Greetings,
What a weird and sad day in the golf world. I had written a bunch of other silly and ridiculous things that then were obviously usurped by the news of Dan Hicks’ death.
I feel … rattled.
I didn’t know Dan, was not around him in any of my jobs in golf. But he was such a part of the fabric of my (our) golf existence (watching golf on TV and writing about it) that the news makes me feel like I did know him.
This probably means that he was good at his job.
I am sad for his family, both actual and professional. Nothing sobers us up more quickly to the fact that none of all this stupid LIV, strokes gained, Ryder Cup or green jacket stuff matters than the death of someone meaningful to the world that we are in.
Name drops today: Dan Hicks.
Today’s newsletter is presented by Turtlebox.
Their Cub speaker has been my go-to of late, mostly because my kids have taken all the Rangers and the Original (Gen 3) usually stays in the car for baseball practice.
Also, the Cub is just easier to move around but without losing much (any?) of the oomph of the Original. I have no idea if that’s in their copy, but that’s what I think whenever I use it or take it places.
One of my favorite things about Turtlebox is how patient they are with their rollouts. They don’t get out over their skis [raises hand] and release 500 different types and styles of speakers.
They do what they do, perfect it and then move on to the next one. The Cub is the latest iteration in this journey and it’s worth a look going into the holiday season. One of those purchases that you look back on and think, Why didn’t I do that a year ago?
And now, onto the news.
1. I always loved Dan Hicks’ voice and thought he was quite underrated as a lead play-by-play guy. Any sport. Track, golf, swimming, all of it.
You’ll see the Tiger 2008 call all over the internet today, but the one I’ll remember him for was actually a few months later at the 2008 Beijing Olympics.
I’ll never forget where I was when this race happened. I’ll never forget watching it. I’ve watched it 500 times since August 2008. I may watch it 500 more times today.
Here’s the ending.
It’s the crack in his voice at 0:37 that does it for me. On the “right now.” The rest of the call is the stuff of legend and is expertly capped with, “UNBELIEVABLE AT THE END!”
Man, I get chills watching it every single time. It was perfect.
I told someone today that the best thing about Hicks is that it always felt like he was talking across to you rather than down at you. There seems to be a consensus both behind the scenes and in front of them: Dan will be missed by everyone in golf.
[Jason here] Hearing the sad news about Dan Hicks made me think back to one of my favorite broadcast moments, the bat in the booth at the 2025 Open. As I’m rewatching that clip now (and you should too) of Hicks and Kisner bobbing and weaving, with the feeling that Dan Hicks just passed away, all I can think is “have fun.”
Have as much stupid, laughable fun as possible.
2. Remember six months ago when one of the primary talking points was the lack of young American stars. And since then, we’ve gotten the twirl of a lifetime at the Presidents Cup.
And in addition to that, Ben James, who …
And Blades Brown (!), who last week became the youngest PGA Tour winner since the Great Depression was barely a year old.
Throw in Michael Brennan winning in Japan, and you have four of the five highest-ranked players in the world under the age of 25 (also just one European in that group 👀). Those four Americans are all also ranked inside the top 50 in the world.
Now all of a sudden, is it crazy to think that this could be your team at Adare Manor?
Scottie
Burns
Morikawa
Xander
Gotterup
Blades
James*
Koivun
Cam Young
Cantlay
Wyndham
Henley
Or something in that realm. And doesn’t that excite you more than what the U.S. has been trotting out there of late? Things change quickly in golf, and now we go into 2027 with some real juice around young potential American stars and superstars. Not all of them will pan out in terms of the current trajectory they’re on, but it’s likely that at least one of them will, which is extremely thrilling to think about.
*[Jason here] It cracks to list James as a one name guy. Even after seeing that graphic above, I read James and thought, “Who?! LeBron?!”
3. Amazing (and true) tweet.
Me reading this three times in a row …
Only half?!
4. Do you agree with this ranking?
I haven’t tried all of them or even most of them probably, so I’m ignoring things like Xbox ultimate and ChatGPT Go. But here are my biggest qualms …
• Put Spotify in the top tier.* Same for Prime.
• Move Apple TV down a tier.
• Switch Claude pro and Claude max.
• I would actually move Netflix down a tier, too. It’s kind of low-key stinky.
• Twitter premium is top line for me (not for everyone though).
• YouTube TV in burning money?! That’s tier 1 or 2 for me!
• Unfortunately agree on ESPN, though I would move it to “only if you use it” because I do use it a lot for golf.
Send thoughts!
*[Jason here with thoughts] Spotify can only be top tier if they fairly pay their artists.
This post will continue below for Normal Club members (all 1,050 of them) and includes the Carnoustie announcement, Bryson thoughts and one characteristic that I think is most important in adulthood …
5. Well this is a fascinating debate.
Not the LIV part. The LIV part is pretty straightforward, but I think the debate about whether the golf world is in a better spot is fascinating.
On one hand, LIV forced the Tour to innovate and hire Brian Rolapp and 100 other things that may or may not have happened if LIV didn’t exist. On the other hand, Andrew Putnam made $2 million this year.
My biggest fear now is that because it’s so psychologically and culturally difficult to go backwards in terms of how much money you make at your job, Rolapp is going to have to keep pressing forward as it relates to making more and more money to increase the purses as much as possible.
That could lead to the fracturing of TV contracts (literally what he was in charge of at the NFL) and lots of other “yeah, we’re doing this for the money” endeavors that are not actually great for fans (like going to big cities but stinky courses just because of sponsor money).
On the other other hand, the PGA Tour does have Brian Rolapp.
And while I know this is not a PGA Tour-specific question that JLM is asking, so much of the health of the golf world is dependent on the health of the PGA Tour. I’m not sure I know what my official answer is, but it’s one I’ll be thinking about for a while.
6. Carnoustie in 2029. The R&A does it right by rolling out major venues 2-4 years in advance instead of … checks notes …
The R&A model engenders so much more excitement because it provides actual context to today’s golf instead of announcing venues that Koivun might be retired for.
Carnoustie rocks, too, even if its winners list has been a bit odd.
Opens before 1999 …
• Armour
• Cotton
• Hogan
• Player
• Watson
Sick!
Opens since 1999 …
• Lawrie
• Harrington
• Molinari
This meme comes to mind.
Still, I’m excited to go Old Course —> Lytham —> Carnoustie. I would love to at some point get Muirfield back in the mix. It’s only had two since 1992, and they’ve both been great ones. Here’s what Shack said recently about why Muirfield is being boxed out.
The Senior Open seems like another way to keep Muirfield in the “rota” while golf’s two oldest and most important continuously-operated clubs tussle over issues. The R&A is believed to desire design changes be made to help the course most beloved by players as-is accommodate more spectators. The primary issue centers around the practice area becoming outdated for today’s jocks.
A proposal calling for reworking several holes on the proven gem appears to be a key sticking point. The club, at least so far, has resisted touching its links for one week of golf every decade, or in the current case, two decades.
Geoff Shackelford
A bummer for sure but also an issue that seems fairly easy to solve.
7. Joel Beall is as good of a golf writer as there is in the world. This on Bryson is terrific, but Bryson is really just a trojan horse to talk about the future of the PGA Tour.
The Tour certainly has a massive decision in front of it right now, and as with most things in life, the best answer is probably the toughest one. The one in the middle. The one not on either extreme. Like Beall noted, what they decide will be telling.
It would be surprising to me if Rolapp folded under Bryson’s pressure. He seems like very much a “the product is all that matters” guy. Although … maybe not.
Regardless, I think this is the story of the offseason. Not in terms of hype going into 2027 — there are plenty of other that should and will get more shine. But in terms of what actually happens over the next few months, I’m completely fascinated. You could talk me into anything. YouTube. Euro Tour. Mena Tour. Barnstorming YouTube events with Horvat. Literally anything is believable right now when it comes to Bryson.
8. The older I get, the more convinced I am that gratitude and humility are the two most important character qualities. I was reminded of that on Thursday morning while watching Dubai. Rory was interviewed after his round and asked about how he’s maintained longevity. A long pause.
And then he launched into this answer.
I don't know. I mean, I've never lost my enthusiasm for the game. This game can sort of beat you down at times and make you quite cynical, and I've never let it get to me like that. I've seen maybe some others throughout the years where it has gotten to them a little bit. I've always tried to be grateful that I get to play this game for a living. And yeah, I think that gratitude and that enthusiasm to go to the golf course and compete every day, I've never lost that. And hopefully I never will lose that until I decide to hang 'em up.
Rory McIlroy
You can watch the whole thing starting at about 0:55 in this video. It’s worth watching.
I would maybe push back a bit on not losing his enthusiasm to compete every day. Even earlier this year, Rory seemed pretty tired of playing the PGA Tour.
But I wholly embrace the bigger picture idea that he’s never lost his gratitude. I’ve written it 1 million times, but Rory is such a unique historical golf figure. So great but also so grounded. Not always, of course. But more than you would expect.
It’s something I preach to my kids. Gratitude. Are you grateful that you can run and play sports? That you have a neighborhood full of good friends and adults who care about you? That you have running water? Food in abundance? The ability to read any book that has ever been written?
They don’t, of course, because they can’t. Heck, I don’t do it all the time either, and the four of them combined are my age right now. But when they have the capacity to do so, I hope they will. Gratitude is where joy can be found. Even (and maybe especially) on difficult days in the golf world like this one.
Thank you as always for supporting Normal Sport. In a world obsessed with constantly churning out more and more and more, we are laboring to slow down and build things that are meaningful to both us and the people who receive them.
Greetings,
What a weird and sad day in the golf world. I had written a bunch of other silly and ridiculous things that then were obviously usurped by the news of Dan Hicks’ death.
I feel … rattled.
I didn’t know Dan, was not around him in any of my jobs in golf. But he was such a part of the fabric of my (our) golf existence (watching golf on TV and writing about it) that the news makes me feel like I did know him.
This probably means that he was good at his job.
I am sad for his family, both actual and professional. Nothing sobers us up more quickly to the fact that none of all this stupid LIV, strokes gained, Ryder Cup or green jacket stuff matters than the death of someone meaningful to the world that we are in.
Name drops today: Dan Hicks.
Today’s newsletter is presented by Turtlebox.
Their Cub speaker has been my go-to of late, mostly because my kids have taken all the Rangers and the Original (Gen 3) usually stays in the car for baseball practice.
Also, the Cub is just easier to move around but without losing much (any?) of the oomph of the Original. I have no idea if that’s in their copy, but that’s what I think whenever I use it or take it places.
One of my favorite things about Turtlebox is how patient they are with their rollouts. They don’t get out over their skis [raises hand] and release 500 different types and styles of speakers.
They do what they do, perfect it and then move on to the next one. The Cub is the latest iteration in this journey and it’s worth a look going into the holiday season. One of those purchases that you look back on and think, Why didn’t I do that a year ago?
And now, onto the news.
1. I always loved Dan Hicks’ voice and thought he was quite underrated as a lead play-by-play guy. Any sport. Track, golf, swimming, all of it.
You’ll see the Tiger 2008 call all over the internet today, but the one I’ll remember him for was actually a few months later at the 2008 Beijing Olympics.
I’ll never forget where I was when this race happened. I’ll never forget watching it. I’ve watched it 500 times since August 2008. I may watch it 500 more times today.
Here’s the ending.
It’s the crack in his voice at 0:37 that does it for me. On the “right now.” The rest of the call is the stuff of legend and is expertly capped with, “UNBELIEVABLE AT THE END!”
Man, I get chills watching it every single time. It was perfect.
I told someone today that the best thing about Hicks is that it always felt like he was talking across to you rather than down at you. There seems to be a consensus both behind the scenes and in front of them: Dan will be missed by everyone in golf.
[Jason here] Hearing the sad news about Dan Hicks made me think back to one of my favorite broadcast moments, the bat in the booth at the 2025 Open. As I’m rewatching that clip now (and you should too) of Hicks and Kisner bobbing and weaving, with the feeling that Dan Hicks just passed away, all I can think is “have fun.”
Have as much stupid, laughable fun as possible.
2. Remember six months ago when one of the primary talking points was the lack of young American stars. And since then, we’ve gotten the twirl of a lifetime at the Presidents Cup.
And in addition to that, Ben James, who …
And Blades Brown (!), who last week became the youngest PGA Tour winner since the Great Depression was barely a year old.
Throw in Michael Brennan winning in Japan, and you have four of the five highest-ranked players in the world under the age of 25 (also just one European in that group 👀). Those four Americans are all also ranked inside the top 50 in the world.
Now all of a sudden, is it crazy to think that this could be your team at Adare Manor?
Scottie
Burns
Morikawa
Xander
Gotterup
Blades
James*
Koivun
Cam Young
Cantlay
Wyndham
Henley
Or something in that realm. And doesn’t that excite you more than what the U.S. has been trotting out there of late? Things change quickly in golf, and now we go into 2027 with some real juice around young potential American stars and superstars. Not all of them will pan out in terms of the current trajectory they’re on, but it’s likely that at least one of them will, which is extremely thrilling to think about.
*[Jason here] It cracks to list James as a one name guy. Even after seeing that graphic above, I read James and thought, “Who?! LeBron?!”
3. Amazing (and true) tweet.
Me reading this three times in a row …
Only half?!
4. Do you agree with this ranking?
I haven’t tried all of them or even most of them probably, so I’m ignoring things like Xbox ultimate and ChatGPT Go. But here are my biggest qualms …
• Put Spotify in the top tier.* Same for Prime.
• Move Apple TV down a tier.
• Switch Claude pro and Claude max.
• I would actually move Netflix down a tier, too. It’s kind of low-key stinky.
• Twitter premium is top line for me (not for everyone though).
• YouTube TV in burning money?! That’s tier 1 or 2 for me!
• Unfortunately agree on ESPN, though I would move it to “only if you use it” because I do use it a lot for golf.
Send thoughts!
*[Jason here with thoughts] Spotify can only be top tier if they fairly pay their artists.
This post will continue below for Normal Club members (all 1,050 of them) and includes the Carnoustie announcement, Bryson thoughts and one characteristic that I think is most important in adulthood …
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