The King of Sling
In January 2022 Thomas Pieters claimed victory in the Abu Dhabi Championship, the biggest title of his career and a $1.2million winner's cheque.
Leaving the clubhouse, trophy in hand, his friend Mac Boucher by his side, he was approached by some young golf fans:
‘Can we get a photo?!!’
Buoyed by his win and full of confidence, Thomas reached out to put an arm round the shoulder of his adoring fans only to be handed the camera. The young golfers posed in awkward anticipation, they wanted a photo with Mac.
Mac Boucher aka The King of Sling has a following to rival the game's biggest names, and rightly so. Through outrageous shot making, expert framing and intimate engagement with a rapidly growing community Mac has firmly established himself as one of the most aspirational characters in golf.
Mac plays golf in a way that works for him, his outrageous shot shaping isn’t for show. In fact, at one point it was for dough. He won professional golf tournaments (5 of them) hitting shots like these because it gave him the feeling of eliminating one side of the golf course. He gives us all the feeling that our quirky style could take us to the promised land of scratch... Swing your swing… you never know…
Mac keeps the fun factor at the forefront with exciting trajectories and daring start lines. You can’t be riddled with crippling technical thoughts when you’re trying to hit an 80 yard hook round a tree. Mac plays golf, not golf swing.
Instagram fame might not be feasible for everyone, but Mac’s willingness to use golf as a tool for global exploration can be an inspiration to all of us. This is a game to explore: different cultures, different landscapes and different people. There’s a lot more to golf than the score on the card. Mac proves it.
As the appetite for golf personalities shifts from the fairways of the PGA Tour to the explore page of our social media apps, Mac, and others like him are paving the way for new attitudes in the sport. He’s proof that you don’t have to be in contention for a green jacket to have a positive influence, maybe you just need an iPhone.
