Rick Shiels Interview With Golf Monthly
In this exclusive interview, Neil Tappin sits down with Rick Shiels to discuss, among other things, his plans for the future. He talks about the best videos he's made and the direction he wants to take his video content, including collaborations. We also ask Rick about the best way to get potential ways to get golfers from the range to the course.
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00:00I love when that record button gets hit, that's when I feel like I'm in my element.
00:04And she'll even admit now, back then, she thought,
00:06golf, what the hell, like, it's not, it's not...
00:09Like, she had a, she had an imprint of what golf is.
00:12I'd never think again, seven, eight years ago,
00:15would I be going, staying at Robbie Williams' house and playing golf with him.
00:18Yeah.
00:18There was the burn, the Swilcombe Bridge burn,
00:21only 30 yards in front of me, I'm thinking, don't dunk it in there.
00:24Just Tiger, innit?
00:24Yeah, fair enough.
00:26Anything with Tiger.
00:28He'd quit on the spot if I didn't invite him.
00:32I'm going to have to refer to my notes a couple of occasions.
00:36Okay.
00:37Right, Rick, so the idea of the interview is,
00:40I'm sort of wanting to pick up the story from the last time that we sat down.
00:44Okay.
00:44It was Trafford Golf Centre.
00:46Yeah.
00:47It was spring, I think it was April 2015.
00:50Okay.
00:50And I read over the feature, right, that April 2015, you and Pete together
00:57had combined subscribers on YouTube of 75,000.
01:02You're now at 2.4 million.
01:04Yeah, it's changed a bit, hasn't it?
01:06Well, if I'd said that to you, you know, in, what, seven years' time,
01:11you'd be at that level, what would you have said, do you think, back then?
01:13Well, I wouldn't have believed you.
01:15I think it was very difficult, and it still probably is now,
01:19to pick a number of what's the threshold, what's the ceiling.
01:22Yeah.
01:22And certainly back then, seven years ago,
01:25because they were, I'm not sure what the biggest channel was,
01:28it was either me and my golf or Mark Crossfield at the time,
01:32and they were on numbers bigger than us, or bigger than me.
01:35Obviously, me and Pete had separate channels, and still have,
01:37but it was like, what's the number?
01:39Is it 200,000?
01:41Is it half a million?
01:43Is it a million?
01:44I almost wouldn't allow myself to dream it would be a million subscribers out there.
01:48Now I think, sat here, knocking on the door,
01:51hopefully by the end of the year to get to 2.5 million,
01:53you think, what the hell, what's the possibility?
01:56Yeah.
01:56Is there 5 million out there?
01:57In seven years, if we sit down again, what could be the number then?
02:01It's really exciting.
02:02Yeah.
02:03What have been the key moments, do you think, over those last seven years?
02:06What have been the big things that have helped you
02:10get to the point where you're at that sort of level?
02:13It's sometimes quite hard to identify from your own standpoint,
02:17but I feel like we've always continued to evolve.
02:21I think that's the big thing in the content.
02:24Content seven years ago is very different to the content now.
02:26The content next year will be different to the content this year.
02:29We always try and evolve it.
02:31I've strengthened the team.
02:32We've worked with nine members of staff now.
02:37I couldn't do it without them.
02:38I'd be killing myself.
02:40Back in the day, seven years ago, I was probably a one-man band then.
02:44Maybe I had my first videographer then, actually, an editor.
02:47Now I look at it and think, well, actually, we've got a full team now.
02:50It's a full production team.
02:52And taking on the right members of staff, that's been instrumental.
02:56I took on a guy just over five years ago, just in the background.
03:02And taking on more editors, more skilled people.
03:06There's a really famous YouTuber called MKBHD, Marques Brownlee, he's a tech reviewer.
03:11And he summarizes it really well.
03:12He said, at the start, when you first start, you're like an octopus with eight arms.
03:17And you're trying to do everything.
03:18But you're not very good at everything.
03:20So over time, you start to chop an arm off.
03:22And you give it to someone who's a more expert in that field.
03:25So for example, I chopped an arm off from editing.
03:28I don't know how to edit.
03:29People are better than that than me.
03:30I chopped an arm off for videography.
03:32I chopped an arm off for the content ideas and creation.
03:37So I think over time now, I know what I feel like I'm good at.
03:40And I allow other people who are much better than me do the job that they're really good at.
03:44That enhances the whole product, really.
03:47But how important is that?
03:48Because the videos still have that kind of organic feel of like,
03:52we are following you around.
03:54And it's not overproduced.
03:55And it's not kind of...
03:56How is that an important part of the whole thing?
03:58Big time.
03:59I love making mistakes and leaving them in.
04:01And not leaving them in.
04:02That's just natural.
