Ark City native Brook Shurtz appears in the 2020 Titleist ad campaign.
That’s 1999 Ark City High School grad Brook Shurtz you’ll see – or may already have seen – whacking a golf ball in a new Titleist TV commercial.
Shurtz, a scratch golfer, was chosen to appear in 30-second and 60-second ads that are part of Titleist’s 2020 ad campaign. The minute-long version has already played on the Golf Channel, other national broadcasts, and will likely be seen during various televised golf tournaments throughout the year, Shurtz said during an interview last week.
Though he now lives in the Los Angeles area, Shurtz still returns to Ark City once or twice a year to visit his parents Dennis and Ruthie.
“I really have to thank my parents for their love and support,” he said. “They’ve made things like this possible for me.”
Brook Shurtz grew up on a farm near Ark City and was a four-year letterman on the Bulldog golf team back in high school. He picked up the game at 12 or 13, even though neither of his parents played. Shurtz was tutored in those years by PGA Tour Pro and long-time Wichita State golf coach Grier Jones.
“My dad was driving me up to Wichita all the time,” Brook Shurtz said. “Anytime I could be out hitting or playing, practicing, I was.”
He moved to LA 16 years ago and works in the golfing and entertainment businesses.
Shurtz heard about the Titleist opening from a friend who then mentioned Shurtz’s interest to the company producing the commercial. Shurtz provided the required audition materials and then waited.
On a trip back to Kansas this fall, to see a K-State football game with his parents, he got the call that he’d been chosen for the Titleist campaign.
“From there it was a lot of rushing around to get back to California,” he said. “To get packed and ready to head to San Francisco.”
The commercial was shot in one day at TPC Harding Park, which will be the site of the 2020 PGA Championship in May.
Shooting went from morning until late evening in October. Shurtz was outfitted with golf gear, shown the clubs he was to use and then began a day of hitting golf balls, over and over again.
There were makeup and lighting people, too, and… even a body double. (When Shurtz looks down at his yardage book in the commercial, those aren’t his hands you see on the screen.)
Also, he actually hits the ball as you see in the commercial, but he’s fairly certain CGI was used to show the ball hit just perfectly on the green.
“They’re going to make it look like they need it to look,” Shurtz said.
He likes the fact the commercial has a more cinematic, story-telling feel to it, rather than being just another commercial. Plus, he got some lines, hit a golf ball in a national TV spot, kept the golf clothes, and on top of all that, got paid to do it.
“It’s great. When you’re out there having fun and get to put some money in the bank, too,” he said.
Here’s the commercial he appears in:
