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Issue No. 225 | July 4, 2025 | Read Online
To celebrate July 4th weekend, I have a few thoughts on golf this week. By the way, I’m told the above image is me at the fireworks stand trying to place an order: “Got any of them nippy spinners, mud balls, yippy doos, yippy donts, Phil bombs, shanksy daisies, hosel rockets, or Whistin Straits?!”
Me, seeing that illustration and note from Jason …
Anyway, we’ll get to my thoughts, but two Normal Sport-adjacent items real quick.
1. Our web designer/brand strategy person just left his full time job and started his own business. His name is Jeff Smith, and if you enjoy how our website or branding has been done and you run a business that needs web design/solutions, you should contact him (jeff at normalsport dot com). He is the best.
2. Golf is Art 3 is out and for sale. It’s amazing. My friend Jeff Marsh tells some extraordinary golf stories throughout photography all over the world, and he graciously invited me to write the foreword for it. He’s giving NS newsletter readers 15 percent off when you use the code normalsport at checkout.
Also, if you’re thinking of purchasing it, just join the Normal Club instead. I will buy one for each of the next 10 people who become members.
Today’s newsletter is presented by Precision Pro.
Here at Normal Sport we can’t get enough of the machinery dotting the John Deere Classic (and The Big Green Egg Open on the Ladies European Tour, while we’re on the subject). What an insane and playful feature.
We’d like to see more of it in pro golf, starting with the Titan Elite.
Precision Pro sent this email last week: Feature Friday - Indestructible design and why it matters. This is absolutely begging for an oversized feature like they have at the John Deere!
They continued.
When is the last time you did this to your rangefinder?
Tossed it in the cart.
Threw it on the ground.
Accidentally dropped it.
Ran over it with the golf cart.
Played in the rain.
Left it in a humid car overnight.
Can you imagine … folks taking sledgehammers to a Titan Elite device the size of a small building? Kids riding slides inside of an oversized range finder? Just abusing it to see how it functions in any and all elements.
When we host a Tour event someday, we’ll make it happen.
OK, now onto the news.
Let’s get right to it.
1. This Estonian kid making it in The Open on this shot is ridiculous. Golf rules. Imagine a college basketball player playing in the NBA Finals based on what he did in a few pickup games over the summer after his junior year.
That’s not exactly this, but it’s also not that far away from this.
You’ve maybe seen people use the phrase “You can just … make stuff” as it relates to entrepreneurship. I think the same about golf.
“You can just … play your way into The Open.” Amazing.
2. I’ve been thinking about this clip of Scottie talking about what a proper test looks like. He said players just want a golf course that rewards good shots and punishes bad ones. But he also says it’s weird that fans want to see players look like amateurs. He noted that this doesn’t happen in other sports. That nobody wants the tennis ball to go slower so that pros look more like us normies.
Bad news from Andy Murray, Scottie …
But I agree with JLM’s take on all of this, which is I think what Scottie was trying to say (?) as well. I think fans and pros are on the same page here. Not all fans, but a lot.
Per the usual, I blame par for all of this. People see a score to par and immediately make a judgement on whether a course is a good test or not. What if par was 68 instead of 70? What if Keegan won the Travelers at -7 instead of -15?
I think that would help the perception, even if — as Scottie noted — it wouldn’t really change how the golf course tested players.
The bigger picture and longer term issue is that it gets more and more difficult to test good and bad shots as equipment gets more and more out of control. When you can fly anything that’s considered trouble, it’s like skipping to the end of the test and just answering the essay question. If you get it right, all the multiple choice and short answer before that are counted as correct also.
Bad for test taking, even if it’s good for the test taker.
3. You guys know I love some satisfying separation on a leaderboard, and someone sent me this one from the Senior U.S. Open last week. It’s as good as I’ve seen. Eight unique positions. Six different countries. One and eight separated by nine shots.
It’s beautiful.
This post will continue below for Normal Club members and includes …
A cool tennis-golf crossover equipment convo.
One of my favorite books of late.
The PGA at … Kapalua?
If you aren’t yet a Normal Club member, you can sign up right here.
If you are, keep reading!
Normal Sport is supported by exactly 947 crazed individuals. By becoming a member, you will receive the following …
• Our very best stuff during majors.
• The delight of helping us establish this business.
• A first look at our new gear.
Normal Sport is exploratory, ometimes emotional, always entertaining. It also has one of my favorite writers in the biz at its foundation.
Kyle is one of the best in the golf world at finding and synthesizing the absurd, the thoughtful and the fun things that make being a golf fan worthwhile.
Kyle's content is a product of a sick sense of humour, a clear passion for golf and unquestionable dedication to hard work. That's not normal!
Kyle sees golf in a way that no one else does—and we're all fortunate to get to share in that view through Normal Sport!
Kyle is a perfect curator of the necessary moments of levity that accent a sport that will drive most of us insane.
Few make the sport feel as fun and as thought provoking.
The way Kyle has been able to mold a silly Twitter joke (normal sport) into a must-read newsletter on the weekly happenings in our silly game gives a great look into why he's one of the smartest people in golf.
Kyle is the best columnist in sports. That he has channeled those talents through strokes gained and Spieth memes is a blessing to golf.
I’ve always enjoyed your love for golf. So often I see favoritism showed to golfers in the social media world, but I enjoy reading you telling a situation how it is regardless of the person.
Kyle approaches coverage of the game with both conviction and curiosity
There’s been no one else in golf that has tickled my funny bone as often as Kyle Porter does. He’s been instrumental in ushering in a new era of golf coverage and it’s been a pleasure to be along for the ride in that.
It's a treasure trove of the important, the seemingly important, and — importantly! — the unimportant stuff. It's an asset in my inbox.
