May 25, 2023 • 36 mins
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!
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
The volume. This is Straight Fire with Jason McIntyre.
Speaker 2 (00:15):
What is up Straight firefam, It's me Jason McIntyre. Straight
Fire for Thursday, May twenty fifth, 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
(00:35):
NBA or NFL or Major League Baseball or MLS whatever,
we have a special guest. Ladies and gentlemen. I've been
hyping this guest for a couple of 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
(00:57):
is Paige Sporadic. Sporadic I probably butchered that, and I
interviewed her this week. Her Instagram handle is page Renee.
If you are not on the gram, well it's worth
checking out anyway. She has three point seven million followers.
I know her agent a little bit, so I hit
him up about a month ago and I was like, listen,
(01:17):
I keep seeing page everywhere every time I talk to
anybody in and around golf. It's about page and I
mean I've golfed, I think two or three times is
probably in the last in the last full year, not
this calendar year. I probably golfed two or three times.
And without question, she was an overwhelming topic. And she
(01:40):
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 care for
the podcast.
Speaker 1 (02:02):
There is a video component.
Speaker 2 (02:03):
If you go on YouTube, you'll definitely see the video.
Page is as advertised, pretty much an open book, and
you know, we appreciate the candor obviously, I think you
guys will like it, so enjoy page. Sporonic the most
popular person affiliated with women's golf. You know a guy
(02:24):
Jason likes to think he knows everything when it comes
to sports.
Speaker 1 (02:28):
I know what sports dance wants, but for everything he doesn't,
he knows.
Speaker 3 (02:32):
The guy who does.
Speaker 2 (02:33):
Let's just say I know a guy who knows a
guy who knows another guy. All right, let's welcome into
straight Fire, a guest we've never had on the podcast before.
Speaker 1 (02:43):
We've talked about her a few.
Speaker 2 (02:45):
Times because obviously she's a huge deal in women's golf, although.
Speaker 1 (02:47):
She's not a golfer.
Speaker 2 (02:50):
Page Sporadic Page. I hope I said your name correctly.
How are you doing good?
Speaker 3 (02:55):
You absolutely nailed it?
Speaker 1 (02:58):
Okay, good?
Speaker 2 (02:58):
Yeah, a lot of practice this week, so a lot
of my friends who play golf.
Speaker 1 (03:03):
I'm not a huge golfer ol golf socially.
Speaker 2 (03:05):
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, Page, that seems
to be where you are in the golf discussion right now.
(03:26):
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 four million followers your own website, which is I'm
assuming a cash cow just your journey here.
Speaker 3 (03:46):
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 kneecab twice, had a
couple of really bad injuries and just had to quit.
And so I sat down with my parents, I said,
what else can I be good at? And my aunt,
(04:06):
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
(04:28):
a highly righted junior golfer. End up 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
(04:49):
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. Some one 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 five hundred followers to one
(05:10):
hundred thousand 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
(05:30):
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 you know,
five hours worth of press, and you know, they wanted
me to do social media and all these other things,
(05:51):
and you know, none of the girls wanted to do it.
So I would step in and do it for them
and 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 a ton of haters at that time because I was,
you know, getting invitations to playing these events because of
(06:14):
my social media, and.
Speaker 2 (06:16):
I wounded to play golf hold on pay. So who
are these haters? Are they the other female golfers, like
the kind of mean girls.
Speaker 1 (06:22):
All this stuff.
Speaker 3 (06:23):
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
(06:45):
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're one of my first sponsors,
and I was doing all their media work. I was
never signed as an LPGA player, and all of my
(07:07):
obligations were to do social media for them in 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
(07:30):
years ago now and I haven't looked back.
Speaker 2 (07:33):
So this whole social media full time thing is kind
of fascinating. There's a college football player who lives near me,
Matt Liiner, went to USC and you know, I see
him around.
Speaker 1 (07:42):
We talk and he's like, oh, let.
Speaker 2 (07:43):
Me introduce you to my social media guy. 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,
(08:04):
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.
Speaker 3 (08:11):
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,
(08:31):
then I'll bring someone in to 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. I'm very hands on.
