YouTube Golf’s undisputed major champion Rick Shiels discusses his controversial move to LIV Golf, the secret to great content, the best players he’s ever worked with, and why he thinks Australia could have two LIV Golf events.
Rick Shiels, a former teaching professional from Bolton, England, has transformed the landscape of golf media through his engaging and accessible content. Launching his YouTube channel – ‘Rick Shiels Golf’ – in 2012, the 38-year-old has amassed nearly three million subscribers and more than one billion views, making him one of the most influential figures in the sport. His videos, ranging from swing tips and equipment reviews to on-course challenges with high-profile golfers and celebrities, have resonated with golfers far and wide, highlighting a shift towards digital content consumption in the sport.
In January this year, Shiels announced a ground-breaking partnership with LIV Golf, becoming the league’s official ambassador and content creator. This collaboration marks the first official alliance between LIV Golf and a major content creator, which aims to connect its stable of stars with a new generation of fans. As part of his contract, Shiels will attend all 14 LIV Golf League events and produce innovative content such as his signature ‘Break 75’ series, ‘10-Shot Challenge’ and ‘5-Man Scramble’, ultimately providing viewers with unparalleled access to the league’s players, teams and courses.
Australian Golf Digest caught up with Shiels at the 2025 LIV Golf Adelaide event to discuss his big move, how he changed his perspective on the Saudi-backed league and why Australia might just land more LIV events in the future.
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Australian Golf Digest: First impressions of Australia?
Rick Shiels: Love it! It’s hot [laughs]… it’s hot. But honestly, I love Adelaide. The Grange golf course is magnificent.
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Not your first time to our shores either, right?
No. Ten years ago, I came over with family. We’ve got friends and family in both Sydney and Brisbane, so I’ve been over there before. I’ve played a little bit of golf as well – I’ve teed it up at Brookwater Golf Club and over on Hamilton Island, which was one of the most incredible experiences of my life. I remember it having the tightest fairways you can imagine, but the scenery was just out of this world. So, I’ve been looking forward to coming back Down Under.
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We’ll jump straight to it: you’re back here sporting a LIV Golf cap. Tell us about the big move and how it came about.
Yeah, well I’m super-proud to announce I’m a LIV Golf ambassador and content creator! I’ve had a few weeks on the road now, just creating some incredible content, like, really special content with access to world-class players and amazing golf courses. I’m getting to travel the world, getting to see new places, and I genuinely believe we are making better content now. Our videos are connecting the fans with players in a really relatable way – connecting them with their teams and connecting them with the league and we’re starting to showcase some of these incredible venues that LIV travels to. My move to LIV had been in the pipeline for a while. I’d been in conversations with LIV for a little while, to the point where we were trying to get this move up and off the ground in July last year. But it didn’t quite materialise, so we said, OK, let’s go into 2025 and hit the ground running.
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You had obviously been keeping a close eye on the league since its inception. What did you make of its entry and all the controversy about whether it was good for the sport?
I’ve been critical. Yeah, I’ve been critical on my podcast. I don’t think it’s been perfect from the start, but it’s got better each and every event and every year, whether it’s this kind of connection into teams, whether they’re signing bigger and better players. The fact that the league is now starting to go to these incredible places around the world, I think a lot of my feedback was kind of constructive criticism because I want golf to do well and I want golf to succeed. LIV, being a new arm in the world of golf, I wanted it to succeed too, and I felt like it was not quite perfecting it [in its early stages]. But there’s no doubt it’s kept improving each and every event, and with new CEO Scott O’Neill coming in and hearing what his vision is with the business, it’s like, OK, this is really starting to grow into a real juggernaut of a golf league and it’s super-exciting.
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You mentioned Scott O’Neill – obviously big shoes to fill with Greg Norman having played a monumental role in getting LIV off the ground and to this point. What are your thoughts on Greg and what he was able to achieve as the league’s inaugural CEO and commissioner?
Well, I was lucky enough to play with Greg Norman when we were in early talks to come across. I got to play with him at Trump Turnberry the Sunday of the Open Championship last year. So, I played with him really early in the morning and it’s, of course, where he won in 1986, and to get to play the golf course with Greg Norman, it was just a real ‘pinch me’ moment. We didn’t video it – it would’ve been a banger of a video – but just to be able to experience that and just walk the fairways and chat to him was incredible. I spent time with him the night before – we had dinner together and we were down at the bottom of the clubhouse at Turnberry where there is this little short-game area and at about 10pm at night, me, him and a couple of others went and had a little pitch-and-putt competition. I’m thinking, Is this real life? What is going on? Suffice to say, I think Greg’s done an unbelievable job to get the league to where it’s at right now. It must’ve been a lot of hard work and pressure for him. He’s managed to get so many great players to join the league and there’s no doubt he got it to where it needed to get to and, now, I’m really excited to see where Scott can take it.
