The Herd with Colin Cowherd - Straight Fire w/ Jason McIntyre - A Conversation with Golf Influencer Paige Spiranac

Episode Date: May 25, 2023

On today’s episode, Jason is joined by former professional golfer and social media influencer Paige Spiranac for a lengthy conversation in which J-Mac and Paige discuss the first time she went viral, why she takes such a hands-on approach to social media, the importance of connecting with your audience, the silver lining to having haters, the thought process behind her burgeoning OnlyPaige.com website, how she's helped other female influencers get into golf, why she refuses to try and parlay her celebrity into a spot on the LPGA Tour, why she's chosen to get into the sports gambling space and much more! Click here to subscribe, rate and review all of the latest Straight Fire with Jason McIntyre podcasts! #Volume #HerdSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an I-Heart podcast. Guaranteed Human. Another podcast from some SNL, late-night comedy guy, not quite. Unhumor me with Robert Smygel and friends. Me and hilarious guests from Bob Odenkirk to David Letterman help make you funnier. This week, my guest, SNL's Mikey Day and head writer, Streeter Seidel, help an a cappella band with their between songs banter.

Where does your group perform? We do some retirement homes. Those people are starving for banter. Listen to humor me with Robert Smigel and friends on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Imagine an Olympics where doping is not only legal, but encouraged. It's the enhanced games. Some call it grotesque.

Others say it's unleashing human potential. Either way, the podcast's Superhuman documented it all, embedded in the games and with the athletes for a full year. Within probably 10 days, I'd put on 10 pounds. I was having trouble stopping the muscle growth. Listen to Superhuman on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hey, this is Robert from the Stuff to Blow Your Mind podcast. Joe and I are both lifelong Star Wars fan, so we're celebrating May the 4th with a brand new week of fun, thought-provoking Star Wars-related episodes.

Join us as we tackle science and culture topics from a galaxy far, far away, such as the biology of tauntons and wampas on the ice planet hot, or the practicality and corporate business sense of the Sith ruling. of two. Listen to Stuff to Bole Your Mind on the Iheart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. A win is a win. A win is a win.

I don't care what I'm saying. Yep, that's me, Cliver Taylor the 4th. You might have seen the skits, my basketball and college football journey, or my career in sports media. Well, now I'm bringing all of that excitement to my brand new podcast, The Cliver Show. This is a place for raw, unfills of conversations with athletes, creators, and voices that not only deserve to be heard, but celebrated. So let's get to it. Listen to the Clifford show on the IHeard Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more behind the scenes,

follow at Clifford and at TikTok podcast network on TikTok. The volume. This is Straight Fire with Jason McIntyre. What is up Straight Fire, fam? It's me, Jason McIntyre. Straight Fire for Thursday, May 25th and for the first time in a long time. During the week, we did not have an NBA game thanks to the Denver Nuggets sweeping the Lakers. So in place of talking about the NBA or NFL or Major League Baseball or MLS or whatever, we have a special guest. Ladies and gentlemen, I've been hyping this guest for a couple weeks.

Her calendar is extremely busy and full, obviously. If you follow golf at all, she's not a, pro golfer, but she's bigger than every pro golfer on the women's circuit. Her name is Paige Spironic. Gosh, I probably butchered that. And I interviewed her this week. Her Instagram handle is Paige Renee. If you are not on the gram, well, it's worth checking out. Anyway, she has 3.7 million followers. I know her age in a little bit, so I hit him up about a month ago and I was like, listen, I keep seeing Paige everywhere. Every time I talk to anybody in and around golf. It's about page. And any, I mean, I've golfed, I think, two or three times this,

probably in the last, in the last full year, not this calendar year. I've probably golfed two or three times. And without question, she was an overwhelming topic. And she recently started her own website. She's massive on the internet. And, you know, she's gone through obviously some hurdles getting there. She's known for Maxim. She's known for a lot of things. She's a big deal. and I think you guys really enjoy this interview. I'm very curious what the feedback will be because this is a little out of character for the podcast. There is a video component if you go on YouTube.

You'll definitely see the video. Page is as advertised, pretty much an open book. And we appreciate the candor, obviously. I think you guys like it. So enjoy Paige Sparonic, the most popular person affiliated with women's golf. Jason likes to think he knows everything when it comes to sports. I know what sports fans want. But for everything he doesn't, he knows a guy who does.

Let's just say, I know a guy, who knows a guy, who knows another guy. All right, let's welcome in to Straightfire, a guest we've never had on the podcast before. We've talked about her a few times because obviously she's a huge deal in women's golf, although she's not a golfer. Paige Spiranic, Paige, I hope I said your name correctly. How are you doing? Good, you absolutely nailed it. Okay, good. Yeah, a lot of practice this week.

