LeBron James’ latest decision is in:
He’s joining YouTube Golf.
Yes, we’re serious. James’ first YouTube video is live as of 10 a.m. ET on Saturday, Aug. 14, kicking off a golf-centric channel chronicling the journey of new obsessive.
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In some ways, James’ debut video echoes any other buddies’ trip: it’s an epic reunion of old friends in an epic new place, in this case Castle Stuart in Scotland. The difference between his buddies’ trip and yours, though, is that this is a reunion of the 2016 NBA Champion Cleveland Cavaliers. Their collective presence is a reminder of James’ basketball greatness — you’ll recall that 2016 team came back from 3-1 down in the finals to upset the Golden State Warriors — but their chosen reunion activity is a reminder of their shifting priorities: It’s golf season all the time now.
The video, which features James alongside former teammates Kevin Love, J.R. Smith, Richard Jefferson, Tristan Thompson and Channing Frye, was released on James’ inactive-until-now personal YouTube channel, @LeBron. The plan for the channel, per James’ team, is a golf-themed video to be released every month, showcasing James’ journey with the sport, a mix of golf talk, competition, off-course adventure, local culture, food, wine and more.
So — why do this now? James just signed with the Philadelphia 76ers and is gearing up for his 24th NBA season. He’s an all-time great putting the finishing touches on an unparalleled career. Why put himself through the wringer, publicly, in a secondary sport where he’s a beginner?
I briefly exchanged messages with James, who was gearing up for a trip but wrote there was “so much” that he’s grown to love about golf.
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“It’s unbelievably challenging, but it’s also an escape. It brings me a sense of calm while also fulfilling my drive for competition. I’m just mad it took me 40 years to find it,” he said.
It wasn’t until I checked his Instagram on Friday that I learned his trip’s destination: Bandon Dunes Golf Resort. (He posted a photo from No. 3 at Bandon Trails.)
As for what he hopes people will take away from his channel?
“I hope people will come along for the ride and just feel the sense of joy and all the fun we’re having out there,” he said. “This is about my journey of falling in love with golf and you’ll see the good, the bad and the ugly. It’s a steep learning curve, but I’m loving every bit of it.”
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THERE WERE PLENTY OF SIGNS that this was coming.
There was James live-tweeting Tommy Fleetwood’s run at the Tour Championship, his first victory, last August.
There was James telling reporters that he was the wrong guy to ask basketball-related questions, given his preference for golf on YouTube instead.
There was James locking in to the Masters this spring.
There was the way he reeled off YouTube’s main characters — the Bryan Bros, Grant Horvat, Bryson DeChambeau, etc. — like they were his teammates. There was ample evidence that he watched last year’s Internet Invitational. And when he made his YouTube Golf debut alongside Robby Berger and the Bob Does Sports crew, he greeted each member of the crew by name. He knows this world already.
James isn’t pretending he’s a pro; he just started playing last year, and at last check he estimated his handicap in the 20s. But it’s clear from this first video — like his yelling “pace of play!” at his teammates as he hustles them off the tee — that he’s already picked up on plenty of golf culture.
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Berger, who says he regularly corresponded with James about his videos, couldn’t believe how down-to-earth he was when they played that first time.
“He really is probably the most criticized, speculated athlete I think of our time,” Berger said. “A lot of people are either on one side or the other with him. But he’s a family guy and he’s a big kid. He just loves to have fun. He loves to mess around. He’s a huge jokester.”
That’s likely the side of him James would love the public to see, too.
JAMES’ MOVE TO YOUTUBE IS FUN. BUT IT’S ALSO the collision of several broader trends.
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There’s the ongoing golf boom. James is hardly the only person new to the game; golf participation keeps setting new all-time records, breaking those records and then breaking them again continuing an upward trend that began in 2020.
There’s a wave of top athletes all obsessed with golf. Think Mike Trout or Carlos Alcaraz or Josh Allen or Lando Norris or Caitlin Clark or Harry Kane or dozens and dozens of others, not to mention the retired greats — Roger Federer, Tom Brady, any ex-NHL player anywhere — who have caught the bug.
There’s been a trend towards golf on YouTube; over the last several years James’ new peer group has been racking up millions and millions of views and stacking up subscribers. This is big business.
There’s also a trend of athletes continuing to own and expand their media presences, even while still active; this is the era of the player podcast — James has been there, done that — and this feels like an extension of the same idea.
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We have seen active pro golfers build out their YouTube pages, like DeChambeau, Tommy Fleetwood, Jason Day, Padraig Harrington and more.
We’ve also seen pro athletes dip their toes in the YouTube Golf world, like the NFL quarterback scramble or Tom Brady taking on Morgan Wallen.
But we haven’t seen an athlete in LeBron’s tier of celebrity (are there any?) take this deep a plunge until now.
The good news is he won’t have any trouble finding help.
“He’s the most unbelievably gifted athlete … but it doesn’t look like it when he’s on the golf course,” said Rory McIlroy with a laugh. “I’d love to give him a lesson.”
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Perhaps a sign of things to come.
THERE IS, IT SHOULD BE SAID, a timeless quality to James’ obsession, too.
There’s nothing new about athletes playing golf. Just ask Babe Ruth or Ty Cobb. (As Ruth told a New York reporter in the late 1930s, “I played 365 rounds last year. Thank God for whoever invented golf.”)
More to the point, ask Michael Jordan. James passed Jordan on the all-time points list back in 2019. It’s unlikely he’ll ever catch Jordan, an all-time golf obsessive, in total holes played.
On the other hand, as of Saturday, James has passed Jordan — and Ruth, for that matter — in YouTube subscribers.
You can become one of them here.
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