Dan on Golf is not a podcast—though you can certainly tune in on Spotify, Apple Music, and all major platforms. But then you’d be missing out on the visuals—PGA Tour clips, zippy graphics, and the engaging and sharp-witted Rapaport and guests in the flesh—everything that makes Skratch’s crackling new series a cut above the fray.

Think of it as golf’s answer to Squawk Box—a showcast for fans invested in the game—plugging them into the pros, tour politics, and everything surrounding the evolving culture of the sport—straight from the mouths of the stakeholders, insiders, and players themselves.

In Saturday Night, Jason Reitman’s film about the frantic 90 minutes before SNL’s first-ever airing, Lorne Michaels spends much of the film trying to define the show to a network exec before landing on the perfect description: “It’s an all-nighter in the city. It’s catching Richard Pryor at a drop-in… or finding Paul Simon strumming in the back of a dive bar. It’s meeting a girl outside a bodega and getting lucky in a phone booth. It’s everything you think is going to happen when you move to the city.”

Trying to pin down Dan on Golf proves just as tricky. The show, which livestreams new episodes Mondays at 1 p.m. ET on YouTube, channels that same frenetic energy that made SNL a hit—an inside-the-ropes smorgasbord that tees up and unpacks the game’s ever-evolving zeitgeist with a steady parade of guests.

Dan Rapaport, the full-stack content creator whose erudite insights provide the plot glue on Netflix’s Full Swing, is a seasoned storyteller who cuts to the quick and keeps the pace of play brisk and the quips flying. This is clearly the Barstool and Golf Digest alum in his happy place. The dyed in the wool, dimpled-ball chasing bloodhound has been transfixed by the sport since early childhood when he began tagging along with his pops to play rounds at Brentwood Golf Club.

“My dad is a huge golfer. He says he plays three times a week, but it’s probably closer to five. My dad would take me to play all the time,” Rapaport reminisced, adding that his regular pin hunting expeditions were a major balm for his interpersonal skills.

“I just love the hang. There are so many elements to this game. It is so deep. I love how it was something that has allowed me to relate to different age groups. I remember playing golf with my dad’s friends and genuinely enjoying it and then I became really good at talking to my friends’ parents—you just learn how to relate to people,” he explained.

Inside The Ropes Ride-Along

When Rapaport gabs with Thomas Detry, Luke Clanton, Rickie Fowler, Joel Dahmen and Sébastien ‘Mr. 80-60’ Gros, just a few of the pop-ins in the debut episode, the back-and-forth has chumminess of longtime pals cutting up. As a result, Dan On Golf feels like an inside the ropes ride-along, quite a different animal from the bro-banter that permeates competing digital-age golf shows like No Laying Up and Fore Play.

“I think this game bites you. Grown men love basketball and football but when you love golf, it’s a different level of enchantment. This game gets into your soul and there are a lot of people who feel exactly like I do,” Rapaport said.

“Skratch, and the partnership we have with the PGA Tour and their willingness to let me shoot content inside the ropes—I’m basically bringing along all these people with me. I think we’re providing a look into what I believe is the coolest job in the world.”

Off the jump, Knockaround Sunglasses—also the official eyewear of the PGA Tour—has signed on as a sponsor, with more partnership announcements on the way. The live format opens up a world of deal-making possibilities.

“One of the reasons we wanted to do a live show is there is a lot of real estate that we can sell—we’ve got a desk, we’ve got a background. If you watch McAfee’s show, he’s got a DoorDash water bottle and stuff like that. We’ll add sponsors for sure but we don’t want it to feel like it’s a commercial, so we’ll try to weave it in editorially where it makes sense.”

An ideal presenting sponsor, according to Rapaport, would be a tech company like an Adobe or Zoom Communications. While a partnership with an equipment manufacturer could work, Rapaport emphasizes that the right sponsor will understand the show’s tone and allow for editorial freedom.

Life In The Fishbowl

Chronicling the legend of Tiger Woods is par for the course in the world of golf punditry, and Rapaport—Golf Digest’s former resident ‘Tiger correspondent’—could teach a masterclass on the man who remains the sport’s biggest draw.

A few years back, in the aftermath of the 16-time major winner’s terrifying car crash that mangled his right leg, Rapaport asked Woods how realistic amputation had been as an option. When Woods acknowledged that it had been on the table, Rapaport momentarily froze on his follow-up. But Tiger, ever the pro, granted him a mulligan—offering a one-on-one later that week that Rapaport sailed through like a champ.

“You can be in a room with billionaires and Super Bowl winning quarterbacks and as soon as he walks in, necks just snap and everybody just stares at him. He’s a one-of-a-kind person, his sporting success but also everything that has happened in his life—he’s like a character straight out of a Shakespeare play.”

Rapaport emphasizes that treating Tiger like a “normal person” is something he deeply values, given his rarefied fame.

“He’s had a really, really interesting life, he’s been in the fishbowl the whole time, and I think when you are that famous from that young of an age, you don’t have that many normal conversations. Everybody wants something from you, everyone is freaking out.”

Pro-Bro Vibes

Rapaport’s knack for genuinely connecting with shot sculpting golf studs goes back to his school days. When asked about the happiest he’s ever been on a golf course, Dan Rapaport takes a couple contemplative beats before landing on a doozy: Matt Fitzpatrick’s 2022 U.S. Open win at Brookline. Rapaport and Fitzpatrick have been buddies since college, when Rapaport spotted the promising young golfer on Northwestern campus and immediately introduced himself—”I know exactly who you are.” Their bond made Fitzpatrick’s major breakthrough feel personal, plus he knew the outcome would provide “kickass content”

“It sounds real nasty to say, but when Will Zalatoris missed that putt, I think that was probably it,” Rapaport said with a grin before getting more reflective. “My wife was there, and we had a real special evening celebrating at The Country Club. That’s a memory I’ll cherish forever.”

Though their friendship runs deep, those who placed prop bets on Rapaport getting the first post-caddie hug lost out—though he was near the front of the post-win embrace line, just behind close family.

“Yeah, we were in there pretty quick,” he says, laughing.