Rick Shiels (born 3 July 1986) is a British YouTuber and golf professional, best known for his YouTube channel, Rick Shiels Golf. In June 2019, his channel became the biggest golf channel on
YouTube
YouTube is a global online video sharing and social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by Google, and is the second mo ...
after surpassing 561,500 subscribers. As of February 2024, he now has over 2.75 million subscribers.
Biography
Shiels was born in
Bolton
Bolton (, locally ) is a large town in Greater Manchester in North West England, formerly a part of Lancashire. A former mill town, Bolton has been a production centre for textiles since Flemish weavers settled in the area in the 14th ...
, England on 3 July 1986. He began playing golf at Hart Common Golf Club in
Westhoughton
Westhoughton ( ) is a town and civil parish in the Metropolitan Borough of Bolton, Greater Manchester, England, southwest of Bolton, east of Wigan and northwest of Manchester. He earned a diploma in golf studies at
Myerscough College
Myerscough College (pronounced as ''Myers-coe'') is a Higher and Further Education college near Bilsborrow on the Fylde in Lancashire, England.
Origins
Myerscough College was founded on 15 March 1894 as the ''Lancashire County Institute of Agr ...
. Ten years after he began playing golf, he started working at Mere Golf and Country Club in
Cheshire, England
Cheshire ( ) is a ceremonial and historic county in North West England, bordered by Wales to the west, Merseyside and Greater Manchester to the north, Derbyshire to the east, and Staffordshire and Shropshire to the south. Cheshire's county town ...
after completing his PGA training and becoming a qualified pro. He then worked at Trafford Golf Centre where, in 2011, he started his YouTube channel, posting videos related to golf as an attempt to gain more customers. In June 2020, he became the first golf vlogger to amass 1 million subscribers. In 2019, Shiels helped host the first YouTube Golf Day which raised over £15,000 for
Prostate Cancer UK
Prostate Cancer UK is a prostate cancer research, awareness and support organisation which is a registered charity in England and Wales, as well as in Scotland
Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the no ...
. The event gathered 44 creators with over 19 million combined followers. He has also partnered with many large brands like
Nike, Inc.
Nike, Inc. ( or ) is an American multinational corporation that is engaged in the design, development, manufacturing, and worldwide marketing and sales of footwear, apparel, equipment, accessories, and services. The company is headquartered ne ...
,
Garmin
Garmin Ltd. (shortened to Garmin, stylized as GARMIN, and formerly known as ProNav) is an American, Swiss-domiciled multinational technology company founded in 1989 by Gary Burrell and Min Kao in Lenexa, Kansas, United States, with headquarte ...
, and Mastercard to create multiple mini-series on his YouTube channel.
His videos have included celebrities like
Robbie Williams
Robert Peter Williams (born 13 February 1974) is an English singer and songwriter. He found fame as a member of the pop group Take That from 1990 to 1995, and achieved commercial success after launching a solo career in 1996. His debut stud ...
and
Eddie Hall
Edward Stephen Hall (born 15 January 1988) is an English media personality, actor, boxer, and former strongman.
He won the World's Strongest Man 2017 competition. Hall has also won national competitions such as UK's Strongest Man, Britain's S ...
. By April 2021, he had over 1.54 million subscribers on his YouTube channel, with over 374 million views. His channel's content covers many aspects of golf, including golf equipment reviews, instructional tips, golf stories, and more. Shiels also presents a podcast called The Rick Shiels Golf Show and a second YouTube channel of the same name. In February 2021, Shiels announced on his podcast that he had ended his partnership with Nike, but Nike hoped to get Shiels to switch to a 'paid to post' model with Shiels encouraging viewers to buy Nike apparel; not wanting to do this, Shiels decided not to renew the partnership.
As of July 2022, Shiels has a new apparel partnership with the clothing brand
Lyle & Scott
Lyle & Scott Limited (Scottish Gaelic: ''Lyle & Scott Earranta''), trading as Lyle & Scott, is a Scottish fashion and knitwear brand well known historically for its golfing knitwear. Based in Hawick, Scotland, the brand designs, manufactures and ...
and Danish shoe brand
ECCO
Ecco or ECCO may refer to:
Art and entertainment
* ''Ecco the Dolphin'' (series), a series of action-adventure science fiction video games
** ''Ecco the Dolphin'', a 1992 video game
* Ecco (''Gotham''), a TV series character
Organizations
...