So a lot of my friends who play golf, I'm not a huge golfer, I'll golf socially. You obviously have an amazing background in golf dating back to high school and youth sports and all that. You know, anytime we talk about like a big golf event that's coming up, somehow your name gets in the conversation. And I guess I know that sounds silly because, you know, you're not actually playing. But, you know, Paige, that seems to be where you are in the Gulf discussion right now. We're kind of in that weird post-Tiger era starting up. And we're also in that weird, like, influencer space totally popping. I guess just, you know, tell the audience a little about how the heck you got where you are with almost 4 million followers,

your own website, which is, I'm assuming a cash cow, just your journey here. Yeah. So I was a competitive gymnast for a very long time. and I always wanted to be a professional athlete, but I unfortunately, like, fractured my kneecap twice, had a couple really bad injuries, and just had to quit. And so I sat down with my parents, I said, what else could I be good at? And my aunt, she was a professional tennis player, got up to number eight in the world. And so I tried tennis first, and it wasn't for me, too much running right after gymnastics.

And so my dad took me out to the driving range, and I fell in love with it right away. And from that point on, I dedicated basically every second of every day to golf and becoming better and was a highly ranked junior golfer and getting a full-ride scholarship to play at San Diego State University. After my senior year, I wasn't really sure what I wanted to do, mostly just because golf is really expensive. And I was struggling financially at that time. And I sat down with my dad and he said, let's just give it a go. one full year and right before all of that happened before I turned pro, my social media just blew up and it wasn't anything that I sought out that I was trying to do. Someone just found my

Instagram on and then they just posted about it online and I went viral and within a week I went from having like 500 followers to 100,000 followers and companies started reaching out and saying I'll give you shoes if you post or tease or whatever. And at that time, like I said, I had absolutely nothing I was doing caddying and running junior golf clinics and doing everything I could to just try to keep myself afloat to pay for golf. And so I started to leverage my social media to finance my golf career. And so I did that for about a year and a half. And I couldn't do both well because I would go to a tournament and be asked to do five hours worth of. press and you know they wanted me to do social media and all these other things and uh you know none of the

girls wanted to do it so i would step in and do it for them and uh i couldn't sometimes i wouldn't even be able to get a full practice round in because i was doing so much for the tournaments and the sponsors and i couldn't i was just burnt out it was really tough i had um a ton of haters at that time because i was you know getting invitations uh to play in these events because of my social media and i I wanted to play golf. Hold on. So who are these haters? Are they the other female golfers, like the kind of mean girls, holy stuff?

Honestly, you name it. Everyone was hating at that time. It was, you know, professional golfers, people within the industry, golf fans. You know, it was a really polarizing time in my career because I was getting these opportunities based off of my social media. And my social media, it's a very distinct brand. And that can rub people the wrong way. And they were saying that I was taking these opportunities.

away from players who are more deserving. But most people didn't realize that I was signed on the side of media, not as a tour player. So for example, I was working with Callaway. They were one of my first sponsors. And I was doing all of their media work. I was never signed as an LPGA player. And all of my obligations were to do social media for them and digital content. And I was never categorized as a professional golfer.

And most people didn't realize that. So again, it was like I had two jobs, two separate lives and trying to do both of them well, couldn't do it. And then just decided to take a little break and lean into the social media full-time. And that was about seven years ago now and I haven't looked back. So this whole social media full-time thing is kind of fascinating. There's a college football player who lives near me. Matt Leiner went to USC. And, you know, I see him around.

We talk. And he's like, oh, let me introduce you to my social media. And I'm like, what do you mean? You have a social media guy. And he's like, got a guy dedicated to help him with TikTok and Instagram. And he's like doing videos like every day. He's like, oh, yeah, we meet and we plan stuff. And I'm like, okay, so that's Matt.

I look at your social media page. Do you have like a team of people that you're dealing with every day? Like walk us through a day. Like you wake up and you're instantly like on the horn with your squad of social media people. Yeah. So I run all of my social media myself. and I have always been basically the whole operation behind what I do. So everything that you see that I put out, I either wrote the script, I produced it,