04:03It's what happens if I hit a terrible shot.
04:06We keep the terrible shot in.
04:07You know, and if I fluff a line or, you know, I don't quite deliver it how I want to, it's okay.
04:12But I don't want it to be polished.
04:14I don't want some fancy ND filter and a fancy, you know,
04:18color grading that makes it look less relatable.
04:21It almost makes it look like there's a barrier between the viewer and the video.
04:26I do want it to have that nice natural feel.
04:28Still want to up the production, you know, because that's really key.
04:31Because YouTube's got so much bigger in there.
04:34You can't have bad production now.
04:36You can't have bad videos or you can't have bad sound.
04:38And you know, all of those things are important.
04:41So it's just been an evolution, really.
04:44But the big thing we've always stuck around,
04:46it's certainly my kind of motto, I would say in life to some degrees,
04:50is innovate or die.
04:51And I feel like each year I've just tried to keep innovating.
04:55Doing things that are different or no one's done before.
04:58Enhancing the things that we used to do.
05:01And not being too guided by the audience.
05:05Because I think sometimes the audience,
05:08I think if the audience could dictate what the content would be,
05:11I'd probably still be at Trafford Centre,
05:13making coaching videos and doing club reviews.
05:16Where it's like, well, actually,
05:18we're going to try and give the audience content they didn't know they wanted.
05:23Whether it's time with tour pros,
05:24or whether it's doing this Break 75 series,
05:28or whether it's testing these illegal golf clubs.
05:31The audience wouldn't have known that that was something they wanted.
05:34I think it's a quote that Steve Jobs did for Apple.
05:36You know, give the world what they didn't know they wanted.
05:40And so that's what we're trying to do in golf,
05:42YouTube content really, in quite a deep, deep way.
05:46Yeah, no, but what about collaborations as well?
05:49You've had so many cool different collaborations
05:52with different types of people.
05:54From people who are very much a part of the game,
05:56to people who are very much not part of the game.
05:58What have been the ones that you've enjoyed,
06:00the collaborations that you're like,
06:02that's something totally different.
06:03Didn't expect to be stood here with this person.
06:06Well, there's a number of people, you know,
06:08going back to one of the biggest YouTube channels in the world, Dude Perfect,
06:11the biggest sports YouTube channel in the world,
06:1440 million subscribers.
06:15Like, you know, they are literally at the top of their game.
06:19I've managed to do videos with those guys,
06:21with Robbie Williams.
06:23Like, not to nail drop, but I mean, that's an odd,
06:25you know, I'd never think again,
06:27seven, eight years ago,
06:28would I be going, staying at Robbie Williams's house,
06:30and playing golf with him.
06:32That he desperately wanted to film a video with me.
06:36I didn't even take my video stuff the first time,
06:38because I didn't think, oh, I won't make a video.
06:40And then he's invited me down again,
06:42said, we need to make a video.
06:43I'm like, okay.
06:44And Richard Hammond we had on recently.
06:46Richard Hammond, you know, again,
06:48from someone who almost has been quite openly,
06:51how much he's hated golf,
06:53to have him on a golf YouTube video,
06:55and then to be on his channel as well,
06:56doing a really fun golf challenge.
06:59You know, and then there's other people
07:01in the kind of the podcast world that we've had on.
07:03So like, whether it be Bryson DeChambeau,
07:06or whether it be Victor Hovland,
07:08or Martin Borgmeier, who's the world long drive champion,
07:11or, you know, some of the other YouTubers
07:14that are out in the world now,
07:15like the good, good lads over in America are killing it.
07:18I've always been open to collaborations.
07:21And I feel like-
07:22I remember that from our first meeting, actually.
07:24You telling us that part of the reason that you got,
07:28I think you got past that bit of like,
07:29why, I remember there was a comment in there,
07:32it was like, you started doing it,
07:34and then Pete started doing it,
07:35and you were sort of looking at Pete going,
07:36oh, I see you're doing it as well.
07:38And then you decided, actually,
07:38maybe we're better off kind of working a bit more together.
07:40Yeah, I don't-
07:42I've not never had an issue with collaborating
07:45with different content creators,
07:48as long as it's just good content.
07:50Yeah.
07:50Like that's the thing,
07:51as long as it's really solid, great content.
07:53And I'm sure I've probably missed
07:55a handful of names out there.
07:56Is there any, like a handful of anyone
07:57that I've really missed out on that list?
07:59Adam Scott, Lee Westwood.
07:59Oh yeah, just Adam Scott.
08:01Adam Scott, Lee Westwood, Tommy Fleetwood, Sir Nick Faldo.
08:06Yeah.
08:06You know, it's-
08:07Tom Watson.
08:08Tom Watson, Tom Watson.
