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In an exclusive interview with Golf Digest, golf influencer Paige Spiranac dives into her isolation and anxiety and how it shaped her empire.
Paige Spiranac is taking over golf and doesn’t care if people like it. In an exclusive with GolfDigest, she details her life, opening up on her childhood struggles and how they helped shape who she is today.
She may be a gorgeous woman who wears whatever she wants, but Spiranac is much more than her looks — she is intelligent, clever, very talented and has built this empire and brand that sets a new tone for golf marketing.
Sprianac has 11 million followers across her social platforms, more than Tiger Woods or anyone else in the golf world. People know who she is when she walks into a restaurant, store, or wherever — she is influential.
However, Spiranac wasn’t always the confident woman the world sees today. She had her own battles with anxiety and bullying, per her GolfDigest exclusive. The woman that the golf world sees is an exaggerated version of herself.
Paige Spiranac boasts more than 11 million followers across her social media—more than Tiger Woods. However, her online persona is not something she has always wanted to have.
Read our full, in-depth profile of golf’s content unicorn: https://t.co/RTOY28tacF pic.twitter.com/uEoOCbN6qv
— Golf Digest (@GolfDigest) May 30, 2023
Spiranac was a shy, homeschooled child who did not fit in socially. She found herself the butt of jokes and the target of rocks.
“I wore glasses, rubber rain boots everywhere. I had this condition where my hair would fall out. I had bad asthma. When you’re bald and need an inhaler, it’s not easy. Kids would stand 10 feet away from me,” Spiranac noted.
She spent hours at a time alone in the playground on the monkey bars and such. It was during that time that her parents enrolled her into gymnastics. She immediately took to it. Sadly, two knee fractures ended her potential future in gymnastics.
Learning about what she went through as a child was sometimes difficult to stomach. Her teammates would spit in her drink. Kids would toss her birthday cake into the trash in front of her to make a statement. It was the kind of torment that any parent dreads their child experiencing.
At 13-years-old she fell in love with golf. She eventually went to the University of Arizona and transferred to San Diego State. While she succeeded with the Aztecs, her mental health and anxiety were still something Spiranac dealt with daily.
“Total Frat Move” saw a photo of her — that is when everything changed. The site singled her out because of her looks, and overnight she went from no one to someone everyone wanted to know.
The spotlight isn’t always the easiest to handle. At 22 years old, she was subjected to massive amounts of public scrutiny.
From how she dressed too provocatively to being bad for the game of golf and a bad role model, Spiranac took all the heat. She pushed on, trying to make it into professional golf, but that scrutiny intensified when she got invited to a Ladies European Tour in Dubai. So many people thought she didn’t belong and had bets on whether she’d finish last at the event.
Spiranac finished 101 out of 107 at that event, but she also saw 500 million impressions on social media, and the viewership was one of the largest ever, per GolfDigest.
She failed at being a professional golfer and entered therapy to help her cope with her various emotions. Then her therapist gave her the antidote that gave her the mentality she holds to this day.
“She showed me my anxiety is my superpower,” Spiranac said. “I finally just said, Screw this. I changed my mentality.”
Spiranac changed her mindset and did it her way, which is quite frankly paying off in a massive way. She realized the world was not going to take her seriously while she did as well. So, she chose to become unapologetically herself that took control of this social media storm that hits her all the time.
Spiranac gets hateful comments regularly, no matter how serious, playful or witty she is in her content.
Eight years into this brand and Spiranac runs a multimillion-dollar empire. Golf would have never made that kind of money for her.
The best part about this GolfDigest piece is when she summed up her career.
“Basically, my career has become a ‘F**k you’ to everyone,” Spiranac told GolfDigest’s Allison Glock.
She isn’t trying to please anyone but herself, and this story showcased that Spiranac’s purpose is clear — making people happy with the content she chooses to put out there.
Like her or not, Spiranac is the leading force in influential golf.