I do have a amazing team that helps me seek
out other opportunities and manage the partnerships that I have
(08:52):
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
what I have to post and just making sure I'm always,
you know, 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 it's all me and
(09:13):
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
(09:34):
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 it's a full
time job, you know. It takes a lot of strategy involved.
Speaker 2 (09:49):
I don't 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 me be a third of them.
Speaker 1 (10:01):
A lot of it is hate, you know, idiot fans
who are like, how could you say this about my
favorite player? Paige?
Speaker 2 (10:06):
How are you looking at all your responses? If you
have three point seven million followers on Instagram, you're not
actually looking at all of them.
Speaker 3 (10:14):
Yeah, no, I am.
Speaker 1 (10:15):
So are you spend all day on social media?
Speaker 3 (10:18):
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
finely 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
(10:41):
people who follow you. It's a community, and I'm not
able to do my job well if they're disinterested in
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 the
next couple of years, if they're going to be banned.
You just don't know what's going on with social media.
(11:03):
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
(11:25):
or they're bad? Or 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 platform.
Speaker 1 (11:42):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (11:43):
But the problem is, you know, there's all these meatballs
on social media who are just professional haters. They are
anonymous losers, and all they want to do is like
be critical, and that's fine.
Speaker 1 (11:53):
Like as a guy, I could take it.
Speaker 2 (11:55):
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.
Speaker 3 (12:12):
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
(12:35):
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. Bit you need about seventy percent hate
to grow and so when I'm getting hate comments, then
you know you're getting a reaction. You know that that's
(12:55):
going to be shared. You know that that's a really
great piece of content because if everyone's are with what
you're doing, then you know that they're not going to
send it to their friends like it's 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
(13:17):
that to my face. And a halftime 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 one hundred times,
or you just get so desensitized to what people say online.
And you know, I've created this kind of persona this
you know, page Renee, which is my user handle on Instagram,
(13:40):
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
to them, maybe they would like me, or maybe they don't,
(14:00):
but it doesn't matter because they'll never meet me.
Speaker 1 (14:03):
Right, well, I don't know me, you know, golf ornaments,
I don't know.
Speaker 2 (14:07):
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 like has a dog or whatever.
You I don't know how do you toggle between the two.
Speaker 3 (14:30):
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,
(14:50):
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, you know, Saturday night with my dog
next to me reading, you know, that's that's boring. And
(15:12):
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.
Speaker 1 (15:24):
So I yeah, there's some guys in sports media.
Speaker 2 (15:26):
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.
Speaker 1 (15:34):
I can't be friends with this guy. Listen to this
shitty thing. I can't. I can't, I can't rock with
this guy.
Speaker 2 (15:39):
And then you see him in public and you're like, oh, hey,
what's up and you talked 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 page? You're not like you
are on ig.
Speaker 3 (15:51):
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
surprised that I'm dressed appropriately for the event that I'm at.
(16:12):
People just expect me to, you know, walk in in
a bikini to a gala and they're like, oh, I'm
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
(16:35):
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 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
(16:56):
my life. And I think people do realize that when
they meet me, that, you know, I'm not that person
twenty four to seven, which is which is a good thing.
Speaker 2 (17:03):
Weird, 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
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 ninety three percent dudes, seven percent women,
(17:26):
and I'm assuming yours is the opposite, probably maybe a little.
Speaker 3 (17:29):
Yeah, ninety six percent men.
Speaker 2 (17:31):
So like, so you started a site that's like a
ripoff 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?
Speaker 3 (17:48):
Oh? Then like the first minute, you know, we did
really well. And yeah, we put a lot of time
and effort into it. And people have been asking me
to do only fans for a very long wait. And
even though.
Speaker 2 (18:04):
Or like internet weirdos, you don't want to use that,
I don't.
Speaker 3 (18:11):
Think they're weird, Like I don't think that's like a
weird thing.
Speaker 1 (18:15):
Internet.
Speaker 3 (18:18):
Yeah, people want 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
(18:41):
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 did, you know,
golf instruction, a ton of golf instruction, and put a
(19:04):
lot of time and effort into doing like if you
never played golf before. We have a whole series on basics,
where to get clubs, where to get shop, everything we
do basics.
Speaker 1 (19:13):
Okay, page, hold on, hold on, let me ask hold on.
Speaker 2 (19:16):
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.
