{"id":1917,"date":"2022-08-25T07:51:15","date_gmt":"2022-08-25T07:51:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/gulftimes.ae\/snappy-gilmore-how-eliezer-paul-gindiri-became-a-viral-tiktok-sensation\/"},"modified":"2022-08-25T07:51:15","modified_gmt":"2022-08-25T07:51:15","slug":"snappy-gilmore-how-eliezer-paul-gindiri-became-a-viral-tiktok-sensation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gulftimes.ae\/?p=1917","title":{"rendered":"&#8216;Snappy Gilmore&#8217;: How Eliezer Paul-Gindiri became a viral TikTok sensation"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <br \/>\n<\/p>\n<p>Uncomfortable, he adjusted his grip. His solution, quite literally, changed his life single-handedly.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;It was a moment (that) just came out of nowhere,&#8221; Paul-Gindiri told CNN. &#8220;I held it in one hand and it felt really comfortable and waggly. I was like &#8216;Wait a minute, let me try this.&#8217;<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Now that I think of it, I&#8217;m like, &#8216;what made me do that?&#8217; It&#8217;s God. God blessed me with a talent that just came out of nowhere.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Rotating the club above his head, Paul-Gindiri stepped up to the tee and crushed a devastating drive into the Arizona night sky. Cue dropped jaws among onlooking friends at the driving range, including the one who had just captured the moment on camera.<\/p>\n<div>\n<p>The footage was far from cinema-standard, and Paul-Gindiri barely gave it a second thought as he posted the clip to his newly created TikTok account that night. <\/p>\n<p>The next morning, he woke to the buzzing of a phone lighting up with notifications. Overnight, the video had surged to 1.5 million views.<\/p>\n<p>That was February 2021. A year and half later, Paul-Gindiri is a certified TikTok sensation putting up engagement numbers as eye-watering as his one-handed swing. <\/p>\n<p>With 1.9 million followers and over half a billion views, the 22-year-old has posted viral hit after viral hit with increasingly audacious and creative variations of his unorthodox technique. <\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I think it&#8217;s just the uniqueness of it and it being something new to golf,&#8221; Paul-Gindiri said. &#8220;You&#8217;re seeing the same stuff over and over again, it gets boring. So once people saw it, they were like, &#8216;what the hell?&#8217;. They&#8217;ve never seen anything like that.&#8221;<\/p>\n<div class=\"el__embedded el__embedded--fullwidth\">\n<div class=\"el__image--fullwidth js__image--fullwidth\">\n<div><noscript><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Paul-Gindiri prepares to let fly.\" class=\"media__image\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.cnn.com\/cnnnext\/dam\/assets\/220823214932-04-eliezer-paul-gindiri-large-169.jpg\"\/><\/noscript><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><h3>Happy hitting <\/h3>\n<\/p>\n<div class=\"zn-body__paragraph\" data-paragraph-id=\"paragraph_F254F491-E4A0-A6AF-093E-B6654B259F99\">The account name, Snappy Gilmore, was born after a friend advised incorporating a run-up into the swing. The moniker is a nod to 1996 comedy &#8220;Happy Gilmore,&#8221; which sees Adam Sandler star as a failed ice hockey star turned pro golfer &#8212; with the help of a booming, radical swing.<\/div>\n<div class=\"zn-body__paragraph\" data-paragraph-id=\"paragraph_F631C624-A4E2-B0A0-76A2-B6654B26D8C1\">Whisper it quietly, but Paul-Gindiri had never seen the cult classic before blending the technique with his own. Naturally, that was quickly amended, with Paul-Gindiri soon meeting up with Christopher McDonald, who played the film&#8217;s antagonist Shooter McGavin, to show off his skills.<\/div>\n<p>&#8220;It was awesome,&#8221; said Paul-Gindiri, who coached McDonald to an impressive one-handed attempt. &#8220;Really nice guy, we had a blast.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Meeting the real-life Happy, Sandler, remains on the bucket list, not least so Paul-Gindiri can thank his namesake for the iconic run-up which has increased the distance of his shots. Averaging 250 yards, his best-ever one-handed strike flew 330 yards, he said.