How Gabby Golf Girl Gets 300+ Million Views A Month

0:00Gabby DeGasperis: This episode is brought to you by Indeed. You're ready to level up your business, but the pressure to find the right person to make that happen is intense. Indeed Sponsored Jobs can help carry the load. It boosts your job post to help it reach quality talent fast. Cut through the chaos with Indeed Sponsored Jobs. Get a$75 sponsored job credit at Indeed.com slash podcast. Terms and conditions apply. Hiring now? Then this is a job for Indeed Sponsored Jobs.

0:30Steven Bertoni: Your sausage McMuffin with egg didn't change. Your receipt did. The sausage McMuffin with egg extra value meal includes a hash brown and a small coffee for just$5. Only at McDonald's for a limited time. Price and participation may vary. Promotion pricing may be lower than meal pricing. Hey, everybody. Welcome to the Forbes Top Creator Show. I'm Forbes editor Steve Bertone, taking you on a deep dive of the creator economy and sharing priceless tips and lessons from the world's top creators. Right now I'm with Gabby Golf Girl, Gabby DeGasperis, and we're on our way to the famous Liberty National Golf Course in Jersey City, New Jersey.

1:04Steven Bertoni: We're taking it out of the studio. We're doing it on the course, and we can't wait to get into it.

1:09Gabby DeGasperis: Incredible scene, I'm so excited.

1:22Steven Bertoni: so this is the first time we've done a outside podcast yeah i'm excited and when i heard you were coming i'm like we need to get out of the forbes studio my good friend dave donovan from dkc works with libra national and they've had us here today and i'm glad you're game i'm super

1:38Gabby DeGasperis: excited. Do you play a little bit?

1:40Steven Bertoni: I used to be a caddy, so I'm a bad golfer, but I can play fast.

1:43Gabby DeGasperis: That's great. I love it. It'll mesh perfectly.

1:46Steven Bertoni: I play twice a year.

1:47Gabby DeGasperis: Oh, really? And I think

1:48Steven Bertoni: you're 18, so my clubs are about as old as you. So you can use the old antiques so we can get up.

1:54Gabby DeGasperis: Love it. I love it.

1:55Steven Bertoni: So, Gabby, my first question is you're 18 years old and you got into golf at a very early age. And tell me about the sport.

2:04Gabby DeGasperis: So basically, I started playing golf when I was two years old when I was really young. My parents didn't play, but they like enjoyed golf. And I wasn't really a team sport kind of girl. Like I was always running away from the ball and soccer and just like not really into it. So I started picking up golf. They got me a set for my second birthday and I just became obsessed with it. I think the reason I became obsessed is not because of the sport, because I think at two, you don't really know, you know, it's not really like a love for the sport yet. You don't even recognize it. Yeah.

2:32Steven Bertoni: At two, you bounce around to different obsessions.

2:33Gabby DeGasperis: Exactly. With me, it was like, I wanted to be with my dad and my mom. I was obsessed with, this is so bizarre, but I was obsessed with making money when I was younger. Okay. Like any coins or dollars or cash that I could find, I was obsessed with when I was like two to three, four years old. Like you could say, Gabby, go do the, go run across the street. I was five years old and like, I'll give you five bucks and I would do it. I would do anything for money. And so my dad, he would kind of like bribe me because he wanted to go out there on the golf course of me. And he'd be like, every three shots you hit in a row, I'll give you a quarter.

3:04Gabby DeGasperis: And I'd come out with like$6. And I was so happy. I think that's what really got me into the sport. I just wanted to be with my parents. I wanted to make money. And over time, it became an obsession with golf and getting better. And people were telling me that I was pretty good. And I think my parents were like, no, I think she's good. But people come up to me all the time and they would be like, you got to get that girl lessons. Like she's got some talent. And my parents were like, I don't know. I just think that she enjoys it, whatever. And I started playing tournaments at five, and that was it.

3:32Steven Bertoni: Tournaments at five?

3:33Gabby DeGasperis: Yeah.

3:34Steven Bertoni: Well, you said you were playing golf for money at five, and now you're making money from golf, which is rare.

3:38Gabby DeGasperis: I am. I am. And when I was five, obviously, there weren't any tournament prizes or anything like that. You can't make money at that age. But I genuinely, I don't know if I even loved to compete. I just liked to be out there, and I liked it that it was my own.

3:52Steven Bertoni: And were you playing, and you grew up in Westchester. Yes. Were you playing, like, every day? Were you playing public courses? How did you get good?

3:59Gabby DeGasperis: So I was playing, actually, I was playing tennis and golf at the same time when I was five and both individual sports. And then I said, okay, they're both at the same time when high school, this is how far ahead my parents were thinking. When high school starts, they're going to be at the same time, both in spring. So she's kind of got to pick one. I picked golf. I enjoyed it more. And then I just started grinding. And again, I don't even think it was the love of the sport at this point. I genuinely love to be out there with my dad. my dad would take me out to the golf course every weekend at 8 a.m until 8 p.m 12 hours a day people at the golf club thought he was crazy he was so supportive he was my only coach I mean I had like 60 different coaches upon my life and he just picked up and studied on YouTube golf swings he was so obsessed and and so my mom and dad would sit out there for ages with me freezing cold in the winter in the summer and I remember like the other guys club would tell my dad they're like why don't you ever play?

4:55Gabby DeGasperis: Like, why are you so obsessed with making her good? And he really wanted to see me do well. And I just genuinely love to be with my parents. So.

5:02Steven Bertoni: Well, grinding for golf was a great kind of training for grinding for social media. It's such a grind. Tell me, when did you start kind of getting on social media? When did you start becoming a golf influencer? I would love to hear this. How old were you and what kind of, what was your motivation?

5:17Gabby DeGasperis: So when I was six, I know this sounds crazy. I, everything was so young. When I was six, my parents wanted to make an Instagram for me because when I was younger, I was obsessed with like golf trick shots. And so I wanted to like, I wanted to be like a trick shot artist. And I was like, forget about the tournaments. Like I'm six years old. I just want to do like fun tricks. And my mom was like, okay, let's think of an Instagram handle. Instagram was new at the time.

5:41Steven Bertoni: What was your best trick?

