If you’re a golf fan who hasn’t yet watched a reel by @FrontPorchDad, let me be the first to sound the alarm: Get ready to laugh. A lot.
FrontPorchDad’s basic premise is to take a relatable topic — travel, the weather, basic banalities like grocery shopping — and riff on it with things that a dad might say. The account is run by Tyler Jarry, a 32-year-old (not-yet-a-dad!) Georgia Tech grad who started the account from his literal front porch at his former home in Atlanta.
Jarry, who now lives in Long Beach, Calif., is a one-man operation, having quit his job in sales two years ago to become a full-time content creator. He’s been the man behind FrontPorchDad for five years, and boasts a following of more than 900,000 between TikTok and Instagram. But he says it wasn’t until his golf comedy shorts started making the rounds on Instagram that his profile really exploded.
As an 11-handicap who took up the game as a kid but started playing more post-college, Jarry’s golf takes are wide-ranging, from a multi-part series on the things people say after a bad shot to unsolicited golf tips to a player’s dialogue as he prepares to play a bucket-list course. The beauty of Jarry’s comedy is that you’ve either heard someone else say everything that comes out of his mouth before — or you’ve said it yourself. That’s all by design.
“A lot of the times it’s not even stuff that I think is hilarious, it’s just stuff that I hear people say a lot,” Jarry told me the other day. “So the humor isn’t — really, to me, isn’t intended to be drop-dead hilarious. But it makes it funny because I try to make it relatable to what I hear people say often in all these different situations.”
Take, for example, Jarry’s recent reel entitled “Bad Golf Shots” (see video below). The viewer is treated to a montage of Jarry on the course, bemoaning his ball’s fate in the same way we all have — or at least someone we know: “I knew I should have used my 6!” “Hit a house!” “I just yanked it.” “Fore!”
Jarry’s expressions and inflections sell the lines so well, you can’t help but giggle along. And speaking of inflection, Jarry also developed a bit of a trademark over the years — an exasperated “Gosh!” can be heard in just about every video. Jarry says that came about when he was in character as a dad, exasperated with his imaginary kid. Commenters loved it, and now it’s a staple. (Another common refrain? “That’s badass.”)
The inclusion of golf in Jarry’s comedy repertoire has not only increased his following, it’s also resulted in partnerships with the likes of Rhoback and PGA Superstore, and one-off deals with Titleist and FootJoy.
So what’s next for Jarry in the golf space?
“My ultimate goal would be to host a golf series where I could travel and play golf,” he said. “Whether that’s me creating videos, or me hosting, something like that, that’s my ultimate goal. I’ve been doing the short-form thing for five years now, and I’m just looking to keep taking a step up. But I’m going to keep doing the short-form stuff for as long as I can.”
Which is good news for fans of the account.
“The toughest part about the job is consistently finding ideas and being creative,” he said. “If I hear something funny, or an idea, I’ll just run with it. But I’ll definitely tell you this: It makes observing the world a lot more interesting.”
That goes for us viewers, too.
To watch FrontPorchDad’s videos on Instagram, click here.
