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A couple of housekeeping items before we get to the goods.
1. We are more or less done building our paid membership model. I’m so excited about rolling it out — some of you will see the soft launch of it later this week. I want to give a shout out to my friend (and partner in this business), Jeff Smith, who works completely behind the scenes to make all of this look presentable.
I worked on coding my first website/business, and it was difficult and, uh, probably not the best use of my time. Jeff is always down for all the weird stuff Jason and I want to try, which I’m grateful for.
My wife said the other day, “You must be the hardest person in America to work for.”
First of all …
Second of all, if I am, then Jeff (and everyone else) does it with a ton of grace. I’m grateful for him and his work.
Here’s a sneak preview of our paid membership (it will all make sense later on).
2. The next order of business is two-fold.
First, I wanted to congratulate the two gentlemen who won Ryder Cup tickets from us.
The first is Sam Hudson of Dallas.
“It’s hard to explain how excited I was [about winning these tickets],” said Sam. “Every time I sign up for a ticket lottery, whether it be for the Masters (sigh), Taylor Swift (for my wife, of course), or any other event, I feel like there’s no chance I will get selected.
“More recently, this has felt especially true for professional golf as the opportunity to attend majors seems to only be available to those with connections or deep pockets. Attending the Ryder Cup has always been on my bucket list, but even if I was selected this year, I’m not sure I would’ve been able to convince myself to pay for it if it wasn’t for Normal Sport’s help. So, to you and the Normal Sport team, I can’t thank you enough for this opportunity and for Team USA to bring the Ryder Cup back to its rightful home!”
The second was Chris Fredrick of Atlanta, whose tickets a generous reader paid for.
“I’ve always wanted to attend the Ryder Cup, but given the recent ticket price announcement, I was reserved to watching at watching home,” said Chris. “Thanks so much to Normal Sport for their generosity! Keep up the great work!”
3. Lastly, we will run this Holderness and Bourne giveaway until the end of this week. Kinda forgot about it in the midst of everything else that was going on, but if you are subscribed to this newsletter (and if you’re getting this via email, you are) and follow H&B on either Twitter or Instagram, you are eligible for a box of Normal Sport-branded merch.
OK, whew, now (almost) onto the news.
Today’s newsletter is brought to you by Meridian Putters.
Meridian has a ton of fun new products and giveaways upcoming, and we will continue reminding you of them along the way.
The first is that they will be doing a “blind draw” on some of their putters at a big discount on Nov. 22-24.
I have personally used three of the putters so far, and they’re all terrific. The blind draw will be some of their best, barely used (in demos and shows etc.) at awesome prices.
You’re going to want to get involved there.
One of our goals — as you guys probably know by now — is to partner with businesses who will trust us to do our thing and integrate their work into ours (and vice versa). Meridian is that business, and we’re so excited to partner with them for the rest of 2024 and all of 2025.
Jason has been cooking on illustrating their work. Here’s his first!
[Illustrator notes] I was inspired by how Meridian draws inspiration from places and thinking that their putters are crafted with the precision and beauty of modern architecture (architecture you can actually afford).
We often say “Hang it in the Louvre” for nice things, but “Hang it in the [Milwaukee] Louvre” didn’t suffice for Meridian so I just made the dang putter Louvre Milwaukee Art Museum style.
OK really, onto the news.
1. Imagine catching the hosel on this thing.
2. This made me laugh. Also, perhaps some more TGL news on the horizon for me. 👀
3. Imagine showing this to someone, photoshopping the stands and putting green out and then asking them what sport is being played here.
We built this little thank you page for anyone who signs up for the newsletter. That means every new subscriber gets an opportunity to share their story because as one of my friends said recently, “Everybody has at least one insane golf story.”
This, it turns out, is true.
Here’s this week’s.
I’m playing in a junior golf tournament here in OKC in late middle school.
My playing partner and I are in the fairway on a par 4, both about 100 yards out. He’s a little further out than I am so he’s first up.
He pulls out a… putter. From 100 yards.
Totally baffled, I shout “Dude what are you doing?? That’s gonna damage your putter so bad!” He matter-of-factly replies, “No, I’ve got two putters. A puttin’ putter and a hittin’ putter. This is my hittin’ putter.”
I’m so speechless that I just let him play, and the guy smacks that thing (Cam Smith at the Open style) 100 yards all the way onto the green. I’m totally shook at what I just witnessed.
I then get to my ball and shank a wedge right into the bush. From that moment I’ve always known golf is the most awesome, least understandable sport ever.
Todd J.
A puttin’ putter and a hittin’ putter!
Padraig Harrington gave his take about why the proposed changes to the PGA Tour are terrible. He says it a lot cooler than I write it, and you should watch the clip.
It’s what he says at the end that intrigues me the most though.
“If this was like the premiership and championship and there was a really, really good second tour — and maybe the European Tour can be that — maybe it works out, but to me it definitely looks like the people on the inside are going, ‘Hey, we’ll keep it tighter.’”
Some thoughts here.
1. He’s correct that NFL quarterbacks should not be determining how to become an NFL quarterback. I have said this approximately 200,000 times.