5:42Gabby DeGasperis: My first trick I ever did. It took me four weeks to do. I put two golf balls right next to each other touching. And I would hit the shot and I would, one would go up and I would catch it and the other one would go in. It took me four weeks to do. And then one day my dad and I had played 18 holes and the chip and green was like right around here. And we're like, let's just go and try it. Let's just try it once. And I got it the first try. I lit up, the video is still on Instagram. It's my first ever post. I remember when I posted it, my mom was like, what's her name going to be? What's her handle going to be?

6:12Gabby DeGasperis: And she was like, okay, glamorous Gabby golf girl. And then we just dropped the glamorous and it was just Gabby golf girl. And then it stuck forever.

6:18Steven Bertoni: And you were six when you started this at night. Wow.

6:20Gabby DeGasperis: I didn't have any followers or anything.

6:21Steven Bertoni: So you put this on. So you started in this at six. Tell me the evolution.

6:24Gabby DeGasperis: After that, I basically continued doing trick shots, continued posting like, okay, I won a tournament or I came in second. I shot 64 at like school record, broke that. And I would post that stuff just like any other golfer, I think at that age would. And then when I was around, when I finished eighth grade and I was going into ninth grade in high school. And I said to myself, I am so like, I don't want to go to school anymore. I wasn't enjoying it. I didn't have a good time in it. Like I wasn't socially like I had no friends and I was bullied in in Florida. And I said, I need to find a way out of the school.

6:57Gabby DeGasperis: I don't know if it's going to be through golf tournaments or if it's going to be through social media or whatever. And long story short, my personal trainer had gained like 50 ,000 followers in two months from posting every single day golf workout videos. And I said to him, teach me how to do this. I want to gain followers and I want to leave school. He's like, OK, post every single day. That's the solution. And I gave myself six months. I said, I'm not going to give up. Even if I'm sick, I'm going to backlog content and post it every single day. I'm going to give everything. And I did. And I think like a week before six months, I wasn't gaining any followers.

7:28Gabby DeGasperis: I was at 10 ,000. Posted one video of me talking to the camera and I blew up to like 100 ,000 followers. And that was like the start. And the reason is because before that, I had genuinely only posted golf workout videos, which is such a niche. Like no one even think about that would be something to post. But it got me going. And then a friend of mine told me, your personality is so great. And people want to see your golf game. Like, that's what you're known for. Talk to the camera, pull off a shot, do something. First video got like 3 million views and it just took off.

7:55Steven Bertoni: Tell me about the bullying and how that kind of inspired you to focus on golf and social media.

8:00Gabby DeGasperis: Well, I always had a hard time at school, but... This episode is brought to you by Indeed. You're ready to level up your business, but the pressure to find the right person to make that happen is intense. Indeed-sponsored jobs can help carry the load. It boosts your job post to help it reach quality talent fast. Cut through the chaos with Indeed Sponsored Jobs. Get a$75 sponsored job credit at Indeed.com slash podcast. Terms and conditions apply. Hiring now? Then this is a job for Indeed Sponsored Jobs.

8:32Steven Bertoni: Your sausage McMuffin with egg didn't change. Your receipt did. The sausage McMuffin with egg extra value meal includes a hash brown and a small coffee for just$5. only at McDonald's for a limited time. Price and participation may vary. Promotion pricing may be lower than meal pricing.

8:47Gabby DeGasperis: It was pretty rough. I had a very unique situation and I was just looking for anything to get out of school. My dad told me, I remember when I was younger, he was like, if you dedicate everything to golf, if you really want to take golf seriously, we can go online, you can go online. And I told him, I was like, yeah, that's one thing, but I don't necessarily want to compete and put everything into that. I want to have two options. so when the social media started blowing up I remember I came to my dad I was like I'm at 14 ,000 followers and the next day I had going to like 50 and I said to him I was like I'm leaving I'm not going back and I never went back I just got picked up from school I didn't even do midterms and I just left and I was like I'm gonna dedicate everything I have to this because this is my out this is my outlet to not have to go back wow and then my dad was like we'll give it a year and if nothing happens from it you have to go back to school and so I was like okay great I'll just could dedicate my entire life to this for a year.

9:41Gabby DeGasperis: We worked so hard.

9:42Steven Bertoni: So you were 14, this happened? So you're 14, you are being homeschooled. Yes. So you can focus on golf and content and content creator games. Tell me like, what was the plan? What was like a day in the life back then? Because like you were burning your bridges. Like that was like, I'm going all in on this and not, I taught the people to do this and they're 28. You were 18. Yes. I'm sorry. You're 14. Yeah. Tell me about that.

10:03Gabby DeGasperis: So I, I didn't even like text anyone. I genuinely would wake up at 7am. I would go to the golf course. I would play 18 holes at 7.55. This was like for six months after I had left school. And I played 18 holes super quickly. I had a caddy that I would go out with every single morning and I would try and beat like 73. That was like my score, 75, depending on the day. I would go through, play everything. Then I would do like some work for like for school for like an hour or two hours, go to lunch. And then I'd come back and my dad and I would spend all of the rest of the day at like two o 'clock when the course was like dead empty.

10:37Gabby DeGasperis: I would go out there and we would say, okay, what shot can we do? What trick shot can we do? Can we hit something out of a tree? And we would post every single day. We did not give up. And it blew up. Like every effort that I had given really showed. And we were just coming up with creative ideas. Like nobody had ever seen a girl in golf before. No one had ever seen that. And, and they were just shocked that I would, at first people were trying to guess my age. They were like, is she 25? I'm like, I'm 14. I don't even look like nothing like 25. But people are just curious, I guess. And I'm so grateful that it just blew up.

11:11Yeah.

11:12Steven Bertoni: Tell me about that. Because when people think of golf in general, I know this, golf is a broad sport, diverse sport. But when people think of golf, they're usually thinking male and probably older, at least older than 14. What was it like breaking into a sport where you are such a, you know, an outlier?

