There was a time when celebrity golf<\/a> culture mostly meant Michael Jordan, Charles Barkley, Ray Romano and a few annual Tahoe appearances.<\/p>\n That\u2019s changed dramatically.<\/p>\n Over the last five years especially, golf has become part of mainstream athlete culture in a way we really have not seen before. The modern crossover is different now. These are not retired athletes casually showing up at pro-ams once or twice a year. Many of today\u2019s biggest stars are genuinely diving into the game, posting practice clips, appearing in YouTube golf content, competing in celebrity events and openly becoming obsessed with improving.<\/p>\n And perhaps most importantly, younger fans are seeing it.<\/p>\n That matters.<\/p>\n Steph Curry tees off during the American Century Championship at the Edgewood Tahoe Golf Course\u00a9 JASON BEAN/RGJ via Imagn Content Services, LLC<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n The recent golf interest from LeBron James<\/a> and Bronny James<\/a> may be one of the clearest examples yet of golf\u2019s evolving cultural reach.<\/p>\n LeBron has posted golf swings and range sessions more frequently lately, even jokingly targeting comedian and golf fanatic Kevin Hart in social media banter.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, Bronny\u2019s appearance in golf creator content, including with YouTube star Grant Horvat, felt significant for younger audiences. Golf suddenly looked less country-club and more culturally connected to mainstream sports and entertainment.<\/p>\n That is a massive difference from even 10 years ago.<\/p>\n Younger NBA<\/a> players openly embracing golf used to feel rare outside of Steph Curry<\/a>. Now it feels increasingly normal.<\/p>\n No modern athlete has done more to legitimize golf among active superstar athletes than Stephen Curry<\/a>.<\/p>\n Curry did not just casually take up golf. He became legitimately good. Scratch-level good. Celebrity tournament contender good.<\/p>\n More importantly, he made golf feel cool to younger basketball fans.<\/p>\n That influence helped create space for others to jump in publicly without golf feeling disconnected from their identity or culture.<\/p>\n Now you see names like:<\/p>\n all becoming increasingly visible in golf culture.<\/p>\n The Kelce brothers especially represent a new kind of golf personality. Their involvement feels authentic, competitive and relatable. They are not polished country-club golfers. They feel like athletes who caught the golf bug hard and openly enjoy the chaos and obsession that comes with it.<\/p>\n That resonates with people.<\/p>\n You could argue that Kevin Hart has quietly become one of golf\u2019s most influential celebrity personalities.<\/p>\n He is everywhere around the game right now:<\/p>\n Bryson DeChambeau crossover content<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/li>\n trash talk with other celebrities<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n More importantly, Hart brings entertainment energy into golf spaces that historically took themselves far too seriously.<\/p>\n That accessibility matters for growing the game.<\/p>\n Kevin Hart talks during the Par 3 Contest at the Masters Tournament at Augusta National Golf Club.Grace Smith-Imagn Images<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n As a longtime wrestling fan, this part honestly fascinates me.<\/p>\n Several WWE<\/a> personalities have become genuinely invested in golf over the last several years, and when you think about it, the connection makes complete sense.<\/p>\n Wrestlers understand:<\/p>\n Golf scratches many of the same psychological itches while being far less physically punishing.<\/p>\n Mike Mizanin is probably the most visible current WWE golf personality. He has become deeply involved in celebrity golf culture and clearly takes the game seriously.<\/p>\n But he is far from alone.<\/p>\n Baron Corbin has quietly become one of the more serious golfers in wrestling circles, frequently posting golf content and playing regularly.<\/p>\n Other WWE names tied to golf include:<\/p>\n That crossover audience is real, and golf benefits from it.<\/p>\n This is really about golf becoming part of broader sports and entertainment culture.<\/p>\n That did not used to be true.<\/p>\n Now golf intersects with:<\/p>\n wellness and lifestyle branding<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n Golf no longer feels isolated from mainstream culture.<\/p>\n It is inside it now.<\/p>\n And whether it is LeBron working on his swing, Bronny appearing in creator golf content, the Kelce brothers diving headfirst into golf obsession or WWE stars grinding on the range between appearances, the game is reaching audiences it struggled to connect with for decades.<\/p>\n That is not just a trend.<\/p>\n It is a cultural shift.<\/p>\n PGA of America Golf Professional Brendon Elliott is an\u00a0<\/em>award-winning coach<\/em><\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0<\/em>golf<\/em><\/a>\u00a0writer<\/em>\u00a0who serves as Athlon Sports Senior Golf Writer. Read his recent\u00a0\u201cThe Starter\u201d<\/a>\u00a0on R.org,\u00a0where he is their Lead Golf Writer. To stay updated on all of his latest work, sign up for his\u00a0<\/em>newsletter<\/em><\/a>\u00a0or visit his\u00a0<\/em>MuckRack Profile<\/em><\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n Related: Why the Masters Par 3 Contest Still Feels Like Golf at Its Best<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n Related: Why Bob Does Sports and LeBron James Felt Like a Win for All of Golf<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n Related: Golf Has Never Been Cooler: How the Sport Conquered Pop Culture<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n This story was originally published by <\/em>Athlon Sports<\/em><\/a> on May 28, 2026, where it first appeared in the <\/em>Golf<\/em><\/a> section. Add Athlon Sports as a <\/em>Preferred Source by clicking here.<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n \u2018 The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n \u2018 Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.aol.com \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" There was a time when celebrity golf culture mostly meant Michael Jordan, Charles Barkley, Ray Romano and a few annual Tahoe appearances. That\u2019s changed dramatically. Over the last five years especially, golf has become part of mainstream athlete culture in a way we really have not seen before. The modern crossover is different now. These […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2435234,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[25177],"tags":[340574,477952,430075,477951,477953,68192,310477,316026,359204,358691,23844],"class_list":["post-2435233","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-celebrities","tag-american-century-championship","tag-bronny","tag-charles-barkley","tag-edgewood-tahoe-golf-course","tag-golf-content","tag-kevin-hart","tag-lebron-james","tag-michael-jordan","tag-ray-romano","tag-steph-curry","tag-youtube"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/How-Athletes-Like-LeBron-and-Steph-Curry-Are-Transforming-Golf.com2Fen2Faol_athlon_sports_8002Ff1666f8e9d9d43fcbeefd06b49a34aff.jpeg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2435233","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2435233"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2435233\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2435235,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2435233\/revisions\/2435235"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2435234"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2435233"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2435233"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2435233"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}LeBron James and Bronny Represent a Major Shift<\/h2>\n
Steph Curry Opened the Door<\/h2>\n
Kevin Hart Might Be Golf\u2019s Most Important Celebrity Ambassador<\/h2>\n
\n
<\/div>
WWE and Golf Actually Make Perfect Sense<\/h2>\n
\n
\n
This Is Bigger Than Celebrity Golf<\/h2>\n
\n