Speaker 1 (19:24):
Or the whatever you know else you're peddling on that?
Speaker 3 (19:26):
Funny enough, the golf content is some of the highly
rated content. It does the best, even 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
(19:50):
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
(20:10):
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.
Speaker 2 (20:22):
Now, I don't doubt that. I mean, I'm not a
maybe I need to improve my flop shots, so all
a sudden, it uh for only base 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 twenty years. You know,
(20:43):
you gotta work at this.
Speaker 1 (20:44):
And they're like, oh. Another guy's like I kind of
want to be an influencer.
Speaker 2 (20:48):
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 want. But when you realize, I'm guessing that you could,
it could be a pretty lucrative business.
Speaker 1 (21:04):
You leaned into it.
Speaker 2 (21:05):
Are you like advising any young female golfers who maybe
aren't tour worthy.
Speaker 1 (21:11):
To say, hey, this is a lane you can jump in.
Speaker 2 (21:15):
And you know, there can be fifteen other pages doing
this social media thing.
Speaker 3 (21:20):
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
(21:43):
was 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 like
what to say or what to do, that I did
build this really great community of people because I was
so owe and they've seen me, you know, win and
(22:03):
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
(22:25):
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 you know, eight years seven,
eight years ago. Now, go to the golf course now
is 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
(22:48):
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
(23:09):
and spit you out, and you need to be really
really strong and confident and self assured in what you're doing.
Speaker 1 (23:15):
So as the like the OG golf influencer person.
Speaker 2 (23:20):
Is there like a community or is it kind of
still caddy mean girls type stuff going on?
Speaker 3 (23:24):
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
(23:46):
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.
Speaker 1 (24:01):
Well I'm sorry.
Speaker 2 (24:02):
Well, during the vast research, I missed this being burned.
Speaker 1 (24:06):
What does that mean?
Speaker 3 (24:07):
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 up, 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
(24:29):
they turned around do the exact same thing. And so
sometimes there's just not a level of respect for everything
that I had 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
faced and the path that I paid for them.
Speaker 1 (24:50):
Yeah, so I worked with somebody at Fox.
Speaker 2 (24:52):
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 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
(25:13):
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.
Speaker 1 (25:23):
Popular women that just don't want to play basketball.
Speaker 2 (25:26):
I got to ask you, like, you know, Page, we
could probably pull ten 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. What if they came
to you and we're like, hey, Page, we don't care
that you didn't qualify.
Speaker 1 (25:43):
We want you playing in this tournament. You know what's up.
Speaker 2 (25:45):
You're gonna drive ratings and interest in chatter and social media.
Speaker 1 (25:49):
But you also know that that bullshit hate is going
to be out there. You would you do it?
Speaker 3 (25:55):
No? Because I did try and I wasn't good enough.
You know, I did 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 want embarrass myself and also be
disrespectful for all of the work that they put in.
You know, just as they work hard every single day
(26:15):
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 successful influencers who maybe aren't good
enough or don't want to compete, help use their social
(26:38):
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
(26:58):
kind of where we need to be. And even with
the WNBA, 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
(27:19):
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 wanted to do that because I love what
I do.
Speaker 1 (27:37):
What do you mean you didn't feel confident?
Speaker 2 (27:39):
You were like a college goal for you had a
scholarship and you were like, yeah, yeah, I don't understand
what you were.
Speaker 3 (27:47):
Well, it's just a different level. I don't think people
realize the jump from being even like a scratch golfer
too 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 sixties they're shooting sixty twos in sixty threes, and
(28:08):
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 as
it's almost like a slap in their face. It's like, oh,
anyone can go play, let's put them in, you know.
(28:29):
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 yea.
Speaker 2 (28:41):
I guess I'm more of an outsider. So I totally
disagree with that. I mean, like more people would be
interested in seeing it, but you're not doing what they're
doing every day practicing because you got a you know,
social media, are you on TikTok?
Speaker 1 (28:53):
I'm sorry, I'm not on there.
Speaker 3 (28:55):
Yeah, I'm on every social platform you can possibly.
Speaker 2 (28:58):
So now is that by choice or is it like, hey,
there's this, we've just got it. We've got to be
everywhere just in case this pops.
Speaker 3 (29:05):
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
(29:27):
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.