11:27Gabby DeGasperis: So that's a good question. And I was an outlier. And I think it was a lot harder than I thought. it was going to be. I remember my dad and I used to talk about this when I was younger, when I would play golf and forget about social media. He would just say to me, you just have to work harder. You're a girl. You're going to have to work harder. You're going to have to, you know, he always taught me to be extremely tough. Both my parents were like, you have it in you. You're going to be kind and you're going to be extremely tough and strong. And I was. And then when I went into golf content creation, I did not realize how much, especially in the golf space, women are, I don't want to say put down, but definitely not looked at as equal to men in the business side.

12:07Gabby DeGasperis: And I didn't believe it at first because I thought maybe it was just my age. And I think it partially was. But as I grew up, I saw that those same things would happen. I would, you know, not get the job if it was a guy, you know, if somebody wanted a content creator to come out and they would reach out to me and then they would be like, we actually got a guy instead with half your following. Let's be like, why wouldn't you want more views, more followers? Like, isn't that the business strategy? Don't you just want, forget about the person you just want to get as many views as possible for your buck that you're paying but they didn't think that way they were just like we don't necessarily want a girl to come and that's okay i've realized i had to work so much harder than everybody else i mean i talked to a lot of other golf content creators and people will tell me they'll be like you had it so much more rough than we did and i did i worked so hard we we had to come up with the most creative concepts everyone else would just go out and play matches between each other they would just say okay, I'm going to do a collab with you and I'm going to do a collab with you.

13:01Gabby DeGasperis: And I always said to myself, I'm going to do what nobody else is doing. Just like I took the route in school and I took the exit off. My whole thing in life was ever since I was little, I wanted to do what everybody was doing. I wanted to do the opposite. I wanted to do the creative way. I wanted to do the way that was not conventional. And I did when it came to creative ideas, I'd done things no one had ever seen before. I filmed my tournaments because I was like, okay, you know, guys, the other content creators don't want to show their tournaments because they're too afraid, I'm going to do it.

13:29Gabby DeGasperis: I'm going to play a bunch of guys. I'm going to play D1 golfers. I'm going to play. No one had ever seen a girl do it before. And that was my goal. I'm going to be creative. I'm going to be the, if you look back on my titles on YouTube, you'll see that every single, a lot of them is, is says first ever to do this first ever to do this. I even was the first ever to play Steph Curry one V one. Everybody was kind of too afraid to play him straight up. when they got the chance to play with him. They were like, oh, let's just do a scramble. Let's do something like that. I was like, no, if you want to see a match, like you don't be afraid.

14:00Gabby DeGasperis: If you lose, you lose. Like he's a great golfer. So I said, I'm going to just be the first to do anything.

14:05Steven Bertoni: That must have been so tough. I mean, you were dropped out of school. You're committed to this. Again, you're probably your only one you know doing an influencer, let alone golf. And you said, you know, you're getting passed over for brand deals on people less popular than you. Yes. Like tell me like your emotional mindset. How did you power through? Tell me about that.

14:24Gabby DeGasperis: Every door was closed in my face, I will say. And thankfully, my faith in that everything was going to open up eventually did happen. You know, when one door would close, another would open. It might have not been as big, but it helped me to get through and say, OK, maybe that's not the place for me, but I can come up with better ideas. Like I always said to myself, if I'm just better, they can't deny me. I'm gonna be undeniable. If I come up with more creative ideas and I do better in, you know, golf or I do this, then they can't deny me. Like I'm just gonna gain more followers than all of them.

14:55Gabby DeGasperis: That was my motivation. And I thankfully had my parents and my family because it was hard, I will say. I felt like every single time it was getting, you know, slammed in my face, the door. And then as I worked through it, it was tough. But when I saw the success of people actually watching, I was like, okay, maybe I don't get hired for that job. But I have three times the amount of followers that this person does. And even people online would be like, I don't understand why I don't see this girl at like the US Open. Why don't I see her at, you know, these tournaments? It feels like she never gets invited to these places.

15:26Gabby DeGasperis: Meanwhile, she's more famous than all of them. And I would be like, you know, I'm not gonna even address it. I'm just gonna shut up and do my thing.

15:32Steven Bertoni: Was there a time where you almost were gonna quit?

15:34Gabby DeGasperis: Social media, no.

15:35Steven Bertoni: No.

15:35Gabby DeGasperis: No, but golf, yes, many times.

15:38Steven Bertoni: Take me back. You're a teenager. You're in social media. Yes. You're homeschooled. You've gone all in on social media. Tell me, were your heroes? Were there people in golf or people in sports or people in social media that you used as role models? Like, I want to be like them or I want to shoot like them. Tell me who you looked up to and also how you got your ideas for content. Yeah.

15:58Gabby DeGasperis: I would say my biggest point and something I haven't even addressed yet is it's not about golf. It never was about golf for me. First of all, one, I genuinely enjoy social media more than anything. And I love golf. Golf has been my life. That's the idea I had was to do golf on social media because it's part of who I am. But it's really just been like the vehicle in a sense, you know? Social media is really my passion and so is golf as well. But the whole point is everybody's like, okay, don't you want to get more women into golf? That is 100 % a goal of mine. I adore it. I want to get more girls into golf.

16:35Gabby DeGasperis: But the truth is, is that right now it's we're in such a tough spot, I think, that there hasn't been that much progress has been made. I mean, over years there has been progress. But I think if you look to the main point, it's that everyone's turning to social media golfers because that's where people are showing their personality. I mean, social media golfers have like multiple times X the amount of views that the PGA Tour and LPGA Tour are getting. and so when I was basically you know deciding to do social media I don't know if I had any role models on the on the on the girls golf side or golf in general but I knew I wanted to be like the other content creators who had I mean there were so many examples there's guys in basketball there's you know content creators who are doing lifestyle and you know Mr.

17:20Gabby DeGasperis: Beast who's obviously doing his own thing and he's I used to watch a lot of his podcasts when I originally started because he was like would say so much of the formula but the point is I didn't necessarily have any role models in golf because no one was doing what I was doing yet. No one was showing their personality. No one was bringing as many people to golf as the social media content creators have been because when a guy goes out on the golf course, they're not necessarily going to be like Rory McIlroy, the weekend golfer. They're going out because they want to have fun with their buddies.

