A few years ago Tom “Bubbie” Broders was waking up at the crack of dawn to head to work as a golf caddie at Kemper Lakes Golf Club.
On Thursday he’ll be setting his alarm to return to the northwestern suburban country club, but this time he’ll be hosting, and participating, in a one-day golf tournament that will be aired on the Golf Channel.
Broders, 28, is part of a group of guys who started out making viral golf videos and turned their passion into a business that sells clothes and golf gear, holds golf events and even sponsors golfers who compete on the PGA tour.
The name of their business is Good Good — golf slang for the informal agreement between golfers who pick up their balls instead of finishing short putts, essentially agreeing that both players would have made their shots.
A group of investors that includes Peyton Manning recently made a multi-million dollar investment in the business.
Thursday’s event will be Good Good’s biggest to date. It will feature a mix of male and female golf content creators competing in teams of two for the chance to win $70,000 for themselves and to donate $50,000 to the charity of their choice. Tickets to the event are being sold for just over $33.
Broders’ journey as a content creator really took off about five years ago when, after countless failed attempts over 11 days, he chipped a ping pong ball into a steel water bottle.
Video of the trick shot went viral, and Broders found himself among the mix of young golfers who were making similar trick shot videos and posting them on social media platforms like Instagram, YouTube and TikTok, where they were seen millions of times.
Broders developed an online friendship with another content creator named Garrett Clark that was based on a shared love for video games and golf. Clark co-founded Good Good in 2020 and quickly brought Broders on board.
The company consists of a core group of several 20-something golfers of varying skill levels. Their content evolved over time.
Two years ago they wrapped a tour bus in their Good Good label and embarked on a golfing road trip in which they filmed themselves competing against each other, edited the content down to about 45 minute segments, and posted it to their YouTube channel, which has nearly two million subscribers.
Good Good, which is headquartered in Dallas, where Broders lives, has grown to employ more than 30 people, but their formula remains simple.
“We just get to focus on what we’re good at, which is making content. We go out on the course and compete, you can’t fake golf, we’re all super competitive,” Broders said.
Broders, after hitting a hole in one a few weeks ago, broke into a dead sprint to retrieve his ball.
Broders, with his mustache and laid back vibe, has become a recognizable figure to many of the high school and college age fans who make up their main audience.
He started caddying and playing golf his freshman year at Palatine High School. He earned a scholarship through caddying, known as the Evans Scholarship, and attended Miami University in Ohio.
“Every day is a blessing,” said Broders, whose life was nearly derailed in college due to struggles with alcohol. He’s been sober for eight years and speaks openly about it with the hope that others can learn from him.
His parents, Rick and Kim Broders, still live in Palatine and supported their son’s plan to focus on creating golf content for the internet after he found a new lease on life.
“I trusted the plan and somehow it blossomed into this, and I’m very lucky, and still not entirely sure how it happened, but I just invested the time and energy, worked, and am blessed with this life now,” he said.
Broders is familiar with hard work. He often found himself as a kid helping lug around equipment for the heating and cooling business his dad ran.
Broders, who has a serious girlfriend and a Mini Bernedoodle named Sunny, said he purchased two nice things he wanted for himself since Good Good took off: a house and a used BMW M850i.
When things come full circle Thursday at Kemper Lakes, Broders might find himself teary eyed.
“It might be little emotional on the first tee if look over and see my family,” he said.
Sidenote: Broders was known as Bubbie only to his mom until she visited him in college and called him Bubbie in front of his friends, who immediately adopted the moniker, which rolled with and uses as his social media handle.
Why does his mom call him Bubbie?
“I don’t know. That’s a great question. I’ve never really asked her that, I’ve just kind of gone with the flow of it.”