opportunity then as a golf industry?
18:12I think there's a massive missing gap in a pathway to get people
18:16getting onto golf courses.
18:17Right.
18:18It's a huge opportunity that needs to be captured.
18:20What?
18:21So it's hard to take them from facilities like this, actually playing golf,
18:24putting a score together and enjoying that side of it.
18:27Correct.
18:27There's nothing in between and I think there needs to be,
18:30and hopefully that's something that I might be able to help with in the future.
18:33But I think at the moment you'll see driving range golfers,
18:36and there are golfers who just play on the driving range.
18:40Yeah.
18:40They've never stepped foot on a golf course in their lives.
18:42You'll get that.
18:43And that's great.
18:44I'm not saying that's a bad thing because at least they're still into golf and participating.
18:48They'll probably say to themselves or their friends,
18:50yeah, I play golf on the driving range, but I play golf.
18:54And then you obviously have your traditional members.
18:56But between here, a driving range or a practice facility or watching on TV or watching on YouTube,
19:02to actually getting through the door of a golf club, it's become easier.
19:05Don't get me wrong, the barriers have started to lift at golf courses,
19:09things like no joining fees and new members incentives.
19:14Yeah.
19:16I don't think it's that.
19:17I think it's the actual golf element of it.
19:20Right.
19:20Like from a driving range to then go and play 18 holes on a golf course,
19:24it's very, very different.
19:25Different thing, isn't it?
19:26Totally different.
19:27I feel like there needs to be much smaller golf courses, a stepping stone from a driving range,
19:32whether you go to a little nine holer that's got massive holes.
19:36Yeah.
19:36You know, or you've got three or four hole golf courses that are just like the normal sized holes,
19:45but you can play them easily.
19:46Yeah.
19:46And there's no dress code and you can just go and have fun.
19:50And that's like, you know, you look around the road now and you see learner drivers.
19:55And with a learner driving, you're patient, you sit behind them, you don't overtake them,
20:00you give them time.
20:01Yeah.
20:03We don't have that in golf.
20:03We need a golf version of that, yeah.
20:05Correct.
20:05We don't have that in golf.
20:06As soon as you step foot on a golf course, you seem to be in, you're now a golfer.
20:10Yeah.
20:10Where people are like, whoa, I don't know what the hell I'm doing.
20:13It's also hard.
20:14Golf is difficult and it's quite easy to lose that fun aspect that you were just talking about quite quickly.
20:18Yeah.
20:18Yeah.
20:19See, again, I go back to the metaverse.
20:21The amount of rounds that we've been playing in the metaverse at the moment are scary.
20:25Like hundreds and hundreds of thousands of rounds a month being played.
20:29Well, what are those people going to get on the golf course?
20:32Because they're not golfers.
20:33Yeah.
20:33How do we get those people on the golf course?
20:35How do we, you know, so it's all, it's, I'd love to give an answer, but I actually don't
20:40think there is one at the moment.
20:41I think there's a massive missing link that hopefully either the governing bodies can
20:45saw or, you know, it takes somebody with initiative or maybe some sort of social media power
20:50that can, that can generate these facilities.
20:54I think that that's what's going to really help it.
20:55Yeah.
20:56I think we'll see a massive, massive change of events.
20:59I think new golf courses will need to be built if we get it right.
21:03Yeah.
21:03So if we're sitting here in seven years time, as we mentioned earlier on,
21:06and you said, I've got some big plans from a YouTube perspective, can you give us an insight
21:10into how you're planning to change things up?
21:12We've got to be better at creating content that is more engaging to watch.
21:18So I think at the moment there's content we sometimes put out and not that we don't plan
21:24it as well as we could do, but sometimes we slightly wing it.
21:27I think in the future, the plan is not to wing it as much and to be able to really put a structure
21:31together and to elevate the opportunities.
21:34So sometimes I get opportunities with tour pros.
21:37I think we do a good job.
21:38I think we could do a better job and I think we could start to create different series.
21:42I think series has become a big aspect.
21:44So I've got my break 75 series.