17:50Gabby DeGasperis: That is what they're doing. And of course, everybody wants to play well, but the real reason is because they want to have a good time. They want to enjoy the sport. And if there's nothing to enjoy because they're not showing personality out there. And I don't think it brings as many people to golf, you know?

18:04Steven Bertoni: That's really interesting what you said, where golf influencers are more influential on social media than the actual professional golfers, which is funny to me because golf is, you know, you're rooting for the person. If you're watching a tournament, you're spending hours with them and you see them up close and personal, just like how people love, you know, soccer stars and NBA players, because you see them versus like, they're not wearing helmets and equipment. So tell me, why do you think there hasn't been some explosions of pros on the golf course, whether men and women, like professionals don't really have that giant social media following.

18:38Steven Bertoni: They're not getting that drive. But they have such a platform.

18:40Gabby DeGasperis: Yeah, they do have a platform. You know, we have, I think on the content side, we just, we get so many more views. I mean, on my views a month, I get 300 million views across all platforms, which is more than the PGA Tour gets, I think, at all. And it's because there's so much more of an audience for it. And the reason is that The pros have not shown enough personality, and they don't show enough of a look into their lives. I think we just see them on Sunday, and we see them walk up the fairway, and they're zoned in, which obviously all props to them. I mean, you know, they're doing something that I don't think I could ever do.

19:12Gabby DeGasperis: They're completely driven. So that's a different thing that they have that we don't. But in order to be that driven, I think you have to block out a lot. And I think that's a story that most people don't want to tell on the golf side. Golf takes up so much of people's lives. And, you know, obviously they have to be shown the amazing applause for what they're doing because they're so driven. But it also takes away from personality. And the truth is sometimes the funniest things, I know my brother, for example, does not play golf and can't stand golf. The only time he'll ever watch golf is if like somebody's, you know, having a rage on the golf course.

19:45Gabby DeGasperis: And he's watching the Masters and somebody's playing terrible. He wants to see that. He wants to see the emotion. like that's what I think other sports have that golf doesn't have yet maybe not all sports but I like I know when I watch basketball and somebody misses a layup or misses a dunk like they're visibly frustrated and I think that creates an attachment to the player and I think that's when people are like I want to root for this guy or I want to root for this guy especially Americans we want to see like the underdog you know we want to see that underdog story and then come on top And I feel like with golf, we don't get that.

20:17Gabby DeGasperis: We just get, you know, winners and second place and third place. And we don't really know how they got there. We see Scottie on top every week and it's unbelievable. But it's like, how did he get there? What's his story? What is the personality behind him? And I would like to see a little bit more of that look into his life. And I know when people have done things with Scottie, when, you know, I did something with Jon Rahm, like Jon Rahm, I didn't know. I was always a fan of him, but I didn't know the guy had so much personality. Like I've seen him. I've watched him for years on TV before I even had social media.

20:46Gabby DeGasperis: And I looked up to him as a great golfer. But I never saw the Jon Rahm that I know and I've met and played with many times, who's actually a sweet, very kind person and has a lot of like genuinely hilarious, funny, personable, kind, like remembers everybody's name on set. There's so much more to Jon Rahm than you see out there. And I think that's the problem.

21:10Steven Bertoni: That's interesting. What do you think? Is it because of lack of emotion? Is it and that focus? Is it the culture of golf? Yeah. Is it what is it? Because they're so focused. Is it the tournament? The PGA wants everyone to be very kind of like, what do you think that is?

21:23Gabby DeGasperis: Great question, by the way. I think it's all of them. I think on the lady side, it can be there's just maybe not as much personality because they've been so driven. It's been so hard. I've been in the competitive space my whole life. I still play pro tournaments and I see the girls out there and I've known them since I'm like five. and I just like, I see what they've given up for golf. And I think the message, when I say it's not about golf, I mean it like this. I've been playing golf my whole life and I always knew I wanted to be different. I always knew I wasn't gonna sacrifice my personality, my family, my life outside of golf for a chance to be on the LPGA.

21:59Gabby DeGasperis: I was gonna try and be the most well-rounded girl out there and still play great golf. And the thing is you could do both. And I think a lot of girls go out there and they're like, I either have to, I've heard it firsthand because I have a lot of friends that just got into golf and they'll go, I don't want to go out there. It's too intimidating. You either have to be horrible or you're great because there's no in-between. And it's 100 % true. They're 1000 % right. They're intimidated because there's necessarily, there's this like stigma behind golf, especially on the women's side, that you have to be amazing or that you have to block out everything in your life to be on the LPGA Tour.

22:33Gabby DeGasperis: That's not the only route. And that's what I'm here to prove also. It's not about golf. It's about being a good person, but it's also about the fact that I don't have to be on the LPGA Tour to get my goal accomplished. I could be a social media golfer, and I could have millions of followers and bring more girls to golf than ever than necessarily winning every single week. And I think that that is something that nobody's been able to do before.

22:53Steven Bertoni: Yeah, it's complex. So you think about, like, golf culture. Yes. There's the etiquette, and then, like, why is Happy Gilmore and Styx and those shows. Those do great. They do great because it shows, like, the vulnerability and the temper and stuff. You know, people love John Daly because he was, like, the bat. Exactly. And he's the bad boy. He's probably done so much, you know, he's probably made so much more money being him than being this. And then I think, what was those Netflix documentaries with that followed around?

23:16Gabby DeGasperis: Oh, Full Swing.

23:17Steven Bertoni: Full Swing, yeah. So, like, I feel like those people have gotten more followers because they opened, more fans, so they opened up their lives. So you think that more golfers want to kind of follow your footsteps and open up that crazy life.

23:27Gabby DeGasperis: Yeah, I mean, I think we've seen it in every sport, too. Like, even if you go to Formula One, you know, they had that show Drive to Survive on Netflix. Like not many Americans knew what Formula One was before. And then all of a sudden you've got people who are like, it's more about marketability. And I think golf has not seen that yet. I mean, I know I've played many, I've played many rounds with a bunch of F1 drivers and I know them personally. And they would always tell me, it's not about who's the best driver. You think the guys on the grid are the best drivers. They're not the most marketable.