Speaker 2 (29:40):
So, to go back to the gold 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.
Speaker 1 (29:57):
Were you surprised at that? Did that?
Speaker 3 (29:58):
Did that?
Speaker 1 (29:59):
Hurt your feelings. What's the response when they're like, no,
we don't want help, we're great.
Speaker 3 (30:04):
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 this stuffy country club. You
can go and to a public golf course and hit
golf balls for under ten dollars in jeans and that's
(30:26):
just as fun and that's still, you know, 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, and if they don't want to
(30:48):
work with me, then that's their choice. You know, I
can't be upset about that. I think that's the hard
part about being an influencer is you are the brand,
and if you think about it, and other businesses. Sometimes
it just doesn't align. But I and 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
(31:10):
as a business deal, then no, it's no hard feelings.
It just didn't align with their business plan.
Speaker 2 (31:17):
I know you have a super busy day, so I'll
try to wrap up here. The US opens coming up.
It's out here in LA. 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, fifty percent of the time, maybe you get lucky.
Speaker 1 (31:36):
How do you handle that?
Speaker 2 (31:37):
I know the social media dudes are animals when they
lose bets because I do some of that as well.
Speaker 3 (31:42):
Yeah, you know, golf is interesting. I think it's the
hardest sport to make picks for because it's, you know,
one person out of one hundred and forty 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
(32:03):
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 at the PGA Championship,
I said to Fade Hoveland, and Hoveland came in second,
and I was like, the whole time, I was just
getting comments and I knew it, and I was like,
(32:25):
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 twenties, top five finishes to you know, hopefully not
put all your eggs in one basket. But yeah, the
US Open is going to be really interesting. Golf is
(32:46):
in a amazing spot right now. There's a ton of
really great players. And I'm liking Max Homa. He okay,
he yeah, he plays well in LA, he plays well
on hard golf courses. I know he does have a
great major record, but I think he'll do well kind
of in his hometown and playing in front of a
(33:06):
lot of friends and family.
Speaker 2 (33:08):
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 gonna be it and they're
gonna recognize you obviously.
Speaker 3 (33:27):
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 thely 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
(33:48):
like a sore thumb. So sometimes I don't know if
they're like, oh, a girl on the golf course, what
is this? Or if you'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.
Speaker 1 (34:05):
Uh their issue with them? Yeah number one? What year
was that?
Speaker 3 (34:12):
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
gonna change like that.
Speaker 2 (34:32):
Yeah, you probably need like some kind of security. You know,
people are weird.
Speaker 3 (34:36):
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
crocs and sweats and no makeup, and like my hair
was like greasy and off my head, and He's like,
are you Paige, And I was like no, yeah, I
mean it's like I take a picture. I was like, yeah, okay,
(34:57):
because it's like, you know, they're gonna post it and
then obviously are going to be like she doesn't look
the same in person, and so now I'm like, okay,
at least need to travel with some makeup on.
Speaker 1 (35:05):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (35:06):
I remember being at airport after I think the Final Four,
and Danica Patrick was at the airport and just standing
there at the gate. Not one person recognized her. She's
kind of on the smaller side and she was just
standing there.
Speaker 1 (35:16):
Just no security, no agent, nobody.
Speaker 2 (35:18):
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?
Speaker 3 (35:27):
Almost five eight? Most people think I'm a lot taller
than that. That's one thing I get when they see
me in personal like, oh I thought you were a
lot taller. 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 appreciate all the
kind things that they say.
Speaker 1 (35:42):
So is there anything you want to anything you want
to plug?
Speaker 2 (35:45):
Uh? Any besides Only Page, which I'm sure is just
going to get a million more signups, you know in
the next pie.
Speaker 3 (35:51):
Yeah, I'm sure. So you guys can head over to
my subscription site Only Page. I do personalized videos, golf content,
behind the scene, 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,
so you can find me on TikTok, Facebook, Instagram under
(36:15):
page Sperannic and then on Instagram which is page Forrene
All right.
Speaker 2 (36:19):
Page thanks a lot, continued success, Uh, in all your
endeavors and maybe I'll see at a golf course sometime.
Speaker 3 (36:26):
Yeah, we mean to get you out there.
Speaker 1 (36:28):
Unlikely, but maybe we'll see Okay, thank you,
The volume. This is Straight Fire with Jason McIntyre.
