💭 Opening Thought

In the Full Swing Netflix documentary that comes out next week, there’s a moment in episode 2 where Brooks Koepka has to ask a producer who won the 2022 Masters.

I don’t know if he truly couldn’t remember or was simply pretending not to. What I do know is that Koepka’s version of cool is not knowing who won the 2022 Masters.

In episode 8 — in a completely independent moment from the Koepka one — Rory talks about how much he loves the game and its history. He follows up by saying he can name the last 50 Masters winners.

Neither player had any idea of what the other was going to say, but the contrast was so emblematic of why one of them is so beloved and the other is so often not.

One is so fearful of vulnerability — as many of us are! — because being guarded is always safer. The other isn’t scared to show how much he cares, even if it seems uncool (whatever that means).

It reminded me of this tweet.

This is all an incredibly long way of saying that I want to be the person who remembers the last 50 Masters winners, who truly cares about making content that makes you laugh or tear up or fall even more in love with golf.

I had a conversation recently with Jason Page, whose illustrations are not only all over all of my books but also all over the golf world — from NLU to Shotgun Start and in places I’m sure I don’t even know about.

We were trading 500-word Slack messages about this very newsletter last weekend, and while the exchange is not something I planned on sharing, I thought you should see it.

I absolutely love writing about golf, hell, writing about anything. And I absolutely care about it being good and about you loving it. So hopefully this is an outlet for that, and hopefully it’s a place that truly does display just how much we enjoy building meaningful stuff that resonates.

Anyway, here's the first of what will be an ever-evolving publication.

💀 Normal Moment(s) of the Week

At the Magical Kenya Ladies Open on the Ladies European Tour last week, a herd (?) of giraffes took off down the fairway at one point during the event. Two things on this.

1. In the clip linked above, there is no change in the inflection of the broadcasters’ voices. It is discussed as calmly and normally as if one of the ladies made a four on the par-3 eighth hole or shot 70 in the third round. Two 2,300-pound animals moving with some pace down the fairway, and they’re discussed like a player is trying to decide whether to hit a draw or a fade.

2. I don’t know why, but I kept thinking about LeBron breaking the scoring record when I saw this clip. Here’s LeBron on the mic discussing one of the most historic NBA moments of the last few decades, oh please don’t mind the giraffes we have grazing in row 12 on the south side of the arena. They’re docile, well-fed and big Shai Gilgeous-Alexander fans.

💡 Trivia Question (and Giveaway!)

I'll send a hardcover edition of Normal Sport 2 to whoever does the following two things: 1. Comments on this tweet. 2. Correctly answers this question (you can just hit reply to this email, and I’ll see your answer).

When Phil Mickelson shot 60 at the Phoenix Open in 2013, what did he shoot on the front nine of the course, and what did he shoot on the back nine of the course?

🎁 Upcoming Drops

A weekly look at what we’re cooking up to release over the next few weeks and months. You will hear about the actual drops in this newsletter first.

📖 Normal Sport 2 Paperback Edition 

That’s right, we’re printing a paperback edition — probably 100-200 copies of it — that will be available for purchase soon.

Drop: Sometime before the Masters.

📊 Golf Reference Site

I’ve been hollering about this on Twitter for several months now so we just decided to build it ourselves. Our goal is to have every Masters score ever shot loaded into the site before this year’s Masters. The name of the site may or may not be a reference to your favorite Masters champion’s favorite burner.

Drop: Sometime before Masters.

🔥 Comment of the Week

This week’s edition features two recent comments that got me good.

The first came from somebody replying to the welcome email I send out when you sign up for this newsletter. I ask folks to share it with a friend they think would love it. Here’s what David K. said: I just signed up for a golf newsletter, you think I have friends?

The second came from Twitter follower Andrew S. who responded to my question about whether Max Homa is the third best player in the world: He’s 51st. The 48 LIV guys then Rory and Rahm then Max.

So good.

📚️ From the Chronicles

Here’s a bit from Normal Sport 1 when Spieth baptized himself on Saturday at the 2021 Phoenix Open in the little pond that contains the beaver in the motorized boat.

I went into this week’s Phoenix Open less confident in Spieth’s game than I’ve been in a long time, which definitely means he’s going to shoot 62-63 on the weekend to win while putting with his feet and juggling miniature WM trucks on the 16th green as everyone chants Greller’s name.

🤔 Another Newsletter?

This was previously the opener to this newsletter, but I figured I’d already gotten most of it across via Twitter and email earlier this week. Regardless, if you want to know the why behind this newsletter, here it is …

The world needs more newsletters like it needs more professional golf leagues.

But here’s the premise: You're busy. You have a job in finance or healthcare or sales or … golf. But you don't have time to sit on GolfTwitter™️ and make memes of Anirban Lahiri hitting over picnic tables at the Players.

However, you still want to know all the absurd, ridiculous (sometimes) amazing moments that happen in any given week because these are the moments that cultivate your love for this crazy and insanely stupid game.

This newsletter will get you caught up. My objective with the Normal Sporter: To make you fall (even more) in love with golf without spending all your time trying to find all the absurd content that often engenders this love.

I'm excited about this because I've absolutely loved writing Normal Sport 1 and Normal Sport 2. It's a thrill for me to get to transfer the ethos of those books into a short, weekly newsletter. I have three goals with this newsletter.

1. Sell all your data to a Nigerian prince.

2. Kidding. I won’t do that. I do want to create an outlet for the absurd stuff that doesn’t always fit on Twitter or in an article at CBS Sports.

3. Keep you updated on other projects we’re working on (see above).

4. Grow this community to 20,000 people by the end of 2023.

That last one might be a “Billy Horschel wants to win the grand slam” level of ambition, but I think we can do it!

Thanks to everyone who responded earlier in the week with potential segments. I documented them all and even added a few into this first newsletter.