23:55Gabby DeGasperis: They have the best personality. They have looks, they have whatever it might be. They may have some charisma about them. and something about them makes them interesting to watch and they're great drivers but you're rooting for a team because of the person that represents the team not necessarily because of the racer you know some people are still rooting for the guy who comes in last I know my brother is a fan of people that may not get in the top uh three on the podium every week in Formula One but he's still a diehard fan why because that that it's a it's a personality thing it's a connection between the player or the racer.

24:28Gabby DeGasperis: And so golf doesn't have that. And full swing, we saw a little bit of it, but we've seen more of it than ever on social media. And now you have people that are rooting for me or other content creators to be on the LPGA or the PGA Tour because they want to see them succeed. They want to see that underdog story. And they know more about me than they'll ever know about the LPGA. And so they feel like they know me. Like people come up to me on the street like eight times a day and it's amazing. I love it. They come up to me and they know everything about me. like I uh I went played a video I did a video yesterday with a guy we're getting a blind date video and the kid even knew that I liked it because he watched my video before it was so

25:06Steven Bertoni: such a trippy thing you went on a blind date on the video yeah I did a blind date with this kid

25:10Gabby DeGasperis: who also follows me on Instagram that's how we found him and I just it's just weird because he knows everything about me already like I had to interview him because he doesn't he knows everything

25:18Steven Bertoni: about me and so my whole life is out there is that weird it is weird a little bit but it's also So how'd the date go?

25:24Gabby DeGasperis: He didn't win. We had a competition. It was a lot of pressure.

25:28Steven Bertoni: I mean, like a blind date's enough pressure as it is. And now it's, yeah. Now it's filmed.

25:32Gabby DeGasperis: And there were two guys, four holes and four holes.

25:34Steven Bertoni: Okay.

25:35Gabby DeGasperis: And that series has done pretty well. So we wanted to give it another try. I've never had a boyfriend before. So that's why people have been trying to follow and see like who's going to be up to my standards. So I'm very particular. So we had like these two guys compete against each other and whoever got the better date or would get the second date.

25:51Steven Bertoni: You talked about charisma and connection. Yes. Take me back. What was your big break? Was there one post or was there one deal that made you think, you know what? This is finally working. Like, this is something. All my hard work paid off. This is going to work. What was that? Was it one deal? Was there one video that was like, okay, this is going to change everything?

26:09Gabby DeGasperis: Yeah, I think mostly it's been over time. But there was one time when I first made the decision to leave school. And that was when my friend who was in social media, who now works for me, he when I was dinner with him first night I ever met him he said to me he's like your personality is great you have this like this feature on camera that connects with people I don't know how to describe it some people just have it and you need to show your personality I never talked to the camera ever and when you make that step of talking to the camera that's like the you go from a micro influencer to a big time influencer because now I'm watching somebody on a screen who is actually talking to me and actually making that connection.

26:48Gabby DeGasperis: So the first video I ever posted that I talked to the camera, I said I was going to hit like a nice little hook shot around a tree or blah, blah, blah, and it got 3 million views. And that's when I gained the most followers. And that's when I left school because finally people had like seeing my personality. And they're like, everyone was just like, who is this girl? Where did she come from? I need to research her. I want to know more about her. Like, I'm going to follow her because I need to find out. And that want to know who somebody is is the reason that something's going to blow up. So if the LPGA or the PGA Tour doesn't have that, if there's not a player out there that's like, I'm going to go follow him for all the holes and I want to know who he is because I follow him on social media or I watch him on Netflix, then I don't know if it's going to succeed.

27:30Steven Bertoni: You're famous for your big start on shots and your form and trick shots. Can you show them how we do it? Yeah, for sure. Show how it's done?

27:37Gabby DeGasperis: Okay, here's how you juggle a golf ball. Number one, grab your highest lofted club. Two, open the face up completely down to the floor. Three, the second most important thing is that right here in your forearm is going to do all the work. This is going to be all the grip and you're not going to move it too much. You're just going to make small little movements. Now, the most important thing of all is that the ball falls to the club. You do not guide the club to the ball. The ball always drops down to the club because your face is so open that it will always be straight. But if you watch that back, not one time did I bring the club higher than my knees.

28:25Gabby DeGasperis: That's the most important thing. The club face always stays below the knees. If you try and get to the ball, you're making it like 10 times harder for yourself. So don't try and go to the ball. Make sure that the ball comes to you. But when you go, even with my left hand, you never, ever want to go higher than your kneecap.

28:49Gabby DeGasperis: And then you could guide the ball because the ball with an open face is always going to land straight on the club. you're in complete control. That's it.

29:00Steven Bertoni: I've seen your social media where you're doing trick shots. You're looking at the camera. You're hitting it behind your back and it's going in the hole. Yeah. But I'm sure that's not happening in the first take. Tell me about how you think of a trick shot and how long it takes. How many times are you doing it? How many attempts before you get in?

29:16Gabby DeGasperis: A lot. Usually, honestly, I don't know how this happens, but sometimes it's first try and other times it's 400th try. So we always say if I don't get it on the first try, it's gonna be at least a hundred because Some of the trick shots have actually been first try and I've been so shocked and then others will take hundreds and hundreds I've stayed out for a trick shot for 56 hours once. I mean, I was out until from seven a 56 hours I was up from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. came back the next day from 8 a.m. to like 4 p.m. and then I spent many days doing it so I've been doing it for a long time

29:51Steven Bertoni: What was the shot?

29:52Gabby DeGasperis: We like to call it the impossible trick shot amongst my family and my team because I tried to do it, okay? I've been working so many hours on this, and within four hours, my mom was recording, and she was on a tripod, and she didn't hit record. And it was devastating, and she still feels so bad. Like, it aches her, like, when you think about it, because I've never been able to get it since. I mean, I'm sure if I spent 10 hours, I could do it, but I haven't had the time to spend, just dedicate 10 hours to a day on a perfect day and, you know, not be filming some other content. I eventually will get it.

30:25Gabby DeGasperis: Like, I won't give up because I've gotten it before. But yeah, she did not record.

30:28Steven Bertoni: What is the shot? Tell me, walk me through. I'll show it to you. Okay. You will get it here.