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LIV Golf Adelaide is the undisputed flagship event of the entire LIV schedule. Have you been warned about it, and just how crazy it gets?
I’ve been warned [laughs]. I’ve experienced a couple of events so far. I went to JCB last year where I was on the party hole and it was incredible as a golf experience. I’ve been to 15 Open Championships in the past. I’ve been to the Masters a couple of times, European tour events – and nothing compared to JCB. It was electrifying. I know that Adelaide is that times 10; I’ve seen the imagery from the past couple of years. You guys have really embraced it. I know, even just speaking to locals, Australians feel like they’ve been starved of professional golf and starved of seeing top-name players. With LIV Golf Adelaide, you’ve got Jon Rahm, Brooks Koepka, Bryson DeChambeau and, of course, Cam Smith. Just looking around here now, there’s an un unbelievable wealth of incredible, talented golfers. I think you could have two or three events in Australia… honestly, I think you could. I think you could have this one in Adelaide and then you could go and have one in Sydney. You’d get the footfall, you’d easily get the footfall. So yeah, I’m really looking forward to Adelaide. My only issue is this: seven months ago, I stopped drinking.
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Oh, Rick… That’s truly horrible timing.
I know, and I’m really worried about this week [laughs].
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You should be!
I’m really worried. I feel like this week, if I can get through this week, I think I’ve really accomplished my goal, but I’m also scared about getting pinned down by some crazy Australian fans and forced to do a ‘shoey’. I might have to do a non-alcoholic shoey [laughs].
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Let’s talk content creation. You’ve been a leader at it for so long. How’s that going to change for you now that you’re at LIV full-time? Will it make your job easier, now that you’ve got this plethora of talent at your disposal?
I don’t know about easier, but it certainly gives us a nice pathway and a runway to create incredible content. For example, over the course of the first few weeks I’ve already had Joaquin Niemann on the channel. I’ve had Sergio Garcia and the Fireballs team on the channel. We did a great two-versus-two match last week with the Stingers and 4Aces. Yesterday I was playing 18 holes with Jon Rahm.
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You haven’t got a bad life, have you?
It’s all right [laughs]. It’s nice. But I wouldn’t have got those opportunities without creating something that people want. We still have to make incredible content. We’ve prided ourselves on this and want to make ourselves accountable for making the content even better. I’ve been making content on YouTube now for 13 years, and for me [the move to LIV] feels almost like a fresh start. That was an incredible chapter of 13 years of making content. Let’s take a step into this new world and go, OK, well, how can we level up? We are getting incredible access to superb golf courses and superstar golfers. Well, we need to be accountable and make sure we are shooting it in the best possible way. We invested heavily on new equipment and new talent into the Rick Shiels Golf team. There are 11 of us travelling this week alone, which is wild. But we really do pride ourselves. We want to make it the best we can possibly make it.
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How have you found the new ‘office’? What’s the LIV team like to work with?
Honestly, LIV couldn’t be any more accommodating because I genuinely think everyone’s working to the same goal. Everyone wants it to succeed – the players, the teams and the league itself. So, it’s like everyone’s got each other’s backs and I’ve been made to feel really welcome by players. I made a point to speak with quite a few of the team general managers to share my plans with them. We were just on the first tee before with the 4Aces ready to tee off. I’m already filming with two Masters champions in Patrick Reed and Dustin Johnson. And then Phil Mickelson walks over to me and shakes my hand and says, “Hi, Rick. Welcome to the league.” And I’m thinking, What is life? I’m feeling comfortable and feeling relaxed around these people, and I think that’s the goal, the real secret sauce of the content this year. If I can get those players comfortable with me and surrounded with me, we’re going to make better content. They’re going to open up to me a bit more and know that I’m not here to trip ’em up or ask questions that are just silly questions. They know that I’m going to come into this with the right mindset and, Let’s make great content together.
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With about 3 million subscribers to your YouTube channel, you seem to have landed on a winning formula for what people want to watch. What is the secret to the great golf content?
