Relationships Over Followers: How Josh Rutherford and James Stolar Built Real Golf Content Careers From Manitoba

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🎧 The Athletes Podcast — Episode 284: Josh Rutherford & James Stolar

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Five episodes ago on this show, Mac Boucher gave a piece of advice to anyone trying to build a content business in golf. He didn't put it as a soundbite. He just dropped it casually inside a longer answer: don't churn brands chasing the next paycheck — build real relationships and the rest follows.

Josh Rutherford, today's guest, heard that advice from Mac directly years before he was on our show.

His honest reaction at the time?

"In my head I'm like, that's the dumbest advice. What am I supposed to do with that? How are you supposed to build a relationship with someone by messaging them on an email or through Instagram?"

It took Josh getting laid off from his day job, going full-time on content in January 2024, and walking into the PGA Show in person to actually understand what Mac was talking about.

"You start talking to people and getting your face there, and you're basically a salesman, I guess, in a way. But getting to know people, being one of the boys right away, them getting to see you as the side of you instead of a person — they want to be around you, just like how we all clicked when we went on the golf course. If you can build those relationships, it goes a mile. They'll want to help with what you're doing as long as you can provide them value. But if they don't know who you are — you can have 100,000-plus followers, and it's just not gonna work."

That paragraph is the entire episode. Two friends from Manitoba, on different stages of the same journey, explaining why the math everyone optimizes for (followers) is the wrong math.

The unlikely pair

If you've never come across them: Josh Rutherford is a plus-2 handicap, the current top-ranked Canadian on the unofficial "YouTube handicap" board (only him and Joey Coldcuts make it), the founder of Flagstick Media Co. (a consulting outfit that runs golf-course social media), the co-host of the Cut the Corner podcast, husband and father of three, and the rare full-time golf creator who actually plays at a level worth filming.

James Stolar is a heavy-duty mechanic in Winnipeg who started making content in October 2024. He's at about 1,200 followers. He's a 9-handicap. He's been golfing for three years. Before that, he had never finished 18 holes. He's also already landed in-kind sponsorship deals with Bell Acres Golf and a few smaller brands — which is wild at 1,200 followers, and which Josh attributes to one trait specifically: James actually follows up.

Their first appearance on each other's social-media radar was when Josh — knowing James personally for years through high school basketball — pitched him on doing content together, not on starting his own thing.

"I thought he'd be perfect for it. Once he could figure out how to get his personality out on social media, he's gonna be way bigger than I am or ever will be."

That's the framing for everything else in this episode. The plus-2 introducing the 9-handicap to the playbook. The full-time creator explaining the math to the part-time one. Both of them being honest about what's actually working.

The math that runs the show

James's own version of the relationship thesis is shorter and more practical:

"The majority of the reason why people go to social media and watch it — it's either for education, it's something really good, or it's funny. If you're not educating someone, you're not really good at something, and you're not funny, it's not gonna work."

Pick your edge. Get good at one of those three. Then start building the relationships that turn the audience into a business.

James's current strategy — captured in his own viral moments (puking on a golf ball, the fake hole-in-one run-up, the "two fists and a nose" / mashed-potato-in-a-water-bottle bit) — is firmly in the funny lane. He's playing it straight as himself, posting the things he and his friends already find hilarious, and trusting that other people will too.

He's not chasing trends. He's also not overthinking it. "If I can just basically show who I am — which I thought the YouTube first year did a really good job of — and we can build off of that, that'd be awesome."

The unconscious round (and the Bob Rotella book)

The single best golf-instruction moment of the episode comes from Josh telling the story of his career-best round — a 62 at Bardin Golf Club in Minot, North Dakota, with a 29 on the back nine — and why he didn't even know what he was shooting until the 17th tee.

"It's so funny how when you're not in your own head and you're not thinking about your score, how much easier it is to score. I've had so many times in my life to get four birdies in a row — and I'm like, 'oh, I get four birdies in a row, first time ever' — and it just doesn't happen. So if you can stop thinking about a score and stop thinking about what you're trying to achieve, and just hit the ball — that's what I take into golf."

James co-signed the take and named the book that turned the corner for him: Bob Rotella's How Champions Think. His paraphrase:

"I either miss this shot or I make a really good shot. So I might as well put the best swing on it possible so I can get the best result."

If you've never read Rotella, that line is the entire thesis of the book in 25 words.

