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Issue No. 175 | March 27, 2025
A book recommendation off the top.
American Kingpin is unbelievably good. I loved it, my wife loved it. It’s incredible. Reads like fiction, very much is not. One take I have a lot of conviction around is that most books (including my own) should have been half the length. This one could have been double the length and still been awesome. Read it.
Onto the news.
Today’s newsletter is presented by Meridian Putters.
Recently, I was exploring NewClub’s website, and they had a great bit about why you shouldn’t join their club. Basically, they listed all the things they are not.
If I were to make the list for Normal Sport, I would probably include things like “we are not a DFS site” and “we are not gear heads” and “we do not care about information for the sake of information.” We could go on and on.
The reason I thought of this was because Meridian posted a video recently listing a few things they aren’t about.
“We are not a boutique brand charging $1,000 a unit.”
“We are not an established OEM cashing in on our brand name.”
I would add that they are not owned by PE folks who make products in spreadsheets. They do not care about drivers, irons and wedges (not yet anyway). They do not concern themselves with fancy boy gadgets and toys.
No, their goal is to provide the best putter possible that you can feel good about buying (because it’s not exorbitantly expensive), holding (because it’s beautiful) and gaming (because it’s true).
As a business, those are all worthy things to care about. Viktor Hovland is about to tell you all he thinks about is golf. All Meridian thinks about is making putters.
It shows.
OK, now onto the news!
1. I loved this quote from Hovland after he won last weekend.
I don't care too much about other things outside of golf. Because I don't have time or energy to put the same amount into other things, so naturally when you only get to do certain things just a few times here and there, you can't have a perfectionist mindset.
…
I'm not super hard on myself if I'm not really good at something when I haven't put the effort into it. But golf … it's been my life for a long time, it's what consumes my thoughts and my time, so if I'm not spending that time to do it correctly, then what am I doing?
Viktor Hovland | 2025 Valspar
It’s what consumes my thoughts and my time.
I have found the following balance to be extremely difficult.
I love this thing, and it’s all I want to think about.
I love this thing, and I am thinking about it so much that it is actually detrimental.
My personal example of what Hovland is talking about is this newsletter and this business. You probably have your own. Maybe it’s a job or a hobby or something else.
No matter what the thing is, though, I find that doing the first often leads to doing the second. Just this week, I have found myself so obsessed with my business that I’m not even thinking clear, coherent thoughts about its future.
This is one of the 10,000 ways golf reflects life. All of us are probably guilty of thinking too much about our jobs or the future or anything at all. So it goes with pro golfers that we have almost nothing in common with.
In the same way he is constantly trying to solve an unsolvable game (golf), we are trying to solve an unsolvable game (life). This is endlessly fascinating to me and very much the reason this newsletter exists!
2. Here’s a take: Maybe this makes me an ᗡ˥O, but I don’t understand the upside down and backwards logos.
The BG BLCK LTRS get all the hate, but I feel like the upside down/backwards trend is one we’ll look back on in 10 years and think, “Huh … that was kind of a weird era.”
3. Two tweets that absolutely killed me.
4. Here’s a fun Masters stat I like to dust off every year: In Gary Player's first Masters, he played against Jock Hutchison, who was born in 1884. Here’s is a photo of Jock Hutchison I found on Reddit. And here’s an even better one of him at ANGC.
In Gary Player's last Masters, he played against Rory McIlroy, who was born in 1989 … 105 years after Hutchison was born. A truly remarkable game.
This post will continue for Normal Sport members — who we are now calling and have settled on calling the Normal Club — below, and includes …
My favorite annual Masters stat.
Why 10 is (almost) the best hole at ANGC.
Peter Kostis squaring off against … me?
If you aren’t yet a Normal Sport member, you can sign up at the link below.
If you are, keep reading!
Normal Sport is supported by exactly 607 sickos. By becoming a member, you will receive the following.
• The satisfaction of helping us establish our business.
• The entirety of our behind-the-paywall major championship coverage.
• First access to future merch drops.
• Entry into our first annual Masters contest (more details next week).
By clicking below to join the Normal Club, you will have 1. A lot of explaining to do to your spouse re: your CC statement and also 2. A front row seat to the community and world we’re creating here at Normal Sport.
"This is a sport comprised of millionaires traversing the globe, chasing a tiny white ball among various natural landscapes, adhering to a voluminous book of rules that no sane person can completely understand. Kyle captures the irreverent, joyous collective experience we all share as golf fans and reflects it as well as anyone. While golf (and all of us) walk through complicated times, we should savor this reminder that sports are fun."
"In Normal Sport, Kyle cleverly tells the story of the year in golf through his lens, yet manages to not make the book about himself. Anyone can list off the sequence of events of the last year. But Kyle has a special ability to both identify the most interesting moments to look back on, and at the same time, add his own personal flair that makes your time spent following golf feel worthwhile."
"Normal Sport is a deep retrospective of the golf year disguised as a group text with your buddies. It balances thought-provoking, serious topics with the most ridiculous things that happen in the game we love. It's a must-read then a must-read again."
