Episode #16: Golf Influencer, Golfer and Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Model Paige Spiranac 03/04/2020

Meredith: Joining us on this episode is golf influencer and sports illustrated swimsuit model, Paige Spiranac. Really excited to have her in the studio today. Listen in and find out how the world is evolving for Paige, as she continues to influence the golf industry.
Meredith: Hey, everyone, thanks for joining the Gimme Golf Podcast. I am your host, Meredith Kirk and today we are at TPC Myrtle Beach with a very special guest, the beautiful Paige Spiranac. Paige, thanks for being here.
Paige: Thanks for having me. I'm excited.
Meredith: I'm so excited you're here. I've been following you and I know you've been coming to Myrtle Beach more frequently, so tell me a few things that you love about Myrtle Beach.
Paige: I love everything about Myrtle Beach. I remember the first time I came here and I didn't know what to expect and I fell in love with the people. They're just so nice and obviously, the food is really good here and the golf courses, like I said, I didn't know really anything about Myrtle Beach when I came in and I was blown away by how beautiful the golf course is here. I mean, Caledonia, I would put against any of the most beautiful golf course in the world. It's one of the best.
Meredith: Yeah, absolutely. When you're driving into Caledonia, it's almost like you want to stop your car, pull over and just snap pictures.
Paige: Yeah, it's something really special. I mean, and not just that course, but there's so many courses here and they're all great, which is awesome. So I always tell people if you want to get away for a bachelor party or anything, go to Myrtle Beach because they have the best golf courses.
Meredith: Yeah. There's so much variety too. When you play golf on the Northern end, even the terrain's a little bit different. Then you play in central Myrtle Beach and it's different. So it's cool because in our 65 miles stretch, there's just so many different types, variety. This morning, somebody asked me what my favorite was and I said Pawleys Plantation.
Meredith: But, it's similar and I know it's because it has that low country feel that southern charm, like Caledonia does. I love that. So you're right, everybody needs to come here and just experience Myrtle Beach.
Paige: Yes, for sure.
Meredith: Okay, so one of my other questions for you. So you're always looking fabulous on the golf course. Can you give us girls some beauty tips? What do you do to look so good on the golf course? I'll look at pictures of you and I'm like, "All right, how is she doing her hair like that? You're always able to pull off an amazing look." How much time does it take you? Just a couple little tips that us girls can use.
Paige: Yeah, so I think obviously what you see on maybe social media or when I'm doing Instagram or YouTube, that is just, I go out, I take a picture and then I come back in. So either manage your expectations, but I will say, I love wearing visors because you're able to do really cute hairstyles. So I always try to grab two pieces up front, kind of twist them, do something a little bit interesting, trying to mix it up a little bit.
Paige: And then I actually go for the traditional golf clothes, I tend to go for different athletic brands. So a Lululemon or Free People, they have athletic brand now too, which is really great. And so I just go for things that are different and more comfortable. So when you're out there you're not pulling at your clothes all the time or tugging. Then also with makeup, I found a couple of really great brands that are long-lasting.
Meredith: Okay, what are those brands?
Paige: So, I live and die by the CHANEL foundation. It's the best foundation out there. It's long wear, but it's not very thick or heavy. And it's moisturizing [Crosstalk 00:03:42].
Meredith: Like the luminous one? I think I know which one it is.
Paige: It has SPF 20 in it too, which is really great. Then you have to do the Laura Mercier setting powder over it and you're going to look great all day long. If you do that, it doesn't really rub off on your shirt as much either, which is like, I know a big thing with girls- don't always want to do that. There's so many different like lip glosses or things that you can do that give a little bit of a color but you still feel sporting, you're not wearing a full face of makeup when you're out there.
Meredith: No, because I'm looking at you now and to me you don't look like you have a lot of makeup on and you're so beautiful. That's just so not right. But you really, I mean you do have a sporty look but very naturally pretty. I mean listen, good job [Crosstalk 00:04:23].
Paige: I can say the same for you. So, thank you.
Meredith: Okay, so my next question, does it ever get annoying because you are attractive female out in the golf course with guys staring at you or do you ever just get to a point where you're like, "Okay, stop staring at me."
Paige: I think that I'm so desensitized to it now because I just grew up in this environment of being the only female at a golf course. And I'm sure you can relate as well that it doesn't matter what I'm wearing or what I look like. Even when I was younger, just to see a 13 year old on the golf course where it's just only guys you're going to get looked at.
Paige: So even now, I almost have my blinders on and I don't even think about it because it's just something that I'm always used to. I'm used to being around guys. I don't even think twice about it. And I will say too so many guys are really respectful, so they don't really come up to me or really say anything or if I'm practicing, they're not trying to interrupt me.
Paige: So I don't notice it, but I can see why women when they come into this environment feel very uncomfortable right away because they're not used to it. They're used to being surrounded by equal parts men and woman. In golf it's not like that. You look down the driving range, you're like, "Yeah, I'm the only girl here." It can feel uncomfortable, but I think you have to remember if they're looking, they're looking. Just ignore it and focus on yourself.
