Issue No. 147 | January 23, 2025

ORLANDO, Fla.

Bylines are underrated.

Amusing copy from an internet boy, I’m sure. But a byline declares, I was there, I was in the mix. In a world that seems to be increasingly moving online, I think there is going to be value to being in the mix.

On Wednesday morning in Orlando, before the first day of the PGA Show, I was having coffee with SMartin — star of Normal Sport issue No. 142 — just solving all of golf’s problems.

In walks Luke Kerr-Dineen of Digest, and we start hollering about ball setup and wrist flexion.

Then in walks John Bourne of Holderness and Bourne, and we start talking about the psychoanalytical state of Scottie Scheffler and Ben Martin.

Just insane stuff all the way around, but tremendous fun and, to me, one of the more enjoyable parts of this job and industry. It was only 90 minutes of time but about the best reminder I could have (and hopefully an encouragement to you, whatever profession or world you’re in) to get myself in the mix as often as possible.

Win a Trip to Ireland

Today’s newsletter is presented by Seed Golf.

They are giving away an all expenses paid golf trip to Ireland this August to one of our members. We built a page explaining the giveaway. How to enter, who’s eligible and where you’ll be playing, along with some amazing videos showing off the best Ireland has to offer.

We got to play golf with the Seed fellas on Tuesday in Orlando at a place called Orange Tree CC. Here are two things I learned.

1. Someone told me there’s a rumor that Tiger used to go over to Orange Tree to practice for the U.S. Open because it’s so narrow. I believe it because, buddy, if you miss the fairway by 10 yards either way, it’s OB. Tremendous for my “long, wild and inconsistent” tee to green game.

2. I learned from Finn, who works for Seed, that you can become an international member of Carne — which is where the winner of the trip giveaway is headed — for $3,000. Like, forever. This feels like cheating. You can’t find a bad club in a big city where the initiation fee is under what you have to pay to be a member at this place for life? Come on.

You’re only one giveaway (or $3,000 away) from searching for your Seed golf balls here.

Anyway, after playing with the guys at Seed, I’m even more confident in and excited about our partnership with them. They get it. They’re sickos. It was cold and rainy when we played, and they wanted to go 18 more.

So did we, even though nobody had the time. I loved it.

Onto the news.

6 Golf-Adjacent Thoughts This Week

1. There is always a lot of curiosity about the PGA Show from just outside the golf world. Folks who are intrigued by what it’s like to work in golf. To be honest, I’ve always been fairly anti-PGA Show. It can be (and often is) drudgery. Something that everyone in golf feels like they should attend, but when pressed, they don’t always have a great reason for why they’re attending.

Probably like most trade shows and conferences.

For some, there’s an obvious ROI. Holderness and Bourne takes orders from thousands of pro shops around the country because thousands of PGA pros are in attendance seeing the latest and greatest gadgets and gear. H&B sells inventory for six months or maybe even the entire year. And this is a centralized time for pros who run those shops to see new product and place their orders.

For others, less so. We saw a device that looked like a LEGO roller coaster that rolls your ball on the green so you can see which direction it’s going. Don’t think that’s USGA approved! There was a golf club with four shot glasses welded onto it called The Wasted Wedge. And staff bags with wheels that made me laugh out loud. All squarely in the normal sport wheelhouse.

It’s a strange mix of garage inventors and kings of industry. All under one roof.

This year was so different for me. I have always gone to the show with the perspective of “Oh, that product is cool. Oh, maybe should have left that one in the garage etc.” This year? I went simply so I could shake hands and spend quality in-person time with folks who I know from my inbox or whose avatars I see often but rarely get to interact with. Current sponsors of this newsletter or potential ones in the future.

@PGAGolfShows

From that perspective, a once-a-year show that galvanizes everyone in the golf world into the same space is a much more compelling proposition. Do I want or need to be there for all three days of the show? No, I left after the first day because I had seen almost everyone I needed to see.

But as I left, I actually found myself grateful for something that has become very easy to mock.

2. JT wrote a letter to his colleagues about how players need to do a better job of engaging fans on the broadcast. The letter was good, and I thought it showed some leadership and, honestly, some humility from JT. I’m always a fan of that, and I like that he’s trying to take a step in the right direction.

More broadly though — and this is not really a JT problem — this is like taking a gun to a nuclear war. I agree that players need to provide insight and let us into their nerdy little golf worlds as often as possible. This is additive. But that’s all it is. It’s not transformational. It doesn’t improve the field at Kapalua or make the golf courses better or speed up play.

Here’s what I wrote in Tuesday’s newsletter.

JT wasn’t attempting to be transformational, and again, I applaud any movement in the right direction. But his letter really highlighted for me — when I envisioned how little of a difference Max McGreevy giving his thoughts on the grass length at Torrey will make on the broadcast — how drastic of an overhaul is needed for the Tour right now.

Welcome to the members-only portion of this Thursday’s newsletter. Hope you enjoy it!

3. I think Shackelford is at his best when he takes an interview or a piece of writing and just eviscerates it in his dry, sarcastic, sometimes biting way.

That’s what he did recently with this Greg Norman Q&A.

Two things that stood out about the whole thing.

1. The first is Norman wanting to debate (?) Rory and Tiger. Here’s Shack.

Amusing, but also ridiculous.

Because Rory himself has acknowledged this. Here’s his quote from the 2023 Players.

There is no debate here. Norman wants credit for something — the PIP and other spoils — that Rory already gave LIV credit for! Norman is like MJ in his prime, just fabricating slights against what he’s done to keep his edge!

2. The other one is this incredible quote from Norman toward the end of the interview.

Yeah, that’ll be enough for me, dawg.

But yes, subscribe to Geoff’s newsletter. I bought three annual memberships today and will gift them to the first three people who put their name and email in this spreadsheet!

4. I think Bill Ho doing the dirty bird and shouting out Jamaal Anderson in a smoke-filled arena in southeast Florida with Ja Rule and Arthur Blank fist pumping him on and Matt Fitzpatrick laying on a turntable green is more or less why Normal Sport exists.

Also: More Bill Hos in TGL! It legitimately works. The histrionics, fake jewelry and dogged competitiveness are (somehow!) the perfect mashup for that environment.

Try explaining this to yourself in 2021.

5. One cool experience from the PGA Show: I ran into Jim Nantz for a bit and we chatted about Torrey, the Masters, NFL playoffs etc. Two things stood out. 1. He remembered that I used to live in Oklahoma. 2. He aced the post-chat handshake with our business ops guy, David Hill, who was there with me. Nantz walked away saying, “good to meet you, David” without looking at his badge.

These sound like stupid and small things, but they are not for someone like him. He’s on a different planet in the media world. Chasms between me and him, and yet he’s chopping it up, remembering details and names and things he should not remember, even though he probably shook hands with literally 200 people in the 30 minutes we were in the same general area.

Details matter. In product, in content, in life. And nobody is better at them than him.

6. I got as much feedback from last week’s Q&A as any I have ever done. It was about my friend Jordan Rogers, who went from being a heroin addict to a golf addict. People loved it. The redemption arc of Jordan’s story resonated deeply with readers, which is so wonderful to me.

This part stood out.

There a million reasons to love golf. That one is up there among the best. Right next to getting a few days in Florida with good friends amidst the chaos of a strange trade show with shot glasses welded to clubs and staff bags on wheels.

Thank you also for reading until the end.

You’re a sicko for reading a golf newsletter that is 2,196 words long.

Also, we still have a few Normal Sport journals left if you want to snag one!