I edited, I shot it, mostly myself, unless it's like highly produced or a little bit of a higher quality, then I'll bring someone into shoot it for me and help with editing. But if you get a message back, it's me doing it, if you get a comment back, it's me doing it. So I put a lot of time and effort into my social media. hands-on. I do have an amazing team that helps me seek out other opportunities and manage the partnerships that I have because I do work with a lot of different companies. And I have a social media manager who just helps me with the kind of day in and day out of what I have to post and just making sure I'm always doing everything I need to do for my partners. But when it

comes down to the ideas and the real vision behind every post, it's all me. And I really love the creative process and that's something that I've always really enjoyed about social media and it's been fun to work with partners who now you know get that I think like you're saying it's this really weird time where like companies are starting to realize the importance of social media yet they don't really know how to fully utilize it yet and it's been able to like work with these partners in a really strategic way that it's organic to my social media but then I can still you know, do everything that I need to do to make them happy as well. So it's a full-time job. You know, it takes a lot of strategy involved. So again, Paige, I'm just on a TV show, I have a

podcast. I've been in like sports media for a while. So I don't have a huge following. But I get a ton of comments on Instagram every day. And I reply to maybe a third of them. A lot of it is hate, you know, idiot fans who are like, how could you say this about my favorite player? Paige, how are you looking at all your responses if you have 3.7 million followers on Instagram? You're not actually looking at all of them. Yeah, no, I am. So what are you spending like all day on social media? I mean, it's work. I love what I do and I love connecting with people and just as you prepare to do your shows and make sure that you're always finally tuned for what you're doing. That's how I work with social media. And I think people, again, just don't quite

understand how it is a job yet and all that goes into it. But the main focus is the people who follow you. It's a community. And I'm not able to do my job well if they're disinterested and what I'm doing. And taking that time to connect with someone is so incredibly valuable, especially right now when we don't know what platforms are going to be popular in next couple years, if they're going to be band, you just don't know what's going on with social media. So you have to take the time to build up that loyal community of people who like you and that will follow you for wherever you go. And that's my biggest piece of advice that I give to anyone wanting to do this, is that you do have to take the time to connect with them personally. And also to gauge how your content's doing, just as if anyone

else would see, like, how are my ratings? Are they good or they're bad? Are people watching my show? It's the same thing. You know, I look at my numbers. I look at the people who are watching my content and if it's something that they like, I do more of it, if it's something they're not interested in, I do less of it. And so it's pretty much the same. You know, it's just on a, it's just on a different, you know, platform. Yeah, but the problem is, you know there's all these meatballs on social media who are just professional haters. They're anonymous losers. And all they want to do is, like, be critical. And that's fine. Like, as a guy, I could take it, but I have worked closely with, you know, a couple of women in television. And I've seen them kind of

struggle when these haters come after them like hardcore and like do you ever worry about yourself getting too wrapped up in comments from random people around the country even though they kind of pay the bills in a way yeah i mean i really cared when i started doing this mostly because they would attack my golf game and anyone who plays golf knows that it's so tied into your identity and your ego and it was really hard for me to separate that when someone was attacking you know the time and effort, the passion I had into this game that I loved so much, and that was really hard in the beginning. But now with what I do, I tried to create content that's entertaining. And sometimes I am, you know, pushing a limit or I'm trying to make it cheeky. You need about 70%

hate to grow. And so when I'm getting hate comments, then you know you're getting a reaction. You know that that's going to be shared. You know that that's a really great piece of content. because if everyone's agreeing with what you're doing, then, you know, they're not going to send it to their friends. Like, it's, it's boring. So you want to get those hate comments and now I see it as just, you know, it is what it is. You know, everyone has an opinion and you can be bothered by it, but no one has said that to my face. And half the time when, you know, they're just trying to get a rise out of you. And if you get called a whore once, then it doesn't matter if you get it called a hundred times.

or you just get so desensitized to what people say online. And I've created this kind of persona, this, you know, Paige Renee, which is my user handle on Instagram. And it's a character that I play. I lean into it. It's a very exaggerated version of myself. And so someone comments on my piece of content, they don't know me. They're not commenting back at me.

They're commenting on this person that they think that they know. And it doesn't hurt because I know if I could spend time talking them. Maybe they would like me or maybe they don't, but it doesn't matter because they'll never meet me. They don't know me. You go to golf tournaments. I don't know. Imagine an Olympics where doping is not only legal, but encouraged. It's the enhanced games. Some call it grotesque. Others say it's unleashing human potential. Either way, the podcast's Superhuman documented it all, embedded in the games and with the athletes for a full year. Within probably 10 days, I'd put on 10 pounds. I was having trouble stopping the muscle growth.

Listen to Superhuman on the I-Hard radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. A win is a win. A win is a win. I don't care what you're saying. Yep, that's me, Cliver Taylor the 4th. You might have seen the skits, the reactions, my journey from basketball to college football,

or my career in sports media. Well, somewhere along the way, this platform became bigger than I ever imagined. And now I'm bringing all of that excitement to my brand new podcast, The Clifford Show. This is a place for raw, unfiltered conversations with some of your favorite athletes, creators, and voices that not only deserve to be heard, but celebrated. One week, I'll take you behind the scenes of the biggest moments in sports and entertainment, and the next we'll talk about life, mental health, purpose, and even music.

