Golf 2.0: Nick Gross Is Changing How Young People View the Sport

Golf has long had a stigma attached to it.

Stuffy. Uptight. Only for the privileged.

Some kids that might have had a natural talent for the sport never got to realize their potential, if only because they were never exposed to it in the first place.

Nick Gross is someone focused on rebranding the game he loves, and in the process is looking to introduce golf to people who might not normally tee it up.

Gross, a Southern California native and resident, is leading the charge for “Golf 2.0,” which he envisions will move the sport away from its uptight past and introduce it to the next generation through streetwear, music, and youth culture.

Through his venture studio Gross Labs and Brekky Golf, Nick has built a serious footprint in “Golf 2.0,” holding stakes in Tiger Woods’ tech-infused TGL league via the Los Angeles Golf Club (which he co-owns alongside Alexis Ohanian and Serena Williams) and TMRW Sports. TGL is a brand of golf that combines simulated indoor golf with traditional golf play. It’s a new brand of golf with an atmosphere far removed from the “quiet, please” nature of the PGA Tour.

Through Gross Labs Foundation and Brekky Golf, Nick is funding grassroots community programs that take the sport out of private enclaves and place it directly into underserved urban neighborhoods. These programs introduce golf and golf innovation to America’s youth.

“First and foremost it’s about getting kids into the game of golf that don’t have the ability to [otherwise],” Gross tells Complex. “It’s about finding other organizations that have cohorts of kids that allow this kind of year-round programming to happen, whether it's getting them equipment, or finding them a program to play in that’s not just a one-off.

“We’re seeing this big transition in the golf industry with off-course golf versus on-course golf. How off-course golf has overtaken on-course golf in a lot of ways. You’re seeing different ways that golf is becoming more accessible to the everyday person.

“It once was, a guy had to belong to a country club in order to play golf. Now you’re seeing that stigma lifted, and the accessibility of the sport through programs we’re working with, with Brekky Golf.

“I love the innovation with how the game is being played. It’s being able to play on [golf] simulators, it’s being able to watch a TGL match … watching this indoor golf league and watching how they’ve innovated the sport to be fast, to be engaging for a younger audience. To see content clips of Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy smack-talking each other after a shot. I think it’s so cool to see the energy around a sport that once was pretty stuffy and harder to access, and harder to relate to, to now see it start to come across so many different kinds of industries. There’s so many different kinds of formats and leagues now.

“It’s also about getting youth excited about the ability to play the sport. It starts with a lot of these non-profit initiatives, a lot of groups and organizations that are focusing on getting kids access and exposure into a sport that they might not have had [otherwise].

“It really comes down to the pipeline of where we’re growing the game and how we’re doing that. It’s about how it’s watched, how it’s played, how it’s accessed, and how this generation is actually excited to feel like it’s something cool and attainable.”

Out of the Woods, onto the course
The 38-year-old Gross is the founder of Find Your Grind, an EdTech platform currently active in over 250 school districts. The curriculum uses the actual economics of modern sports, music, and the creator economy to teach kids financial literacy and career paths. Nick also sits on the Board of Governors for Tiger Woods’ TGR Foundation, actively embedding these tools into their learning labs.

Gross’ push to introduce golf to young athletes launched this year, and he is ecstatic to see how it grows over the next few months.

“[Earlier this year] at Brekky and at the foundation, we brought a cohort of kids out for a weekend at the Genesis [Invitational at Riviera Country Club] to experience what it's like behind the scenes across multiple careers and multiple jobs. It goes back to a big ethos for Find Your Grind and for our partnership with Tiger: a lot of kids aren't gonna be the next Tiger Woods or the next professional athlete in golf, but if you can show them the hundreds of pathways that do exist within golf, you start to see light bulbs turn on, and wheels start to spin. And so we use that opportunity with Tiger’s tournaments to bring cohorts of kids in, throughout that weekend, to experience different things going on in different careers throughout that weekend within the golf industry. So it's a really cool way to kind of activate the foundation and give real-life experiences to youth.

“Tiger's obviously amazing with what he's been able to build with his foundation, TGR, over the last 20 plus years, and, you know, the reason he and I connected was really through the impact we want to have on youth through innovative education models and building the idea of building learning labs within communities to create these community centers for kids to feel like they have a place to call home and a place to associate with other kids, and with other mentors, and kind of a nucleus to something positive that happens after the school day [is over], versus—in a lot of these communities—things that aren't positive that happen after the school day [is over].

“So I've really respected Tiger and the fact that he went all-in on education. We have a ton of K-12 software [in Find Your Grind] that focuses on future readiness for kids, specifically around career readiness, 21st century life skills, and self-discovery of helping kids really figure out not what they want to be, but who they want to be in the world, and then allowing that sense of identity and self-awareness to navigate different career opportunities in a smarter way, based on who they are, not just what career is going to make them the most from a dollar perspective—which a lot of kids unfortunately think about first and foremost.

“Tiger has really embodied the idea of what Find Your Grind is all about. And so we've embedded a lot of that kind of ethos and methodology into these learning lab centers and into his education framework at the foundation. Tiger and I are focused on launching new learning labs around the country and continuing to provide these after-school opportunities for kids in the communities that we're choosing.

“It’s so important [for these kids] to have long-term support, not just single-day events that happen for kids, but also programs with longevity so that kids can feel really rooted and embedded. These learning labs are these 6-to 8-week stints and periods for kids to be able to participate in so many different areas of innovative careers and different places and things for them to explore around different careers. We take kids, physically, to actual spaces to see what it's like to be in the health space, or what it's like to be in the drone space—bringing in people that operate drones—just things that kids aren't getting in a day-to-day setting at their normal schools. Sometimes that stuff can be the most valuable form of education for a lot of these kids, and pique their interest more in terms of what they're learning and what they're able to do. So, yeah, Tiger and I have definitely aligned on the idea of how the world is changing, and how education needs to kind of meet where the world is headed. So that's what he's doing through these learning labs and what we focus a lot on on the foundation board side of things.”

Par-5s, putting, and punk rock
Gross is one of those people who brings passion to everything he does on an every day basis.

He loves the game of golf (he’s improved to a 9 handicap), and he’s also extremely passionate about music.

Nick is an active touring musician, as he’s currently the drummer for two pop-punk bands: Girlfriends and Goldfinger.

“I grew up a huge fan of punk rock music as a kid in the early 2000s in Southern California, listening to bands like Blink-182, to Green Day, to No Doubt … I was always a massive fan,” Gross says. “So to be able to play in a band like Goldfinger now, to play shows like we did [in August] at the Palladium in Hollywood, all the way to headlining the Vans Warped Tour … at my core, I’m a drummer, and I’m a musician. I feel super lucky to have been able to kind of identify that skillset, that talent early on as a kid. That’s a huge reason why we do what we do on the philanthropy side. How do we help kids identify what that passion and that interest and that skillset is early on, to help them get started at an early age, and find that sense of identity?

“I did that for myself at an early age through music and through drums and that opened up so many different business avenues, just through being in so many different circles with so many entrepreneurs, and athletes, and artists, and this whole community of people driving the culture forward.”