Speaker 2 (00:15):
What is up Straight firefam, It's me Jason McIntyre. Straight
Fire for Thursday, May twenty fifth, 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
(00:35):
NBA or NFL or Major League Baseball or MLS whatever,
we have a special guest. Ladies and gentlemen. I've been
hyping this guest for a couple of 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
(00:57):
is Paige Sporadic. Sporadic I probably butchered that, and I
interviewed her this week. Her Instagram handle is page Renee.
If you are not on the gram, well it's worth
checking out anyway. She has three point seven million followers.
I know her agent a little bit, so I hit
him up about a month ago and I was like, listen,
(01:17):
I keep seeing page everywhere every time I talk to
anybody in and around golf. It's about page and I
mean I've golfed, I think two or three times is
probably in the last in the last full year, not
this calendar year. I probably golfed two or three times.
And without question, she was an overwhelming topic. And she
(01:40):
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 care for
the podcast.
Speaker 1 (02:02):
There is a video component.
Speaker 2 (02:03):
If you go on YouTube, you'll definitely see the video.
Page is as advertised, pretty much an open book, and
you know, we appreciate the candor obviously, I think you
guys will like it, so enjoy page. Sporonic the most
popular person affiliated with women's golf. You know a guy
(02:24):
Jason likes to think he knows everything when it comes
to sports.
Speaker 1 (02:28):
I know what sports dance wants, but for everything he doesn't,
he knows.
Speaker 3 (02:32):
The guy who does.
Speaker 2 (02:33):
Let's just say I know a guy who knows a
guy who knows another guy. All right, let's welcome into
straight Fire, a guest we've never had on the podcast before.
Speaker 1 (02:43):
We've talked about her a few.
Speaker 2 (02:45):
Times because obviously she's a huge deal in women's golf, although.
Speaker 1 (02:47):
She's not a golfer.
Speaker 2 (02:50):
Page Sporadic Page. I hope I said your name correctly.
How are you doing good?
Speaker 3 (02:55):
You absolutely nailed it?
Speaker 1 (02:58):
Okay, good?
Speaker 2 (02:58):
Yeah, a lot of practice this week, so a lot
of my friends who play golf.
Speaker 1 (03:03):
I'm not a huge golfer ol golf socially.
Speaker 2 (03:05):
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, Page, that seems
to be where you are in the golf discussion right now.
(03:26):
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 four million followers your own website, which is I'm
assuming a cash cow just your journey here.
Speaker 3 (03:46):
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 kneecab twice, had a
couple of really bad injuries and just had to quit.
And so I sat down with my parents, I said,
what else can I be good at? And my aunt,
(04:06):
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
(04:28):
a highly righted junior golfer. End up 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
(04:49):
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. Some one 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 five hundred followers to one
(05:10):
hundred thousand 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
(05:30):
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 you know,
five hours worth of press, and you know, they wanted
me to do social media and all these other things,
(05:51):
and you know, none of the girls wanted to do it.
So I would step in and do it for them
and 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 a ton of haters at that time because I was,
you know, getting invitations to playing these events because of
(06:14):
my social media, and.
Speaker 2 (06:16):
I wounded to play golf hold on pay. So who
are these haters? Are they the other female golfers, like
the kind of mean girls.
Speaker 1 (06:22):
All this stuff.
Speaker 3 (06:23):
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
(06:45):
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're one of my first sponsors,
and I was doing all their media work. I was
never signed as an LPGA player, and all of my
(07:07):
obligations were to do social media for them in 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
(07:30):
years ago now and I haven't looked back.
Speaker 2 (07:33):
So this whole social media full time thing is kind
of fascinating. There's a college football player who lives near me,
Matt Liiner, went to USC and you know, I see
him around.
Speaker 1 (07:42):
We talk and he's like, oh, let.
Speaker 2 (07:43):
Me introduce you to my social media guy. 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,
(08:04):
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.
Speaker 3 (08:11):
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,
(08:31):
then I'll bring someone in to 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. I'm very hands on.
I do have a amazing team that helps me seek
out other opportunities and manage the partnerships that I have
(08:52):
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
what I have to post and just making sure I'm always,
you know, 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 it's all me and
(09:13):
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
(09:34):
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 it's a full
time job, you know. It takes a lot of strategy involved.