08:11Yeah, it's been a mix of people in the golf YouTube world,
08:18people in what would be outside of golf,
08:20but in the mainstream media.
08:21Yeah.
08:22And then really high profile people in the world of golf.
08:25Yeah.
08:26You know, and I think the audience seemed to really,
08:29really love it because it's like,
08:31oh God, that's like Rick, the lad from, you know, Bolton.
08:35He's now hitting shots off the roof of the Old Course Hotel
08:38down to 17th Green.
08:39It's like, things like that,
08:41or playing the Old Course in reverse with Tom Watson,
08:44or I actually played the Old Course in reverse
08:46with Min Woo Lee as well.
08:47So it's like really just cool opportunities.
08:49And I think sometimes it's probably chats like this,
08:53or maybe in 20, 30 years,
08:55when I sit down and maybe I'm retired,
08:58I'll look back at it and go,
08:59I did some pretty cool stuff back then, didn't I?
09:03Yeah.
09:03I think sometimes when you're living in it,
09:04you don't quite fully appreciate it
09:06because the next thing's coming up,
09:08or the next project,
09:09or the next collaboration, or something exciting.
09:13Yeah.
09:13I look forward to in a few years to sit down
09:17and everything's documented, everything's on video.
09:19Yeah.
09:19I can sit back and watch and probably cringe at how bad it was
09:23because hopefully again,
09:24we're at a different level in our YouTube journey.
09:28To go, yeah, that was pretty cool.
09:30So where does YouTube fit in the whole range of things
09:35that you want to be involved in, that you want to do?
09:37Is YouTube very much the number one thing and always will be,
09:41or the non-YouTube stuff?
09:43We've seen you at The Open doing other stuff outside of YouTube.
09:46Where does it all fit together?
09:48YouTube is the number one.
09:49It's the driver of the ship.
09:50It's the thing that probably excites me the most still,
09:55as much as we do have many different assets to the business now,
09:58whether it's the podcast, or the Facebook page,
10:00or other social media, or presenting work.
10:03For me, YouTube is what started it all.
10:06And I still think there's huge opportunity for growth.
10:09And that's a crazy thing to say,
10:11but you read the stats where there's 65 million golfers in the world,
10:15or we're only chatting to a small percentage at the moment
10:18in the grand scheme of things, which is crazy.
10:21I've got other dreams and ambitions
10:22I want to do outside of the media world,
10:24whether it's facilities, or whether it's golf courses,
10:27or whether it's setting up the biggest amateur golf tour,
10:32or whether it's setting up the biggest way
10:36of getting people into golf, kids getting into golf.
10:39I've got big dreams and ambitions around that,
10:42which will coincide with what we're doing on social media.
10:45But still, YouTube is the number one platform.
10:48What we put, currently at the moment,
10:50still 80 odd percent of our time into, really.
10:54Watch this space, I think.
10:55I wanted to ask you about the reviews channel.
10:58I know you've already spoken about it on your own,
11:00but just give us that.
11:01Why did you decide to set up another YouTube channel
11:05and focus it on club reviews?
11:09The number one thing, I still love testing products.
11:12I get excited about new product that comes out.
11:15I'm sure you guys do.
11:17You guys obviously review products from every single brand,
11:20from every different asset.
11:22I thoroughly still want to review the next set of irons,
11:28or driver, or wedges, or putters, or whatever it may be.
11:30I think the challenge where we've come to at the moment
11:33is the main channel.
11:34We're really trying to specialize ourselves
11:36on standout content.
11:38Content that makes people go, wow, that was good.
11:41That was cool.
11:42I really remember that.
11:44We'll still feature reviews on the main channel.
11:48Some of the flagship drivers, like TaylorMade, and Callaway,
11:52and Ping Drivers, et cetera,
11:53will still feature on the main channel
11:54because there's such an appetite for that.
11:57Yet, we get sent a lot of products,
12:00and there is a lot of product that gets released every year.
12:03I still want an avenue and a space
12:04to be able to review that product.
12:06Not too dissimilar to how I used to do it
12:09even in this room all those years ago,
12:11where I still love the thought and the opinion
12:14to be able to give my information,
12:16and my feedback, and my critique
12:20about a new set of clubs.
12:23I think, therefore, I still want to be known
12:25as a club reviewer.
12:26That's probably got lost a little bit
12:28over the last few years
12:29because I don't do it as often.
12:31With this new channel, we can specify
12:34just all club reviews,
12:36the brand new clubs that have come out,
12:38whether it's irons, wedges, drivers,
12:40whatever it may be,
12:41we've got a platform where they can all sit.
12:43If people still want club reviews,
12:45there you go, you can have that channel.
