Paige Spiranac’s Exec Era Begins, Joins Grass League’s Front Office

Paige Spiranac, golf’s reigning content creator queen with over 11 million followers across platforms including 4 million on Instagram (2.6 million more than world No. 1 Scottie Scheffler) and 1.6 million on TikTok, has landed a front office gig with the Grass League, where she’ll take on a strategic leadership role.

“I’ll be touching a bunch of different aspects of the business: brand development, digital marketing, brand engagement, seeking out new team owners, talent and sponsors,” Spiranac said on what her day-to-day responsibilities will look like as she takes on a management role.

“It’s really exciting for me because those are passions I’ve had within my own business, so now to be able to use my expertise with Grass League is something I’m really looking forward to,” she added.

The upstart league, now in its sophomore season, stages evening competitions at LED-lit Par 3 venues. Teams representing regional franchises compete in a 2-person scramble format, where both players hit each shot and then choose the best resulting spot to play from until the hole is completed.

In the inaugural season, all events were played at Grass Clippings in Tempe, Arizona but this year’s schedule has added an event on Labor Day weekend played at Oceanside, California’s Goat Hill Park, which is set to air live on Golf Channel.

Prize money in the fledgling circuit is modest but around what you’d expect from a startup league in audience building mode. At the most recent event, the New York Blue Birds earned $40,000 of a six-figure purse, with $20,000 going to the runner-up San Diego Munis (a franchise owned by PGA Tour pro Wyndham Clark and lifestyle brand Municipal), and $8,000 apiece awarded to the three teams tied for third. The league’s championship tees off December 5-6th back at Grass Clippings at Rolling Hills.

Spiranac, who shoots much of her content in Arizona, had already collaborated with the league in a hands-on capacity—serving as a correspondent and even managing social media for an event. Her elevated position builds on that experience and puts her in position to help define the Grass League’s voice, content approach and growth path going forward.

The trailblazer in the golf creator space, who has been at it now for over a decade, sees massive brand-building potential ahead for the Grass League.

“One thing that is really big for me is developing talent. There are so many talented players and also future personalities playing in Grass League,” Spiranac said, adding that as awareness grows, “getting Grass League out there, people knowing exactly what it is as soon as they hear that name,” will make minting a household name doable.

Beyond brand building, Paige envisions course building too. While there are no confirmed new sites yet, Spiranac is excited about the potential for Grass League to leave a lasting imprint on the game and communities by building Par 3 courses in new markets.

Sweetspot

While her title is fresh, Spiranac already has a vision for taking Grass League to the next level. She believes the recipe for stoking fan engagement starts with a shake of strong storytelling. That begins by spotlighting magnetic players who have the talent to match. Mix in some behind-the-scenes access, a healthy dash of humor, and you’re halfway to cooking up the kind of content contemporary golf fans crave.

“When we have looked at the trends with content creators—what seems to work is that people love a great personality, but they also love to watch really good golf,” Spiranac explained. “That’s why we’ve seen channels like Bryson DeChambeau’s be so successful—because we are finally able to get an inside look into who he is as a person but are also able to watch him play amazing golf which is really aspirational.”

Giving players the space to be themselves is key. Balancing elite play and tending to an online presence can be a juggling act, so making it as easy as possible for them to show up digitally is essential.

“We’ve seen it with Joel Dahmen and Max Homa and a lot of the players on Full Swing, where we’ve been able to get little glimpses into their life,” Spiranac said. “You just need to have that connection, because once you have that connection, you will always root for them and with individual sports that’s the most important thing to having more fan engagement.”

Asked which Grass League players have breakout potential, she replied: “There are so many, and that’s what’s so exciting about it. That’s why I can’t wait to start really working on the digital marketing and development of the strategy of how to get these players out there.”

“There are guys like Austin Quick who I played junior golf with and is one of the funniest guys that I know. Now he has a normal job but he’s still playing golf at a high level—and there’s just so much to him,” she said. “There are so many stories like that, and I can’t wait for the storytelling that is about to happen.”

Boardroom Spiranac

The idea of ‘Boardroom Spiranac’ may raise eyebrows for those who have only cursorily followed her career trajectory, but the self-made star who effectively minted the golf influencer category has been forging brand partnerships and finding new and innovative ways to connect with next-gen fans for years.

On a recent Vanity Index podcast, Spiranac voiced a desire to someday become the commissioner of a golf tour. Could that mean she’s eyeing the top executive spot in Grass League?

“I would love to,” she said. “It is something I really want to do and almost manifest for myself because I feel like I have a lot of great ideas, I’ve been around the game for such a long time and I feel like I can really help at that level.”

While she acknowledges such a high-level role would entail major responsibilities—including being the public face of a league—she views it as a natural extension of how her career has evolved. Having helped pioneer the golf creator space, she sees this next chapter as a chance to show more dimensions of her business acumen and leadership potential. “Now it’s my responsibility to take on these new roles and tell my story and hopefully that will lead to a commissioner role or something like it one day.”

Before she becomes a full-time suit, Paige’s days in front of the camera are far from over. She’s all set to make her major motion picture debut in Happy Gilmore 2, which premieres July 25 on Netflix.

“That was one of the coolest experiences of my entire life,” she said. “Working alongside Adam Sandler—I’d only heard amazing things, but you don’t really know until you meet someone. He’s so humble, kind, and hardworking. I was just blown away by how ‘normal’ he is. We were talking about his dog and family in between takes. He even helped me with line delivery, and I’m like, ‘this is so cool—he is so cool and I can’t believe I have this opportunity.’”

Game Front

Paige Spiranac has quietly been playing some of the best golf of her life. She recently fired a 68 at Oakmont—host site of next month’s U.S. Open—and credits her game’s resurgence to her current headspace.

“In the last two years or so I’ve really started to love the game again,” she said. “I’ve been working really hard on my swing and seen big changes. It’s fun when you play well—and I’ve just been enjoying the ups and downs which before I would never even want to discuss or talk about. Letting go of that is the reason why I’ve been playing pretty good golf and been loving it so much.”