21:46I've got two or three other series.
21:47I want to try and film next year as well, because it becomes like a storyline.
21:51Yeah.
21:52You take the journey, you take the audience with you.
21:55I think YouTube certainly over the last seven years has all been mainly about standout videos,
22:00like casting the net.
22:02So trying to cast the biggest net you possibly can by these big viral videos,
22:06these one-off videos that might get a couple of million views, et cetera.
22:09Well, they're all well and good, but how then do you bring those golfers in,
22:13those viewers in and watch every video every week all the time?
22:18These series have become much more powerful for us, where they'll watch it regardless.
22:22They'll watch it because they like the series or they like the way it's presented
22:26or the way it's been filmed or the way it's been put together or the opportunities,
22:29whether it's the golf courses or the locations.
22:31So it's just for us, it's better planning, better structure,
22:36and be able to build these kind of franchise series that get people more engaged in the content.
22:41Yeah. So Break 75 is here to stay?
22:43Here to stay. It'll get better. It'll get bigger.
22:45We're going to travel a lot more. I've not been on a plane for three years.
22:48Really?
22:48And so we're going to travel a little bit more.
22:50Yeah.
22:51Just start to, you know, there's very, very, very fortunate.
22:54There's a lot of beautiful golf course in the world.
22:56Yeah.
22:56Like a lot. And, you know, viewers won't get a chance to play them all. They just won't, you know.
23:04So be able to showcase some of those a bit more. I've got a series I want to do next year,
23:07a bucket list series, 10 golf courses, my dream golf courses. That'll be very different.
23:13Again, that won't be so much score related. It'll be like almost a mini documentary of going
23:18and playing Pebble Beach or Augusta, if anyone's watching from Augusta, or Pine Valley,
23:25or Old Melbourne, or places like that, or Cape Kidnappers in New Zealand, you know,
23:30being able to almost take the audience with you. Like, I want them to feel like they're there.
23:35I want them to feel like I've also played it through you, through, you know, through the way
23:40that the video was put together. So, you know, and again, I never want it to have this kind of
23:45layer of glass between the viewer and the content. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
23:51Just trying to improve on aspects like that. Yeah. But normally we try and release upwards of 100
23:56YouTube videos a year, somewhat. I reckon next year I've already got 84 of them planned.
24:01Really? Which I've never done before in my life. Really?
24:03So that's quite, that's quite exciting. Takes a bit of pressure off, actually.
24:06At least a skeleton structure. Yeah. It might change, and it probably will. But there's,
24:14starting last year, I didn't have that idea or didn't have that planning. And with the team,
24:19and with Guy and with the production team we've now got in place, you know, working for me,
24:24it's like, right, we can really elevate this and we can take it to the next level.
24:28And I do want, I want the audience to not notice these subtle changes, but I want them to look at
24:33videos in a year's time and go, oh wow, you know, they're pretty good compared to two years ago or
24:38three years ago. Wow. I didn't notice the change, but there is a difference. That's the kind of goal,
24:44really. Yeah. Very good. Okay. Rick, some quick fire questions for you. Okay. Okay. What's your
24:50most viewed video on your YouTube channel? So how well do you know your YouTube channel?
24:54It's a full bag of illegal golf clubs. Correct. How many views?
25:02I was in between four and five. I only got 4.3. You've underestimated there. It's five and a half.
25:08All right. Is it? Yeah. If you could collaborate with anyone on anything... Tiger. On golf.
25:18I'm just Tiger, innit? Yeah. Fair enough. Anything with Tiger. Your favourite video of yours?
25:26Oddly enough, and it didn't absolutely... There's two of them that I absolutely loved. One of them was
25:31a hole-in-one challenge that I did. It was last year, it was at Portal in Cheshire. 500 golf shots,
25:38trying to get a hole-in-one. And it was probably because it was the most effort I've ever put into
25:41a video, physically. Yeah. And I don't want to ruin it, but we didn't quite get the hole-in-one.
25:48But I just loved the fact that we managed to make a video that... It wasn't original. Like,
25:55this was a European tour rip-off, effectively, and I'm happy to say that. We even said it in the video.
