Can You Build a YouTube Channel From Almost Nothing?
In September 2026, I decided to give the Weekend Golfers YouTube channel a proper go.
We started with no subscribers, a small collection of videos and a rather large archive of golf coaching footage that had been sitting on our website for years.
The plan was fairly simple: move the coaching onto YouTube, continue publishing my own golf videos and see whether anyone wanted to watch.
No advertising budget, no purchased subscribers and no grand promises about becoming the next big golf YouTuber.
Just an ordinary golfer, a collection of videos and a platform with an audience considerably larger than mine.
I thought it might be interesting to document what happens.
This page follows the growth of Weekend Golfers from September 2026 onwards, including the viewing figures, subscriber milestones, videos that perform well, videos that don’t and anything useful I learn along the way.
If you’re thinking about starting a YouTube channel yourself, perhaps you’ll find something useful here.
And if the whole thing goes nowhere, at least we’ll have documented that too.
Latest Weekend Golfers YouTube Statistics
WG YouTube channel started 14 September 2026
Last updated: 13 October 2026 with YouTube Figures up to and including 11 October 2026
| Metric | Result |
|---|---|
| Subscribers | 11 |
| Lifetime video views | 9,196 |
| Lifetime watch time | 78.4 hours |
| First date in YouTube’s lifetime analytics report | 18 September 2026 |
| Most-watched video | How to Generate More Power with Your Driver |
| Views on that video | 1,370 |
| Latest reported thumbnail CTR | 2.1% |
These figures come from YouTube Studio and will be updated as the channel develops.
You can visit the channel here:
Our YouTube Subscriber Milestones
| Subscribers | Date reached by |
|---|---|
| 0 | 14 September 2026 |
| 1 | 21 September 2026 |
| 10 | 9 October 2026 |
| 25 | Not yet reached |
| 50 | Not yet reached |
| 100 | Not yet reached |
| 250 | Not yet reached |
| 500 | Not yet reached |
| 1,000 | Not yet reached |
| 2,500 | Not yet reached |
| 5,000 | Not yet reached |
| 10,000 | Not yet reached |
We’ll record the dates as milestones are reached, along with any notifications or achievement images provided by YouTube.
Our YouTube Video Upload Milestones
As well as tracking subscribers and views, I’ll keep a record of how many videos we’ve published.
Much of the early activity involves transferring our original golf coaching archive to YouTube, alongside videos about my own golf experiences.
The number of videos published doesn’t necessarily tell us how successful the channel is, but it does show how the library is growing.
| Videos published | Date reached |
|---|---|
| 1 | 14 September 2026 |
| 10 | 21 September 2026 |
| 50 | 7 October 2026 |
| 100 | Not yet reached |
| 150 | Not yet reached |
| 200 | Not yet reached |
| 250 | Not yet reached |
We’ll record the dates as milestones are reached, along with any notifications or achievement images provided by YouTube.
Our YouTube Viewing Milestones
These are cumulative channel views, not views during the previous 28 days.
| Lifetime views | Date reached by |
|---|---|
| 1 | 19 September 2026 |
| 10 | 19 September 2026 |
| 50 | 20 September 2026 |
| 100 | 21 September 2026 |
| 500 | 22 September 2026 |
| 1,000 | 22 September 2026 |
| 5,000 | 1 October 2026 |
| 10,000 | Not yet reached |
| 25,000 | Not yet reached |
| 50,000 | Not yet reached |
| 100,000 | Not yet reached |
| 250,000 | Not yet reached |
| 500,000 | Not yet reached |
| 1,000,000 | Not yet reached |
Our Progress Towards YouTube Monetisation
One of the goals of this experiment is to find out whether Weekend Golfers can qualify for the YouTube Partner Programme and eventually earn revenue from its videos.
YouTube has eligibility requirements covering subscribers, public watch hours and Shorts views. We’ll track our progress using the figures reported in YouTube Studio.
Current Monetisation Position
| Metric | Current |
|---|---|
| Subscribers | 11 |
| Lifetime channel views | 9,196 |
| Total watch hours | 78.4 |
| Qualified public watch hours | 61 |
| Qualified Shorts views | 0 |
| Public uploads requirement | Met – 3 of 3 |
| YouTube monetisation status | Not yet eligible |
Last updated 13 October 2026
Not all watch time necessarily counts towards YouTube monetisation. We’ll use the qualified figures shown in YouTube Studio rather than assuming every hour watched is eligible.