2. I think Paddy is correct about most things in golf, but I’m not sure this is one of them. These changes seem — again seem — like they will benefit younger players who are playing tremendous golf and hurt older players who are barely hanging on. As an older writer, that’s tough, but as someone who consumes the product, that is probably a good thing.
3. Also, does any of this even matter at all? That’s a real question. With or without LIV, did the PGA Tour need some tweaks or a complete overhaul?
Joseph LaMagna wrote incisively about that for the Fried Egg. It’s a good piece.
The truth is that the product needed improvement before LIV arrived, and the product needs improvement now. We can debate exemption categories and FedEx Cup points until we’re blue in the face, but none of that matters unless people want to watch the product itself.
The “optimal field size” for a tournament nobody wants to watch is zero.
I have been — and still am — a proponent of the F1 model of individual leaderboards but with a team component. Then you can break away from that model a few times a year and play team-only events. Team Callaway, team Titleist, team Meridian etc. It would be the best marketing ever for those brands, provide an opportunity for more team match play and (theoretically) cut down on commercial loads. But nobody asked me.
4. The thing I never hear when we’re talking about all of this is that everything that has happened over the last several years could be attributed to the decline of the Cat. Everyone was overleveraged when Tiger was bumping because … why not? And with him slowly dissipating from view, there is just so much slack in the line there that has created myriad headaches and problems that were previously covered up because Tiger was fist pumping 64s all over the country.
I loved this from Paul Waring after he won Abu Dhabi at age 39.
He credited this 2 at the 17th.
“That was massive. Me and my caddie, we had a look at the lines, to be fair, we really fancied it, really, really fancied it, and as soon as it left the blade, I knew it was in.
“I know that sounds a bit cocky or whatever, but it was so pure. I knew it was dead middle as soon as I hit it, and I was just absolutely buzzing to see that go.”
I know that sounds a bit cocky or whatever, but it was so pure.
I love that.
You can be a bit cocky when you’re the newest member of Birkenhead’s ‘Notable Sportspeople’ Wikipedia section.
Personal golf game update: I’m down to my lowest official handicap ever of 11.5. I’ve probably been lower than that in reality, but I’ve only been using GHIN (don’t get me started) for the last few years.
I got to play last week in Vegas with some new friends — which was a blast — and I appreciated everyone who took me up on roasting my swing.
Porath’s barb, in particular, was hurtful because it could not be more true.
And this guy got involved as well.
👉️ Rory and Gareth Bale try to hit a drone out of the sky.
👉️ I thought this view of the Ryder Cup ticket prices — and the PGA of America in general — was reasonable and interesting.
👉Fried Egg Golf sending PJ Clark to the Charles Schwab Championship for deep Richard Green coverage and unforgettable lines like “I am about to enter an inflatable colon.”
👉️ Whether you love or hate Elon, this synopsis of how he swung the election is incredibly interesting. He’s also a very strange person.
And made me laugh.
👉️ My new pal, Rufus Peabody, wrote about how many more similarities we have than differences. I loved what he wrote, and I agree with it.
👉️ I enjoyed this map showing how red, blue or purple each state is.
👉️ This thread on the last time you were in awe of a movie, book, article, podcast, play or piece of art is incredible. This response is — broadly — how I want people to describe Normal Sport. Aspirational stuff.
👉️ Most clicked on Tuesday: Meridian Putters (!!)
👉️ Most clicked on Friday: EAL interviews Iona
I thought Friday’s Q&A with Iona Stephen was exceptional because she is exceptional. If you haven’t gotten a chance to read it, you should go check it out.
Here’s a part I loved about asking questions.
Asking questions is a different proposition—it’s a way of offering someone your attention and a space to share their thoughts.
In return, you very often get their full attention and time which is a very generous thing to give and something I am extremely grateful for from each guest we have had on the channel so far.
I love discovering what drives people, what’s shaped their choices, and how their stories can provide lessons for others.
On The Road with Iona is largely about shared experience, and I want our viewers to feel they’re not alone in whatever they’re going through.
There’s also a part of me that sees this project as a way of creating a time capsule. We won’t have our older generation of golfers or friends forever, and preserving their stories feels important, even timeless. It’s powerful to think that these conversations could resonate hundreds of years from now.
Yep, I think that’s a legacy worth creating.
At the U.S. Open this year, someone said something to me like, I know this sounds a bit strange, but your newsletter makes me feel a little less alone in the golf world and in the world in general.
It is something I have thought about a lot since that interaction, and I loved how Iona framed it above: I want our viewers to feel they’re not alone in whatever they’re going through. I loved hearing about how she aspires to that and agree with her that it is a legacy that’s worth creating.
• All timer here.
• This also made me laugh.
• Yes!
• 4/4 on voting tweets in this section. I’m nailing the “don’t talk about religion and politics” mantra.
This by David Ogilvy is excellent.
I think I agree with all of it, but No. 2 is the one I agree with the most.
Thank you for reading until the end.
You’re a sicko for reading a golf newsletter that is 2,277 words long.
I’m grateful for it.
We would love to have you as a member when we roll it out!