Paige: One tip that I always do is if you don't want someone to up to you, wear headphones. Wear big headphones. Even if you don't want to listen to music, it maybe doesn't even matter. But if you put them on, no one's going to come up to you.
Meredith: I love that. Isn't that good, Nate?
Nate: Wow.
Meredith: Yeah, that's a good one. Okay. Headphones.
Nate: If I'm wearing headphones around you Meredith, then you know why, right?
Meredith: You don't want to wear headphones, all this time. Okay. So what do you do to distress?
Paige: I travel so much and I'm never home. So just being home with my dog and my family, that's the most important thing to me and the time where I can just get away. So I love my dog so much. I'm obsessed with my dog. And so I just like spending time with him and taking him for walks and leaving my phone at home.
Paige: That's the biggest thing for me to distress. I'm constantly connected to my phone because that's my business.
Meredith: Yeah, that's got to be challenging.
Paige: Yeah. So it's hard, because my job is to look through comments and to be always on social media and that obviously adds so much stress onto really anyone's life is to always be caught up to date with everything. And so I was trying to leave my phone at home whenever I can and just disconnect and get away instead of always just having it there and looking at it and feeling I have to look at it.
Meredith: Right. Have you ever taken a 24 hour detox break from it?
Paige: I don't think I could do that because the one thing that's so great and not so great, is you never know what's going to happen. And so you always have to be connected to your phone. Because it could be either something big in the golf would happens and you always want to be the one to tweet about or talk about it.
Paige: Or if someone says something to me and I want to make sure that I'm responding to them. So I think there're times where you definitely can disconnect, but I can't go. It would just be, because to me it's work and it would just be like, "I'm just not going to show up to work for 24 hours. I can show up to work today."
Meredith: That's a good point.
Paige: And so it's like I do take my time where it's like I do work but I take my time off as well. But I can't just put it to the side and just say "I'm not going to do it." That's important to me and I have to keep that up.
Meredith: Yeah, absolutely. I mean you, you are a golf influencer and we were talking about clothes getting back to, what you wear on the course, Natalie Gulbis. I mean she really started that trend of wearing skorts, really cute skorts and I love Natalie. She's awesome. So she really played a role in that. I feel like you've played a role and more of the athletic wear of what you're wearing, the athletic pants and that comfortable, stretchy material.
Meredith: It's definitely, you've started that trend. I do see a difference when I'm on social media, looking at the female players. I'm like, "They're copying Paige. They're copying Paige. Paige wore that first." So anyway, I credit that to you wearing the athletic wear. Okay. So I want to talk about your golf game because you're a great golfer. I think most people are realizing that now. I think in the beginning when you came out because your attractiveness and all of that, it was more of an emphasis of that.
Meredith: But you've been in the golf world for a number of years now. I think you've really proved yourself with your game. Would there ever be a time that you would want to play again? Professionally?
Paige: Probably not. I think there might be a time where I want to revisit it and go back. But I played junior golf, I played college golf, I played that year professionally and I didn't enjoy it. It wasn't something that I liked. I think a lot of people think that I just wasn't good enough to make it. But there's so many other factors that contribute into being a good professional golfer.
Paige: You have to like the lifestyle of traveling all the time. You have to have the right mental attitude and you obviously have to be very skilled at it. My physical ability is there, but mentally I was always lacking. And that was one of the reasons why I never performed all that great under pressure because I just wasn't very confident with myself. I didn't really love what I was doing.
Paige: I didn't really feel welcomed by the other girls. So, that all affected my golf game. So they look back and they see the scores and they think that's a reflection on my skill level, which isn't true. So it's fun to see now where I do play a lot of pro-AMs, PJ tour events and people are, "Oh, you're actually decent golfer."
Paige: I'm like, "Yeah. Because I have no stress, no pressure." I can just swing away, and I have done this for such a long time and that's why I love YouTube and being able to talk about all this stuff because I don't want to be just known for, nice pictures on Instagram. Because, I have dedicated my whole life to this and I think that's what sets me apart from a lot of the other girls that do what I do is that I got into the media side because I had to pay for my professional career.
Paige: I didn't get into or just pick up golf or just think of this because I thought it was a way to get followers and make money. Which is, a little bit different from other people. I do like to show off the fact that I can play golf and I am knowledgeable and so now to use that and talk about that but still make it fun and back to what I want to do.
Paige: But, to think about playing professionally. I just don't know if that's a passion of mine. Because I love what I get to do now and I can make a bogey and it doesn't mean, which is awesome.
Meredith: Or you could just pick up your ball.
Paige: I can pick up, it's so funny, I always joke, "I haven't made a bogey since I stopped playing because I just pick up after." It's like, "[Inaudible 00:11:29] we're done." That's what I like about it, because I lost that joy of playing when I was playing professionally and now I have that back, just have fun. And I think that reflects a lot in my content because in the beginning of my career I wasn't really enjoying golf.
Paige: I was just doing it because I had to do it. Now, I can enjoy golf and I can share that with so many people.