If the channel eventually qualifies, I’ll also document the application process and whether we’re accepted.
YouTube’s eligibility requirements can change, so the current rules can be checked on its official Partner Programme information page.
Monthly YouTube Performance
As well as recording individual milestones, I’ll track the channel’s performance each month.
This should help show whether Weekend Golfers is growing steadily, experiencing occasional bursts of traffic or simply having good and bad months.
The figures below come from YouTube Studio and include views, watch time and net subscribers gained during each period.
| Period | Views | Watch hours | Subscribers gained |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sept 2026 (18–30) | 4,875 | 41.9 | +8 |
| October 2026 | 4,321 | 36.5 | +3 |
September covers the first 13 days of the channel’s recorded activity, we started on 14 September 2026, but YouTube’s lifetime analytics report starts from the 18th September.
I’ll update the figures at the end of each month, keeping the older results so visitors can follow the channel’s progress over time.
How Much Has Weekend Golfers Earned on YouTube?
This is where I’ll record what the channel actually earns.
At the moment, Weekend Golfers isn’t monetised, so the YouTube advertising revenue is £0.
If that changes, I’ll update the figures each month to show whether the channel is beginning to contribute towards the costs of running Weekend Golfers.
YouTube Earnings Record
| Period | YouTube revenue | Total earned |
|---|---|---|
| September 2026 | £0.00 | £0.00 |
| October 2026 | £0.00 | £0.00 |
Figures will be updated using YouTube Studio.
Once the channel starts earning, I’ll distinguish between estimated revenue reported by YouTube and payments actually received.
The longer-term question isn’t simply whether the channel can earn money, but whether that income eventually justifies some of the time and effort involved.
If we reach 1,000 subscribers and earn £5 a month, I’ll report that.
If it becomes a more useful source of income, I’ll report that too.
And if the channel never earns anything, that will be part of the story.
The aim is to document the actual results, whatever they turn out to be.
How We’re Trying to Grow the Channel
Weekend Golfers isn’t a new website. I started it in 2012, and over the years it has included golf coaching, playing experiences, equipment, course guides and various other golf-related projects.
One of those projects was a collection of coaching videos made with PGA Professional Richard Lawless.
Originally, these videos were part of a paid membership library. They covered driving, putting, chipping, pitching, bunker play, swing faults, course management and the mental side of golf.
By September 2026, I’d decided to make the coaching free.
Rather than continuing to host the videos privately and paying the hosting costs each month, I began transferring them to YouTube.
There are more than 200 coaching videos in the archive, so this isn’t something that will be finished overnight.
Alongside Richard’s coaching, I’m publishing my own videos about playing golf, practising, golf equipment, competitions, caddying for PGA Professional Chris “Tyce” Tyson and the occasional experiment.
I’m not following a complicated YouTube growth strategy.
The approach is to publish useful, original golf content, give videos clear titles and thumbnails, and see what people actually choose to watch.
I also want to avoid spending more time optimising videos than creating or publishing them.
Whether that approach works remains to be seen.
Can Weekend Golfers Eventually Earn Some Money?
Although I enjoy making golf videos, I’d also like Weekend Golfers to generate some income.
Creating, editing, uploading and maintaining videos takes time. There are also the costs of running the website, buying equipment and occasionally travelling to film.
I’ve already put considerable time and effort into creating Weekend Golfers, so it would be nice if the YouTube channel eventually earned something towards those costs.
I’m not expecting to make a fortune, and I certainly don’t expect it to happen quickly.
But I’d like to find out whether a small golf channel can eventually earn enough to make the work financially worthwhile.
As part of this experiment, I’ll track our progress towards YouTube monetisation, record any revenue the channel generates and compare it with the time and effort involved.
If the channel earns nothing, I’ll record that too.
The aim is to find out what actually happens, rather than make predictions about what YouTube might pay.
YouTube Growth Diary
The newest updates appear first, so visitors can see what’s happening now and scroll back through the history.
October 2026 – The Coaching Videos Start Finding an Audience
October has been an interesting month for Weekend Golfers.