26:01But it was the fact that we managed to produce something that looked so good, and it was so
26:05engaging. And it was so concise. Yeah, it was like... I just thought it was a really well-rounded video.
26:12Yeah. And the other one I really enjoyed was we did range night, a couple of...
26:16Yes.
26:17I don't know. I'll tell you what. No, even a different one to that. We went to a driving range,
26:20a random driving range. We gave a pound per yard each... How far a golfer would hit. And we got one shot,
26:27and it had to be on the fairway. And literally, we went to a driving range. We didn't warn anyone.
26:32I went with a pocket full of money, and we went to an unsuspected golfer and said,
26:37you can hit any club in your bag, and however far you hit it in yards, I will give you the
26:42same amount in pounds. And the reaction of people, certainly in England, they were a bit like,
26:46what? What are you doing?
26:48What's the catch? And there wasn't a catch.
26:50I thought that was one of our most fun to shoot, and different again. We do take inspiration from
27:01videos outside of the world of golf, and try and put a golf twist on it, but it's just different,
27:06really.
27:06Yeah. Yeah. Your favourite video of somebody else's YouTube video?
27:11When Dude Perfect got to play Augusta with Bryson DeChambeau.
27:18Yeah, that was a statement piece, wasn't it?
27:20Yeah, that was pretty good. I was pretty jealous of that.
27:24The best shot you've hit on camera?
27:29There's probably only two, so it's not hard. No, I'm joking. There was one years ago, I played with
27:34Pete at North Hance, and I put my shot in a ditch. And this ditch shot was ridiculously impossible. I was
27:39like really three or four feet down, and no way you've even been able to hit the golf shot. And
27:44somehow I managed to catch it as clean as a whistle and put it to about two foot and knocked it in
27:48for birdie. And then there was another one, actually against Pete again, a golf bidder challenge at
27:53Woburn, where it was neck and neck coming down the last. He hit it down the left in the trees. It's
27:59great. In fact, I was one up, sorry. It wasn't neck and neck. I was one up coming down the last.
28:03I hit my tee shot right. He hit his tee shot left. He played a really, really good golf shot out
28:08the trees to about six foot. I was thinking, oh crap, I'm in trouble here. It's going to be
28:12halved match. I was in the trees on the right, literally had a gap that was tiny,
28:17hit this lob wedge straight through the gap and put it to about this and knocked it in to win the
28:21match. So there's a couple of really good ones there. Both beating Pete.
28:25Both beating Pete. And the other one was, and only because I was the most nervous I
28:30maybe have ever been, when I played with Tom Watson this year at the old course at St. Andrews,
28:36we played in reverse. So he teed off the first tee and we were going to the 17th green.
28:41Okay. So Tom Watson hits this tee shot and I'm walking down the fairway and I've now got to hit
28:45the second shot. We played better, but we played an alternate shots. I'm going to hit the second
28:50shot. Okay. Into the 17th off a tight links turf with maybe 20 or 30 people watching, but more
28:56importantly, Tom Watson watching, right? And I'm thinking, oh my God, just do not. Cause you know,
29:02if you thin it, you're onto the road. If you push it a little bit right, you're in the road hole
29:05bunker. I was even, there was a, there was the, there was the burn, the Swilkin Bridge burn,
29:10only 30 yards in front of me. I'm thinking, don't dunk it in there. And I was only probably
29:14120 yards away, but I just hit this absolutely perfect struck pitching wedge. I think it was.
29:20I'd only put it to maybe 15 foot, but I was like, I could have retired them. I could have just gone,
29:25that's it guys. I'm off. Cause I think my heart was beating so much out of my chest that I was like,
29:31I don't even know if I'm going to be able to hit this shot and to be able to actually execute it to
29:35a level that was respectable. Probably Tom Watson thought it was crap, but at least, at least I felt
29:40like it was respectable. Yeah. Well, the flip side of this is what's the worst shot that you've healed?
29:45Oh God, many. I've topped many, many, many shots. That seems to be my bad one.