12:47You know what you're getting with that channel,
12:49but come to the main channel
12:50for some other bits of variety of content as well.
12:53Are you going to be able to fit it all in?
12:54Yeah, there's way more time we can shoot.
12:58I feel like we've just extended the team even further.
13:02We've just taken on some more videographers
13:04because the challenge we have sometimes,
13:06we're getting a bottleneck
13:07where when things are getting edited,
13:08we've got nobody to shoot content.
13:11We're trying to streamline the process now
13:14where we can shoot more content,
13:17maybe more in bulk and maybe more in advance,
13:20and then it can get edited as we go along,
13:22which will free me up a little bit as well
13:24to actually do other projects that I want to do,
13:26but we've certainly got time.
13:29I'm still a million percent passionate about it
13:32and it's what gets me up every day.
13:34My most enjoyable part of creating what I do
13:38in a day to day is making videos.
13:40I love when that record button gets hit.
13:42That's when I feel like I'm in my element.
13:44So the more I can do that,
13:45I don't want to be doing emails and boring stuff like that.
13:49I hate any of that.
13:50I hate admin.
13:50I hate any of the back office stuff,
13:53but get me in front of a camera
13:54and that's where I feel like that's my strength
13:57and that's where I feel like I enjoy
14:00what I do the most really.
14:02Yeah.
14:02And when does coaching fit in?
14:03Is coaching now,
14:04there's just no time for coaching to fit in as part of it?
14:07Or do you want to still be involved in coaching somehow?
14:10It feels like something's got to give, right?
14:12I don't know.
14:15I would still say,
14:17stats I think would prove this,
14:18that I'm probably still the most watched golf coach
14:21on the planet.
14:22Yeah.
14:22And hopefully I still give a lot of my coaching videos
14:26that I've done over the last 10 years are still relevant.
14:29Yeah.
14:29You know, they've not changed.
14:30They've not aged.
14:32Even coaching videos we did six, seven years ago
14:34now still get hundreds of thousands of views
14:37every single year.
14:39Because we did well back then to shoot it
14:42in a way that would last.
14:43Yeah.
14:43You know, we wanted it to be evergreen content
14:45and it still is.
14:47Coaching videos will still be a part of the channel
14:49and we've got some exciting ones coming next year
14:51and I still want to be able to create...
14:53I still want to be known as a golf coach as well.
14:55Like that's my passion.
14:56That's really why I got into YouTube.
14:58You'll know that story.
15:00And you know, that's what I still see myself as.
15:03I still see myself as a...
15:05Well, I wear many different hats
15:06but I still see myself as a PGA golf professional.
15:09A coach.
15:11In-person coaching is the thing that I have to give.
15:14Which is a shame.
15:15And the last place I actually coached was in this room
15:18in 2020 in person.
15:22Do you miss that?
15:22I do.
15:23Yeah.
15:23Yeah, I really do.
15:25And I've had a couple of opportunities
15:27like even coaching Richard Hammond on the channel recently.
15:30And it's things like you go,
15:32you know, I really like this
15:34and I think I'm really good at it
15:36and I really enjoy it.
15:37And I see results.
15:39And I think the main reason why I see results
15:40is a lot of the students that come to me
15:42trust what I say.
15:43Right, yeah.
15:44Already, there's not that barrier.
15:46So that really helps.
15:47Where do you feel about where golf sits
15:50in relation to other sports
15:52and how it's grabbing people's attention
15:53and the way in which people are interacting with it?
15:56I think an easy answer to that is golf has become cool.
16:00And I don't think it ever was.
16:01And I think over the last 10 years
16:05but maybe even longer,
16:06it's becoming cool.
16:08I remember speaking, I met my wife 15 years ago
16:10and when I was chatting her up
16:13and, you know, trying to get things going,
16:17she asked, what do I do?
16:18And I said, I'm a golf pro.
16:20I was an assistant pro at the time
16:21and she like kind of rolled her eyes.
16:23And when I actually ended up telling her
16:24what I did as a living,
16:26I work in a pro shop selling chocolate bars and drinks.
16:30She even more kind of was like, what the hell?
16:32And she'll even admit now back then,
16:34she thought golf, what the hell?
16:36Like she had an imprint of what golf is.
16:41It was flat caps.
16:42It was old men.
16:43It was pipes.
16:43It was plus fours.
16:44It was everything that golf isn't.
16:47But that was her perspective of it.
16:50I speak to her now and I speak to her friends
16:52and now I'll introduce myself as a golf pro,
16:55even to people who don't know me from social media.
16:57And it's like, oh wow, golf.
17:00And they have a different opinion of it.
17:03Like they know it's now a lot cooler.
17:04You're getting celebrities getting into golf.
17:06Like some of the biggest names in sports
17:10outside of golf are into golf.