Speaker 2 (09:49):
I don't 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 me be a third of them.
Speaker 1 (10:01):
A lot of it is hate, you know, idiot fans
who are like, how could you say this about my
favorite player? Paige?
Speaker 2 (10:06):
How are you looking at all your responses? If you
have three point seven million followers on Instagram, you're not
actually looking at all of them.
Speaker 3 (10:14):
Yeah, no, I am.
Speaker 1 (10:15):
So are you spend all day on social media?
Speaker 3 (10:18):
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
finely 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
(10:41):
people who follow you. It's a community, and I'm not
able to do my job well if they're disinterested in
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 the
next couple of years, if they're going to be banned.
You just don't know what's going on with social media.
(11:03):
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
(11:25):
or they're bad? Or 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 platform.
Speaker 1 (11:42):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (11:43):
But the problem is, you know, there's all these meatballs
on social media who are just professional haters. They are
anonymous losers, and all they want to do is like
be critical, and that's fine.
Speaker 1 (11:53):
Like as a guy, I could take it.
Speaker 2 (11:55):
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.
Speaker 3 (12:12):
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
(12:35):
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. Bit you need about seventy percent hate
to grow and so when I'm getting hate comments, then
you know you're getting a reaction. You know that that's
(12:55):
going to be shared. You know that that's a really
great piece of content because if everyone's are with what
you're doing, then you know that they're not going to
send it to their friends like it's 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
(13:17):
that to my face. And a halftime 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 one hundred times,
or you just get so desensitized to what people say online.
And you know, I've created this kind of persona this
you know, page Renee, which is my user handle on Instagram,
(13:40):
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
to them, maybe they would like me, or maybe they don't,
(14:00):
but it doesn't matter because they'll never meet me.
Speaker 1 (14:03):
Right, well, I don't know me, you know, golf ornaments,
I don't know.
Speaker 2 (14:07):
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 like has a dog or whatever.
You I don't know how do you toggle between the two.
Speaker 3 (14:30):
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,
(14:50):
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, you know, Saturday night with my dog
next to me reading, you know, that's that's boring. And
(15:12):
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.
Speaker 1 (15:24):
So I yeah, there's some guys in sports media.
Speaker 2 (15:26):
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.
Speaker 1 (15:34):
I can't be friends with this guy. Listen to this
shitty thing. I can't. I can't, I can't rock with
this guy.
Speaker 2 (15:39):
And then you see him in public and you're like, oh, hey,
what's up and you talked 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 page? You're not like you
are on ig.
Speaker 3 (15:51):
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
surprised that I'm dressed appropriately for the event that I'm at.
(16:12):
People just expect me to, you know, walk in in
a bikini to a gala and they're like, oh, I'm
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
(16:35):
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 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
(16:56):
my life. And I think people do realize that when
they meet me, that, you know, I'm not that person
twenty four to seven, which is which is a good thing.
Speaker 2 (17:03):
Weird, 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
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 ninety three percent dudes, seven percent women,
(17:26):
and I'm assuming yours is the opposite, probably maybe a little.
Speaker 3 (17:29):
Yeah, ninety six percent men.
Speaker 2 (17:31):
So like, so you started a site that's like a
ripoff 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?
Speaker 3 (17:48):
Oh? Then like the first minute, you know, we did
really well. And yeah, we put a lot of time
and effort into it. And people have been asking me
to do only fans for a very long wait. And
even though.
Speaker 2 (18:04):
Or like internet weirdos, you don't want to use that,
I don't.
Speaker 3 (18:11):
Think they're weird, Like I don't think that's like a
weird thing.
Speaker 1 (18:15):
Internet.
Speaker 3 (18:18):
Yeah, people want 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
(18:41):
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 did, you know,
golf instruction, a ton of golf instruction, and put a
(19:04):
lot of time and effort into doing like if you
never played golf before. We have a whole series on basics,
where to get clubs, where to get shop, everything we
do basics.
Speaker 1 (19:13):
Okay, page, hold on, hold on, let me ask hold on.
Speaker 2 (19:16):
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.
Speaker 1 (19:24):
Or the whatever you know else you're peddling on that?
