How do you set up a round of golf with LeBron James?<\/p>\n
You ask him if he wants to play a round of golf.<\/p>\n
\u201cI said, you know what, I\u2019m just gonna take a shot at it,\u201d said Robby Berger, speaking to me on the latest episode<\/a> of our Golf Stuff show<\/a>. \u201cI said, \u2018Is there any chance you would want to play, even if it\u2019s just nine?\u2019 He\u2019s like, \u2018Definitely, let\u2019s do it.\u2019 So it really was set up pretty much through me and LeBron, as crazy as that is.\u201d<\/p>\n That\u2019s the simplest version of what would have, a few years ago, been considered an impossibly unlikely crossover. James wasn\u2019t a golfer. Neither was Berger, for that matter. And YouTube Golf has only recently become its own universe. <\/p>\n There\u2019s more to the story. It helps your chances of playing golf with James, of course, if James has quietly \u2014\u00a0or not so quietly \u2014\u00a0been watching you play golf with your friends. And even though James\u2019 golf obsession is less than a year old, what he lacks in experience he\u2019s made up for with enthusiasm; he\u2019s watched dozens of hours, Internet Invitational<\/a> included, shouting out various members of the YouTube Golf mafia on social media and in post-game press conferences as he\u2019s gone. So even though it was still surprising to see James teeing it up alongside Berger and his merry band of golf buddies, the team behind Bob Does Sports<\/a>, there were signs.<\/p>\n You can (and should!) follow Golf Stuff on YouTube<\/a> | Spotify<\/a> | Apple Podcasts<\/a> | Instagram<\/a> | Twitter<\/a><\/p>\n<\/p>\n “><\/p>\n James\u2019 obsession is a story on its own. He is endlessly interesting, and so is the way he chooses to spend his time, and I was curious to ask Berger about the mechanics of how you actually secure nine holes of golf with one of the most famous athletes \u2014 hell, one of the most famous people \u2014\u00a0in the world.<\/p>\n But it\u2019s also interesting as part of a larger trend. Golf participation remains sky-high and trending up, and it\u2019s noteworthy that top athletes across sports \u2014 think Mike Trout or Carlos Alcaraz or Josh Allen or Lando Norris or Caitlin Clark or dozens of others \u2014\u00a0are diving headfirst into the game. That coincides with the rise of YouTube Golf, which has demonstrated the appetite for competition outside top-pro tournaments. James watches live golf, too; he was part of the Tommy Fleetwood fan club last summer and was dialed into<\/a> this year\u2019s Masters.<\/p>\n Wow! What a chip Rory on 17!! \ud83d\ude31\ud83d\udd25\ud83d\udd25<\/p>\n \u2014 LeBron James (@KingJames) April 10, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n But he seems locked in on the YouTube scene \u2014\u00a0to the point where Berger said he knew the entire team by name even as he arrived. And while the round clearly scratched an itch for LeBron, it was also a massive get for Berger and Co., who are rarely starstruck these days but found themselves awed by James\u2019 presence.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen LeBron got there, he knew everybody\u2019s name, production, like everything, and I keep posting the clip, I keep laughing at it,\u201d Berger said. \u201cHe goes to say hello to Joe [Joey Cold Cuts, another BDS troupe member], and Joe, in his mind, like, knew what he was gonna say to LeBron, and he came up, and he asks how his son\u2019s doing, his one-year-old son. [LeBron] is like, \u2018How\u2019s Luca doing?\u2019 And whatever Joe had on his mind, he just wasn\u2019t ready for that. So his mind just goes into a blender and he\u2019s trying to get the words out, but he\u2019s stuttering. He\u2019s like, \u2018Yeah, yeah, the, uhh\u2014.\u2019<\/p>\n \u201cHe can\u2019t get it out and I just thought it was so funny and I don\u2019t blame Joe because I can only imagine having a kid and LeBron asks how your kid\u2019s doing, but that was to me just the funniest moment.\u201d<\/p>\n Before long, though, they settled into the natural rhythm of golf, helped by the fact that James likes them \u2014 and that, on the course, he\u2019s just a \u201cbig kid.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIt was interesting because he really is probably the most criticized, speculated athlete I think of our time,\u201d Berger said. \u201cA lot of people are either on one side or the other with him. He\u2019s a family guy and he\u2019s a big kid. He just loves to have fun. He loves to mess around. He\u2019s a huge jokester. And I\u2019ve been talking to him a ton even since we went out and played and he truly loves the game and going out and having a good time and he doesn\u2019t take himself too seriously at all \u2014\u00a0of course, I haven\u2019t seen him day-to-day on the basketball side of things, but everything outside of it he really does just love to have fun. And I think he\u2019s gotten to a point where his career where he is so used to any criticism that he gets like that he really is able to block so much of it all out.\u201d<\/p>\n For more behind-the-scenes with James, Berger\u2019s prediction on where YouTube golf is headed and an epic tequila-and-roof scene from after they wrapped filming that day, check out the interview on YouTube<\/a> or at the embed below.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n