The Clifford Show isn't just a podcast. It's a space for honest conversations, stories that don't always get told, and for people who are chasing something bigger. So, if you've ever supported me, or you're just chasing down a dream, this is right where you need to be. Listen to the Clifford show on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more behind the scenes,

follow at Clifford and at TikTok Podcast Network on TikTok. Hey, this is Robert from the Stuff to Blow Your Mind podcast. Joe and I are both lifelong Star Wars fan, so we're celebrating May the 4th with a brand new week of fun, thought-provoking Star Wars-related episodes. Join us as we tackle science and culture topics from a galaxy far, far away, such as the biology of ton-tons and wampas on the ice planet hot,

or the practicality and corporate business sense of the Sith rule of two. Listen to stuff to blow your mind on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Do you remember when Diana Ross double-tap Little Kim's boobs at the VMAs? Or when Kanye said that George Bush didn't like black people. I know what you're thinking. What the hell does George Bush got to do with Little Kim? Well, you can find out on the Look Back at it podcast.

And I'm Alex English. Each episode, we pick it here, unpack what went down, and try to make sense of how we survived it. Including a recent episode with Mark Lamont Hill, waxing all about crack in the 80s. To be clear, 84 is big to me, not just because of crack. I'm down to talk about crack on day, but just so y'all know. I mean, at this point, Mark, this is the second episode where we've discussed crack. So I'm starting to see that there's a through line. We also have AIDS on the table right now.

Thank you for finishing that sentence. I don't think there's a more important year for black people. Really? Yeah. For me, it's one of the most important years for black people in American history. Listen to look back at it on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. You said the word identity. And a lot of the guests we have, their identity is wrapped up in the sport they cover, the athletes they cover.

Some is all about them or their book. But it sounded like you just said there are two pages. There's the social media one, and then there's the regular page. who goes to the grocery store and has a dog or whatever, whatever, I don't know. How do you toggle between the two? Yeah, so I would say that it's still me, but it is my most exaggerated version of myself, my most confident, my most sexy. I'm very introverted, so it's my most extroverted version of myself that I put out

online, and it's still me, but I just try to, you know, play it up a little bit, because at the end of the day, social media is entertainment. And I'm there to entertain people with my content. And no one wants to see me with, you know, no makeup on, sweats, you know, eating at, you know, Saturday night with my dog next to me reading. You know, that that's boring. And it's not that I don't share parts of myself or parts of my life. I just put out, you know, just a very outrageous version of myself because I

find it interesting and other people find it interesting as well. Yeah, there's some guys in sports media. I don't know how much you pay attention to it, but there are some who have definitely leaned into, I'm going to be the two personalities. And you see this guy online and you're like, this is not the guy I know. I can't be friends with this guy. Listen to this shit he's saying. I can't, I can't rock with this guy. And then you see him in public and you're like, oh, hey, what's up? And you talk to him for like, I don't know, two minutes. And you're like, that's not the guy that's on social media. So do you get a lot of that? Like, whoa, Paige. You're not like you are on IG.

Yeah, yes and no, because my thoughts, my opinions, everything that I say is still everything that I believe in. So I'm not saying things that just to get a reaction or a rise out of someone. I do that with my appearance. And when people see me, they're a surprise that I'm dressed appropriately for the event that I'm at. People just expect me to, you know, walk in in a bikini to a gala. And they're like, oh, you're dressed appropriately. And it's like, yeah, of course I am. So I think that's the biggest thing. But I think I also get that I'm just very down to earth. I think people expect me to be very, maybe full of myself or stuck up. And I don't know if that's just because of this influencer culture. And that's just how a lot of them do act. But, you know, I have a really great support system with my family and my friends who keep me very humble.

A lot of my really close friends don't even have. have social media. They don't care about that at all. And so my life doesn't revolve around that. That's just a piece of my life. And I think people do realize that when they meet me that, you know, I'm not that person 24-7, which is, which is a good thing. I tell people, because they see, you know, my real friends who are not really on social media, like you said, they're like, how do you deal with that? And I'm like, trust me, I just want to make enough money so I don't have to be on social media. But the opposite is true with you. You're on social media and now you're making money. So you started this website, you know,

Listen, I don't know if you look at your metrics on Instagram, but mine are like 93% dudes, 7% women. And I'm assuming yours is the opposite probably, maybe a little. Yeah, 96% men. So you started a site that's like a rip off of only fans, only page. And I'm going to assume it's doing well. I see you promoting it. You know, you don't have to give me numbers, but let's just say a basic number. Have you had a thousand people sign up yet?

