College Golfer Twins Make Viral Social Media Videos in their Free Time
Photo from @dannysanicki.
Drew Ausloos
It all started in 2021 when twins Steven and Danny Sanicki streamed videos of their new golf simulators at their D-Ⅱcollege, the University of Wisconsin-Parkside, netting them thousands of views. Using their newfound exposure, the twins continued streaming these simulator videos along with friendly competitions and trickshots. After two years, the boys and a few of their friends ventured into mini golf, majorly boosting their exposure.
Using a common and relatable past-time, such as mini-golf, to create online content, these 23-year-old Wisconsin natives dramatically grew their social media fanbase by millions. TikTok, Instagram, and Facebook are the main platforms that their account, Twin Tour Golf, publish their videos on. The twins post 2-3 videos a day where they use CapCut to edit and publish under the tag @dannysanicki. Instead of helping you with your slice on the tee box, they post lighthearted and trash-talking golf videos that entertain and amuse their followers. In the last 30 days, they've netted over 36 million views on Instagram, a puny number compared to the 430 million views they accumulated in the last year on TikTok.
The light trash-talking, bickering, and celebrating allows the viewers to pick a favorite player and root for them during the series of mini golf or regular golf. Thousands of comments break down the golfer's puts and root for their athlete with a side of snarky jabs at other commenters. These influencers frequently create tournament-style videos that are eventually added to different series that they are creating.
While these amateurs don’t publicly speak on the profit they’ve made, they have shared that they split their income 50-50. In a video posted by the twins, Danny said, “Yeah, we turned it into a full-time job, so it would be very stressful if we had something else in the way. I can't imagine.”
Along with the content they post on social media, the group of golfers have also paired with brands such as PopStroke, Tiger Woods mini-golf course, and Odyssey and Calaway promotions. The funds, gifted from their fans, are added to their Bucket Golf game, a website on their page. Viewers can donate money, raising the stakes for the next round of golfers. The winner of the challenge gets all the money gifted from their fans. In certain cases, golf rounds get up to $1,500+ dollars, which is not too bad for a good round of mini-golf!
However, these matchups are not blow outs, like Tyler Toney in Dude Perfect. Due to the fact that the twins are former college golfers, the matches tend to be within a few strokes every game. Along with the addition of their friends, these golf matches are frequently neck and neck, making the audience even more tuned in for the next few holes. Danny said in a recent interview, “Steven had a better high school career than I had. And then in college, I think my scoring average was 75.29 and Steven's was 75.46. So it was back and forth the whole way, but I didn't want him to beat me in both high school and college. Every round is a 50-50 chance of who's going to win.” This competition brings back viewers, eager to see which twin will take home the pot this time.