<\/p>\n<p>That average sits a mere 50 yards below the 299.6-yard average on the PGA Tour this season, as Cameron Champ leads the way with 321.4 yards.<\/p>\n<div class=\"zn-body__paragraph\" data-paragraph-id=\"paragraph_93DDB9D4-7F53-D228-78EC-D02FCBBED784\"><strong>Read more: The meteoric rise of Brendan Lawlor, the world No. 1 golfer with a disability<\/strong><\/div>\n<div class=\"zn-body__paragraph\" data-paragraph-id=\"paragraph_5D462761-9F3E-4E36-1574-B6654B2A4259\">Paul-Gindiri has showcased his technique to several Tour players, including fabled big hitter Bryson DeChambeau. The 2021 Tour&#8217;s longest driver looked stunned when the pair met up in May, and Paul-Gindiri said this is a common reaction among pros.<\/div>\n<p>&#8220;They were trying to figure out how I do it,&#8221; he added. &#8220;I&#8217;ve met a couple of PGA Tour players and they just tell me what I do is crazy sick, and I should just keep doing what I&#8217;m doing.&#8221;<\/p>\n<div class=\"el__embedded el__embedded--fullwidth\">\n<div class=\"el__image--fullwidth js__image--fullwidth\">\n<div><img class=\"media__image media__image--responsive\" alt=\"Professional players have been left stunned by Snappy&amp;#39;s technique.\" src-mini=\"\/\/cdn.cnn.com\/cnnnext\/dam\/assets\/220823215746-05-eliezer-paul-gindiri-small-169.jpg\" src-xsmall=\"\/\/cdn.cnn.com\/cnnnext\/dam\/assets\/220823215746-05-eliezer-paul-gindiri-medium-plus-169.jpg\" src-small=\"\/\/cdn.cnn.com\/cnnnext\/dam\/assets\/220823215746-05-eliezer-paul-gindiri-large-169.jpg\" src-medium=\"\/\/cdn.cnn.com\/cnnnext\/dam\/assets\/220823215746-05-eliezer-paul-gindiri-exlarge-169.jpg\" src-large=\"\/\/cdn.cnn.com\/cnnnext\/dam\/assets\/220823215746-05-eliezer-paul-gindiri-super-169.jpg\" src-full16x9=\"\/\/cdn.cnn.com\/cnnnext\/dam\/assets\/220823215746-05-eliezer-paul-gindiri-full-169.jpg\" src-mini1x1=\"\/\/cdn.cnn.com\/cnnnext\/dam\/assets\/220823215746-05-eliezer-paul-gindiri-small-11.jpg\" data-demand-load=\"not-loaded\" data-eq-pts=\"mini: 0, xsmall: 221, small: 308, medium: 461, large: 781\" bad-src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhEAAJAJEAAAAAAP\/\/\/\/\/\/\/wAAACH5BAEAAAIALAAAAAAQAAkAAAIKlI+py+0Po5yUFQA7\"\/><noscript><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Professional players have been left stunned by Snappy&amp;#39;s technique.\" class=\"media__image\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.cnn.com\/cnnnext\/dam\/assets\/220823215746-05-eliezer-paul-gindiri-large-169.jpg\"\/><\/noscript><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><h3>Future Goals<\/h3>\n<\/p>\n<p>Incredibly, Paul-Gindiri even used to putt-one handed, though he has since switched to the conventional two-handed hold as he seeks to master both grips and improve upon his personal-best 76 round, achieved completely one-handed. That edges his current two-handed best &#8212; a six-over 77 carded last week &#8212; by a stroke.<\/p>\n<p>Yet the social media star has his sights set on targets beyond the fairway. A keen footballer and a long-suffering Manchester United fan, Paul-Gindiri dreams of following in the footsteps of his idol, Cristiano Ronaldo. <\/p>\n<div class=\"el__embedded el__embedded--fullwidth\">\n<div class=\"el__image--fullwidth js__image--fullwidth\">\n<div><img class=\"media__image media__image--responsive\" alt=\"Paul-Gindiri showcases his one-handed putting technique.\" src-mini=\"\/\/cdn.cnn.com\/cnnnext\/dam\/assets\/220823214921-02-eliezer-paul-gindiri-small-169.jpg\" src-xsmall=\"\/\/cdn.cnn.com\/cnnnext\/dam\/assets\/220823214921-02-eliezer-paul-gindiri-medium-plus-169.jpg\" src-small=\"\/\/cdn.cnn.com\/cnnnext\/dam\/assets\/220823214921-02-eliezer-paul-gindiri-large-169.jpg\" src-medium=\"\/\/cdn.cnn.com\/cnnnext\/dam\/assets\/220823214921-02-eliezer-paul-gindiri-exlarge-169.jpg\" src-large=\"\/\/cdn.cnn.com\/cnnnext\/dam\/assets\/220823214921-02-eliezer-paul-gindiri-super-169.jpg\" src-full16x9=\"\/\/cdn.cnn.com\/cnnnext\/dam\/assets\/220823214921-02-eliezer-paul-gindiri-full-169.jpg\" src-mini1x1=\"\/\/cdn.cnn.com\/cnnnext\/dam\/assets\/220823214921-02-eliezer-paul-gindiri-small-11.jpg\" data-demand-load=\"not-loaded\" data-eq-pts=\"mini: 0, xsmall: 221, small: 308, medium: 461, large: 781\" bad-src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhEAAJAJEAAAAAAP\/\/\/\/\/\/\/wAAACH5BAEAAAIALAAAAAAQAAkAAAIKlI+py+0Po5yUFQA7\"\/><noscript><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Paul-Gindiri showcases his one-handed putting technique.