It’s a great question. I always try to keep it as simple as I can. I want to make content that I would watch. If I was to start at home now and turn on YouTube and I saw a match against Jon Rahm, I’d want to watch that. Even if it wasn’t me, I’d want to watch that. So that’s the content I want to make. I want to be proud of my content and go, Yeah, if this wasn’t me making it, wow, that’s fair play. That’s great content. I think the other side of it is asking questions in the title and the video concept that people don’t know the answer to. So, I’ve got this content series, can I beat a tour pro if I have a 10-shot head-start? So far it isn’t going particularly well for me, and it shows the levels between me – an OK golfer – compared to the world’s best golfers. That content is answering a question and even the question of Break 75 – can I break 75 at an incredible golf course? – that is answering a question really for the viewer. So, it’s just making it as interesting as possible.
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Who’s the best player you’ve ever worked with?
There’s been so many… I’ll say this: the most talented golfer I have ever filmed with is an Aussie and he’s not on LIV – Min Woo Lee. His ball-striking ability is just astronomical. Honestly, I played with him a couple of years ago when we got to play the Old Course at St Andrews in reverse and then the day after we got to play Kingsbarns in Scotland. On the first tee he pulled one left and actually lost the ball. Over the next 17 holes he shot 10-under and made it look like the easiest round of golf I’ve ever seen in my life. So, he was incredible to film with. Then there’s Bryson DeChambeau… To stand there and genuinely see Bryson hit a golf shot, it’s just different. I mean really different. Adam Scott was amazing too. I actually filmed with ‘Scotty’ at Kingsbarns too. He hit this golf shot that I’ve never seen anyone hit before. It’s 124 yards into wind and he hit this little 6-iron that was the most gorgeous shot I’ve ever seen in my life. Just this little half-swing just came out, and he put it to about six feet away from the pin. Just talent, real talent. Such a hard shot to hit, that. Then there’s Jon Rahm. Seeing him stand there, jet-lagged after a long flight and just pound a drive is absolutely incredible. I’m looking forward to filming with the likes of Bubba Watson, DJ and Brooks later this year. These are multiple major winners. It’s insane! How good are these guys? And that’s what I want to showcase. I know I can’t beat them. It’s not my mission to beat them or even try to compete with them, but having this kind of separator, having this kind of benchmark as me as somewhere close to a scratch-handicapper, then to go and put him up against a tour pro and say, “Well, actually scratch is there and a tour pro is, like, just many, many, many levels higher.”
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Back on Min Woo… the scary thing about him isn’t how well he hits the ball. It’s the fact that he’s not even the best golfer in his family!
That’s true [laughs]. That is true.
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Who’s one player, past or present, you’re just dying to work with?
Obviously Tiger. I’d love to do something with Tiger. Whether that happens now that I’ve joined LIV, I’m not sure [laughs], but I’d love to do something with Tiger. I think he was one of the main reasons why I got into golf. I started golf in 1997, coincidentally when he won his first Masters. Even though I didn’t get Greg Norman on my channel, that was great playing golf with him. I’ve had a certain Nick Faldo on the channel. I’ve had Tom Watson on the channel. It’d be great to, if you could – AI is getting that good – but maybe we can bring a prime Jack Nicklaus back into video format versus a prime Tiger Woods? But I guess the point is, the world of content hasn’t reached its potential at all yet. I still think we’re scratching the surface of what’s possible, whether it’s virtual reality or whether it’s the way that you can bring the audience even closer to the actions to make them feel like they are there. So, if a viewer wanted to, even in this scenario, if they wanted to move around and come and sit at the table with us, that should be an experience that you can do and it will be an experience you can do at some point. The technology needs to be worked on a little bit, but it’ll happen. So, who knows? We’ve probably gone a bit deeper here than we intended [laughs].
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With all that said, what’s going to be a great year for Rick Shiels?
A great year for me is, genuinely, sitting here at the end of the year with the same feelings that I’ve got right now, just knowing that the opportunity I’ve got and the opportunity that’s been presented is just so good. That’s what I feel like right now. This feels like a proper ‘pinch me’ moment – an unbelievable opportunity to really continue to push the channel forward, to give me a new hunger and new excitement to push my own golf game forward. I’ve been practising so much more but going out with these guys, week on week, I have to get better at golf. I’m excited about what that could look like. Maybe next year I’m signing on as a player? That’s the goal for next year [laughs]. No, something ridiculous would have to happen there. I just want to continue to be excited about the opportunity and continue to love what I do. I know you joked before about me having a dream job and I do feel that I’m very fortunate. I do feel like I’ve got a dream opportunity and a dream job where I’m travelling the world playing amazing golf courses, going to so many new places I’ve never been before – Hong Kong, Singapore, South Korea, Mexico, here in Adelaide. Imagine again that next year when we’re going to even more different places. It’s a worldwide tour and I just can’t wait to continue to explore new areas and new opportunities to make incredible content.
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