Golf personality and social media influencer Paige Spiranac was chosen as Maxim magazine’s cover girl for its 2022 “Hot 100” issue.
Spiranac, who has 3.3 million Instagram followers, is one of the most popular people in golf, even ahead of some of the sport’s top players. And Spiranac doesn’t even play golf professionally.
The beautiful influencer and world's most-followed golfer covers Maxim's Hot 100 issue. @PaigeSpiranac
https://t.co/fjfteZRDr4— Maxim (@MaximMag) June 16, 2022
But she sure plays the links like an expert. Links to her bikini photos, links to her fashion spreads, and links to her racy boudoir photos bring in millions of hits.
The golf flogger notes that becoming a social media influencer was a total accident.
In 2015 Spiranac won the 100th Colorado Women’s Golf Association Match Play Championship with nine under par and in hours she was blowing up on social media. But not because she was posting about it.
“Later we find out from all the texts about Dan Regester, a writer at Total Frat Move. He found me on Instagram and wrote a love letter to me and it went viral,” she said, according to Maxim. “That’s what started my entire career. I went from having 500 followers to having 100,000 followers overnight. My life completely changed in the blink of an eye.”
Spiranac apparently thought that she might become the female Tiger Woods and she then launched into an effort to drum up a career as a pro golfer. But it quickly became clear that she was not good enough to match her LPGA opponents which scuttled a pro-golf career.
That wasn’t the only pro-sports career that tanked for her. Spiranac tried aiming for a spot on the Olympics as a gymnast, but that dream went up in smoke when she broke her kneecap. Then she morphed into an aspiring pro-tennis player. That didn’t work out, either.
Then came her teenage dream of pro-golf. While excelling in golf in high school and college, she just wasn’t quite good enough for the pros.
Still, she has become a golf success, despite not actually playing the game, by winning a long list of sponsors thanks to her racy photo sessions posted online.
While being a pro athlete was never in the cards, Spirnac noted that she follow-up career in social media has been a wonderful and surprising development.
“My business has been so successful because of the amazing community of people in my social media accounts. I take the time to respond to everyone. Whether it’s positive or negative, I’ll DM you back,” noting the difference between a community and a following,” she told Maxim.
“When I first started posting, I showed my failure and the things people weren’t discussing, mental health, failure on the golf course. The community I’ve built, they know me. Even the people who hate me, in the beginning it rattled me, but now I have fun with it. I think my skin is thicker. I know how to handle it,” she added.
Being a Maxim cover girl is icing on the cake, she said.
“If you told me, senior year of college, that my life would take this path, I would have laughed in your face,” she says. “I never expected any of this to happen, but I’m so grateful that it did. I’m really able to love who I am and what I’m doing through content creation and being an influencer. So, I’m happy with how everything turned out. I wish I played golf at a higher level and accomplished more, but I wouldn’t trade this for the world.”
Follow Warner Todd Huston on Facebook at: facebook.com/Warner.Todd.Huston, or Truth Social @WarnerToddHuston
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