Struggling on the PGA Tour China in 2017, Luke Kwon watched a self-help YouTube video that had nothing to do with golf. But it led him down a fairway to live the dream of playing golf around the world in front of a global audience – just without the galleries.
Golf YouTuber and Good Good member Luke Kwon on why he’s showcasing New Zealand’s top courses
Luke Kwon in one of his YouTube videos at Jacks Point in Queenstown. Photo / Luke Kwon Golf YouTube
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Texas-based Good Good Golf have surged in popularity over the past 18 months and have shot videos in the UK, Dubai and Hawaii. Kwon was filming in New Zealand earlier this month for his own YouTube channel, which alone has attracted more than eight million views. He’s previously filmed with world number one Jon Rahm, Xander Schauffele, Sam Burns and Bryson Dechambeau, as well as showcasing New Zealand pro Denzel Ieremia.
Kwon has Kiwi roots, living in New Zealand as a child and then returning again after discovering YouTube could provide a new path in golf in 2019.
He was born in Korea before moving to Whangārei aged two and then left when he was eight, and admits he sadly lost his accent but always feels at home in New Zealand.
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“I had a good amount of years here in New Zealand as a kid and got permanent residency. I want the Kiwi passport as I think it’s the coolest passport in the world.”
After a college career in Oklahoma and making the move to the professional ranks, he had visa problems returning to the US while playing in Asia.
“I was kind of in a sticky situation. I was running out of money with my pro golf career. Kind of stuck in like this catch-22. I wanted to go play tournaments to prove that I’m good enough to play out there. But I didn’t have the money to go play in the tournaments.
“I was watching a guy on YouTube that had nothing to do with golf. It was just more like a self-help kind of guy. But I was noticing the structure of his videos and thought I could just do the same thing he’s doing and just put like a golf twist to it.
“At the time I was like, I think I’ve gone insane. You really think you’re gonna get yourself out of the situation by making YouTube videos? Tell someone about this, like you sound like an idiot but it ended up working out.
“I got some sponsors and investors off of that and ended up getting me the funding to be able to come down to New Zealand and go play PGA China and try to go prove myself.”
With no way to get back into the US he returned here and played some NZ PGA events with immediate success. Kwon still holds the course record at Pupuke Golf Course on the North Shore.
“I wish I played as well as I did every year as I did down here. I won some pro-am events and was shooting some pretty low scores. Playing off a plus seven handicap at one point.
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“I love it here. It definitely has a special place in my heart because when I came down here in 2019, I had visa issues in the US and almost felt like I don’t even belong anywhere. And I came down here in New Zealand and it was like, I never left and people were very welcoming and, you know, obviously very nice people down here.”
Last year he joined the Good Good Golf team which includes Garrett Clark, Matt Scharff, Stephen Castaneda and Tom Broders. Through YouTube income, merchandise and sponsorships including a recent deal with Callaway, it has become a thriving business model.
Good Good even hosted their first tournament this month featuring Kiwi Nick Voke, with a US$100,000 purse. Kwon is hoping his New Zealand series will do enough to get the rest of his team teeing off here.
“The side mission is to try to get to show the Good Good guys just how cool it is down here, how beautiful Queenstown is and how the courses are just unbelievable and try and entice them to come down here,” Kwon added.
