Grant Horvat not playing in the Barracuda

[potfh]

3 hours ago, Ferguson said:

We are giving this guy way too much time and effort. A few final thoughts. 

 

What I can't appreciate is that some people  treat him as the Jacques Cousteau of golf.  Let's face the facts - he discovered nothing, he brings nothing new, he offers nothing but time on a video.  That is Value?

 

I guess he could be considered the modern day Pied Piper for high cappers, slicers, pullers, multi-towel carriers, fancy ball mark collectors, visor wearing get food on the turn golfers who want to play better but can't find the time for real instruction.

 

 

Most YT watchers probably have no idea who Jacques Cousteau is.  And why the disrespect for those who wear visors?  
 

I had never heard of Grant Horvat until this thread.  I’ve enjoyed this topic but have to get back to the Calypso.

[Ferguson]

3 minutes ago, potfh said:

Most YT watchers probably have no idea who Jacques Cousteau is.  

 

And why the disrespect for those who wear visors?  
 

I had never heard of Grant Horvat until this thread.  I’ve enjoyed this topic but have to get back to the Calypso.

 

Again, I try to bring educational content whenever possible. Cousteau was a pioneer.  

 

No disrespect to those who wear visors.

 

 

[straightshot7]

Look at the PGA Tour creating content for YouTube: 

Hasn't someone told them it's a big waste of time? 

[WesternRacing]

3 hours ago, straightshot7 said:

Look at the PGA Tour creating content for YouTube: 

Hasn't someone told them it's a big waste of time? 

 

No, it’s called marketing.  Not business.

[WesternRacing]

On 7/22/2025 at 12:56 PM, subrew said:

 

FWIW, the reason Grant got an invite was because he won the Creator Classic, which was a PGAT sanctioned event/thing for creator type peeps that aired on the PGAT YT channel.  It wasn't just some random "we invite this guy because he is popular" type thing.  

 

The year before Luke Kwon won, and managed to turn it into a few invites.  He played on the Asian Tour and International tour where he made a cut.  The International series let him be mic'd up and film during the Macau tournament. 

 

The Q at Myrtle Beach also has done something similar.  Hosted their own event with creators and guys from the KFT.  The winner gets an exemption into the Myrtle Beach Classic.  Matt Atkins won in 2024, and Nathan Franks won 2025.  Both got invites to play in the PGA Tour event held there.  

 

 

 

I don’t think anybody is upset that he got the invite to an off field event like this.  It’s how he handled it.  Those guys you referenced all actually played in the event, rather than declining and trying to play the victim.

[Pnwpingi210]

3 hours ago, WesternRacing said:

 

I don’t think anybody is upset that he got the invite to an off field event like this.  It’s how he handled it.  Those guys you referenced all actually played in the event, rather than declining and trying to play the victim.

Winner!

[straightshot7]

4 hours ago, WesternRacing said:

 

No, it’s called marketing.  Not business.

Marketing is not a part of business? You better inform every business school in the world wtf are you talking about? 

[dcmidnight]

15 hours ago, WesternRacing said:

 

I don’t think anybody is upset that he got the invite to an off field event like this.  It’s how he handled it.  Those guys you referenced all actually played in the event, rather than declining and trying to play the victim.

 

And again, I think Grant is the one of if not the best golfer of the bunch. Anyone that has watched him for more than ten minutes knows hes not a hack, guy can really ball. Which is exactly why I *wanted* to see him play in an event like this that wasnt exactly a stacked field but maybe had a few good guys sprinkled in. There are a 100 different ways he could have handled it and he picked - IMO - the absolutely worst way.

Edited July 24 by dcmidnight

[TiScape]

Was away from the site for a while. Seeing that this thread is still going strong is… 🤔 

[SheriffBooth]

3 hours ago, dcmidnight said:

 

And again, I think Grant is the one of if not the best golfer of the bunch. Anyone that has watched him for more than ten minutes knows hes not a hack, guy can really ball. Which is exactly why I *wanted* to see him play in an event like this that wasnt exactly a stacked field but maybe had a few good guys sprinkled in. There are a 100 different ways he could have handled it and he picked - IMO - the absolutely worst way.

