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

Share This Page

Add a Comment

You need to be a member of StartUp to add comments!

Join this Ning Network

Comment by Irene burwash on June 23, 2009 at 10:31pm: I like to see what others have to say and are doing and wish I knew a lot more about the way to do business on the Internet without it costing so much to learn and promote my website
http://www.mygvbiz.com/ireneburwash/

Comment by R. C. BECKOM on June 23, 2009 at 10:28pm: I twitter to promote my novel: "IT'S COMIN'/TRILOGY at www.GODHEADPRODUCTIONS.com and where anyone can get the opportunity to get their voice in print also and learn techinics to publishing. twitter helps if you learn its ways which to me is not easy but I'm still trying

Comment by David Foster on June 23, 2009 at 9:57pm: I used to think Twitter was a joke. I went to a marketing seminar in Lake Tahoe Nevada where I saw the top Internet Marketers online today, and they all talked about how Twitter works and I was amazed. You can actually expect about 2%-3% of your "followers" to visit the links that you send out as "Tweets" and that is amazing, so I started an account March 31st of this year and already have over 7000 followers, and I can see a definite spike in my traffic when I send out a Tweet...pretty amazing!

Thanks,
David

Comment by Ira J. Cohen on June 23, 2009 at 9:46pm: I tweet to share business, tech, direct marketing, social marketing, other interesting (to me) news & articles with other members with similar interests. My goals are to build my professional image, make contact with experts, advertising & media entrepreneurs & leaders, & by doing so perhaps generate business/new income sources in the long term. Visit: http://twitter.com/icdlist

Comment by BRET W. BRECKLIN on June 23, 2009 at 9:03pm: tweet your twitter use twitter to get your business on the map need help get this http://bit.ly/I0puh see my twitter at http://twitter.com/TYBEES

Comment by Olwen Anderson on June 23, 2009 at 8:32pm: I find Twitter's a great way to let people know that I've written a new article on my health blog, and what its about. They can decide right away whether the article's of interest to them without having to go through the hassle of opening an email newsletter or scrolling through an RSS feed reader.

Curiously, visits to my blog accelerate within an hour of tweeting a new blog entry, exceeding the number of Twitter followers I have.

Comment by Maria on June 23, 2009 at 8:28pm: I use it to promote some links and my website with some fun stuff.
Thank you very much for your kind advice.

Comment by Damon James on June 23, 2009 at 8:28pm: What I am Doing is attempting to create some life transforming thoughts that when used will Help to realize that When You Fix your Life your Business will follow. Every 8 or 9 Life helping Posts I place an Ad about one of My Businesses. Sometimes I market directly to Baby Boomers, between the age of 62, and 67 who if not already "Will" have a Need to Create Cash for themselves.

No One knows but you, how Much Cash You are able to make. If you area Baby Boomer without a Cash Generating Business, I would have to ask you Why. The system is there to be worked so work it. Smile.

Comment by Rick Li on June 23, 2009 at 8:04pm: l am new. just learning how to use this website.

Comment by Craig on June 23, 2009 at 8:03pm: I don't use twitter for business. I hope that doesn't disqualify me. I started with twitter as a way to meet new people, and keep up to date on things in the world. Far too many people hop on the SocMed bandwagon and sign up with twitter and immediately bombard people with their links and business proposals. That gives others a bad name.