Before he was known as the hilarious and laid back “Fat Perez” to the millions of viewers of golf YouTube channel Bob Does Sports, Nick Stubbe was a Richmonder who frequented local restaurants and bars to cap his days as an accountant in Innsbrook.

Stubbe moved to Richmond when he was about to enter fourth grade, but he was destined for the putting green long before that. Golf has run in his family for generations — reaching as far back as his great-grandfather in Erie, Pennsylvania.

While his parents were looking for a place to live in Richmond, his dad joined a country club before buying a house.

“That tells you the kind of relationship to golf in our family and the area, that was his priority,” Stubbe said. “I’ve had a golf club in my hands since I could stand.”

Stubbe spent his childhood summers at Jefferson Lakeside Country Club, which has since been renamed Lakeside Park Club. His dad would drop him off in the mornings while commuting to work, so Stubbe spent his days golfing on the course and perusing the club’s shop. There, he formed a second family.

“I’m not sure they signed up for childcare necessarily, but that’s what they got during the summers with me,” Stubbe said, laughing.

The late Tom Barry, the club pro, shared many summer days with Stubbe. To Stubbe, Barry was a role model whose positive influence still lingers.

Throughout his adolescence, Stubbe had his eyes on a professional golf career — an aspiration he carried with him to the DIII level at Hampden-Sydney College.

“I had the dream that I think every young golfer has of grinding and practicing and hopefully one day playing on the tour and the Masters and all these things,” Stubbe said.

Eventually, Stubbe realized he was struggling to break into tournaments, and decided “it’s time to focus more on life and a little less on golf.” With that, Stubbe returned to Richmond to earn his bachelor’s degree in accounting from VCU.

Becoming a star

Stubbe was working in a cubicle until the COVID-19 pandemic halted everything. While he would usually go to Curbside with his friends, he was now at home with little to do. So, he decided to hop on a Patreon Zoom happy hour hosted by Bob Does Sports — which included its founder and namesake Robby Berger (a.k.a. Bobby Fairways) and his friend Joseph Demare (a.k.a. Joey Coldcuts). He said he wouldn’t typically drink with strangers over a call, but he was so bored “even that seemed like a fun time.” 

Stubbe joined the virtual event as “Fat Perez,” a nickname he got while playing at the Hermitage Country Club as a reference to a well-known golf pro. 

During that Zoom happy hour (and several ones after that), the nickname he originally didn’t like became an unofficial brand. With that, he went from being a popular community member to a full-on Bob Does Sports crewmate.

“It’s a whole evolution,” Stubbe said. “It’s sort of a fan-to-coworker kind of feel.”

Six-hundred-thousand Instagram followers and one million YouTube subscribers later, Stubbe is traveling the world and playing golf as a beloved member of Bob Does Sports. 

After a period when a career in golf seemed like a distant dream, Stubbe is now playing with big names like former JMU golfer Neil Shipley and Buffalo Bills quarterback Josh Allen. 

Working with these big names was a “pinch me moment” for Stubbe, but he’s found that sharing an interest in golf is “the great equalizer” — as they progress through the course, they get to know each other better, and by the end, they recognize each other as just guys who love golf.

‘Central Virginia forever’

When he’s away from the camera, Stubbe likes to unwind on the couch in his Richmond home or pop over to Curbside Cafe, Joe’s Inn, The Grill, The Continental or Jack Brown’s.

“I don’t venture too far away from what I’ve been doing my whole life,” he said. “I stay between Short Pump and Boulevard, and I never really left.”

Even when he’s not golfing on camera, Stubbe still frequents the course and plays out of Keswick Hall in Charlottesville — a club he joined before he was known as Fat Perez — and Richmond’s Federal Club.

“I play probably more golf off camera than I do on,” he said. “I just love the game so much.”

He now gets recognized in public, most often in airports and on golf courses. He said the weirdest part of his visibility is getting noticed in the places he used to frequent before Bob Does Sports became such a big part of his life. 

Being recognized keeps him on track, and Stubbe said he hopes his fans see him as “just Nick who loves golf and is having a beer somewhere.”

“It’s different when you’re home and it’s places you’ve always been to, to have a different reaction,” Stubbe said. “It just shows the impact that we have on people and that people are enjoying it.”

At home, those closest to Stubbe — his wife, friends and fellow regulars of his favorite sports — don’t treat him differently. He doesn’t think staying grounded amid his internet notoriety is difficult, and is just grateful he gets to make golf-related content that his viewers enjoy.

“We’re regular guys, we’ve stayed that way, and I think that’s what makes our content, hopefully, have the success that it is,” Stubbe said. “It really is just three friends out on the golf course, just like everybody else, and we just happen to have some cameras on.”

Stubbe will soon tee off in the Bob Does Sports’ Breezy Invitational on June 20, part of a series where fans go head-to-head with Stubbe, Berger and Demare. He’s especially excited for this one, as it’ll be held at Richmond’s Independence Golf Club. For Stubbe, Richmond is where everything feels normal. It has and will always be home to him and his wife. While he hasn’t started to build a family yet, he hopes to make it home to one in the near future.

“Richmond’s always been home for me,” Stubbe said. “For us, we’re Central Virginia forever.”

Contact Reporting Intern Eleanor Shaw at eshaw@richmonder.org