Mountain golf: what the flatlanders don't know

Both Josh and James play a lot of mountain golf in Alberta and BC. They had two specific insights for anyone who's only played at sea level:

On altitude: the rule of thumb everyone repeats is "about 1% more distance per 1,000 feet of elevation." Josh and James both say it's more than that — closer to a full club difference once you get above 4,000 feet.

"My pitching wedge stock at C level is like 135, 137. I go there, I'm at 150. That's four percent — about a club different."

On putting: the underrated piece is the geographic break. In mountain courses, putts break toward the river or the major terrain feature, not the way the green appears to read.

"You can see break, but it doesn't matter. It looks like it breaks that way. No, it breaks toward the river."

If you've ever shot worse on a mountain course than you think you should have — that's the one you need to take with you next time.

The hot dog summit at Grey Wolf

You can't write a blog post about Josh and James and not include this.

On a Grey Wolf round last year, James walked into the clubhouse with two thermoses pre-loaded with boiled hot dogs. He asked the staff for hot water "for tea," poured it into the thermoses on top of the hot dogs to keep them warm through the round, and proceeded to eat 15 and a half hot dogs in nine holes.

"Josh bought them all. I walked into Grey Wolf with two thermoses full of hot dogs. They said, 'Hey, do you guys have hot water?' They're like, 'For tea?' I was like, 'sure.'"

The whole exchange survives in the transcript with the receipt: "It's on room 367. Don't worry about it."

This is the specific kind of moment that makes James's content work — and the kind of moment Josh has been telling him to film more of for a year now.

The Raddy Golf $100 callout

The other story that earns its place in this post: Josh, on a round at Cragun's last July with Raddy Golf, was called out by a member who pulled up in a cart and asked if they wanted to play for $100 each over six holes.

Josh had just come off four straight rounds: 64, 67, 66, 70. He was playing the best golf of his life. He took the bet immediately.

• Hole 1: chip-in birdie.

• Hole 2: stuck to six feet, made the birdie.

• Hole 3: drained a 15-footer for birdie.

After three holes, the member handed over the $100 and said, "we're done."

The moral isn't "never bet against a streaky plus-2." The moral is "streakiness is real." When Josh is on, he's on. When you're playing your best golf, take the action.

On being yourself (James's closing advice, and the hardest line of the episode)

The standing closer for every episode is the biggest piece of advice for the next generation of athletes. This time we asked a modified version — advice for an aspiring golf content creator.

Josh's answer was the Mac Boucher relationship-building thesis from the top of this post.

James's answer was about being real on camera:

"Just be yourself. You don't want to be somebody fake on camera because it's hard to keep that persona up. People can see through it when they meet you in real life."

And then the episode ended with the rapid-fire "finish this sentence: golf has given me..." moment that landed harder than either of us expected.

Josh's answer: a clean drive answer. Standard.

James's answer:

"Drive to stay sober."

Four words. A whole second arc to the episode that we hadn't talked about explicitly. The hot dogs and the viral moments and the 1,200-follower hustle are all part of one story. The other story is what golf has actually given him personally. The line is going on the highlight reel.

What every weekend golfer (and aspiring creator) can take from this

Three things the episode points at hard, in case you only have 30 seconds:

On training. Stop trying to keep score during the round you want to play your best in. Read Rotella's How Champions Think. Internalize: "I'll either miss this or hit a really good shot. Might as well put the best swing on it." That's the whole framework.

On building anything online. Pick your lane — educate, perform, or be funny. Get measurably good at one of those three. Then build the relationships with the people who run the brands, the courses, and the platforms. The follower count is a lagging indicator, not a leading one.

On showing up. James is at 1,200 followers and has a real partnership with Bell Acres and golf-ball deals. He got those because, in David's words on the episode, "he's the most consistent person I've had send me stuff to engage with." Showing up is the multiplier. The brand outcome is downstream of the showing up.

Listen to the full conversation

If you want the full hot-dog story, the Raddy Golf $100 callout in Josh's words, the delusionally confident / shockingly good friend-roast section, and the rapid-fire closer with James's "drive to stay sober" line — go listen.

🎧 Listen to the full episode now: Apple Podcasts · Spotify · YouTube · Buzzsprout

Follow Josh: @joshrutherford.golf on Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube · Slinging At Sports on Facebook · Flagstick Media Co.

Follow James: @bigcountrygolfs on Instagram

Their podcast: Cut the Corner with James — wherever you get podcasts

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The Athletes Podcast is hosted by David Stark. New episodes every week. This episode is part of a five-episode golf-vertical run — see also Brock Leitner (#283), Heidi Cannon (#280), and Mac Boucher (#279).