Oh, then like the first minute. You know, we, we did really well. And yeah, we put a lot of time and effort into it. And people have been asking me to do OnlyFans for a very long time. Wait, hold on. And even though. Or like Internet weirdos. I know you don't want to use that for the edge because then it'll turn it off.

I don't, I don't think they're weird. Like, I don't think that's like a weird thing. No normal person says, when are you starting an only fan? That's not normal. But anyway. Yeah, people on the internet. People on the internet have been asking, you know, starting only fans, doing only fans.

And even though my brand is very sexy, that I don't feel comfortable with, you know, any type of nudity. And so I wanted to do a subscription site, but I didn't want to do only fans. And especially because golf is so conservative and stuffy that I think even doing it, if I wasn't doing nudity, people would still have some issues with it.

So I just wanted to make sure that like I was in the like doing something that I felt really comfortable doing. And so we had the name only page because, you know, it's just a playoff of it. And we do, you know, golf instruction, a ton of golf instruction. And we put a lot of time and effort into doing like if you never play golf before, we have a whole series on basics. Where to get clubs, where to get shop, everything. We do basics. Okay. So Paige, hold on.

Hold on. Let me ask. Hold on. So you have the metrics that I know you look at. Be honest. Well, you don't have to totally be honest. But are more people looking at the golf stuff or whatever else you're peddling on there? Funny enough, the golf content is some of the highly rated content.

It does the best. Really? Okay. Even on my Instagram. And I know a lot of people say this in my comments like, oh, no one's following you for golf. Well, that's not true because there are a ton of really hot girls on the internet, way hotter than me and I provide golf. Like that's what I do.

And so you come to my page because I do golf. And I have a really strong golf background, especially in golf instruction. And a ton of people come up to me in person, not on the internet, actually in person. And they say, you have fixed my flop shot. You have fixed my bunker shot. And it's true.

And so I don't care why they're there to begin with, but they are learning stuff. and I'm getting people into the game of golf. And my golf content across the board outperforms anything else that I do. I don't doubt that. I mean, maybe I need to improve my flop shots. So I'll sign up for only page. So I do want to ask, so it's like graduation time, you know, for college.

And I do see kids out there. You know, I know some families and they're like, yeah, I'm like, what are you going to go into? And they're like, you know, I kind of want to do what you want to do. I want to have a podcast and talk about sports on TV. I'm like, all right, well, you know, I'll see you in 20 years. You know, you've got to work at this. And they're like, oh, another guy's like, I kind of want to be an influencer. This wasn't even like a thing that you really sought out, right?

There was the, you said some total frat move or whatever I was reading, found you and kind of made it. But this wasn't like something that you really wanted. But when you realize I'm guessing that you could, it could be a pretty lucrative business, you leaned into it. Are you like advising any young female golfers who maybe aren't tour worthy to say, hey, this is a lane? you can jump in and, you know, there can be 15 other pages doing this social media thing. There's hundreds of them now, which has been really cool to see. There's been this golf movement of women creating businesses off of, you know, just

promoting the game of golf and looking good doing it. I was the first one to do this. And like I said, it just kind of happened to me, but I found that I was really. really good at it, that people liked my content, that they could relate to what I was doing. And I think because I didn't go into it, knowing what to say or what to do, that I did build this really great community of people because I was so honest. And they've seen me, you know, win and lose and falter and gain success. And I've been through it all.

And I've shared that with all of them. And I basically created this career path for all of these women now, which is really, really cool. I've paved the path for them to be successful, especially in a male-dominated sport like golf. And you're seeing this really big movement now. And you're also seeing a lot of women now on golf courses. I remember when I first started doing this, which is eight years, seven, eight years ago now, go to the golf course. Now it was the only one, I was the only girl there.

And now you go and you're seeing girls and leggings and tank tops. And it's been incredible to see the change because I put myself out there and I've stuck to what I believe in. And I believe that there needs be changes in golf. And I've been really outspoken about that. And I also talk about how to build a successful social media career and also how hard it is and how draining it is. And you know, you have to have a certain type of personality to do well in this industry. because it can eat you up and spit you out and you need to be really, really strong

and confident and self-assured in what you're doing. Imagine an Olympics where doping is not only legal but encouraged. It's the enhanced games. Some call it grotesque. Others say it's unleashing human potential. Either way, the podcast's Superhuman documented it all, embedded in the games and with the athletes for a full year. Within probably 10 days, I'd put on 10 pounds.

