It came not with a crashing wave but in a steady progression over the course of several decades, this dominating triumph of digital over the printed word.
But as someone who realized the only dream he had in life, which was to become a sportswriter for The Boston Globe, and who unabashedly is on the losing end of frequent 5-and-4 matches when faced with challenges put forth by laptops and iPhones and all things digital, this is not a diatribe against what has replaced daily sports sections and magazines that come through the mail.
That ship has long sailed, no?
Instead, it is with warm applause to offer the story of a Scotsman whose passion for golf and reverence for its history shines through thanks to his mastery of social media. Meet Jamie Kennedy, the pride of Edinburgh and the Director of Digital Content for Golf Digest.
That he has nearly 50,000 followers on X is a testament to the quality that he delivers but the genuine love of golf that pours forth can be directly connected to a fortunate upbringing that he feels blessed to have had.
“My granddad had a home that overlooked the sixth green at North Berwick, and we’d get to look after the house when he’d go on a summer holiday,” said Kennedy. “I was 7 or 8 and it was powerful to learn the game (in such an environment).”
To hear him tell of the first real golf hole he played – the iconic Redan, North Berwick’s 180-yard par-3 15th – is to comprehend why Jamie Kennedy’s soul is so rich when it comes to golf, particularly the links variety. And easily understood is how he comfortably connects to tens of thousands of golfers who appreciate not only his wonderful travelogues to links throughout the UK and Ireland but also his feel for how golf at the elite level should be reported.
In a social media world where so many use the platforms to post pretentious selfies of themselves at their latest golf course or to promote stories that wear out the “I” key, Kennedy is refreshingly humble and doesn’t live to engage in controversy or get into it with readers or followers.
“I’m fairly low key and I have a loads of friends and relatives who are golfers,” he said, explaining why he has so many sounding boards when he gets an idea for things he will post.
Like writing recently about The Open having not been played at Muirfield since 2013. Or asking folks what their favorite opening hole was, an interest prompted by Royal Lytham & Annes No. 1 par-3 where Kennedy had traveled to report on the AIG Women’s Open Championship.
“I read the comments because I’m curious. I want to know what people think. Social media can have a negative connotation but I do like to hear what people say; it helps grow my love of the game.”
Just don’t look for Jamie Kennedy (@jamierkennedy) to get embroiled in those surly Twitter wars. “I’m very thick-skinned,” he shrugged. “My lows are quite high and my highs are quite low, if that makes sense.”
Everything about Jamie Kennedy makes sense to Russell Knox, whose friendship with his fellow Scotsman arrived in a most haphazard manner. True, they are countryman, but “he was from down South in Edinburgh and I was up north, in Inverness,” said Knox.
“I think we met once in Scotland but the first time we really met was in college.”
As in the same college, University of Jacksonville, where both lads without knowing it had decided to come to the U.S. to play their college golf.
“We became attached at the hip,” said Knox. “We were roommates for four years. We’d be in a circle and we’d exchange smiles at something that struck us as funny.”
Paths took them in different directions, but within the golf world. Knox pursued the pro game, finally reaching the PGA Tour, but when he’d watch those humorous and thoroughly entertaining DP World Tour social media clips where two different players would be asked to compete by using all 14 clubs to hit into a par-3 about 120 yards away, the lad from Inverness couldn’t help but smile.
“I knew it was Jamie and I could see the parallel with those clips and the way he played golf. Jamie was extremely creative. He was Bubba Watson-like; he loved to curve a golf ball and didn’t play ‘generic’ golf.
“He came to our recent college reunion to play a few days of golf and brought six clubs. He’d always come up with ideas like playing 10 rounds of golf in a day. And Jamie is such a good storyteller. He’s good at including people in his stories. He’s never dull.”
Kennedy, whose father played for Scotland’s national rugby team, concedes he’s “always been consumed by sports.” So it was no surprise that a few years out of college he started working for a golf equipment website that hit his sweet spot because he tested golf clubs and was allowed “to talk the game.” He followed golf writers on-line, Shane Bacon in particular, and “he helped lead me to the European Tour.”
When that milestone of a 40th birthday was reached last year, Russell Knox (far left) and Jamie Kennedy (far right) were joined by four other teammates from those Jacksonville University golf days for a trip to the Tampa, Fla., area for what else -- golf. Left to right starting next to Knox: Peter Wietrak, Kipp Henritzy, Brian Blackburn, and Seiji Hirai.
Highlights to Kennedy’s digital content producer-director run were plentiful. From the Content Committee skit where Tommy Fleetwood, Tyrrell Hatton, Henrik Stenson, Thomas Bjorn, and Lee Westwood bandied about absurd promotional ideas, to the 14-club challenge that even Rory McIlroy and Viktor Hovland agreed to play, to players getting 500 golf balls to try and make a hole-in-one, to the comical awkward reporter who was coached beautifully behind the scenes by Nicolas Colsaerts and Chris Wood and featured one hysterical interview with Dustin Johnson.
“His creativity translates beautifully,” said Knox, who is particularly pleased at how well Kennedy promotes links golf and courses throughout their homeland. “He loves golf and loves Scotland and that’s always been true of him.”
Unlike many in social media who love to pontificate, hit hot-button issues, and think all the “greatest-ever” moments have taken place in the last three months, Jamie Kennedy embraces a mantra that was an unbreakable principle in the print-media world. That is, “let the message of the story come first,” he said.
Speaking or being seen “does not come naturally to me,” said Kennedy, who chooses more often than not to point out the nuances of a particular sequence of shots, historical significances, or ask people which was the best shot in the major championships this year.
Ah, but it can’t always go his way because in July, at his beloved North Berwick, Kennedy pulled off an uncanny golf shot and earned wide-spread attention for it. He had posted of his desire to play the heralded course with hickory clubs, asking people to guess his score.
The score stood at 2-over through 17 holes but with one mighty swing of his hickory driver, Kennedy finished at 1-under. That’s right, he made a hole-in-one at the closing hole, a par-4 of about 270 yards. The albatross came at about 10:15 p.m.
“There are no bunkers at 18 and no tall grass,” said Kennedy. “I had two playing partners, one had his ball on the green and I saw that, the other was in front of the green.” He looked beyond the green, didn’t see it, then for giggles looked in the hole.
“I took it out and there were screams.”
People were videotaping it, pictures were snapped, and for sure it was going to be a viral moment in the social media world. Kennedy, always committed to telling the story, had unwittingly become the story.
Knox had a hearty laugh at the vision of his friend’s improbable feat at North Berwick but offered a memory of a different sort to prove his friend can vouch for how golf can reward and be cruel.
“His freshman year he was looking to break par for the first time and was 1-under with two (holes) to go. He was a bit nervous but chose to be aggressive and hit driver on a hole that he didn’t need to.
“But he hit a good one, only it hit the 100-yard plate and bounced out-of-bounds.”
Ah, golf. It giveth and it taketh. But with a humble storyteller on social media like Jamie Kennedy we will get the full experience. Count on it.