I’ve continued transferring the original Richard Lawless coaching videos to YouTube, including lessons from Drive For Show, How to Break 100, Preparing To Win and How to Fix a Slice.
Some of the videos have started attracting a reasonable number of views, particularly those covering driver power, grip and other practical golf problems.
What has surprised me is that YouTube is recommending some of these videos to people who have never heard of Weekend Golfers.
Around 83% of our views have come from Suggested Videos, with YouTube search accounting for another 9.5%.
That’s encouraging, especially when you’re starting with virtually no subscribers.
It’s not just Richard’s coaching that’s finding viewers either.
My video about spending £1,000 on used golf clubs to resell has attracted some interest, along with What’s In My Golf Bag?, my caddying experiences and videos of Emma and me playing at Cumberwell Park.
I’d like Weekend Golfers to remain a mixture of coaching and my own golfing experiences, so it’s good to see that different subjects are finding an audience.
What Has Worked?
The shorter coaching videos covering specific problems seem to be attracting the most attention so far.
How to Grip a Golf Club and How to Generate More Power with Your Driver have performed particularly well.
I’ve also uploaded complete versions of some coaching courses. These haven’t attracted as many views as the strongest individual lessons, but they give golfers the option of watching a complete lesson rather than moving between several videos.
What Hasn’t Worked?
Not everything has attracted an audience.
Some videos have received hundreds of views, while others have barely reached double figures.
Subscriber growth has also been relatively slow compared with the number of people watching.
But we’re still in the early stages, and I’m not particularly concerned about individual videos having a quiet start.
What Have I Learned?
The biggest lesson so far is that a video doesn’t necessarily need an existing audience to find viewers.
YouTube has started recommending some of our coaching to people who weren’t subscribed to the channel, which is something I hoped would happen when I began moving the archive.
It’s also too early to know which subjects will perform consistently over time.
For now, I’ll continue transferring the coaching, publishing my own golf videos and seeing what happens.
I’m not planning to chase every new YouTube trend or spend hours making small changes to videos that are already published.
There’s still plenty of coaching to transfer, and I’d rather spend the time getting it available for people to watch.
We’ll see whether that approach works over the longer term.
Our First Recorded Channel Snapshot – 21 September 2026
The Weekend Golfers YouTube project effectively started on 14 September 2026.
On 21 September, the channel had one subscriber and 17 videos.
The website had been around since 2012, but YouTube hadn’t previously been a major part of what I was doing.
Much of our coaching archive was hosted separately, and the YouTube channel had very little activity.
I decided to change that.
The first priority was transferring the original Richard Lawless coaching videos to YouTube and making them freely available.
That would also allow me to reduce the cost and complexity of hosting the videos elsewhere.
I began updating the older videos, creating consistent thumbnails and writing clearer titles and descriptions.
The coaching itself remained the original material. It was the presentation and distribution that were changing.
Alongside the coaching, I wanted the channel to reflect my own golfing experiences rather than simply become a collection of instructional videos.
That meant continuing with playing videos, equipment, golf courses, competitions and caddying.
The starting point
| Metric | September 2026 |
|---|---|
| Subscribers | 1 |
| Videos | 17 |
| Recorded date | 21 September 2026 |
| Paid promotion | None |
At that stage, I had no idea whether YouTube would recommend the videos or whether anyone would subscribe.
The only way to find out was to start publishing.
What Happens Next?
The immediate priority is to continue transferring the remaining coaching videos from the old hosting platform to YouTube.
I’m also planning to publish some original golf Shorts, using footage we’ve already produced.
Beyond that, I’ll continue making videos about the golf I actually play, the equipment I use and the experiences I have along the way.
There isn’t a deadline for reaching 100 subscribers or 1,000 subscribers.
I’d like the channel to grow, of course, and eventually it would be nice if it earned something towards the cost of running Weekend Golfers.
But I don’t want to turn the whole thing into another full-time job that doesn’t pay.
We’ll see what happens.
I’ll update this page as we reach milestones and gather enough information to make meaningful observations.
The good results will stay here, and so will the disappointing ones.
If nothing else, it should become an interesting record of what actually happens when an ordinary golfer tries to build a YouTube channel from almost nothing.
Happy golfing!
Steve