Greetings to all. It’s been too long. Let’s get right into it.
Name drops today: Naval (sure), Ezra Klein, Zach Lowe, Rory’s pants, Troy Aikman (as Patrick Reed), Sam Bankman-Fried and two Petes (Hegseth and Pistol).
Truly the newsletter that has it all.
Today’s newsletter is presented by Garmin.
Orange is the new official color of October. Thanks to Eugenio. Thanks to … fall.
While you’re out searching for the perfect pumpkin (shout out to one of my favorite books as a kid), think about picking up something else orange as well.
Like Garmin’s Fenix 9 Pro. The Fenix 9 Pro has so many features for so many sports that some of them sound made up. You be the judge of what’s real.
31 days battery life in smartwatch mode.
Yardages to layups and doglegs.
43,000 preloaded golf courses.
Virtual caddie gives dispersion based on your shot history with a club.
A voice feature that shouts “don’t blade it!” in your backswing.
Swing tempo training - backswing time divided by the downswing time.
There are so many reasons why Breaking 80 Sean calls it the best golf watch he’s ever used and why you should consider one when picking out that Pistol Pete pumpkin.
The Fenix 9 Pro is (speaking of Oklahoma State things) on the “Viktor Hovland range accessories” end of Garmin’s products. And they truly have something for nearly every outdoor activity you can think of.
And now, onto the news.
1. This by Brody Miller on Scottie’s willingness to eschew money for freedom and independence is excellent. Reminds me of this from Naval.
It is very refreshing to see a modern superduperstar (not a star or superstar but a superduperstar all-time great) look around and say, Yeah but why? Why do I need another $2 million? Why do I need another sponsor? I have enough.
This is rare, and it is aspirational. A position of privilege, for sure, but also others in that position of privilege aren’t saying it or doing it (see: Spieth’s quotes in that Brody piece).
It is also instructive to those of us who aren’t making $50 million a year playing golf. We (I) say we (I) don’t value money over freedom, independence and time. But my Google Calendar tells a different story. My time spent at my desk tells a different story.
I am convinced that all of us will look back at some point and wonder why we tried to accomplish marginally more. Why we attempted to earn an extra 5 percent. Instead of just being satisfied with what we had. I am convinced that you cannot put a price on living a life where you have true independence.
I was walking in my neighborhood up to the gym at 11:30 a.m. on Thursday because why not? And I was thinking about how you could not 5x my salary and convince me to go into a world where I gave up that independence. Again, privilege. And something I consider a lot and am immensely grateful for. I’m glad to see Scottie do the same.
2. Newsletters are dead. Fair. Maybe even true.
But a human connection built on years of consistency and personal sharing in a way that brings about joy? Will always be undefeated.
The medium (constantly) changes. The human condition (always) stays the same.
3. Extremely normal sport.
4. In response to my “Spieth is Texas A&M” post last week, I got this excellent email from a reader. The end was too good.
Standards are high.
Maybe hyped on itself a bit too much.
Wants to be one of the big dogs soooo bad.
We’re not shocked if they pick off a big one here and there.
Big expectations still.
Lotta money for a “meh” end product.
Likely to be seen with Pete Hegseth.
A&M is Bryson.
This post will continue below for Normal Club members (all 1,050 of them) and includes what we’ve been working on during the “offseason,” some AI notes, a bit on sports gambling, the SBF lookalike game and the best golf tweets of the last week.
By becoming a member, you will receive the following …
• Access to 100 percent of our content this week.
• An invite to our Slack channel where we watch and talk golf together.
• A free digital copy of our Rory book.
• 15% off to our pro shop.
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.
Normal Sport is exploratory, sometimes emotional, always entertaining. It also has one of my favorite writers in the biz at its foundation.
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!
Few make the sport feel as fun and as thought provoking.
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.
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.
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 is the best columnist in sports. That he has channeled those talents through strokes gained and Spieth memes is a blessing to golf.
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!
It's a treasure trove of the important, the seemingly important, and — importantly! — the unimportant stuff. It's an asset in my inbox.
Kyle approaches coverage of the game with both conviction and curiosity
Kyle is a perfect curator of the necessary moments of levity that accent a sport that will drive most of us insane.
.svg){kind=spacer}
