Just when you thought YouTube Golf couldn’t get more popular, one of the most famous people in the world arrives on the scene.
LeBron James has launched a YouTube channel dedicated to golf. His first video was released Saturday morning, featuring James and his former teammates from the Cleveland Cavaliers 2016 championship team celebrating a 10-year reunion with a round of golf at Cabot Highlands Resort’s Castle Stuart Links in Scotland, which is ranked No. 55 among Golfweek’s Top 100 International Courses.
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The 90-minute video features most of the memorable characters from that Cavs squad, including Kevin Love, Tristan Thompson, Richard Jefferson, Channing Frye and J.R. Smith, who is actually quite the stick (you might remember that he went back to college and played golf at North Carolina A&T after retiring from the NBA). Apparently Kyrie Irving couldn’t make it, though.
The group plays a 3-on-3 match that gets a little heated at times, with James, Love and Jefferson teaming up against Thompson, Frye and Smith. I won’t spoil who wins, but let’s just say there weren’t a ton of darts thrown or birdies made between the six of them. But it sure seemed like they were having a great time, and hey, that’s all that really matters.
Earlier this week, a reporter at the FedEx St. Jude Championship posed a hypothetical to reigning Masters champ and world No. 2 Rory McIlroy: If he could offer a golf lesson to any one celebrity, who would he choose?
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“I would say LeBron. LeBron’s really gotten into golf and he’s the most unbelievably gifted athlete, but it doesn’t look like it when he’s on the golf course,” McIlroy said with a laugh. “I’d love to give him a lesson.”
Judging from his performance at Castle Stuart, LeBron might want to take him up on that.
It really comes as no surprise that James has launched this new channel. The signs were there. The four-time NBA champion and four-time MVP first hinted at his new obsession on the links while speaking to Steve Nash on a podcast last October.
“The [golf] bug is real. I’ve heard about the bug for so many years and I was like, ‘Well, it’s not gonna get me. I don’t like golf at all. Who wants to be outside all day walking around?'” James said. “Nah, it’s real. I am into it. My algorithm on social media, every other post, every other video is some type of golf video now.”
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Since then, he’s made several golf-related posts on social media, installed a simulator in his house and was even featured in a Nike x Beats golf commercial with PGA Tour pro Tom Kim.
It remains to be seen how much content James will be posting on this new channel given the fact that he’s still an active NBA player and a new member of a Philadelphia 76ers team that many believe has the goods to make a title run this season. But it’s certainly clear how he plans to spend his time when the sun finally sets on his legendary basketball career.
Nick Stavas is a digital producer and commerce writer for Golfweek. Follow him on X/Twitter (@nickstavas).
This article originally appeared on Golfweek: LeBron James launches YouTube Golf channel, drops first video with former Cavs teammates
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