17:12Some of the big Hollywood stars are into golf.
17:14Some pop stars and et cetera are into golf.
17:17And all of them posting it on their social media
17:19and everything else.
17:20It's made golf cool.
17:22Like golf fashion's different.
17:24We're both sat here wearing hoodies.
17:25Wouldn't have been sat here
17:26when we did that interview seven years ago.
17:28Well, I think you're in shirt and tie and a suit
17:30if I remember from memory.
17:31But I think all those things that have made golf
17:35feel traditional and stuck in the past,
17:37they're all getting banished.
17:38Places like this where you can come down
17:40and we're down at Prairie Sports Village now.
17:42We're driving range where you can go
17:44whack some shots on top trace
17:45and you can have a beer and you can grab some food
17:47and you can hang out with your friends.
17:49It's in a different space.
17:50It's in a totally different avenue.
17:54And as much as I've got no probably hard hitting facts
17:56on this, and I'm sure you will have more,
17:58I've noticed from the type of people
18:00who come and come and spot me
18:01and they've watched the videos.
18:03It's a different type of crowd.
18:04It's totally different.
18:09How do we make the most of that opportunity then
18:11as a golf industry?
18:12I think there's a massive missing gap
18:14in a pathway to get people getting onto golf courses.
18:17Right.
18:18It's a huge opportunity that needs to be captured.
18:21So it's hard to take them from facilities like this
18:23actually playing golf, putting a score together
18:26and enjoying that side of it.
18:27There's nothing in between.
18:29And I think there needs to be.
18:30And hopefully that's something that I might be able
18:31to help with in the future.
18:33But I think, I think at the moment
18:35you'll see driving range golfers.
18:37And there are, there are golfers
18:38who just found the driver.
18:40Yeah.
18:40They've never stepped foot on the golf course
18:42in their lives.
18:42You'll get that.
18:43And that's great.
18:44I'm not saying that's a bad thing
18:45because at least they're still into golf and participating.
18:48They'll probably say to themselves or the friends.
18:50Yeah, I play golf on the driving range, but I play golf.
18:54And then you obviously have your traditional members
18:56but between here, a driving range or a practice facility
19:00or watching on TV or watching on YouTube
19:02to actually getting through the door of a golf club.
19:05It's become easier.
19:05Don't get me wrong.
19:06Like the barriers have started to lift at golf courses
19:09things like no joining fees and new members incentives.
19:16I don't think it's that.
19:17I think it's the actual golf element of it.
19:20Right.
19:20Like from a driving range to then go
19:22and play an 18 holes on a golf course.
19:24It's very, very different.
19:25Different thing, isn't it?
19:26Totally different.
19:27Like I feel like there needs to be much smaller golf courses
19:30and a stepping stone from a driving range
19:32whether you go to a little nine holer
19:35that's got massive holes.
19:36Yeah.
19:37You know, or you've got three or four hole golf courses
19:42that are just like the normal sized holes
19:45but you can play them easily.
19:46Yeah.
19:46And there's no dress code and you can just go and have fun.
19:50And that's like, you know, you look down the road now
19:53and you see learner drivers.
19:56Right.
19:56And with a learner driving, you're patient.
19:58You sit behind him.
19:59You don't overtake him.
20:00You give him time.
20:01Yeah.
20:03We don't have that in golf.
20:03We need a golf version of that.
20:04Yeah.
20:05Correct.
20:05We don't have that in golf.
20:06As soon as you step foot on a golf course
20:08you seem to be, you're now a golfer.
20:10Yeah.
20:10Where people are like, whoa, I don't know what the hell I'm doing.
20:13Hard.
20:14Golf is difficult and it's quite easy to lose that fun aspect
20:16that you were just talking about quite quickly.
20:18Yeah.
20:18Yeah.
20:19You see, again, I go back to the metaverse.
20:21The amount of rounds that we've been playing
20:22the metaverse at the moment are scary.
20:25Like hundreds and hundreds of thousands of rounds a month being played.
20:29Well, what are those people going to get on the golf course?
20:32Because they're not golfers.
20:33Yeah.
20:33How do we get those people on the golf course?
20:35How do we, you know, so it's all, it's, I'd love to give an answer
20:40but I actually don't think there is one at the moment.
20:41I think there's a massive missing link that hopefully
20:43either the governing bodies can sort or, you know
20:46it takes somebody with initiative or.
20:48Yeah.
20:49Maybe some sort of social media power that can generate these facilities.
20:54I think that's what's going to really help it.
20:55Yeah.
20:56I think we'll see a massive, massive change of events.
20:59I think new golf courses will need to be built if we get it right.
21:03Yeah.
21:03So if we're sitting here in seven years time.
