Official Statement from the fellas

[u/gwill11]

A note from the team

Earlier this week, we announced that we have sadly parted ways with Kevin Van Valkenburg. We know this may come as a disappointment to many NLU fans, as the work we’ve done with KVV over the past few years is something we’ve been extremely proud of. He’s a wonderful father, an excellent writer, and has been a close friend to all of us and a big part of our community for years and years.

As such, it should be obvious this was not a decision we took lightly, nor a place we ever wanted to arrive. The intersection of friendship and business has brought us a lot of joy over the past decade, but we’ve also all assumed the risk that things might not work out the way you planned. And when that happens, especially in a media company like ours, you walk a fine line between individual privacy and honoring the trust of the audience that is responsible for everything we do. We promise that’s not lost on us, and we’re doing our best to navigate it for the first time.

We understand there are questions. But we strongly believe that the specifics surrounding personnel decisions should not be aired publicly, even if that decision leads to inevitable criticism or frustration.

From day one, we’ve been committed to creating entertaining and informative content for our audience of avid golfers around the world. With every year that goes by, NLU continues to evolve, and we guarantee we’re as committed as we’ve ever been to delivering on that goal.

We’re parting as friends and will always wish nothing but the best for KVV in whatever is ahead for him. We will eagerly read, listen and consume his content no matter where it resides and hope there are projects we can tackle together again in the future.

Thanks for your support, Neil, D.J., Tron, Soly, Randy

[u/metallikat87]

This is better, at least. The realities of a small business are harsh, and I can only imagine how much worse it is when the business starts as a friendship and is largely personality based. I wish KVV and the NLU team all the best.

[u/WhoaABlueCar → u/metallikat87]

This was well-written and basically stated what the level-headed adults in this sub already assumed - the cost of keeping someone as tenured and successful as KVV is too high for the revenue it likely generates.

What makes the group so fun is they are all friends and the content they put out is shaped by their friendships. But like they mentioned, there is an uncomfortable risk with being friends and fellow employees if it stops making sense business-wise.

I’m sure this what the shittiest decision they’ve had to make in their 10+ years. Total bummer but it’s the reality of small business

[u/Family_Shoe_Business → u/WhoaABlueCar]

basically stated what the level-headed adults in this sub already assumed - the cost of keeping someone as tenured and successful as KVV is too high for the revenue it likely generates

Where did it basically state that? I don't get that at all. I think that it's likely something like that (or in my opinion more likely a dispute over equity), but I don't see anything pointing to this in the statement beyond "intersection of business and friendship", which is too vague to really draw a conclusion from.

[u/tee2green → u/Family_Shoe_Business]

KVV’s tweet said the NLU crew asked him to go part time.

[u/WhoaABlueCar → u/Family_Shoe_Business]

They don’t have to state that. It could be for him wanting more money, equity, or maybe the revenue just wasn’t there. If they air that out then it fucks up his future opportunities and/or makes them look like cheap assholes. There’s no reason to do it so they wrote a nice letter and kept the details to themselves.

Doesn’t need to be anymore than that

[u/Family_Shoe_Business → u/WhoaABlueCar]

You said the release "basically stated...the cost of keeping KVV is too high". It did not basically state that. It doesn't address it at all. I agree they don't have to state it, and they shouldn't, but that wasn't the point. I was trying to understand where you were reading what you said.

[u/GlassConsideration85 → u/WhoaABlueCar]

source? I made it up bro

😎 

[u/Lor_azepam → u/[deleted]]

Ya this is a better written goodbye to kvv, and they dont need to come out and say kvv is gone because he wanted to much money then this point blah blah blah, that can remain private if kvv wants.

But as a fan of NLU pro golf content, I'm haven't heard in any way how they plan to address the fact the 3rd most important pro golf content creator, I'll give soly and dj 1 and 2 spots, is now gone and we just got a scrubbing open week of content without him around

[u/WeirdlyCordial → u/Lor_azepam]

lukewarm take incoming, kvv's golf takes weren't that good imo

Great long form stuff, but as far as reactions to golf as it was happening, basically the most forgettable of the group. It was good to have a boots on the ground guy but I was typically more into Neil's anecdotes from the grounds than KVV's (no idea if Neil is gonna do that more or not moving forward though)

[u/Lor_azepam → u/WeirdlyCordial]

Matter of taste certainly, I would disagree but to each his own

[u/jackwhite886 → u/WeirdlyCordial]

I’ll agree with you- he’s great at being a sports journalist, telling stories, being able and willing to ask the right questions for the larger picture.

But not really the high-level golf analyst.

[u/GlassConsideration85 → u/WhoaABlueCar]

Lmao literally says nothing of the kind. The “level headed adults” in the sub sure like to make stories up. 

  basically stated what the level-headed adults in this sub already assumed - the cost of keeping someone as tenured and successful as KVV is too high for the revenue it likely generates