I was having trouble stopping them. muscle grave. Listen to Superhuman on the IHard Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. A win is a win. A win is a win. I don't care what you're saying. Yep, that's me, Clifford Taylor the 4th. You might have seen the skits, the reactions, my journey from basketball to college football,

or my career in sports media. Well, somewhere along the way, this platform became bigger than I ever imagined. And now I'm bringing all of that excitement to my brand new podcast, The Clifford Show. This is a place for. raw, unfiltered conversations with some of your favorite athletes, creators, and voices that not only deserve to be heard, but celebrated. One week I'll take you behind the scenes of the biggest moments in sports and entertainment, and the next we'll talk about life, mental health, purpose, and even music. The Clifford Show isn't just a podcast. It's a space for honest

conversations, stories that don't always get told, and for people who are chasing something bigger. So, if you've ever supported me, or you're just chasing down a dream, this is right where you need to be. Listen to the Clifford show on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more behind the scenes, follow at Clifford and at TikTok Podcast Network on TikTok. Hey, this is Robert from the Stuff to Blow Your Mind podcast. Joe and I are both lifelong Star Wars fan, so we're celebrating May the 4th with a brand new week of fun, thought-provoking Star Wars-related episodes. Join us as we tackle science and culture topics from a galaxy far, far away, such as the biology of Tontons and Wampas on the Ice Planet Hot. or the practicality and corporate business sense of the Sith rule of two.

Listen to stuff to blow your mind on the Iheart radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Do you remember when Diana Ross double-tap Little Kim's boobs at the VMAs? Or when Kanye said that George Bush didn't like black people. I know what you're thinking. What the hell does George Bush got to do with Little Kim? Well, you can find out on the Look Back at it podcast. I'm Sam Jett.

And I'm Alex English. Each episode, we pick it here, unpack what went down, and try to make sense of how we survived it. Including a recent episode with Mark Lamont Hill, waxing all about crack in the 80s. To be clear, 84's big to me, not just because of crack. I'm down to talk about crack all day, but just so y'all know. I mean, at this point, Mark, this is the second episode where we've discussed crack, so I'm starting to see that there's a through line. We also have AIDS on the table right now, so.

Thank you for finishing that sentence. Yes. I don't think there's a more important year for black people. Really? Yeah. For me, it's one of the most important years for black people in American history. Listen to look back at it on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. So as the like the OG golf influencer person, is there like a community or is it kind of still catty, mean girls type stuff going on?

You know, I stick to myself. Like I said, I'm very introverted and I just kind of keep my head down. do my work and, you know, get done with it. But if any of the young girls reach out to me, I am more than willing to give advice. I think I'm a little bit more guarded because of all of the hate that I have received from women in the industry. And so I'm hesitant to, you know, reach out or want to collaborate because I've been burned in the past. But if any of them reach out, I'm always willing to lend a helping hand. I'm sorry, during the vast research, I miss this being burned. What does that mean?

Yeah, when I first got into the industry and when I was trying to play professionally, a lot of the LPGA players did not like me and were very outspoken towards that. And as well as a lot of influencers who came, you know, behind me, they were saying that they didn't want to take the path that I was taking. They weren't going to over-sexualize themselves and yet they turn around and do the exact same thing. And so sometimes there's just not a level of respect for everything that I have been through. And if I didn't do this, then they wouldn't even be doing this now. Like they wouldn't have a job without all the hardships that I face and the path that I paid for them. Yeah. So I worked with somebody at Fox.

He's not there anymore. But his wife was up for the WNBA like head job, like running the WNBA. And during the meetings, you know, she was told like, hey, we have a lot of influencers in the women's basketball space, but we can't get any of them to come to the league because they can make money off social media instead of flying on planes, practice, getting yelled at, sitting on a bench.

They don't want to do all that. They just want to be influencers. They can make a ton of money. How do we get those influencers into the WNBA? Now, obviously the league has a ton of popular players. But there are some hugely popular women that just don't want to play basketball. I got to ask you, like, you know, Paige,

we could probably pull 10 people at the side of the street right now name five women golfers and i could guarantee you none of them could do it and i'm talking about like at a golf course um what if they came to you and we're like hey page we don't care that you didn't qualify we want you playing in this tournament you know what's up you're going to drive ratings and interest and chatter and social media but you also know that that bullshit hate is going to be out there do you would you do it no because i i i did try and i wasn't good enough you know i didn't have all good i mean yeah but i didn't have all the tools to be at the caliber of an LPGA player.

And so I don't want to go in there, one, embarrass myself, and also be disrespectful for all of the work that they put in. Just as they work hard every single day on what they do, I do the same thing. And so I've gone to the LPGA before and said, hey, I'm here to help you in any capacity, and they didn't want my help.

