Claire Hogle's Skyrocket To Fame Has Been A Sight To See
Lydia Ko, the South Korean golfer with no fewer than 19 PGA Tour wins to her name and a regular at the top of the Women's World Golf Rankings, has an Instagram following around the 255,000 mark. An impressive figure, for sure, but one that's dwarfed by the half-million amassed by another female putter who hasn't yet turned professional.
Yes, following in the footsteps of the likes of Isabelle Shee and Paige Spiranac, Claire Hogle has become one of the photo-sharing platform's must-follows in the world of influencers who are just as handy with a six-iron as they are a smartphone.
So how exactly did Hogle rise to online fame? Where did her prowess on the golf course come from? And what is her future likely to hold? Here's the lowdown on the star who appears to have come from nowhere to take the women's golfing world by storm.
Her mother encouraged her to play golf
To say that Claire Hogle was encouraged by her mother to play golf is perhaps something of an understatement — "forced" might be a more appropriate word. Yes, as she revealed to her alma mater California State University San Marcos' website, the influencer was given an ultimatum while in eighth grade: "Play at least one season of high school golf or else."
Wisely, Hogle decided to avoid the "or else" and became a regular fixture of her local green. And as it goes, she ended up enjoying the sport, too: "So I played my one season which I prepared all summer for, and I really liked it. I didn't want to at first, but I ended up really liking it and pursued it to take it further."
Indeed, Hogle, whose personal coach father had also played golf for most of his life, certainly feels different about the sport now. In one of the many perfectly posed Instagram snaps she's taken of herself with a six-iron, the influencer captioned that she was in her "happy place."
Claire Hogle was once a lone wolf
Attempting to hit a hole-in-one probably isn't how many teenage girls want to be spending their weekends. It's why golfing influencer Claire Hogle felt like something of a lone wolf whenever she took to the green in her spare time.
In an Instagram post uploaded to commemorate Women's Golf Day, Hogle revealed how she used to stand out from the crowd: "When I fell in love with the game at age 14, I was often the only girl at the course, always wishing I had other girls to play with."
Luckily, thanks to the growth of both the professional women's game and influencer culture, Hogle no longer has to feel so isolated while holding a six-iron: "In the past couple of years, I've seen so many women take up the game and my circle of golf sisters has grown to include some of my closest friends. Golf has absolutely changed my life and it is truly so fun to see more women and girls enjoying this wonderful game. Cheers to all my (many) women in golf."
The influencer was a model student
Claire Hogle is far more than just a pretty face and talented golfer. The influencer studied at California State University San Marcos, and in an interview with her alma mater, she revealed that she used her time at the college to expand her horizons beyond her major.
Hogle said, "... I've taken so many classes that I've liked. I just like to learn and think education is empowering. This past semester, I took a class that was communication theory, and before COVID shut down in-person classes, the professor would give really good lectures. His name is Dr. De La Garza. He was so smart and very insightful. He would give us his expectations with really high standards to be successful in his class."
The golfer, who'd previously attended Rancho Bernardo High School in her hometown of San Diego, also picked up several academic awards during her four-year stint at the institution — including the Mangrum Award for Academic Excellence — and made the CCAA Spring Academic Honor roll on three separate occasions.
The golfer made an instant impression at college
Claire Hogle ended her high school golfing career in style by helping Rancho Bernardo pick up its first ever section team title. Impressively, she made the step up to college level appear effortless when she was crowned CCAA Freshman of the Year at California State University San Marcos.
However, in a 2019 interview with the San Diego Union-Tribune, Hogle admitted that the change had been a lot harder than it looked: "College is a whole different ballgame. In high school, you don't take it quite as seriously. But in college, when you're playing for a team, it's a bigger opportunity, I guess. There's more pressure, but I really enjoy the pressure, so it's a lot of fun to see how low I can shoot to help contribute to the team."
Hogle went on to earn several other accolades during her three-year stint as a college golfer, including the 2018-19 WGCA All-American second team and WGCA All-West Region. And the future influencer believed that the familiarity of the team was instrumental to her early success: "It's pretty funny. We'll talk about experiences that we had in junior golf, and we'll laugh because we've done stupid stuff. Also, it's fun to compare and contrast who we know we are now and our first impressions of each other, given our overlapping backgrounds in junior golf."
