Who Are The No Laying Up Members?

Max Homa had just come off the week of his life at the Ryder Cup. The United States may have been soundly beaten on European soil for a seventh successive time, but the rookie American had been the shining light for Zach Johnson's team, going 3-1-1 in his five matches; a valiant effort in his first Ryder Cup.

And yet, just three days later, he appeared on the No Laying Up podcast to discuss it all - the highs, the lows and everything Patrick Cantlay related in between. It speaks to the podcast's status within the golf media landscape that this was the first outlet to secure an interview with someone from the losing US team.

It's also no surprise given the brand's meteoric rise since its inception in 2013. What started out as just a Twitter account set up by three college friends to vent about golf soon became five friends, a website, a podcast and then a YouTube channel.

Ten years later, No Laying Up has over 450,000 followers on Twitter and a further 360,000 across their Instagram and YouTube platforms. 

Their podcast features interviews with Rory McIlroy, Tiger Woods and Jon Rahm to name but three. Their videos feature a match against Jordan Spieth and Justin Thomas and guest appearances from Ludvig Aberg and the aforementioned Homa. Their sponsors include golf equipment behemoth Titleist as well as BMW.

A fully-fledged media company with a number of full-time extra staff, the No Laying Up crew still continues to produce their informal and comedic weekly podcasts but also appear on TV and radio to help cover some of the game's biggest events.

But who are the figures behind the successful project? Let's take a look.

CHRIS SOLOMON

As the person who created the initial Twitter account from which the brand emerged, Chris Solomon, better known as 'Soly', is the closest thing to the founder of the burgeoning golf media company. 

Soly went to Miami University in Ohio and while there met Phil Landes and Todd Schuster, who would become the initial three members of No Laying Up when the account was launched in 2013.

After college, Solomon became an auditor at accounting firm KMPG, while also hosting the podcast. As the show began to grow, he found it increasingly tough to manage the two responsibilities; working in Europe for one of the Big Four but also taking a sick day to first interview McIlroy in 2016.

When the Northern Irishman later tweeted out the podcast episode to his millions of followers, Solomon's decision was made. The following year he quit his job and went all in on his passion project.

Nowadays, Soly continues to host the podcast on a weekly basis alongside his additional interviews with some of the game's biggest figureheads. In 2023, he lined up as an amateur at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am won by Justin Rose.

TODD SCHUSTER

Todd Schuster met Solomon in their freshman year at Miami University and the two quickly bonded over their love for sport and, in particular, golf. 

Having departed university, Schuster, also known by his alias Tron Carter, went into the hotel business, working for The Ritz and Carlton followed by Marriott International. 

Like Solomon, he would make the jump in 2017 to pursue a full-time career with the podcast, moving from Atlanta to Jacksonville where the podcast was originally housed. 

(Tron, Ben and Soly pictured with professional Justin Hueber)

A competent junior golfer, Schuster is known for his brash and bold opinions on the podcasts. Some age badly, others like fine wine. Perhaps most notable was when he correctly predicted Ludvig Aberg would make the Ryder Cup team way back in 2021, mere moments after Europe's record-breaking 19-9 defeat at Whistling Straits.

At the time, the young Swede was still a relatively unknown college golfer at Texas Tech who would not even turn professional for another two years. The rest, as they say, is history.

PHIL LANDES

Landes is the last of the three original founders of the podcast, having met Solomon and Schuster at Miami after transferring in from Washington & Lee. 

Also known as 'Big Randy', in part due to his remarkable height, Landes offers up plenty of wit as well as a languid golf swing that shares remarkable similarities with Christo Lamprecht, the 6ft 8in South African amateur who briefly shared the lead after the first round of the 2023 Open Championship. 

Landes bounced around after college, becoming an accountant for Enrst & Young before venturing back to college for an MBA at Indiana. A brief stint at a tax and consulting firm in Chicago soon followed but he ultimately left that behind to change career again, returning closer to home and coaching high school basketball in Columbus, Ohio.

In April 2018, Landes also took the plunge, leaving behind the sports halls in Ohio to reunite with Schuster and Solomon in a full-time capacity. As well as his podcast appearances, Landes is a co-star of No Laying Up's popular budget golf travel series, Strapped, which sees him and Neil Schuster travel around America, exploring some of the nation's bargain golfing destinations.

Alongside Todd Schuster, Landes is also one of the main voices on The Trap Draw, the company's second podcast which features discussions on a number of matters outside the world of golf. 

DJ PIEHOWSKI

Piehowski is the only one of the original five to not be linked by blood or years spent together in college. He, instead, studied journalism at Bradley University, Illinois and would only have his first interaction with the No Laying Up crew in 2015.

It was then, at the Open Championship in St. Andrews that he met Solomon whilst working for the PGA Tour as part of their social media team. The pair quickly became friends and before he knew it, Piehowski joined the podcast as the fifth member.

Two years after that, he became the third member to make the full-time switch to No Laying Up, moving away from his job at the tour in 2017 to join the upstart media business as it continued to grow. 

Piehowski also used his skills in video production to expand the company's output on YouTube, starting their first long-form travel series, Tourist Sauce, which has seen the group travel to countries such as Australia, Scotland, Ireland and Sweeden in search of the game's best courses and hidden gems.

(Neil, DJ and Soly pictured with Jordan Spieth and Justin Thomas)

NEIL SCHUSTER

As the name suggests, Neil Schuster is the younger brother of Todd Schuster. The youngest of the group, Neil was the original brains behind the website in 2014 but was the last of the group to make the full-time jump to No Laying Up.

Having played college football at Columbia, he made the move to San Francisco to work for a number of tech start-ups before landing a job at Google in New York in advertising. 

Eventually, though, the younger Schuster would succumb to the rising popularity of the brand, packing his bags at Google in 2019 to relocate to Jacksonville and join the podcast full-time in Florida. 

From there, he took over the company's burgeoning merchandise operations while endearing himself to viewers with his volatile on-course golfing personality - an athletic background that allows him to drive the ball like a professional, but a mental fragility that has often seen him crumble when trying to close out matches in their YouTube videos.

(Schuster, Piehowski and Landes pictured with Mike Mason)

KEVIN VAN VALKENBURG

One of the more recent recruits, Van Valkenburg was a sports writer with ESPN for 11 years before making the move to No Laying Up to become the company's Editorial Director and head up their expansion into written content. He also appears on the podcast. 

CODY McBRIDE

McBride is another more recent face in the company, although his presence is largely found behind the scenes as a producer on a number of the No Laying Up shows. He does, however, feature as a co-host on the podcasts covering the LPGA Tour and women's golf with Landes and Todd Schuster.

BEN HOTALING

Another member of the behind the scenes operations, Hotaling joined the No Laying Up team in June 2020 as a video producer and social media director. He's travelled around with the team filming a lot of their videos and is quite the handy golfer himself. 

CASEY LANDMAN

Landman is the sole female in the group at present, having joined as part of the merchandise team alongside Neil Schuster. A latecomer to the sport, Landman also founded Grueter Golf in 2016, a community-led initiative which seeks to get more women involved in the sport on a recreational level.