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Golf YouTube stars Good Good go big with the debut of the Good Good Desert Knockout on Golf Channel
If you’re a golfer who spends a lot of time hunched over a cereal bowl watching YouTube, then Good Good needs no introduction. You’re probably on a first-name basis with Garrett Clark, Matt Scharff and Brad Dalke, even if they don't know you exist. For much of golf's old guard, though, Good Good remains a curiosity. Even with more than 1.7 million YouTube subscribers, most golfers of a certain age and disposition know the crew simply as “those guys that the kids like.”
That all changes Wednesday, however, when the Good Good gang crash Golf Channel—yes, that Golf Channel—for the Good Good GolfNow Desert Knockout. Live under the lights at Rolling Hills in Tempe, Ariz., the zippier, zanier evolution of last year’s Good Good Desert Open will employ a knockout format that will see six two-player teams vying to be the last squad standing. Much like a horse race at your local member-guest, two teams will face off in a scramble format, with the worse score on the hole being eliminated and the winner advancing to face another team.
“Last year was a more traditional golf format, whereas with this one we want to take the entertainment side of what we do on YouTube and bring it into a live setting,” says Good Good CEO Matt Kendrick of the new format.
“We look at ourselves as golf entertainment. We're not trying to say we're the best golfers in the world. It's all about entertainment and making the game fun and approachable and interesting to watch on a daily basis … Doing a knockout helps because you're going to get more interaction than you would in a traditional competitive format.”
Adding to that popcorn factor will be a handful of celebs, from eSports legend Nadeshot to comedian Andrew Santino, who will team up with Good Good’s most familiar faces in the competition. Golf Channel’s own viral star Johnson Wagner will also be on broadcast duties, which promises a universe of chaotic possibilities.
“Johnson has become a friend over the last year,” says Kendrick of golf’s Johnny Knoxville. “We're happy to have him on Wednesday night and hopefully he gets to go out there and recreate one of the shots from the night.”
More Johnson Wagner stunts under the lights in primetime? You heard it here first, folks. But with new friends in high places, is Good Good worried about straying too far from their DIY roots?
“The way that we view it is we have our audience that we've built on YouTube. We love that audience and we're gonna continue to make great YouTube content for them,” Kendrick explains. “But what's very important to us that we continue to grow our audience. It's easier to go find that audience where they're already watching golf, and that traditional golf viewer is watching it on Golf Channel … Then they’re going to start coming over to YouTube and watching us.
"At the same time, I think we're helping NBC by bringing our audience and turning them into the viewer for NBC as well. We’ll continue to look for different avenues for us to do content, either in the traditional sense through something like NBC or through scripted or unscripted content on streaming platforms.”
If you want to watch Good Good’s debut on the big-time stage, tune in to Golf Channel’s exclusive live coverage on Wednesday, Feb. 5, at 8 p.m. ET. Good Good will air an additional hour of coverage on its YouTube channel beginning at 7 p.m. ET while Golf Central at the WM Phoenix Open will feature live look-ins starting at 6:30 p.m. ET. Good Good also plans to host “four to five” additional events throughout the year, so stay tuned for more announcements as the golf season ramps up.