Oh, yeah I found you on TikTok or Instagram

Golf is unique in the sports world in that there is no such thing as a standard course.

There are design features that you can find on almost every track, but other than starting on the tee box and ending at the hole, how these features are deployed is completely up to the architect. There are no restrictions on how long a hole has to be, how wide a fairway needs to be, or where hazards and obstacles are placed. Plus, golf is able to use natural terrain to create all sorts of different challenges. In short, each golf course has a story.

Cam Crabtree is on a mission to hear them all.

By day, Crabtree works as an assistant golf pro at City Park Golf Course in Denver. When the lessons are over, he shifts his focus to his Instagram-based hobby: documenting his attempt to play every golf course in Colorado.

With 238 courses across the state (according to the Colorado Golf Association’s most recent count), it’s a tall order. But for Crabtree, this is more than just a quest to check items off a list. It’s an opportunity to show the world how incredible the golf scene is in his home state.

“I think there’s something positive to be found in every golf course, and that’s kind of how I set up my reviews to be,” he said.

It all started with a map. One day, a fellow teaching pro came into the shop with a map of all the courses in Colorado. Crabtree and his colleagues started counting off how many they had played already. Cam ended the count somewhere between 60 and 70 courses… and a new challenge. He started making an effort to see how many new courses he could add to his count, whether through his regular tournament schedule or taking a trip off the beaten path.

Somewhere along the way, a friend suggested he start documenting the journey and sharing it on social media. Cam tested the concept with his first visit to Columbine Country Club. His social media post wasn’t anything fancy; just some shots of him on the course with a voiceover of his thoughts.

“I was just kind of like taking my phone out of my pocket every once in a while in a tournament to take some videos,” he said. “And it really just resonated with a lot of people. And then it kind of just blew up from there. So that’s kind of how it got started.”

But the friend was right, there was an audience for this content. Whether it’s the thrill of potentially discovering a hidden gem to check out or seeing a local favorite featured, Crabtree’s videos have resonated with the golf die-hards, with each new video earning thousands of views.

He revisited The Broadmoor East Course in June – a course he had already played – and posted his thoughts while the U.S. Senior Open competitors took it on.

“It’s where I worked my first job as a golf pro,” he said. “It’s still easily in my top five in the state.”

He gives ratings out of 10 for difficulty (9.0 for The Broadmoor), Should You Play? (9.6), Fun Factor (9.3).

“The greens are classic Donald Ross and the whole place feels like it was built for big moments,” he said.

He closes, reminding his audience that his goal is to play every Colorado course by November 2042. Now that the journey is public, there’s also plenty more thought going into the process than just a map. The map still exists, but so does a spreadsheet with locations and details, schedules for upcoming tournaments and trips to the other side of the state, and contact lists for courses not open to the public.

There are a few of the more exclusive clubs that he’s not sure if he’ll have the opportunity to ever get on, but one of the perks of being a PGA professional is that Crabtree has developed connections that open doors to facilities most of the general public would have a difficult time accessing.

Speaking of perks, when you work in the golf industry, gaining some notoriety for your golf content is never bad for business. Crabtree has seen his social media following triple since before he started posting these videos, which has also led to an uptick in golfers coming to him for lessons.

“Usually every lesson begins with a questionnaire that asks ‘How’d you find me?’ And I’ve had a bunch of people that have said, ‘Oh, yeah, I found you on TikTok or Instagram, and I just wanted to get a lesson with you.’” While he’s not shy in admitting that it’d be nice to gain some sponsorship or monetize his channels as the audience continues to grow, it’s also clear that’s not the main objective here.