30:32Gabby DeGasperis: No, I can't even do it. You have to do it on a chipping green. You put two balls next to each other and kind of like the first trick shot I ever did. And you're going to chip it and one ball is going to go up in the air and the other one's going to go in the hole. And then when the other one goes in the air, I'm going to hit midair and chip it in. So basically this is a chip. Obviously there's no hole here. And I'm going to try and get both of those balls in the hole. And it takes so long.

31:02Gabby DeGasperis: You see how those two kind of go in the same area? So that was kind of like the goal to give us the end of the green. But the chances of both of those going in with both different spin rates one is spinning forward and one is spinning sideways and them not hitting each other when they actually land on the green are like it's like 0.0001 let me get this straight you

31:23Steven Bertoni: did the shot but it wasn't recorded yes wow what trick shot has gotten the most views like we do the calculation like okay i'm gonna spend an entire day with my crew getting this shot yeah like how many views do you get for that but tell me how like is there a is there a calculus to it or you're just like you know what this is gonna be super cool it's just gonna blow up i know it because it's so wild.

31:40Gabby DeGasperis: Yeah, it's a great question. So the most viewed video I've ever posted on Instagram has like 38 million views. And that one was a trick shot. But the whole premise of the video wasn't really a trick shot. My friend was in the golf cart and we kind of did this like POV or trying to impress a guy. And the first shot I like dud on purpose. So I had to like purposefully hit the ball and miss it and it goes backwards. So that took a long time. And then the second shot right in the same motion, I pick up the ball and they hit it in midair. So it's like, yeah, I fumbled, but I like saved it and he was super impressed.

32:12Gabby DeGasperis: And so that one got like 38 million views. But most of the time, if I'm doing a trick shot, trick shots get like millions of views. They'll get like five, 10 million views. And so it's worth it. You know, I'm thinking to myself the entire time. I'm like, this may take eight hours, but it's so worth it. And so people love it.

32:29Steven Bertoni: Perfect. All right, Gabby, talk to me about your first brand deal.

32:32Gabby DeGasperis: I got sponsored by TaylorMade when I had 190 ,000 followers. and it was a big deal for me because I'd used tailor-made clubs at the time and then I kind of kept going I think the next couple brand deals were like smaller more kind of appearances but it was a big deal for me and I'm I mean when I first got my brand deal probably was two months into like leaving school and I was like okay I can make a career out of this like genuinely can have I could financially support myself how old were you I think I was 15 and what was the deal

33:03Steven Bertoni: I mean, in terms of like, what do they have to do?

33:06Gabby DeGasperis: Deliverables, which are always, you know, as a social media content creator, like that's kind of what we have. Deliverables, shoot days, which is kind of cool. You know, with Callaway right now, we have a lot of shoot days, which is amazing. It's kind of a bonus for us. Like they take it as they want it, but we also want it to because we get to play with players and make content with players. And so that's really exciting. Like I know John Rahm and I've played with him before, but I always see him at the Callaway shoots. We always do something together. So that's a good thing.

33:31Steven Bertoni: And how do you make money these days? Tell me about the business of Gabby Golf Girl and your team.

33:36Gabby DeGasperis: Yeah, yeah. So basically, I think most of the money comes from brands with everybody. So I would say 70 % of the money comes from brands. Then the rest of the 25, 30 % come from basically online platforms, ad revenue. So like Google pays you from YouTube and Facebook will pay you. Instagram actually just pays zero money. Like they do not pay a dollar, not a cent, basically. and you can get as many views as you want they're still not going to pay you. Facebook pays a lot and YouTube is kind of that type of source where you make a good amount of money but they cost so much money to actually make the videos so basically it's just an equal you don't really make anything no return it's all the same but most of it comes from brand deals which is why it's important to look and be the kind of person that brands want to attract and and want to represent them so that's why I always keep that as most important.

34:29Gabby DeGasperis: It's like, you got to make the brands happy. You got to be the face. And if I can be on the store, you know, for Travis Matthew and put my picture up there and hopefully more girls buy Travis Matthew, that's, that's the goal.

34:39Steven Bertoni: What do you want to see in a marketing partner and a brand partner? What's the best way that a creator and a brand can work together?

34:44Gabby DeGasperis: Yeah, that's a good question. I think the number one thing for me is one, do you have like some synergy with the CMO? Are you reaching out to them on a daily? Do they feel like a friend to you, but in a business way, do you feel like you can ask them anything and get product from the brand and it would be sent? And that's, I'm grateful. I have that with all my brands. So I think important is being friends with somebody, being friends with who you're working with.

35:08Steven Bertoni: Gabby, you make up most of your money on brand deals. Tell me about the biggest brand deal you've turned down.

35:13Gabby DeGasperis: I mean, the only time I've ever turned down a brand deal is because it doesn't really align with me or like where I am right now, maybe further down the line. But I like to make sure that the people and the people that I work with with the brand are people that I actually want to hang out with and just basically making sure that it fits the moral compass of my you know social media I just want to make sure that the synergies there I think it's a lot goes into picking the brand you know everybody can get an offer and that's great it could be for a lot of money but if you're not like vibing with the people if you're not enjoying their company and also feel like you can make a difference I don't know if it's worth it so yeah we've turned down stuff before, but you know, further down the line, it may be something that we want to work with.

35:55Gabby DeGasperis: But other than that, you kind of just have to make sure you enjoy the brand too.

35:59Steven Bertoni: You mentioned before you're kind of getting looked over because you were a young woman in golf. What is your audience like these days? Like, who do you make your footage for? Who do you have in mind when you create?

36:09Gabby DeGasperis: Well, honestly, I'm so grateful because my platform, my demographic is a bunch of people. It's a bunch of different demographics, which is amazing because, you know, in golf, it's predominantly men, which is always going to be there. And that makes total sense. But also I have young girls and young boys that watch and older women that watch girls, my age, guys, my age, you know, girls and guys in their twenties, big, big demographic of girls and guys from 20 to like 35, which is amazing. So I've got all sorts of demographics and I'm very proud of that. I mean, we've definitely worked on trying to reach all different types of audiences, because if you just post golf content, you're probably going to get the same type of person, which is great.

36:47Gabby DeGasperis: You're always going to have that. But you also want to like make relatable content too and maybe get some younger kids involved as well. So I think luckily I'm very grateful that we have a very good mix of a demographic.