She began her online career at college
Claire Hogle didn't exactly plan to become one of the women's golfing world's key influencers. The Instagram star only started uploading content in-between her studies and spells on the green playing for California State University San Marcos. And it was only during some unexpected downtime that she started to realize that it could be a new career.
In a 2022 interview with New York Post, Hogle explained, "I had a small golf following just from doing a little bit of YouTube stuff in college, I had maybe 20,000 followers, and I knew I could do something with it. In college, COVID happened and I got an injury, so that route was sort of fading away, and I decided I was going to give golf influencing a try."
Hogle, who's since passed the half-million follower mark on Instagram and has more than 63,000 YouTube subscribers, went on to add, "I wasn't sure what would happen if it would work well or not, and so I just started posting some golf stuff and people really seemed to like it. It's been super fun and it's great to see my hard work paying off."
The golf influencer admits she used to be a hater
Before Claire Hogle rose to fame as a golfing influencer, the likes of Isabelle Shee and Paige Spiranac were busy bridging that gap between Instagram and the golf course, racking up millions of followers in the process. But the California State University San Marcos graduate admits that she wasn't initially a fan of such content.
During an appearance on podcast "The Loop," the star essentially acknowledged that she can sympathize with her own detractors because she used to have similar opinions: "I don't entirely blame them. Before I started down this path, I was on the grind, and I was like, 'Why are these other girls trying to be so hot on a golf course? Just go play golf.' So I get it."
Hogle has often been mentioned in the same breath as her predecessors, with the likes of MailOnline declaring, "Move over Paige Spiranac — golf has a new glamor girl." Such remarks appear to have inspired Hogle's apparent rival to reiterate she got there first. Spiranac, who has an Instagram follower account of more than 3.5 million, describes herself as the "OG Insta golf girl" in her bio.
Claire Hogle would like to switch places with Tiger Woods
Tiger Woods may have been exposed as a love cheat, been charged with a DUI, and fallen down the golf rankings all the way to a lowly No.1206. But the PGA legend is still very much a hero to one of the leading figures in the world of women's golf influencers.
When asked by her alma mater California State University San Marcos who she'd like to switch places with for a day, Claire Hogle didn't have to think twice about naming Woods: "I just watched a documentary about him. I was too young when he was in his prime, so I didn't get to experience him at his best. Watching that documentary showed me just how impressive he is, and I would love to know how he is so mentally tough and what it feels like to putt or swing like him."
Hogle also revealed that she has a female golfing inspiration, too — the one-time youngest ever U.S. Women's Open qualifier Lexi Thompson: "She's successful in the LPGA tour, and she works out really hard and looks very strong. When you're an athlete, it's easy to struggle with body image, especially with societal standards. She appears to be strong and does what's best for her career and game, and I look up to that."
The golfer still has plans to go professional
While the pandemic cut Claire Hogle's college golfing career short, ultimately forcing her to focus all her efforts on her social media presence, the Instagram star still has ambitions to turn professional one day.
Speaking to New York Post in 2022, the California State University San Marcos graduate revealed why her initial plans went awry: "All throughout high school and college my goal was to play pro golf ... I got a shoulder injury so it kind of forced me to change course."
And the sportswoman also spoke about the one particular area of the sport that influencer culture simply can't replicate: "I've definitely thought about considering playing professionally or even just getting back into competitive golf, whether it's amateur golf or anything. I really, really fell in love with golf because of the competitive side of it, so, it would be super fun to get back into that and see how I could shape my game up and see what I can do in that area. We'll just have to see."
Improvising her social media output
You might expect that an influencer with more than half a million Instagram followers would meticulously organize her online content schedule to truly maximize her potential. However, in a 2022 chat with New York Post, Claire Hogle admitted that she essentially wings it.
The golfing favorite, who began uploading material while studying at California State University San Marcos, said, "I kind of just play it by ear, I like to see what people are liking, see what people enjoy what I post and what not, and then I'll kind of just go from there."