\" class=\"media__image\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.cnn.com\/cnnnext\/dam\/assets\/220823214921-02-eliezer-paul-gindiri-large-169.jpg\"\/><\/noscript><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>Having left his family in Nigeria to move on his own to the San Francisco Bay Area in 2017, Paul-Gindiri played for Contra Costa College for two years. A foray into the semi-professional game was cut short by the pandemic and soccer pursuits were slowed upon a move to Arizona, but he is determined to pick up where he left off this year.<\/p>\n<div class=\"zn-body__paragraph\" data-paragraph-id=\"paragraph_B4FA976C-C47F-B427-ACA7-D02EF89E0C7F\"><strong>Read more: Golf&#8217;s history-making schoolboy: The hectic double-life of 15-year-old Ratchanon &#8216;TK&#8217; Chantananuwat<\/strong><\/div>\n<p>And while he may not have any tricks up his sleeve as unorthodox as a one-handed swing, his sporting flexibility extends to the football pitch.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I&#8217;m really good with both feet,&#8221; he said. &#8220;People don&#8217;t know if I&#8217;m left-footed or right-footed, so I guess that&#8217;s my little go-to thing.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Yet even as he juggles these aspirations with college, his maverick commitments to golf look set to continue. A year and a half on from that fateful evening at the range, Paul-Gindiri is as determined as ever to inspire people to take up the game, especially those for whom the conventional swing may be difficult to replicate &#8212; such as amputees or people with disabilities, he said.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;There&#8217;s a lot of people &#8230; that think they can&#8217;t golf and seeing what I do just brings a whole different perspective to the game,&#8221; he said. &#8220;Not only that, I&#8217;m bringing people who would never have had interest in golf. They saw what I do and they&#8217;re like, &#8216;Oh, this is really cool, I actually want to give it a shot.&#8217;<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;If I never went to the range that night, I wouldn&#8217;t be who I am today, so that keeps me going and makes me happy.&#8221;<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.cnn.com\/2022\/08\/25\/golf\/snappy-gilmore-one-handed-golf-tiktok-eliezer-paul-gindiri-spc-spt-intl\/index.html\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Uncomfortable, he adjusted his grip. His solution, quite literally, changed his life single-handedly. &#8220;It was a&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1917","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-gulf"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v21.0 (Yoast SEO v27.4) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>&#039;Snappy Gilmore&#039;: How Eliezer Paul-Gindiri became a viral TikTok sensation - Gulf Times | News by the minute<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Gulf Times: Latest news across the GCC from UAE, Bahrain, Qatar, Oman, Yemen, Saudi Arabia\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/gulftimes.ae\/?p=1917\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"&#039;Snappy Gilmore&#039;: How Eliezer Paul-Gindiri became a viral TikTok sensation\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Gulf News| UAE&#039;s Largest News aggregator site\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/gulftimes.ae\/?p=1917\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Gulf Times | News by the minute\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/100084981843786\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2022-08-25T07:51:15+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/cdn.cnn.com\/cnnnext\/dam\/assets\/220823214932-04-eliezer-paul-gindiri-large-169.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"gulftimes\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@Gulftimesuae\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@Gulftimesuae\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"gulftimes\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"'Snappy Gilmore': How Eliezer Paul-Gindiri became a viral TikTok sensation - 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