 

He's got smart agents/managers I think.  Getting cut at an alternate PGA Tour event with a second rate field would hurt his brand much more than it would help.  Instead, manufacture a controversy over media to get in the golf news and perhaps get a few more folks who follow golf to check him out on YT.  I think you could do a college level business course on the influencer/content creator financial model.

[Holy Moses]

5 minutes ago, SheriffBooth said:

 

He's got smart agents/managers I think.  Getting cut at an alternate PGA Tour event with a second rate field would hurt his brand much more than it would help.  Instead, manufacture a controversy over media to get in the golf news and perhaps get a few more folks who follow golf to check him out on YT.  I think you could do a college level business course on the influencer/content creator financial model.

I can’t see it hurting his brand. But this was only always about Grant and what the Tour could do for him. It was never a “I help you, you help me.”

[dcmidnight]

1 hour ago, TiScape said:

Was away from the site for a while. Seeing that this thread is still going strong is… 🤔 

 

Going strong? The thread is like ten minutes old how long a while were you "gone" for?

[TiScape]

1 minute ago, dcmidnight said:

 

Going strong? The thread is like *ten minutes old* how long a while were you "gone" for?

I see July 15th on my screen as a start date. Perhaps I need to update my OS???
 

😂 

[Ferguson]

You know, Booth brings up an important point about manufacturing a controversy to perhaps draw attention to his so-called "content."  

 

Well, what if he was faced with a challenge from the real world with a regular guy? 

No TV - just two people and a contract. 

 

Let's say a guy like me for example offered a guy like him $10K US as an appearance fee and an additional $10K US to beat a guy like me for 18 holes. The venue and time would be selected by a guy like me. Should be easy for a guy like him with his resources. For Pete's sake, he is a golf content creator, friend to several pros and apparently worth a ton of cash.  

 

However, if a guy like me was to beat a guy like him for 18 holes, a guy like him would agree to pay a guy like me $50K US; and, additionally upon the loss, a guy like him would agree to permanently shut down his YT site and cease all social media pertaining to golf for a period of 5 years.

 

 

[SheriffBooth]

44 minutes ago, Holy Moses said:

I can’t see it hurting his brand. But this was only always about Grant and what the Tour could do for him. It was never a “I help you, you help me.”

 

I think the "I am a Tour caliber player that's chosen to make a living on YouTube instead" is a more powerful narrative for him than "I've been proven to not be a Tour caliber player". For the same reason, losing to Joe Pavelski or John Smoltz in the American Century wouldn't really be a smart move for him, even if he's getting to rub elbows with Steph Curry and Josh Allen.

 

Respect where respect is due - he's a leader in a wholly new frontier of the golf industry, and he's undoubtedly helping to grow the game.

[WesternRacing]

15 hours ago, straightshot7 said:

Marketing is not a part of business? You better inform every business school in the world wtf are you talking about? 

 

Marketing is what you do to draw people to your product.  It isn’t the product.  Do you understand the difference?

 

The videos coming out of PGA Tour studios are being used as marketing for the Tour.  The Tour’s business model is not monetizing YT videos, as that’s table scraps compared to the Tour’s main business.

 

 

Edited July 24 by WesternRacing

[idrive]

Who?

[OBbogey5]

On 7/22/2025 at 12:56 PM, subrew said:

 

FWIW, the reason Grant got an invite was because he won the Creator Classic, which was a PGAT sanctioned event/thing for creator type peeps that aired on the PGAT YT channel.  It wasn't just some random "we invite this guy because he is popular" type thing.  

 

The year before Luke Kwon won, and managed to turn it into a few invites.  He played on the Asian Tour and International tour where he made a cut.  The International series let him be mic'd up and film during the Macau tournament. 

 

The Q at Myrtle Beach also has done something similar.  Hosted their own event with creators and guys from the KFT.  The winner gets an exemption into the Myrtle Beach Classic.  Matt Atkins won in 2024, and Nathan Franks won 2025.  Both got invites to play in the PGA Tour event held there.  

 

 

I hate it even more now 🤣

[Lord Viking]

7 hours ago, idrive said:

Who?

Grant Horvat, extremely popular content creator.  Excellent player with a swing anyone of us would love to have.  Plays with several pros 

there are 20 pages here about him...if not more