Golfing Legend John Daly Twitters Up a Storm

It was getting late in my neck of the woods. I checked my email one last time to see if there were any alligators lurking there, needing attention before I hit the hay.
Nothing too urgent, so time to put my laptop to bed.

Little did I realize that I was about to get the lesson of my life from golfing legend and 1991 US PGA and 1995 Open Champion, John Daly. Not a golf lesson - but a lesson in the masterful use of social media. Twitter in particular.

I glanced over to TwitRGolfers and there he was - holding court.

For the uninitiated, John Daly has become something of a Twitter phenomenon. He was not the first PGA Pro to get on board with Twitter but now he is playing it like it is another Golfing Major.

What amazed me was the way he was working the room. He must have been holding conversations with at least another half dozen tweeters before I decided to throw in my own comment. I recommended he "grab some fish and chips" from a place I knew around the corner from Wentworth, where he was practicing tomorrow. Yep, pretty silly suggestion - but small talk has never been one of my strengths.

I felt, if this was the best I could contribute to the banter, then my chances of cranking up a conversation with the golfing legend were pretty close to zero.

Not so, the subject of food seemed to grasp his attention.

Whilst this was going on, fellow tweeter and prominent blogger, Andy Brown from St Andrews in Scotland was lining up an encounter with John Daly at the London Club

Not only that, but a few other Tweeters were helping him upload photos to the Net. The tweets were flying back and forth in every direction. He was driving the conversations.

John Daly was having fun last night - we all were.

He was laughing out loud (LOL). At one stage he said "Send some more twitters my way I'm liking the new meets on here"

The Hog jumped in for a fashion discussion with the big man. More silliness.

Others were wishing him well on the European Tour. He is currently in exile from the US Tour after a a slight indiscretion which caused the powers that be to slap a 6 - month ban on him.

So, what was the big lesson in all of this?

For me it reinforced the assertion of wine entrepreneur, Gary Vaynerchuk, who said that Twitter is "word of mouth on steroids". He was dead right.

How many of us are today telling our friends about the one-on-one conversation(s) we had with John Daly? We all had a story to tell. We all touched the hem. We all felt that we had his personal attention - and we had, if only for a few fleeting tweets.

There is no doubt that John Daly used Twitter to grow his fan base last night. In fact he repeats the performance almost on a daily basis. The man is reinventing himself on so many levels. And twitter is one of the most potent, viral marketing weapons in his arsenal. More fans, more eyeballs, more value for the sponsors - everyone wins.

And then the hunger pangs kicked in. At last my inane fish and chip comment was given some context.

John Daly gave up on the camera and went off to grab some dinner.

Hope you enjoyed the steak John. He would no doubt have tweeted about the experience later but it was all too late for me.

Congratulations, John Daly. Your talent extends well beyond the golf course.

You can tweet with John Daly and other leading Tour Players at PGA Tour Player Tweets.

And for golfers who Twitter (and for those who don't :-) come join our dysfunctional little community at TwitRGolfers - Because We are Crazy About Golf.

Tags: aidan, daly, golf, hog, john, montague, the, twitrgolfers, twitter

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Comment by Shirley Sundarsinghe Daniel on June 24, 2009 at 7:43am: Twitter is basically an easy way to meet friends and thereby also promoting business.
Happy times ahead Twitter.

Comment by chan keng yik on June 24, 2009 at 7:35am: http://candicemcgregorcook.blogspot.com/

Comment by chan keng yik on June 24, 2009 at 5:58am: sometime buy cookie

Comment by chan keng yik on June 24, 2009 at 5:55am: use twitter to buy candy to eat

Comment by Gertruida Swanepoel on June 24, 2009 at 5:27am: I like sharing on Twitter, My articles are automatically sent to Twitter from ezinearticles. Sometimes I share other articles and sometimes personal events, if they seem as if they might interest others.

Comment by Catherine Mascrès on June 24, 2009 at 2:57am: I'm on twitter since only two days, because some of the art sites I'm on are moving there. I have no clue on how it works, let alone promote oneself!! Ami. Cath

Comment by Dr. Erica Goodstone on June 23, 2009 at 11:43pm: I like sharing on Twitter, My articles are automatically sent to Twitter from ezinearticles. Sometimes I share other articles and sometimes personal events, if they seem as if they might interest others.

Comment by Dr. Lee H. Simpson, DTh.,D.D. on June 23, 2009 at 11:15pm: I am providing Inspirational and motivational messages of Encouragement to others, on my twitter page.

Comment by Aron Stevenson on June 23, 2009 at 11:07pm: I use twitter to listen to conversations that interest me socially & professionally. I follow good content and I share useful content via twitter on subjects such as social media, marketing, business tips, sport, twitter tips, UK Motoring and business leasing. Send me a message if you need any help and have questions on twitter. Life is Tweet @Aronstevenson Do you follow?

Comment by Regina Baker on June 23, 2009 at 11:03pm

I use Twitter to build 'real' relationships. My followers in Twitter are all organic, which means we connected with each other without paying for followers - using software to build a twitter profile is so weak and so not authentic.

Building relationships the right way produces life-time relationships that triple in size because people begin to tell others about you and the fact that you 'keep it real.' People are sick and tired of hype and messages about making a gazillion dollars.

"People don't care how much you know, until they know how much you care!" JM