21:05Yeah.
21:06As we mentioned earlier on and you said, I've got some big plans
21:08from a YouTube perspective.
21:10Can you give us an insight into how you're planning to change things up?
21:12We've got to be better at creating content that is more engaging to watch.
21:18So I think at the moment there's content we sometimes put out
21:21and not that we don't plan it as well as we could do
21:25but sometimes we slightly wing it.
21:27I think in the future, the plan is not to wing it as much
21:29and to be able to really put a structure together
21:32and to elevate the opportunities.
21:34So sometimes I get opportunities with tour pros.
21:37I think we do a good job.
21:38I think we could do a better job
21:39and I think we could start to create different series.
21:42I think series have become a big aspect.
21:44So I've got my Break 75 series.
21:46I've got two or three other series I want to try and film next year as well
21:49because it becomes like a storyline and you take the journey,
21:53you take the audience with you.
21:55I think YouTube certainly over the last seven years
21:57has all been mainly about standout videos like casting the net.
22:02So trying to cast the biggest net you possibly can
22:05by these big viral videos,
22:06these one-off videos that might get a couple of million views, et cetera.
22:10Well, they're all well and good
22:11but how then do you bring those golfers in,
22:13those viewers in and watch every video every week all the time?
22:18These series have become much more powerful for us
22:20where they'll watch it regardless.
22:22They'll watch it because they like the series
22:24or they like the way it's presented
22:26or the way it's been filmed, the way it's been put together
22:28or the opportunities, whether it's the golf courses or the locations.
22:32So it's just for us, it's better planning, better structure
22:35and be able to build these kind of franchise series
22:39that get people more engaged in the content.
22:41Yeah, so Break 75 is here to stay?
22:43Here to stay, it'll get better, it'll get bigger.
22:45We're going to travel a lot more.
22:46I've not been on a plane for three years.
22:49So we're going to travel a little bit more and just start to...
22:52You know, there's very, very, very fortunate.
22:54There's a lot of beautiful golf courses in the world.
22:57Like a lot and, you know, viewers won't get a chance to play them all.
23:03They just won't, you know.
23:04So be able to showcase some of those a bit more.
23:06I've got a series I want to do next year, a bucket list series.
23:0910 golf courses, my dream golf courses.
23:12That'll be very different again.
23:13That won't be so much score related.
23:15It'll be like almost a mini documentary of going playing Pebble Beach or Augusta.
23:22If anyone's watching from Augusta.
23:24Or Pine Valley or Royal Melbourne or places like that.
23:27Or Kidnappers in New Zealand.
23:30You know, being able to almost take the audience with you.
23:32Like I want them to feel like they're there.
23:35I want them to feel like I've also played it.
23:39Through you, through, you know, through the way that the video was put together.
23:42So, you know, and again, I never want it to have this kind of layer of glass
23:47between the viewer and the content really.
23:51Just try and improve on aspects like that.
23:54But normally we try and release upwards of 100 YouTube videos a year.
23:58Somewhat.
23:59I reckon next year I've already got 84 of them planned.
24:01Really?
24:02Which I've never done before in my life.
24:03So that's quite, that's quite exciting.
24:05Takes a bit of pressure off actually.
24:07At least a skeleton structure.
24:09It might change and it probably will.
24:11But there's, starting last year I didn't have that idea or didn't have that planning.
24:18And with the team, with Guy and with the production team we've now got in place.
24:23You know, working for me.
24:24It's like, right, we can really elevate this and we can take it to the next level.
24:28And I do want, I want the audience to not notice these subtle changes.
24:32But I want them to look at videos in a year's time and go,
24:35oh wow, you know, they're pretty good compared to two years ago or three years ago.
24:39Wow, I didn't notice the change, but there is a difference.
24:43That's the kind of goal really.
24:44Yeah.
24:45Very good.
24:46Um, okay.
24:47Rick, some quick fire questions for you.
24:48Okay.
24:49Okay.
24:50What's your most viewed video on your YouTube channel?
24:52So how well do you know your YouTube channel?
24:54It's a full bag of illegal golf clubs.
24:57Correct.
24:57And views?
24:58Uh, I was in between four and five.
25:04I only got 4.3.
25:06You've underestimated there.
25:07It's five and a half.
25:08All right.
25:10Isn't it?
25:10Yeah.
25:11Um, if you could collaborate with anyone on anything.
25:14Tiger.
25:16On golf.
25:18I'm just Tiger, innit?
25:19Yeah.
25:20Fair enough.
25:21Anything with Tiger.
25:22Your favorite video of yours?
25:25Um, oddly enough, and it didn't absolutely, there's two of them that I absolutely loved.
25:30One of them was a hole in one challenge that I did.
25:33Um, it was last year.
