Must Follows
7 surprising social media stars of 2022
If this really was the last year of Twitter, then Golf Twitter did our favorite sport proud. There were certainly no shortage of storylines during a wild 2022 and there were no shortage of social-media stars as well playing a big role in how we consumed all the craziness transpiring. But while you know the heavy hitters—some of which are graduates of previous editions of this list—the purpose of this post is to point out some emerging must-follows. Let’s get to them while their accounts—verified or not—are still active.
Adam and Kourtney Schenk
This PGA Tour husband/wife tandem provided some great life-on-tour moments in 2022, from Kourtney revealing Adam had forgotten his golf clubs at home while leaving for a tournament:
To Adam sharing Kourtney’s hysterical, even if predictable, reaction to his dangerous misstep regarding one of her outfits:
Keep the hits coming, guys!
Jessica Hadwin
Staying in the WAGs division, the wife of Canadian pro Adam Hadwin brought the heat all year long—usually burning her husband, that is. But this tweet about how Adam was in the doghouse for a similar bogey to the one Adam Schenk made was the best:
In fact, it led to the most-read post on The Loop and all of GolfDigest.com for the entire year. True story. So thank you, Jessica. With Paulina Gretzky gone to LIV, all hail the new Content Queen of the PGA Tour!
LIV Golf Bots
This isn’t a specific person, but rather a specific type of person. You know, accounts that seemingly popped out of nowhere with no profile photo. And ones that suddenly were very vocal when it came to defending LIV Golf and attacking the PGA Tour. These bots were everywhere! I won’t highlight any, but rather a joke at their expense:
It's OK to share differing opinions, but the mean streets of Golf Twitter are actually getting mean thanks to some of these people pests. Clean it up, Elon!
Caddie Network
This handle has been around for a few years, but it really became an #elite follow in 2022 with a wealth of insider knowledge and funny commentary—while being a prolific sharer of fantastic viral videos and photos.
They're like the Rex Chapman of Golf Twitter in that regard. And they will be sorely missed—like Rex—if Twitter ever shuts down.
Michael Kim
This PGA Tour pro has had a rough run since getting his lone win at the 2018 John Deere Classic, but he has really found his stride on Twitter, following in the footsteps of former Cal teammate Max Homa (those Bears had to be the funniest team in golf history). In particular, we loved his commentary of Chesson Hadley randomly being included on a wall of golf greats:
Seriously, Michael's got a point there regarding Chesson. … Anyway, hopefully now that Kim is back on the PGA Tour, we'll be hearing more from him.
The Scottsdale … Police Department?
Definitely the most surprising entry on this list, it was the official handle for this law-enforcement agency that captured one of the most memorable golf scenes of the year at the Waste Management Phoenix Open. Stationed at the rowdy 16th hole at TPC Scottsdale—because lord knows how crazy things would get there with no police presence—the Scottsdale PD happened to catch this amazing angle of Sam Ryder’s hole-in-one:
"YOU JUST WITNESSED A HOLE-IN-ONE! YOU JUST SAW A HOLE-IN-ONE! CAN YOU BELIEVE THAT?!" Nope, we can't. That was amazing. Also, someone get that guy an announcing gig. Even Gus Johnson would have been impressed by that spirited call.
"Front Porch Dad"
As you can see, I’m pretty biased toward Twitter when it comes to social-media stuff, but I had to include this Instagram star. (And, yes, he might not be surprising to some, but sadly, I only discovered him this year.) Content creator Tyler Jarry's alter ego continually posted hilarious videos on topics ranging from “Golfers around the green":
To "Golfers around the greens part 2":
Just brilliant stuff. And his signature “Gosh!” gets me every time he mixes it in. Wait, there’s a compilation of just those?!
GOSH! So good. If Twitter does go down, I know where I'll be spending most of my time on Instagram in 2023.