36:58Steven Bertoni: You make all different types of content, trick shots, challenges, celebrities. One that sticks out in my mind is the famous Steph Curry shoot. You challenged him, you stepped up. Tell me about how that went down and what its effect was on your brand afterwards.

37:15Gabby DeGasperis: Yeah, honestly, Steph is great. We kind of came together because of Callaway and we were launching that we were assigned to Callaway and Steph was with Callaway at the time. They wanted to do something big. They wanted to do something. You know, if you're a professional

37:28Steven Bertoni: basketball player and you get deals with golf courses, golf clubs, that's big.

37:32Gabby DeGasperis: He's a big deal. And I was like, okay, let's do something crazy. Callaway wanted to do something crazy. So they reached out to Steph and we were like, we're going to launch this so big. We want everyone to know about this partnership. We did an incredible job. I met with him as the first thing I did with Callaway. He was just the sweetest, nicest guy. We had a great time. But also when we were filming it, we were like, okay, we do everything differently. Everybody's done like matches with him kind of collaborative and done like scrambles and stuff like that to both do well. But I was like, okay, Steph is an incredible golfer and we've seen him play really, really well, but nobody's ever challenged him straight up, especially not a girl.

38:10Gabby DeGasperis: And I was like, that's what we're going to do. We're going to play 1v1 straight up. We're going to see what Steph Curry's made of. He was amazing.

38:16Steven Bertoni: Did you use handicaps? We did not. All right. It's a straight up. Straight up.

38:19Gabby DeGasperis: Always straight up. That's another thing I always want to do is keep it straight up because then it's realistic. What is your handicap? My handicap right now, I think, is like a plus 0.5. So around a scratch.

38:29Steven Bertoni: Well, we're close. I'm like a plus 2.5. And you're a plus 0.5. No, I'm 25. I'm my 25th handicap. Yeah, yeah.

38:36Gabby DeGasperis: I was like, whoa. So basically a scratch. Yes. Yeah, basically. but we went out there and he's like a plus two. He's a very good golfer. Theoretically, his handicap is better than I was. And I was a little bit nervous, but as we kept going, I was, I'm pretty good at match play. And I knew that the cameras might throw him off slightly when it comes to golf, not necessarily in basketball, but in golf. So I waited a little bit in the last two holes. I pulled it back together. This was kind of like my domain. So once I got my confidence back from being nervous in front of him, I was like, okay, time to attack.

39:10Gabby DeGasperis: I got this. The last two holes I won and then we tied. And then we went to do a chip off and I won the chip off. So I kind of just like steamrolled at the end.

39:17Steven Bertoni: I mean, you beat the most clutch player, one of the most clutch players in NBA, in sports history, and you have a chip off. What was going through your mind?

39:24Gabby DeGasperis: I was like, at least I played really well up until this point. But if I lose off the chip off, like that's going to be upsetting. But you know what? It's fair, you know? And our balls were right here and they were almost touching. Mine was just ahead of his. And I could not believe that I won. I was just shocked. He was shocked. He was too up on me through sick holes. So I had no chance at that point. The chances coming back were slim. And he was great to my family, my team. He was just so nice. And then he called Devin Booker. That was amazing. I wasn't really 100 % sure he was going to. Not that I didn't believe in him, but I was just like, I can't believe he just has Devin Booker's phone number.

40:02Gabby DeGasperis: And I know that sounds crazy, but for me, when I was there, I was like, wait, that is so trippy. He actually has his phone number. He called him right away. He picked up and he was like, yeah, let's do it. So we're trying to figure that out. We're trying to get that done.

40:13Steven Bertoni: What was the reaction afterwards? Like, so you posted the video. Tell me what happened.

40:17Gabby DeGasperis: Oh, it went crazy. I don't know. I mean, I kind of knew it was going to do well, but I didn't know it was going to do as well as it did, which was like 1.1 million views on YouTube and millions of views across all platforms. People were shocked. So people come up to me every single day and are like, when's the Devin Booker match happening? Everybody saw that video. It was amazing. all positive response like i think it shed shed a good light on him which obviously he can never have a bad light he's just a great guy but people got to see his personality people got to see how good of a golfer he was and i think just like the synergy was great i saw him two weeks ago and we uh did like a quick little basketball match and he's just a great guy i want to talk about

40:55Steven Bertoni: you being a golf influencer but a sports influencer what advice do you have for somebody who wants to be a creator in sports, whether they're a professional or whether they're an amateur and want to just make that their brand. What did you learn? Like, give me things to do and things not to do.

41:10Gabby DeGasperis: Okay, I would say the number one tip if you're watching this, and this is kind of a little bit gold because I didn't know this when I first started. If you're in sports, especially, but basically in anything, and you really want to grow fast and you want to gain a lot of followers, the number one thing is tips. People want to learn stuff. So it doesn't matter if you're a pro basketball player or you're just an amateur, you have some tricks. Let's say you can spin the basketball on your finger. And most people can't do that. That's impressive to people. Teach somebody how to do it. If you can teach them how to do it in a short, quick way on Instagram or TikTok or any short form social media, that is the perfect way to go about it.

41:46Gabby DeGasperis: You will gain a big following really fast and a dedicated following that wants to learn something. And so, and plus, all of the followers will be of that sport. So that's how I started. And then I would say, don't stop posting, you must post every single day. You have to commit to posting every single day. I would come up with a tip or a trick every day, no matter what. Even when I was sick, I would backlog post just in case I got sick that long. If you're committed to it, you got to post every day and you got to give them something informational so that they stay watching.

42:16Steven Bertoni: What is a day in your life these days? You have a team, you're traveling around the world, you're still golfing. What's a typical Tuesday for a Gabby?