25:34It was a portal in, in, uh, Cheshire, 500 golf shots, trying to get a hole in one.
25:39And it was probably cause it was the most effort I've ever put into a video physically.
25:43Yeah.
25:43And I don't want to ruin it, but it didn't, we didn't quite get the hole in one.
25:48But I just loved the fact that we managed to make a video that it wasn't original.
25:55Like this was a European tour ripoff effectively.
25:58And I'm happy to say that.
25:59So we even said it in the video.
26:01But it was the fact that we managed to produce something that looked so good and it was so
26:05engaging and it was, and it was so concise.
26:10Yeah.
26:10It was like, I just thought it was a really well-rounded video.
26:13Yeah.
26:13And the other one I really enjoyed was we did range night, a couple of, um, I don't know.
26:18I'll tell you what, no, even a different one to that.
26:19We went to a driving range, a random driving range.
26:21We gave a pound a yard each, how far a golfer would hit.
26:26And they got one shot and it had to be on the fairway.
26:29And literally we went to drive range.
26:31We didn't warn anyone.
26:32I went with a pocket full of money and went to unsuspecting golfers and said,
26:37you can hit any club in your bag.
26:38And however far you hit it in yards, I will give you the same amount in pounds.
26:43And the reaction of white people, certainly in England, they were a bit like, what are
26:47you doing?
26:48What's the catch?
26:49And it wasn't a catch.
26:50Um, I, we, I thought that was one of our most, um, kind of fun to shoot and different
26:58again, you know, we do take inspiration from videos outside of the world of golf and try
27:03and kind of put a golf twist on it, but it's just kind of different really.
27:06Yeah.
27:07Yeah.
27:07Um, uh, your favorite video, somebody else's YouTube video.
27:12Uh, when good, good, uh, when, uh, sorry, when dude perfect got to play Augusta with
27:17Bryson DeChambeau.
27:18Yeah, that was quite a statement piece.
27:20Yeah, that was pretty good.
27:21That's pretty jealous of that.
27:23Um, uh, the best shot you've hit on camera.
27:27Uh, there's probably only two.
27:30So it's not hard.
27:32There was one, uh, years ago I played with Pete at North Hanson.
27:35I put my shot in a, in a ditch and this ditch shot was ridiculously impossible.
27:39I was like really three or four feet down and no way of even being able to hit the golf
27:44shot.
27:44And somehow I managed to catch it as clean as a whistle and put it to about two foot and
27:48not sitting for birdie.
27:49And then there's another one actually against Pete, again, a golf bit of challenge at Woburn
27:54where it was a neck and neck coming down the last, he hit it down the left in the trees.
27:59It is great.
28:00In fact, I was one up.
28:00Sorry.
28:01It wasn't neck and neck.
28:02I was one up coming down the last.
28:03I hit my tee shot, right?
28:04He, his tee shot left.
28:06He played a really, really good golf shot out the trees to about six foot.
28:10I was thinking, Oh crap, I'm in trouble.
28:11It's going to be halved match.
28:13I was in the trees on the right, which had a gap that was tiny, hit this lob wedge straight
28:18through the gap and put it to about there and not sit in to win the match.
28:22So there's a couple of, there's a couple of really good ones there.
28:26And the other one was, and only because I was the most nervous I maybe have ever been.
28:31Right.
28:31When I played with Tom Watson this year at the old course at St Andrews, we played in
28:36reverse.
28:37So he teed off the first tee and we'll go into the 17th green.
28:40Okay.
28:42So Tom Watson hits this tee shot and I'm walking down the fairway and I've now got to hit the
28:45second shot.
28:46We played better, but we played alternate shots.
28:49I've got to hit the second shot.
28:50Okay.
28:51Into the 17th off a tight Lynx turf with maybe 20 or 30 people watching, but more importantly,
28:57Tom Watson watching, right?
28:59I'm thinking, Oh my God, just do not.
29:01Cause you know, if you thin it, you're onto the road.
29:04If you push it a little bit, right, you're in the road hole bunker.
29:06I was even, there was a, there was the, there was the burn, the Swilcombe bridge burn only
29:1130 yards in front of me.
29:12I'm thinking, don't dunk it in there.
29:13And it was only probably 120 yards away, but I just hit this absolutely perfect struck
29:19pitching wedge.
29:19I think it was, I don't want to put it to maybe 15, four, but I was like, I could have
29:24retired them.
29:24I could have just gone, that's it guys.
29:26I'm off.
29:27Cause I think my heart was beating so much out of my chest that I was like, I don't even
29:31know if I'm going to be able to hit this shot and to be able to actually execute it to a
29:35level that was respectable.
29:37Probably Tom Watson thought it was crap, but at least, at least I felt like it was respectable.