Speaker 3 (19:26):
Funny enough, the golf content is some of the highly
rated content. It does the best, even 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
(19:50):
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
(20:10):
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.
Speaker 2 (20:22):
Now, I don't doubt that. I mean, I'm not a
maybe I need to improve my flop shots, so all
a sudden, it uh for only base 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 twenty years. You know,
(20:43):
you gotta work at this.
Speaker 1 (20:44):
And they're like, oh. Another guy's like I kind of
want to be an influencer.
Speaker 2 (20:48):
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 want. But when you realize, I'm guessing that you could,
it could be a pretty lucrative business.
Speaker 1 (21:04):
You leaned into it.
Speaker 2 (21:05):
Are you like advising any young female golfers who maybe
aren't tour worthy.
Speaker 1 (21:11):
To say, hey, this is a lane you can jump in.
Speaker 2 (21:15):
And you know, there can be fifteen other pages doing
this social media thing.
Speaker 3 (21:20):
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
(21:43):
was 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 like
what to say or what to do, that I did
build this really great community of people because I was
so owe and they've seen me, you know, win and
(22:03):
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
(22:25):
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 you know, eight years seven,
eight years ago. Now, go to the golf course now
is 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
(22:48):
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
(23:09):
and spit you out, and you need to be really
really strong and confident and self assured in what you're doing.
Speaker 1 (23:15):
So as the like the OG golf influencer person.
Speaker 2 (23:20):
Is there like a community or is it kind of
still caddy mean girls type stuff going on?
Speaker 3 (23:24):
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
(23:46):
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.
Speaker 1 (24:01):
Well I'm sorry.
Speaker 2 (24:02):
Well, during the vast research, I missed this being burned.
Speaker 1 (24:06):
What does that mean?
Speaker 3 (24:07):
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 up, 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
(24:29):
they turned around do the exact same thing. And so
sometimes there's just not a level of respect for everything
that I had 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
faced and the path that I paid for them.
Speaker 1 (24:50):
Yeah, so I worked with somebody at Fox.
Speaker 2 (24:52):
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 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
(25:13):
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.
Speaker 1 (25:23):
Popular women that just don't want to play basketball.
Speaker 2 (25:26):
I got to ask you, like, you know, Page, we
could probably pull ten 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. What if they came
to you and we're like, hey, Page, we don't care
that you didn't qualify.
Speaker 1 (25:43):
We want you playing in this tournament. You know what's up.
Speaker 2 (25:45):
You're gonna drive ratings and interest in chatter and social media.
Speaker 1 (25:49):
But you also know that that bullshit hate is going
to be out there. You would you do it?
Speaker 3 (25:55):
No? Because I did try and I wasn't good enough.
You know, I did 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 want embarrass myself and also be
disrespectful for all of the work that they put in.
You know, just as they work hard every single day
(26:15):
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 successful influencers who maybe aren't good
enough or don't want to compete, help use their social
(26:38):
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
(26:58):
kind of where we need to be. And even with
the WNBA, 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
(27:19):
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 wanted to do that because I love what
I do.
Speaker 1 (27:37):
What do you mean you didn't feel confident?
Speaker 2 (27:39):
You were like a college goal for you had a
scholarship and you were like, yeah, yeah, I don't understand
what you were.
Speaker 3 (27:47):
Well, it's just a different level. I don't think people
realize the jump from being even like a scratch golfer
too 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 sixties they're shooting sixty twos in sixty threes, and
(28:08):
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 as
it's almost like a slap in their face. It's like, oh,
anyone can go play, let's put them in, you know.
(28:29):
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 yea.
Speaker 2 (28:41):
I guess I'm more of an outsider. So I totally
disagree with that. I mean, like more people would be
interested in seeing it, but you're not doing what they're
doing every day practicing because you got a you know,
social media, are you on TikTok?
Speaker 1 (28:53):
I'm sorry, I'm not on there.
Speaker 3 (28:55):
Yeah, I'm on every social platform you can possibly.
Speaker 2 (28:58):
So now is that by choice or is it like, hey,
there's this, we've just got it. We've got to be
everywhere just in case this pops.
Speaker 3 (29:05):
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
(29:27):
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.
Speaker 2 (29:40):
So, to go back to the gold 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.