42:23Gabby DeGasperis: Well, now I'm traveling a lot, but it used to be like I would play golf in the morning, do schoolwork, lunch, and then create content and go out on the golf course. Now it's very different. Every day kind of feels like different a little bit. We film YouTube videos once a week. And then when I'm in a new city like this for press, I'll give you a day in the life this week, early morning press morning shows. Then we'll come back, probably get breakfast or something, film a short, short Instagram reel. then we'll go back out do some podcasts wherever it may be and then in the afternoon we went out and did golf matches and we did a bunch of youtube content film that it's always important to me that whenever we're in a new city i try and capitalize on as much content as possible so yes you want to get the things done for the brand and you want to make sure that's your first priority but you also want to make sure that you're getting content for yourself to post later because if you just come out here and you do the press and you do what's mandatory of you you're not taking advantage of like this incredible city and like creating content here.

43:22Gabby DeGasperis: So that's always my number one priority. When I go to a spot for a brand or for something that I have to get done, get that done, get it out of the way, and then go create something else because you have to have the content.

43:33Steven Bertoni: Well, what is your team like and what is your platform strategy? Because we were talking before about how many times you post a day on this platform. Give me the strategy, the blueprint.

43:43Gabby DeGasperis: So right now it's about posting as much as possible. 2026, you want to really dump as much content as possible. You obviously don't want it to be cutting corners, but you want to put out distribution. So on Facebook, I have a guy that posts like 50 to 60 times a day. He posts a lot.

44:00Steven Bertoni: Does he work for you full time?

44:01Gabby DeGasperis: Yeah, he works for me full time.

44:02Steven Bertoni: Where is he based?

44:03Gabby DeGasperis: He's based in Florida. Okay. And I met him on our first ever blind date that we did in the golf video. And I actually ended up hiring him right after the video.

44:10Steven Bertoni: He was the blind date?

44:11Gabby DeGasperis: He was the blind date. He didn't win. He was against his twin and his twin won. And then We went to the tattoo parlor after and he came with us and he was just a nice kid. And we were like, you know what? He might be good. Like he's a hustler. He might be good to work with us. We offered him the job. He wanted to go right away. So he works for us and he does more short form stuff. So he'll do a bunch of Facebook posts a day. We post like 60 times a day.

44:32Steven Bertoni: Tell me what kind of things you're posting and where is that content coming from?

44:35Gabby DeGasperis: Yeah. So that content is more of a day in the life kind of thing. So even if I'm just walking on a boat, our guy who does Facebook, his name is Evan. Evan will videotape it, post it. And it's just kind of like a vlog of my life. Okay. So 60 times a day, it sounds like a lot. It is. But we do that every single day. And so we gain a lot of followers, but we basically get like 300 million views a month, which is more than I think anybody in the golf space. So that we're really proud of. I think we get 150 million just on Facebook alone because we post 60 times a day. So the more posting, the better.

45:09Gabby DeGasperis: Most people don't realize they're always like, you know, I want to make sure that it's perfect. you do want to make sure the post is perfect, but there's also more content around you than you think. So the more you film, the more you're going to capture. So on Facebook, basically it's just daily vlog stuff. Then on Tik TOK, we also do a little bit more of daily vlog stuff. It's a bit more curated. It's a bit more relatable. Um, it's a lot of golf stuff too. Uh, it can be clips of a YouTube video. It can be like we did a random golfer match. I went up to a random person and then we take that clip and post it on Tik TOK.

45:40Gabby DeGasperis: Do the same thing for Instagram. Instagram has its own formula too. Every platform has its own formula. TikTok can be a little bit shorter videos or really long. So you either get a nine minute video or you get a 15 second video, very different. Then on Instagram, you want around 30 seconds. That's about it. Instagram will post cutups from a YouTube video. We'll post skit videos. So like a funny skit, I'm a clean freak. So, you know, sometimes I'll do clean freak videos and that'll do pretty well. And then we do golf swings. We do golf tricks. We do windup swings. pretty much anything golf on Instagram.

46:13Gabby DeGasperis: So that Instagram has its kind of tentacles in everything almost. It's kind of a mix of all the platforms. YouTube, we post once a week, and YouTube shorts are usually cut-ups from the YouTube video that we also post on TikTok. YouTube takes a lot of time. I have a guy named Davis who works on YouTube, and he does a great job in that. We really try and get as many YouTube videos as possible because they take a lot more time than short-form content. Also, I have advice for anybody that may be getting into social media, start with Shortform. I know everybody wants to be a YouTuber and trust me, it is so much fun, but it's important to know the basics first.

46:49Gabby DeGasperis: So make sure you're creating content on Shortform. I would say get to 100 ,000 followers. I know it sounds like a lot, but if you grind on it and post every day, you will gain followers and then take that base, start on YouTube, and then you'll have a base fan base that will actually watch your YouTube videos that take a long time.

47:07Steven Bertoni: All right, my final question, Gabby, is you mentioned before that you always wanted to be creator. Yes. And golf is the vehicle. Yes. You know, what is your future plans? Like fast forward a couple of years, do you still want that golf vehicle? Do you see yourself branching into other topics? Tell me about what your strategy is.

47:24Gabby DeGasperis: Great question. We talk about it all the time. Golf is always going to be a part of my life. Like I genuinely love the sport and I think it's also my job to help the sport out in any way that I can. You know, I'm here. I always ask, you know, professional golf associations, you can use me. I want to help. And so I also want to bring as many people to support as possible. But in the future, kind of how many years ahead view, I don't really look like five years ahead. Everybody's always like, what's your goal? There really isn't a goal. I post content every single day and it changes day to day all the time.

47:56Gabby DeGasperis: So sometimes we're like, okay, we're going to start doing this. And then we're like, actually, we're doing this instead. So it's ever changing. Our team is always talking about it. I don't know if I have a necessarily long-term goal. as long as I know I'm continuing creating content. Whatever that may be, golf will always be a part of it. It may branch out into other things. I hope it does. I hope that I can expand into anything that interests me or that will do well on social media.

48:20Steven Bertoni: Well, Gabby, thank you so much. I want to thank Gabby Golko for joining us. I want to thank Liberty National for being an incredible scene and setting and spoiling us rotten today. Thank you so much.

48:30Gabby DeGasperis: I really appreciate it. I had a great time. You did an incredible job, by the way. Your questions are amazing.

48:35Steven Bertoni: You can be my publicist.

48:36Gabby DeGasperis: I will be. Appreciate it.

48:38Steven Bertoni: Thanks, everybody.

48:39Gabby DeGasperis: Bye.