Nickmercs Takes Dead Aim At Flagsticks, Fairway Fashion And Wii Golf

Buff gaming idol Nick “Nickmercs” Kolcheff, the Scottie Scheffler of first and third-person shooter streaming content, signed a $10 million deal with Twitch competitor Kick last Fall. The virtual Rambo with the real life physique of a Greco-Roman wrestler came in at No. 39 on Forbes’ 2023 Top Creators list which is topped by Jimmy Donaldson (a.k.a. Mr. Beast).

What is less known about Kolcheff is he was targeting greens and taking dead aim at pin flags long before he was making opponents cry for a medic in Gears of War 2, trouncing the competition in Fortnite Battle Royales and putting players in the dirt in Call of Duty: Warzone.

Kolcheff’s grandparents belong to Grosse Ile Golf & Country Club and growing up, whenever school was out for an extended break, at the behest of his parents, he would often spend quality time puttering around the Donald Ross design with grandma and grandpa.

“I got a couple private lessons from the instructor and they put me in tournaments. All it takes is a good couple tee shots and a nice long putt and holy shit this is kind of fun. I got some trophies here and there for beating up the other grandkids in that country club and then the hook was in,” Kolcheff said.

“I love golf. I think it’s a great game. It’s tough, it’s challenging and very rewarding and I know a lot people in my community fuck with it heavy too. Any time we talk about or debate it, they get fired up,” he added.

A fan of the pro game, watching Tiger Woods compete remains a thrill and Max Homa and Bryson DeChambeau are his current favorite tour players, so he was happy to see them both in the mix at the Masters.

Mercs hosts the MFAM Classic, a full day golf tournament in the Fall that has been timed to coincide with TwitchCon week and has quickly become a highlight of his annual fan community get together—the last one was held at TPC Las Vegas.

“We just started doing these but the feedback and just how much fun everybody has out there—this has been far and away the best thing that we’ve done yet.”

While his gigantic barbecues for fans and watch parties and other events centered around MMA fighting and the UFC also rank high on the leaderboard, he says the golf event simply hits different.

“It’s just a little more official, you get out there and they airhorn it off and everybody has a good time. It’s competitive, you’re drinking with your buddies and I’m stoked to do another one.”

The venue for the next MFAM Classic has yet to be selected but his team is currently scouting potential host venues in Nevada, Southern California and the Midwest.

In the meantime, Nickmercs fans can at least dress the part. He just dropped a 14-SKU golf line in collaboration with Under Armour
UAA
, composed of clothes and accessories including an anorak, quarter zip and oversized tee.

“Our partnership with Nick Mercs bridges fitness and gaming, reflecting the passions of today’s young athlete and consumer. It allows UA to authentically connect with Gen Z, including Nick’s engaged followers, while reinforcing UA’s golf product offerings and versatile sportstyle looks,” Brenden Miller, head of global music and brand partnerships at Under Armour, said.

For Kolcheff’s part, he feels there’s a delicate balance when straddling the intersection of gaming and golf which is why the fits in his drop aren’t too heavy on collared polos and forward-facing caps.

“The demographic is not 80-year-old grandfathers on the golf course, right? It’s for a younger audience who is getting after it. It would be very weird to drop a really traditional golf collection—even with it being Under Armor. You got to have it speak a little to the community.”

He sees many skillset synergies and commonalities tying gaming to golf. Success in both aim games, at their core, boils down to muscle memory and hand eye coordination. The more you play and practice, the more you improve.

“You got to be quick and have fast reactions and it’s kind of the same way in golf. You got to be quick some times and have the perfect turn into the ball. It’s got to start down low and end up top and you’ve got to be calm, cool and collected—you can’t break focus,” Kolcheff explained.

As for the current state of Kolcheff’s golf game, with a one-year-old boy sometimes diaper duty takes priority over Call of Duty and with his other screen time obligations there is a lot less time to get out to a course. Since he doesn’t play as often as he used to, he currently is nowhere near scratch. He did just splurge on new sticks, picking up a fresh set of Ping woods and Callaway irons and broke 100 his last round played.

When it comes to console golf, the game that resonated the most for Kolcheff is Nintendo’s Wii Sports version. Awhile back, feeling a nostalgic tug to the give the classic motion control fueled club swinger another whirl, he had an assistant track down the defunct system.

“‘Bro, find me a wii, there’s got to be one on eBay. This guy followed my instruction, but he bought a Wii for $900 with the company card. I’m like ‘brother, don’t you think you should text me really quick to tell me how much it’s going to before you swipe?’ But he swiped it and a $900 Wii showed up at my doorstep.”

Putting on his Nostradamus hat, Kolcheff predicts that in the far-flung future gaming will be at the forefront of live entertainment. He envisions packed NBA arenas where instead of flesh and blood players, gamers will be the ones directing dunks and taking logo shots.

“On the court will be a 3D gigantic hologrammed-out game that these guys are playing and it’ll look pretty much real because of the technology. I just don’t know how you compete with that.”

A precursor could be the TGL, the tech infused prime time T.V. show set to debut in January of 2025 which pairs simulator golf off the tee with real deal chipping and putting.

Kolcheff believes the concept, where teams comprised of tour players hit into a 3,000-square-foot projector screen and finish holes on a 22,475-square-foot short game complex with 189 actuators and jacks that transmogrify the putting green to change the slope on every hole, could very well be a hit with fans.

“There’s a simplicity to it that I like. Golf at a surface level is a difficult game, so anyway to simplify it for people that are new—that’s appealing to me.”