Greetings!
I have been in a wrestling match with 1,000 actual hold-them-in-your-hands books for the last week as our house has become a distribution center of sorts for what is our company’s first physical product (outside of merch).
Some notes.
• If you haven’t bought the book — which is a collection of newsletters and illustrations from the 2025 Masters called The Weight of Rory — you can do so right here. It is perhaps timely given that Rory is probably going to win his seventh major this week. 👀
• If you have bought the book, your order has almost certainly shipped. We have a few stragglers as I’m staring at some “can I actually drop a package going to Switzerland at my local USPS where they loathe my presence more than Spieth loathes making par” problems, but eventually those will go out, too.
• If your book has shipped, I may need to apologize for the packaging. My 6-year-old — who I paid $60 for her work — was in charge of parts of the assembly line, which I don’t believe is part of the six sigma best practices.
Actually I refuse to apologize for the packaging because this was a delight for her and an all-time memory for me. (but if there are any damages, please let me know, and I’ll make it right 😂).
• If you ordered the book alongside other merch (hats, shirts etc.), I apologize that it has taken so long to get your gear to you. Those orders are still being processed because I had to receive books and then ship them on to our new distribution center (which changed hands in March).
We presumed that everyone who did this would be OK receiving everything together, but it has taken longer than we would have liked. Sorry for that, and thanks for bearing with us as we continue to work out our system.
• You can just … do things. It is among my favorite parts of being an entrepreneur and trying to make all of this work. You can just write and illustrate and print and publish your own book. Anyone can. It’s difficult and sometimes frustrating and complex, but you can just … do it.
Growing up, I thought the only professions were, like, doctor and astronaut and firefighter and oil and gas executive.
Now? My daughter wants to be an illustrator. My son wants to build video games. Creating is a privilege, and also a reflection of the truth that we have been created. I hope it never becomes less exciting for me than it currently is.
• I signed and put an illustrated insert into the first 100 copies that were ordered (as promised) and attempted to do so for all Normal Club members who ordered a book. If yours shows up without a signature and/or illustrated insert, please let me know!
• Because I think there is some interest in the business part of this: We ordered 1,000 books and sold around 600 of them so far. That’s right around break even for us. A lot of work for something that has generated between -$1,000 and $1,000, but it’s also a thrill to print and publish your own book.
Plus, every book we sell from here on out is profit, and my thesis (hope?) is that as we build up a library of books like this one that are somewhat evergreen, that the library starts to compound over time.
In other words, when Jason and I illustrate and publish a book on Bryson’s YouTube match with Grant Horvat’s son on Mars in 30 years, people will hopefully see this book about 11-time major champion, Rory McIlroy, and buy it as well.
• First person to spot and show me a typo — and there is definitely more than one! — gets a $100 gift card to the pro shop.
• We will be back on Tuesday and Wednesday with a ton of PGA Championship stuff on the newsletter, the podcast (subscribe here) as well as a link to our PGA fantasy contest (for members only). First prize this time is $750, and the overall purse is just over $1,000.
• It’s Blockie Week, baby!
Thank you for being someone who still values reading and writing about this very dumb (but also quite meaningful) sport. It is a dream to get to produce, print and ship my own books alongside my kids, and it’s only possible because people continue to show up.
Grateful for it.
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