'I Was A Young Woman In A Male-Dominated Industry With No Power, No Say, And Needing To Make Money' - Paige Spiranac On The Reality Behind The Brand

Almost two and a half years ago, I wrote an article titled 'I'm no prude, but the rising trend of female golf influencers baring their bodies is becoming too much.'

The piece focused on Paige Spiranac, the former professional golfer who was, and still is, the ultimate disruptor of golf’s traditional norms.

My concern then was the bandwagon effect and the wave of creators following her lead. I wondered if this aesthetic-first culture was in the best interest of the women’s game.

Fast forward to 2026, and the trend hasn’t just stayed, it has cemented itself. Social media is the engine of the modern economy, and it is hard to fault the likes of Spiranac, Lucy Robson, Grace Charis, or Bri Teresi, to name but a few, for driving that engine toward a massive payday.

Spiranac has a combined 11.6 million followers - with 4 million on Instagram alone, surpassing even Tiger Woods, so she’s not just an influencer, she’s become a powerhouse. Trading my scepticism for intrigue, I sat down with Spiranac to find out about the woman behind the brand.

Chatting online, Spiranac immediately comes across as remarkably warm and welcoming. However, she is the first to admit that this openness is a relatively new development because for years, a wall was her primary means of survival.

"For so many years, I've just felt very deeply misunderstood," she admits. "I spent so much of my time online defending myself or trying to talk about my character or my morals. I realised that I've put such a wall up because of the criticism that it's easier to just almost remove parts of myself that feel very genuine."

This year, particularly through her new business partnerships, she is making a conscious effort to show the person away from the camera. "I’m getting outside of my comfort zone, tearing those walls down and being a more authentic version of myself - the businesswoman, the daughter, the person who is emotional and flawed. I’m moving toward not being one-dimensional, but showing everything I have to offer as a human."

The Paige Spiranac we see on social media, the cheeky, sexy, fun persona, is, by her own admission, a deliberate creation. It was born not out of a desire to scandalise, but from the brutal reality of being a struggling pro with no financial safety net.

"I was in a position of necessity," she explains. "I was a young woman in a male-dominated industry with no power, no say, and needing to make money. I just decided I was going to run with this and see what would happen."

When I ask if she ever feels trapped by the very aesthetic that built her empire, her answer is as layered as the industry she navigates. "It’s a really complex answer," she says. "It’s hard to dive into all the intricacies of how this has come to be and how I feel about it, because I can see it from a feminist perspective, but I can also feel trapped sometimes. They all work together."

One of those intricacies is the exhaustion of being scrutinised for things she cannot change. For Paige, leaning into her image was less about vanity and more about taking the ammunition away from the trolls.

"It was very empowering for me to take control over my image and of my body," she tells me, "because it can be quite exhausting for people to judge you based on the way that you were shaped. You know, I can't help my chest size. I can't help these certain attributes of myself. And it made me almost feel dirty or ashamed of my skin and the body that I was in."

She holds a pragmatic, almost weary view of the role model debate. "I believe that true feminism is allowing a woman to express herself and do what she feels most comfortable doing," she says. "But I've also been very forthcoming with young influencers. There are setbacks to the brand I've built and how people view you. There are pros and cons to building a brand and looking the way that I do. You can just never win, and you just have to pick where you feel most comfortable."

It is this honesty and the admission that she has traded certain types of respectability for a self-made empire that makes her so compelling. She recalls a turning point around five years ago when she posted a photo in a turtleneck and leggings. The comments remained scandalous. "I just said, ‘Okay, I’ll show you scandalous, we’re going to have fun with this.’ My image almost became a parody of how people saw me. That was me putting the wall up."

If Spiranac is the modern disruptor, she follows a trail blazed by Natalie Gulbis, one of the original boundary-pushers who once had the old guard spluttering in their soup. In 2012, Gulbis famously posed for Sports Illustrated in nothing but body paint. It is no surprise that the two have formed a close bond. For Spiranac, Gulbis provided the professional validation she was searching for.

"I had a bit of a rough time coming into the industry and not really knowing who to talk to," Spiranac admits. "I was one of the first to really do social media, so there wasn't a path I could follow or someone I could get guidance from. Natalie was one of the first people in the industry who made me feel accepted, which meant so much to me."

But the relationship is as much about the boardroom as it is about belonging. "On the business side, she sat me down because she is so brilliant and sharp. She said: ‘You need equity. These are the people you want to work with. This is what you say.’ She finally put a blueprint out for me."

That blueprint has taken shape this year with the launch of Paige Co., a joint venture with Chad Mumm, the visionary behind Netflix’s Full Swing. For years, Paige’s brand deals were largely transactional ambassador roles.

"The way I was doing it before was fine, but it wasn't going to lead me to a long-lasting career," she explains. "I want to continue to do this for ten, twenty years, even if my role looks quite different then. I wanted to work with brands where I could feel it was an equal partnership, to be around for a long time, building out these storylines and being invested in the people within the company."

By restructuring her entire business and signing with WME, she has moved away from looking for the next thing to building a permanent one. With Paige Co., she feels the sky is the limit. "We’re building something that, whenever my time is done here, I can be proud of, something that influences golf in a positive way."

Her influence now extends far beyond a smartphone screen. Spiranac is currently part of the front office for the Grass League, a high-stakes par-3 league that brings a fresh energy to the sport, and she sits on the Creator Council for the PGA Tour.

Despite these industry roles, her values remain rooted in the accessible side of the game. "I started when I was 12 on a night range that cost a couple of dollars," she recalls. "There is nothing better than traditional golf, and I never want to get away from what makes the game so special. But there is another side that’s accessible and fun. It was always there, we’re just bringing visibility to it now."

When I ask if she sees a way to help future players navigate the financial hurdles she once faced, she admits it is a personal mission she is still shaping.

“It’s something I’ve thought about for a while, trying to figure out how I can give back to the game,” she says. “Whether it’s through junior golf tours, because it’s so expensive to be a junior golfer. You’re really only taken care of when you’re playing in college, but after that, you are on your own.”

For Spiranac, it is about long-term impact. “Growing and cultivating the female golf community, whether that’s pros or amateur players, is something that is very, very important to me and something that I really want to try to work towards throughout my career.”

Spiranac is well aware of the scrutiny that comes with her wardrobe, but she refuses to accept the idea that a professional reputation is tied to a dress code. For her, the two simply aren't connected.

"It’s insane that you can judge a person’s character based on whether they are wearing a tank top or a turtleneck," she concludes. "I’m never trying to tell women they have to show skin to be successful. I’m saying you should have the freedom to express yourself without such harsh criticism."

My takeaway from this interview? Paige Spiranac is as business-minded as she is down-to-earth. Perhaps I was being a prude two years ago, but I’ve learned to embrace this new culture.

Looking at what Spiranac has created, it’s clear that it doesn’t matter what women wear, it matters that they are building a new kind of platform for the sport. If this can serve as another entry point to drive interest, attract new audiences, and make the game feel more accessible and fun, then who am I to say otherwise!