And so I think that there is a way where you can do both. I think you can have these success influencers who maybe aren't good enough or don't want to compete help use their social media platforms to raise awareness for these amazing athletes. You know, you don't want to take away from anything that they have done because they do dedicate so much of their time and energy and passion into this. And I'm here to help you with my talent and I want to have more eyes on your talent. And I think that's kind of where we need to be and even with the WMBA.

you don't have to have the influencers playing with them, but they should be at any tournament or any event and live streaming. Why isn't that an option or doing a behind the scenes or being in the locker room? Like you can do both. And I think that's the problem people just see is it's this way or no way. And a lot of influencers in my case, I hated competing. I absolutely despised it. It was something that I didn't feel confident doing. I truly hated it. So I don't want to go do that because I love what I do. What do you mean you didn't feel confident? You were like a college golfer. You had a scholarship and you were like on the team and stuff. Yeah. Yeah. I don't understand what you weren't confident about. Well, it's just a different level. I don't think people realize the jump from

being even like a scratch golfer to a plus two or to tour level. I mean, for example, like, I play off of a scratch now so I can shoot, you know, even par, sometimes in the 60s. They're shooting 62s and 63s. And they're consistently just better all around. And there's so much that goes into that. And so, yeah, I'm a damn good golfer, but I am not one of the best in the world. And it would be embarrassing on both ends for me to be in there. It's almost like a slap in their face. It's like, oh, anyone can go play. Let's put them in. You know, and I would rather use my platforms to put more eyes on what they're doing than be competing alongside them because I'm just not at their level. And it's, that would not. Yeah, I guess I'm more of an outsider. So I, I totally disagree with

that. I mean, like more people would be interested in seeing, but you're not doing what they're doing every day practicing because you got a, you know, social media. Are you on TikTok? I'm sorry, I'm not on there. Yeah, I'm on every social platform you could possibly have. Is that by choice or is it like, hey, there's this, we've just got to be everywhere just in case this pops. No, I love it. I love what I do. I love creating content and the more platforms the better because each platform is a different piece of content and you can be creative. And so, for example, like YouTube, I do very different content on YouTube than I do on TikTok. And my podcast is very different than everything.

And my Instagram is different than my Twitter. And my Twitter is different than my Facebook. And then, of course, we have the subscription site. So there's so many different pieces and they're all different. And I love doing content for each of them because you can be so creative. So to go back to the golf thing, like obviously you're cleaning up, making a lot of money. And, you know, the women's golfers, like the purses aren't huge for some of these events, obviously. But like you said you went to the LPG and we're like, hey, I'm interested in helping.

And they just were like, not really. Like, were you surprised at that? Did that hurt your feelings? Like what's the response when they're like, no, we don't want help. We're great. I see both sides. Yes, it's very frustrating because I had very pure intentions to want to elevate the women's game. And that's always been a passion of mine is growing the game of golf.

I got into this because I wanted to show that there are so many different sides to golf. It's not just the stuffy country club. You can go to a public golf course and hit golf balls for under $10 in jeans. And that's just as fun. And that's still the game of golf. And I wanted to bring awareness to women golfers because they don't get paid enough. And they are so good. And people don't realize that.

And I wanted to help. And I was frustrated that they didn't see the opportunity in front of them. I also understand it that it's their business. if they don't want to work with me, then that's their choice. You know, I can't be upset about that. And I think that's the hard part about being an influencer is you are the brand. And if you think about it in other businesses, sometimes it just doesn't align, but I am what doesn't align with them.

And that can be, that's when your feelings can get hurt. But if you look at it truly as a business deal, then no, it's no hard feelings. It just didn't align with their business plan. I know you have a super busy day, so I'll try to wrap up here. The U.S. opens coming up. It's out here in L.A. I know you do some gambling stuff now, partnership. I'm curious, what happens when you give out picks and they don't hit because that's gambling, you know, 50% of the time.

Maybe you get lucky. How do you handle that? I know the social media dudes are animals when they lose bets because I do some of that as well. Yeah. You know, golf is intranet. I think it's the hardest sport. to make picks for because it's, you know, one person out of 140 guys in a field and the odds are just not in your favor. Last year, I was on. I had about seven winners, two of the four

major champions I picked correctly, which is outstanding. Like, I blew it out of the park. And still, they're like, you're not getting every week. You're not picking every winner every week. And And at the PGA Championship, I said to Fade Hovland, and Hovlin came in second. And I was like, the whole time I was getting comments and I knew it. And I was like, why did I do this? Why did I say that? Luckily, I said that Brooks is also a really great pick, which offset it. You just have to give almost as many picks as you can for good top tens, good top 20s,

top five finishes to, you know, hopefully not put all your eggs in one basket. but yeah, the U.S. Open is going to be really interesting. Golf is in an amazing spot right now. There's a ton of really great players, and I'm liking Max Homa. He, yeah, he plays well in L.A. He plays well on hard golf courses. I know he doesn't have a great major record,

but I think he'll do well kind of in his hometown and playing in front of a lot of friends and family. So I guess the last question, like you talk about playing golf a lot. Are you able to just go to a course and play around with friends and nobody will notice you? Or are people coming up to you like at the driving range and the putting green and all that? Because it seems like your audience is a lot of dudes and they're going to be it. They're going to recognize you, obviously.

