Maybe you’ve seen Tom Curry ’16 on a random Thursday night, caddying his own bag, swinging his seven irons at a foam ball straight down the center of an iconic Back Bay or South End street? A buddy acts as cameraman, filming him with a simple iPhone as Curry narrates each play in the even-keeled voice of a sports commentator.
“Oh, we have a beautiful night to play down Worcester Street here. As you can see, we have a par five in the top left-hand corner,” Curry observes at the beginning of his most popular video, which has logged nearly five million views on TikTok. Tongue in cheek, he goes on to make several perfect drives around “a lady cleaning out her BMW on the left side of the road” as well as a children’s soccer practice.
These days, more than 100,000 followers’ eyes are on Curry’s @golfandgrass account each time he posts—plus those who happen to be walking by or slowing their cars to gawk. After all, it’s not every day that someone sees a golfer taking daring shots on asphalt or even in the middle of a dramatic snowstorm.
“There’s something about a video that can turn on a person’s feelings. I got addicted to making high-quality content in a way that would move people.”
“I have much more fun playing golf in the wintertime than in the summer. Everything is so much more peaceful when you’re playing on fresh snow,” he said. He’s well-known for clambering to the top of snowbanks to line up his best shots, yet somehow, he’s never hit a person or even a car other than his own.
So, how did the city become Curry’s course? A transfer walk-on to Endicott’s golf team, after graduation and a move to Boston to launch a career in multimedia production, Curry just couldn’t afford the cost of playing a round of golf on a course.
“Instead, I would just drop a little foam ball in the center of the street or a park and then I’d play around,” he said. “At first, it was just my way of getting out there and swinging the club.”
When the pandemic hit, Curry lived vicariously through golfer Erik Anders’ TikTok content and got the idea to launch his own street golf channel.
“I was working in an ad agency at the time. I had all the tools to be successful on TikTok. I knew that I needed to post really funny videos to start to do that—it had to be golf mixed with comical, trendy things,” he said.
When he launched @golfandgrass in 2022, the first three videos he posted each hit 500,000 views within 24 hours.
Curry’s knack for video was something he originally explored as a sports management major at Endicott. In a sports media class, Curry was charged with making a promo video for Endicott baseball.@golfandgrass The U.S. Open Trophy Tour presented by Lexus is on. Hopped off the course and into the car to make my way over to Fenway for this weekend’s homestand! Catch the ballgame, snap a pic with the trophy #USOpen #LexusGolf #TrophyTour ♬ Paradise - Bazzi
“There’s something about a video that can turn on a person’s feelings. I got addicted to making high-quality content in a way that would move people,” he said.
Now, Curry works as Video Production Manager at luxury real estate firm Engel & Völkers and the Lyon-Waugh Auto Group. He also creates content for several other Boston area businesses. And rather than having to hide his personal social media account from clients, @golfandgrass brings new clients to him—people who have come to understand that TikTok is at the forefront of advertising.
Curry’s TikTok has also led to high-profile collaborations with major brands like Titleist, Barstool Sports, and Cole Haan, and some of Curry’s videos have even aired on ESPN. After the recent U.S. Open closed in Brookline, Mass., Curry accompanied the trophy tour and met the players. To his surprise, Bryson Dechambeau, clearly a fan, picked him out of the crowd and shouted, “Hey, what’s up? Nice job!”
“What TikTok has brought to me has been pretty crazy,” Curry said.