29:41Yeah.
29:42Well, the flip side of this is what's the worst shot that you've hit?
29:45Oh God, many.
29:46I've talked to many, many, many shots.
29:48I've seen it's been a bad one.
29:52Oh, there's so many.
29:54Oh yeah.
29:55I played at Conway and a break 75 and a par three and I wasn't playing well.
29:58My head was out of it.
30:00And I hit two massive, massive, massive shanks on a par three and walked off with a nine
30:06and it's on video and it hurts.
30:09And yeah, there's, there's many of my followers still remind me of it sometimes.
30:14Which is great.
30:14Leave some scars, but yeah, no, it's what I like about that.
30:18It shows that it's human.
30:20It shows that I don't vouch to be an amazing, amazing player.
30:23I can put it round sometimes.
30:25Sometimes I'll shoot a million and sometimes I'll play quite well.
30:28And, and that's kind of part of the story really.
30:30That's kind of part of the journey.
30:31Yeah.
30:32Um, you know, it'd be boring if it was, uh, 600 every time.
30:36I wish it was 600 every time, but it'd be a bit more boring.
30:39Okay.
30:39So your perfect day on the golf course, golf day would consist of what?
30:45Um, a few pals, right.
30:49I've got a group of lads who I play with who are good golfers.
30:52And we'll go out and we'll go and play some nice golf courses, have a few drinks.
30:56Um, you know, have some nice food, you know, it's just quite chilled.
31:00It's no cameras.
31:01It's, it's, um, as much as sometimes though, I do feel a bit guilty if I play somewhere nice,
31:07not on cameras.
31:08And I have this kind of sense of like, maybe I should be filming this, but if I've had a
31:12few beers and I've, you know, I let my hair down a bit more, maybe that's not the footage
31:16that should be shown.
31:18But that's, that's where I find myself in my element.
31:20I'm quite chilled.
31:21I'm quite relaxed and I don't have to talk.
31:23And I can just, I can just kind of sink into the group and sink into the background.
31:28Yeah.
31:29And, uh, that's kind of my kind of dream day on the golf course.
31:33Bit of sunshine, friends playing with, playing in buggies, few beers.
31:38Yeah.
31:38It's a nice golf, nice golf course.
31:40That's the kind of dream.
31:41Yeah.
31:41Sounds good.
31:43Your favourite tour pro.
31:44Now this is tricky because you've played with a lot.
31:47You will have made some friends along the way, but which, which would be, if you were
31:51playing tomorrow with a tour pro, who would you play with?
31:53Um, I'd probably play with Tommy Fleetwood.
31:56Oh yeah.
31:56Um, I would say Tiger, but I don't actually know if I'd fully enjoy it.
32:01Um, I think Tommy, I'd feel super chilled with him.
32:04Like I wouldn't feel, I wouldn't feel particularly nervous.
32:07I'd feel quite chilled.
32:09Um, he's just a nice lad.
32:11You've got a four ball at Augusta.
32:13Which other three YouTubers are you taking with you?
32:16I would take, that's a great question.
32:21Um, the co-host from the number one podcast in golf, Guy Charnock.
32:27I think he'd kill me if I didn't.
32:30He'd quit on the spot if I didn't invite him.
32:32I would invite Pete because obviously we've had some great matches and challenges in the
32:38past together.
32:39And again, I think he would kill me.
32:40But I'd put a ban on cameras for him.
32:43Right.
32:43So I could video it.
32:44Okay, fine.
32:46And, uh, to be honest, it'd be a toss up between Matt Fryer and Andy Carter.
32:52Just because they're my pals.
32:53So yeah, I'd probably, I'd probably say, this is good.
32:58I'm going to say Carter can play, Matt can caddy for me.
33:01Because the last time Matt caddy for me, I had my first ever hole in one.
33:05Okay.
33:05And my only ever hole in one.
33:07So yeah, I think that'd be a nice little group.
33:09You know, my five, five pals, you know, people I've worked with and people who have, who
33:13have, um, great content.
33:16But, and it's, the video goes on my channel.
33:20That's the terms.
33:21That's the terms and conditions.
33:23Perfect.
33:23Rick, thank you.
33:24No problem.
33:25Thanks, Neil.
33:25Really good.
33:26Seven years.
33:27Seven years.
33:27Make a date.
33:30So there you have it.
33:30That's our interview with Rick Shields here at Prairie Sports Village.
33:34A really fascinating insight into the sort of thought process of one of the most influential
33:39people in golf.
33:41He's come an awful long way over the last seven years.
33:43I hope you found that, that interview enjoyable.
33:46If you have, please do hit the like button below, but that's it.
33:48Thanks for watching.
33:49We'll see you next time.