Yeah. I mean, I definitely get recognized when I go to any golf course. Mostly just because I stand out too. You know, I'm one of the only, you know, like blondes, you know, like females out there. You know, I just walk in with my little skirt and my, you know, my blonde ponytail flipping behind me. I do stick out like a sore thumb. So sometimes I don't know if they're like, oh, girl on the golf course, what is this? Or if they're like, oh, that's page.

But most people are really nice when they come up to me. Anytime I go to golf events, it's kind of the same thing. But ever since I did, I got maxim, I did their issue with them. Yeah. Number one, what year was that? That was last year. And so once I did that, which was a little bit more mainstream, because I am so heavily involved in just the sports community that even now, like, I'll get off the plane and people will come up to me or, you know, I'm starting to go out in other places and people are starting to come up to me. So I didn't realize that.

I was going to change like that. Yeah, you probably need like some kind of security. You know, people are weird. Yeah, no, I'm lucky I do have a lot of security. But like the first time I was, I was walking off the plane, I was wearing like my bright yellow crue. rocks and sweats and no makeup and like my hair was like greasy and off my head and he's like are you page and I was like no yeah I mean he's like I take a picture I was like yeah okay because it's like you know they're going to post it and then obviously haters are going to be like she doesn't look

the same in person and so now I'm like okay I least need to travel with some makeup on yeah I remember being at an airport after I think the final four and Danica Patrick was at the airport and just standing there at the gate and not one person recognized her she's kind of on the smaller side and she was just standing there just no security no agent nobody and i was like this is strange like i thought she was a huge deal but you know you're i guess a little different you're what pretty tall right yeah um almost 5-8 most people think i'm i'm a lot taller than that that's one thing i get when they see me in person like oh i thought you were a lot taller um no yeah i don't know what it is i just uh people have been coming up to me more which they're always so nice and i i i i i

I appreciate all the kind things that they say. So it's never a bad thing. Anything you want to plug any besides Only page, which I'm sure is just going to get a million more signups, you know, in the next point of four hours. I'm sure. So you guys can head over to my subscription site. Only page I do personalized videos, golf content, behind the scenes,

a lot of fun stuff over there. My podcast is the Playing Around podcast. We do that weekly where we just recap golf tournaments and what's happening in the golf world. And then all of my social media. You can find me on TikTok, Facebook, Instagram under Paige Spirannick, and then on Instagram, which is Paige Renee. All right, Paige. Thanks a lot. Continued success in all your endeavors. And maybe I'll see you at a golf course sometime. Yeah, I mean, to get you out there. Unl likely, but maybe. We'll see.

Okay. Thank you. Another podcast from some SNL late night comedy guy, not quite. Unhumor me with Robert Smygel and friends. me and hilarious guests from Bob Odenkirk to David Letterman help make you funnier. This week, my guest, SNL's Mikey Day and head writer Streeter Seidel, help an a cappella band with their between songs banter. Where does your group perform? We do some retirement homes. Those people are starving for banter. Listen to humor me with Robert Smigel and friends on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Imagine an Olympics where doping is not only legal but encouraged. It's the enhanced games. Some call it grotesque. Others say it's unleashing human potential. Either way, the podcast's Superhuman documented it all, embedded in the games and with the athletes for a full year. Within probably 10 days, I'd put on 10 pounds. I was having trouble stopping the muscle growth.

Listen to Superhuman on the IHard Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hey, this is Robert from the Stuff to Blow Your Mind podcast. Joe and I are both lifelong Star Wars fan, so we're celebrating May the 4th with a brand new week of fun, thought-provoking Star Wars-related episodes. Join us as we tackle science and culture topics

from a galaxy far, far away, such as the biology of tantons and wampas on the ice planet hot, or the practicality and corporate business sense of the Sith rule of two. Listen to stuff to blow your mind on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast.

On the Look Back at it podcast. It's a big moment for me. 84 is big to me. I'm Sam Jay. And I'm Alex English. Each episode, we pick a year, unpack what went down, and try to make sense of how we survived it. With our friends, fellow comedians, and favorite authors. Like Mark Lamont Hill on the 80s.

84 was a wild year. I mean, it was a wild year. I don't think there's a more important year for black people. Listen to look back at it on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. This is an IHeart podcast. Guaranteed human.