Speaker 1 (29:57):
Were you surprised at that? Did that?
Speaker 3 (29:58):
Did that?
Speaker 1 (29:59):
Hurt your feelings. What's the response when they're like, no,
we don't want help, we're great.
Speaker 3 (30:04):
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 this stuffy country club. You
can go and to a public golf course and hit
golf balls for under ten dollars in jeans and that's
(30:26):
just as fun and that's still, you know, 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, and if they don't want to
(30:48):
work with me, then that's their choice. You know, I
can't be upset about that. I think that's the hard
part about being an influencer is you are the brand,
and if you think about it, and other businesses. Sometimes
it just doesn't align. But I and 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
(31:10):
as a business deal, then no, it's no hard feelings.
It just didn't align with their business plan.
Speaker 2 (31:17):
I know you have a super busy day, so I'll
try to wrap up here. The US opens coming up.
It's out here in LA. 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, fifty percent of the time, maybe you get lucky.
Speaker 1 (31:36):
How do you handle that?
Speaker 2 (31:37):
I know the social media dudes are animals when they
lose bets because I do some of that as well.
Speaker 3 (31:42):
Yeah, you know, golf is interesting. I think it's the
hardest sport to make picks for because it's, you know,
one person out of one hundred and forty 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
(32:03):
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 at the PGA Championship,
I said to Fade Hoveland, and Hoveland came in second,
and I was like, the whole time, I was just
getting comments and I knew it, and I was like,
(32:25):
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 twenties, top five finishes to you know, hopefully not
put all your eggs in one basket. But yeah, the
US Open is going to be really interesting. Golf is
(32:46):
in a amazing spot right now. There's a ton of
really great players. And I'm liking Max Homa. He okay,
he yeah, he plays well in LA, he plays well
on hard golf courses. I know he does have a
great major record, but I think he'll do well kind
of in his hometown and playing in front of a
(33:06):
lot of friends and family.
Speaker 2 (33:08):
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 gonna be it and they're
gonna recognize you obviously.
Speaker 3 (33:27):
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 thely 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
(33:48):
like a sore thumb. So sometimes I don't know if
they're like, oh, a girl on the golf course, what
is this? Or if you'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.
Speaker 1 (34:05):
Uh their issue with them? Yeah number one? What year
was that?
Speaker 3 (34:12):
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
gonna change like that.
Speaker 2 (34:32):
Yeah, you probably need like some kind of security. You know,
people are weird.
Speaker 3 (34:36):
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
crocs and sweats and no makeup, and like my hair
was like greasy and off my head, and He's like,
are you Paige, And I was like no, yeah, I
mean it's like I take a picture. I was like, yeah, okay,
(34:57):
because it's like, you know, they're gonna post it and
then obviously are going to be like she doesn't look
the same in person, and so now I'm like, okay,
at least need to travel with some makeup on.
Speaker 1 (35:05):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (35:06):
I remember being at airport after I think the Final Four,
and Danica Patrick was at the airport and just standing
there at the gate. Not one person recognized her. She's
kind of on the smaller side and she was just
standing there.
Speaker 1 (35:16):
Just no security, no agent, nobody.
Speaker 2 (35:18):
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?
Speaker 3 (35:27):
Almost five eight? Most people think I'm a lot taller
than that. That's one thing I get when they see
me in personal like, oh I thought you were a
lot taller. 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 appreciate all the
kind things that they say.
Speaker 1 (35:42):
So is there anything you want to anything you want
to plug?
Speaker 2 (35:45):
Uh? Any besides Only Page, which I'm sure is just
going to get a million more signups, you know in
the next pie.
Speaker 3 (35:51):
Yeah, I'm sure. So you guys can head over to
my subscription site Only Page. I do personalized videos, golf content,
behind the scene, 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,
so you can find me on TikTok, Facebook, Instagram under
(36:15):
page Sperannic and then on Instagram which is page Forrene
All right.
Speaker 2 (36:19):
Page thanks a lot, continued success, Uh, in all your
endeavors and maybe I'll see at a golf course sometime.
Speaker 3 (36:26):
Yeah, we mean to get you out there.
Speaker 1 (36:28):
Unlikely, but maybe we'll see Okay, thank you,
Host
Jason McIntyre
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