Colt Knedler always envisioned himself getting paid to travel the world and play golf. Who wouldn’t want that gig? Well, Knedler has already fulfilled that goal, and he hasn’t even turned 30.
The 28-year-old who lives in Manhattan Beach, Calif., after growing up in Hawaii, spent three years globetrotting with renowned filmmaker/YouTube sensation Erik Anders Lang producing videos for his popular Adventures In Golf series, in addition to other social-media content. Among the locales he’s visited: Iceland, Scotland, Japan and New Zealand.
This was on top of working as a freelance production assistant for Fox Sports’ coverage of USGA championships, including multiple U.S. Opens. His duties with Fox varied from helping with highlights to electronic news gathering (ENG). He pointed cameramen to specific players or shots, researched player information for the likes of Shane Bacon, Paul Azinger, Brad Faxon, Curtis Strange and interviewer Holly Sonders.
“That’s always been my advantage is having that [golf] knowledge,” said Knedler. “Being able to physically recognize a player or knowing where they came from. What tournaments have they won?”
But this week in Colorado, Knedler has the opportunity to be on the other side of equation. Instead of shooting subjects, he is the subject. He’s one of 264 players teeing it up in the 39th U.S. Mid-Amateur Championship at Colorado Golf Club and stroke-play co-host CommonGround Golf Course. It’s Knedler’s second Mid-Amateur, having missed the cut three years ago at Stonewall in Elverson, Pa., an event coincidentally broadcast by FS1.
There is no television coverage this week of the championship, but Knedler comes into his second USGA start feeling more confident about the proceedings. It’s still eye-opening for him to be among this supremely talented group of players, but there isn’t a deer-in-the-headlights anxiety.
Knedler, who has more than 6,600 Instagram followers, also is in a different stage of his career, having recently accepted a full-time position with Vice Golf, a German-based golf ball company. He is the company’s lone U.S. employee. He is in charge of developing and producing social-media content that combines promotion with marketing.
RELATED CONTENT: Visit Colt Knedler's YouTube Page
“Right now is a new chapter,” said Knedler, who opened stroke play with an 86 at Colorado Golf Club on Saturday. “Vice puts a lot of trust in me to do experimental stuff. It’s really just a blank canvas. It’s very exploratory. [But] one thing I do know the whole video production in golf is my true passion.”
That love began as a young boy in Honolulu, where his parents worked behind the scenes at local TV stations. Knedler first learned to play at 5 and was competing in tournaments a year later. He also experimented with home videos as a hobby. He attended the prestigious Punahou School, whose graduates include a former U.S. president (Barack Obama) and a U.S. Women’s Open champion (Michelle Wie). Through Hawaii Junior Golf, Knedler had the opportunity to compete against and with some of the island’s best players. He also attended the Sony Open at Waialae Country Club and the Sentry Tournament of Champions at Kapalua on Maui.
But for his senior year of high school, Knedler transferred to Beverly Hills (Calif.) High, living with an aunt to establish California residency, so he’d have a better chance to be accepted to a college in the state. He wound up at UC Davis but failed to make the golf team as a walk-on. Knedler continued to play in Northern California Golf Association events but more importantly, he produced some highlight shows for Aggie TV. Even though he was an economics major with a minor in writing, Knedler envisioned getting into sports broadcasting. His break came when Fox hired him as a production assistant immediately after graduation in 2013. Knedler produced highlights for a number of shows, including Fox Sports Live, from 2013-15. When the network landed the USGA contract, he was one of the few on staff who understood golf.
“I told the executive producer I’m a golf guy,” he said. “It was an advantage because not many people know golf. Most [at the network] are football No. 1 and baseball No. 2.”
Knedler helped cut highlights for the 2015 U.S. Open at Chambers Bay along with the U.S. Women’s Open at Lancaster Country Club and the U.S. Senior Open at Del Paso Country Club. But at that point, Knedler had not picked up a golf club in four years. So he quit Fox to take an outside-services job at Troon North, a 36-hole facility in Scottsdale, Ariz. Behind the scenes, Knedler was still producing video, mainly on YouTube and Instagram.
That’s how the Los Angeles-based Lang discovered him. The filmmaker, who also is known for documentaries, hired Knedler in 2016 to assist with his global projects. By working alongside Lang, Knedler learned all aspects of videography. He also got priceless experiences such as playing midnight golf in Iceland and touring some of the great links courses of Scotland.
“We basically didn’t sleep,” said Knedler of the Iceland trip. “In late June, it stayed light the entire day. The first night, we went out at 1:30 a.m. and enjoyed ourselves [on the golf course] until 4 or 5 [a.m.]. The sun actually set in Reykjavik (Iceland’s largest city) … [but] on the north side of the island, it literally did not set.”
“What I didn’t know – and I realize it now – is Iceland is a golf destination. Midnight golf is a big selling point. There are 65 courses. We actually met an architect from Iceland, Edwin Roald, who spoke at the USGA’s Golf Innovation Symposium [this past March] in Japan. He had some unique perspectives on the game, on sustainable courses and building around ecosystems.”
Seeing golf through all these lenses opened Knedler’s eyes to experiences he only dreamed about. It showed him how different cultures approach the game.
“Japan and Mexico are on one end of the spectrum,” he said. “There’s not a lot of public golf and it’s expensive. Scotland and New Zealand are two countries on the other end of the spectrum. Any course over there you can play, even the private ones. There are signs in town with an arrow pointing toward the golf course.”
He’s seeing both avenues this week with CommonGround, a public facility designed by Tom Doak and run by the Colorado Golf Association, sharing the stage in stroke play with Colorado Golf Club, a private facility designed by Bill Coore and Ben Crenshaw.
“That’s why this week is special,” said Knedler, who plays at public courses in Southern California. “Both are great courses in their own ways, but they are so different.”
Knedler, who qualified for the Mid-Amateur by shooting a 69 at Almaden Country Club in San Jose, Calif., treats USGA events like his Super Bowl. His player badge from 2016 is one of his three most treasured possessions. At Stonewall, he was paired with 2015 U.S. Senior Amateur champion Chip Lutz and this week, he’s been grouped with full-time NHL referee and 2019 Western Amateur champion Garrett Rank. Just like shooting video, Knedler tries to capture and save these moments.
When he was in the booth with the Fox talent during last year’s U.S. Amateur at Pebble Beach, he absorbed every story and anecdote. Each assignment – whether playing or working – is a learning experience.
“Playing in a USGA championship is much different than [working] at one,” said Knedler.
“Just being here and playing in this caliber of tournament is all the experience I need,” said Knedler, who worked 20-plus championships for Fox. “For me personally, qualifying for the Mid-Am, first in 2016 [and again in 2019], has been my career achievement. It’s the biggest tournament I have ever played in. It’s definitely not lost on me. It’s a different feeling than any other tournament.”
A great gig if you can get it.
David Shefter is a senior staff writer for the USGA. Email him at dshefter@usga.org.