29:52Oh, there's, there's so many. Oh yeah. I played at Conway in a break 75 and a par three and I wasn't
29:58playing well. My head was out of it and I hit two massive, massive, massive shanks on a par three
30:04and walked off with a nine and it's on video and it hurts and yeah, there's, there's many of my
30:12followers still remind me of it sometimes. Which is great. Leave some scars, but yeah, no,
30:18what I like about that shows that it's human. It shows that I don't vouch to be an amazing,
30:22amazing player. I can put it round sometimes. Sometimes I'll shoot a million and sometimes
30:27I'll play quite well and, and that's kind of part of the story really. That's kind of part of the
30:31journey. Yeah.
30:31Yeah. Um, you know, it'd be boring if it was, uh, 600 every time. I wish it was 600 every time,
30:38but it'd be a bit more boring. Okay. So your perfect day on the golf course, golf day would
30:43consist of what? Um, a few pals. Right. I've got a group of lads who I play with who are good golfers.
30:52And we'll go out and we'll go and play some nice golf courses, have a few drinks, um, you know,
30:57have some nice food, you know, it's just quite chilled. It's no cameras. It's, it's, um, as much
31:03as sometimes though, I do feel a bit guilty if I play somewhere nice, not on cameras. And I have
31:08this kind of sense of like, maybe I should be filming this, but if I've had a few beers and I've,
31:13you know, I let my hair down a bit more, maybe that's not the footage that should be shown.
31:18But that's, that's where I find myself in my element. I'm quite chilled. I'm quite relaxed and
31:22I don't have to talk and I can just, I can just kind of sink into the group and sink into the
31:27background. Yeah. And, uh, that's kind of my kind of dream there on the golf course,
31:33bit of sunshine, friends, playing with, playing in buggies, few beers. Yeah. It's a nice golf,
31:39nice golf course. That's the kind of dream. Yeah. Sounds good. Um, your favorite tour pro.
31:44Now this is tricky because you've played with a lot, you will have made some friends along the way,
31:49but which, which would be, if you were playing tomorrow with a tour pro, who would you play with?
31:53Um, I'd probably play with Tommy Fleetwood. Oh yeah. Um, I would say Tiger, but I don't
31:59actually know if I'd fully enjoy it. Um, I think Tommy, I'd feel super chilled with him. Like I wouldn't
32:05feel, I wouldn't feel particularly nervous. I'd feel quite chilled. Um, he's just a nice lad.
32:11You've got a four ball at Augusta. Which other three YouTubers are you taking with you?
32:16I would take, it's a great question. Um, the cohost from the number one podcast in golf,
32:24Guy Charnock. I think he'd kill me if I didn't. He'd quit on the spot if I didn't invite him.
32:32I would invite Pete because obviously we've had some great matches and challenges in the past
32:38together. And again, I think he would kill me, but I'd put a ban on cameras for him.
32:42Right. So I could video it. Okay, fine. And, uh, uh, to be honest, it'd be a toss up between
32:50Matt Fryer and Andy Carter, just cause they're my pals. So yeah, I'd probably, I'd probably say,
32:56I, I, this is a good, I'm going to say Carter can play. Matt can carry for me. Cause the last time
33:02Matt carried for me, I had my first ever hole in one. Okay. I'm my only ever hole in one. So yeah,
33:07I think that'd be a nice little group and you know, my five, five pals, you know,
33:11people who I've worked with and people who have, who have, um, create content, but,
33:17and it's the video goes on my channel. That's, that's the terms. That's the terms and conditions.
33:23Perfect. Rick, thank you. No problem. Thanks, Neil. Really good.
33:25Appreciate it. See you in seven years. Seven years. Make a date.
33:30So there you have it. That's our interview with Rick Shields here at Prairie Sports Village.
33:34A really fascinating insight into the sort of thought process of one of the most influential
33:39people in golf. He's come an awful long way over the last seven years. I hope you found that,
33:44that interview enjoyable. If you have, please do hit the like button below, but that's it.
33:48Thanks for watching. We'll see you next time.
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