Meredith: That's so cool. Now you have a podcast.
Paige: Yes.
Meredith: So I want to talk about that. Is it called Playing Around with Paige?
Paige: Playing around with Paige Renee.
Meredith: That's really a cute name. I saw your picture it's really cute. So tell us what are your goals with the podcast? How is it going? Are you reaching a lot of people?
Paige: Yeah, it's been really great so far. We are three episodes in. I wasn't sure how it was going to do because a lot of people haven't really heard me talk. I mean they only see pictures of me or videos-
Meredith: Or edited things.
Paige: Edited things-
Meredith: Sometimes editing is really hard because you can be on TV and you could say something and then people judge you based on one statement. But they don't see the five minutes before. Yes. Five minute after dialogue, like the full context.
Paige: For sure. And I think I struggled before when I worked with different media companies. They wanted me to be this person that they thought I was. And so I never had any creative control, and they always control the narrative. So they almost kept putting me into this box of like, "You're just this one type of person. This is the only content you can do and these are the lines you have to say and this is all you can do."
Paige: That was really frustrating for me because, I always felt I wanted to, I have so many things that have happened to me in my career that I've wanted to talk about and not just me, but women in the golf industry and things that are happening in golf that most people maybe don't want to talk about or afraid to talk about. But since I've had a different path in the golf industry, I'm already on the outside so I don't really have to worry about being accepted so I can talk about all these things. So that's what's been really nice and liberating.
Meredith: It is liberating.
Paige: Telling my stories and episode three that just came out. I talked about a very personal experience for me. Just to see the outreach of the positivity and the support from all of these people and to actually use my voice to make a difference or to bring up a topic that might've been, uncomfortable for a lot of people to discuss.
Paige: And now it's just open up and share that with everyone. It's been really awesome. And so it's really exciting to be able to do this now and it's something so different than I think what anyone would expect me to do. And for it to be so far successful has been exciting.
Meredith: Yeah, that is. Have you ever heard of Brené Brown? I love Brené Brown and she talks about vulnerability that we all have. I mean all of us have it and we've all been through different things and she talks a lot about, when you share your vulnerabilities, you really rise up in your inner most being of talking about different things. It brings so much healing, sometimes just to talk about different things that you've been through.
Meredith: And I really believe in vulnerability. But I think the great thing about vulnerability is as you become more vulnerable, people really truly see you for who you are. I mean, I could just look at you and potentially make judgements. I'm not. But I'm just giving an example anybody, it could be anybody [Crosstalk 00:14:59].
Paige: It happens to everyone all the time.
Meredith: Yeah, and somebody can just look at me but they don't know anything about my life or what I've been through. It's so easy to make external judgements. So I'm excited about your podcast. So it's Playing Around with Paige Renee. You guys need to go listen to it, because you're getting vulnerable. You're really going to get to know Paige.
Meredith: I think that's going to continue to propel you and in your career. Because just putting on the table. People like that. In this day and age, I mean we love reality. We get so many false narratives and so just being real, I mean you'll never go wrong with that. So you're, you're doing good on that front now.
Paige: Thank you so much. I think that's the big thing about the podcast is there's nothing's off limits and just whatever I want to talk about, we're going to talk about and we're just going to be as open and honest. It's like you were saying I do think a lot of people judge me, just off of, what they see and I totally understand that because I have marketed myself in a way that a lot of people don't agree with.
Paige: I understand that, but that's just a choice that I've made. But this podcast is now, hopefully we'll give them a little more insight to who I am and why I've made those decisions because they were thought out. It wasn't just because I did it. Every step of the way has been thought out and I've had to do in a certain way and so hopefully they will understand it a little bit more instead of just counting me out and discarding everything that I've done.
Meredith: Exactly. No, that's great. I'm excited for you. Okay, so my last question.
Paige: Yes.
Meredith: All right. If you are not a golf influencer, what occupation would you choose?
Paige: I would definitely still be in golf or some in sports in some way. But I've always wanted to... So my plan after school was to become the assistant coach at San Diego State. I really wanted to get into coaching, especially college coaching because I had such a hard college career and I wanted to help other girls going through the same thing that I was going through because at college I think is hit or miss for a lot of athletes.
Paige: And I wanted to help that out and change that. That was my plan. I wanted to become a college coach and definitely stay in golf and do that. But it took a turn for more crazy. Now I'm doing all this stuff but I love coaching and that's something that's always been really interesting to me is helping other people and maybe I can still do that someday and might want to maybe go back and do that.
Paige: But that was my goal. That was my plan after school.
Meredith: Yeah. Well I love that. Well, you would be a great coach and you know what? You are actually coaching people by sharing these things about your life and all of that. It is a form of coaching. I could totally see you coaching college golf too, but you know what? The sky's the limit for you, girl. I mean, you're doing a great job, so honored to have you on here. Thank you for sharing your time with us and everyone. Thank you for listening and don't forget to check out Paige's, Playing Around With Paige Renee. So exciting. All right guys, we'll see you next week.