Hogle, whose most popular YouTube video is titled "How Far I Hit All My Gold Clubs and What's in the Bag," went on to claim, "I don't have anything incredibly planned out or structured, I kind of just go to the golf course and get content and the best of the best will make it to the page."
A desire to pay it forward
Claire Hogle may have all kinds of lucrative offers flooding in as a result of her sizeable social media following. But as she told New York Post in 2022, the golfing influencer isn't letting all the fame go to her head. In fact, she's just as interested in paying things forward as further progressing her own career.
Hogle, who in 2022 attended the 32nd annual Jack Nicklaus Scholarship event at Lorain County Community College, said, "Golf has given me so much, so I definitely want to find some way to give back to the game, to people that want to take up the game, so definitely some junior golf endeavors there. But honestly, anything that really touches my heart, any endeavor that I really, truly care about. It'll be incredible to use my platform and help make a difference in that way."
And Hogle has already started in a way, by inspiring a new generation of female golfers with her online presence. She added, "I've been doing some instructional content and getting comments that people are really enjoying the content, that they're going to go try it out on the range or that they tried it and that it's helped their game so much, that's really rewarding."
Claire Hogle is racking up the sponsorship deals
Influencer — and potential future PGA Tour regular — Claire Hogle has inevitably attracted the attention of several major companies who believe she can help shift their latest golfing product. And the star has already got the seamless sales patter down to a fine art.
Take the Instagram post she uploaded in June 2022, for example, in which she started out offering the kind of motivational words you'd expect to see pinned up in an office: "I love the game of golf because every day, every round, every shot challenges you to show up as the player and person you want to become. There are days when I'm not up to the challenge, and it shows on the scorecard and in my attitude. But other days, I am able to show up with intention, optimism, and patience."
Hogle then talked about how she plans to squeeze more juice out of both the game and life in general, adding that it's "when we have the courage and discipline to show up as our best selves and rise to each and every opportunity." She then concluded her inspirational post by effortlessly linking the act of extra daily movement to a new push-cart made by Omada Golf. Blue Tees Golf and Full Wedge are just a few of the other firms that have spotted the golfer's sales potential, too.
The influencer was glad to see the back of 2022
On the surface, 2022 appeared to be a momentous year for Claire Hogle. It was when she surpassed the milestone of 500,000 followers on Instagram, when she attracted press attention in everything from New York Post to Golf Digest, and made a serious bid to challenge the likes of Isabelle Shee and Paige Spiranac for the female golfing influencer crown.
But in a New Year's Day Instagram post for 2023, Hogle revealed that she was glad to see the back of the previous 12 months: "While some incredible things happened for me (like all of you wonderful people joining me on this journey!), most of the year felt like I was just trying to put one foot in front of the other. The growth I experienced on here last summer came with additional responsibilities that I simply couldn't keep up with on my own and I began to feel incredibly overwhelmed."
Hogle went on to admit that she'd struggled with her mental health during this particular period, too. But luckily, with the help of an expanded team, she now feels more equipped to face the challenges ahead: "I'm finally beginning to wake up excited for my days, rather than dreading them, which is something I haven't felt in a long time."
Online trolls once made Hogle cry
Every job has its downside, even that of the Instagram influencer. Indeed, alongside all the lucrative sponsorship deals and countless adoring fans, those with a strong social media presence also have to deal with the trolls and haters that occupy the comments box. Luckily, golfing sensation Claire Hogle doesn't get too downtrodden by all the negative feedback. Well, not usually anyway.
Speaking to podcast "The Loop" in 2022, Hogle revealed how she initially took such criticism hard to take: "At first I did, I'd get some influx of hate here and there. I actually cried a couple of times. But now I'm OK. Water off a duck's back."
Indeed, Hogle has become particularly immune to the detractors she describes as "internet weirdos." She explained, "Often times they don't have a profile picture, they don't have followers, so they just say the meanest possible thing that they can say. I moreso kind of look at them and I'm just like, 'Wow, that's really mean,' but I don't take it too personally."