DeChambeau forging a new path


Bryson DeChambeau, confident as ever, is chopping up a new style of golf

Technology in golf has come a long way. From the first golf balls being wrapped feathers to artificial intelligently designed club faces, the game has changed significantly over the years. As technology advances and more and more advantages are at the hands of the professional players, can one be blamed for taking advantage of it, to its very ends?

Golf is known to be a sport of tradition. Wear the white leather shoes, collared shirt, straight slacks, and curved bill hat. Be quite on the tee, replace your divot, be courteous around the greens and most of all: play by the rules! Such a traditional sport played by most white men is not subject to change as easily as some other sports.

So when a player like Bryson DeChambeau pops up on the radar of the professional golf galaxy, ears perk up. Ever since 2011, Bryson has been churning the waters of the golf world. In a normal golf bag, the length of the clubs in the bag get shorter from driver to putter. The normal driver length is around 45.5 inches and the average putter length is around 34 inches. Bryson is all about eliminating variables, so he eliminated the variable of length of clubs. For all of his irons and wedges and putter he has the same length of shaft. The idea here is not change the swing from the 3 iron to the wedge. This way he can be more repetitive.

A single plane swing eliminates many variable for the golf swing

The next part of Bryson DeChambeau’s matrix of a golf game is his swing. Most every single swing on the tour is built upon opening and closing the club face. Most take the club back, and on the way the club face opens. The skill is to bring the club face back to where it began; all parts of the body are involved. From the legs to hips to core to chest to shoulders to arms to wrists to fingers, the golf swing is very complicated. Bryson decided to make it easier and eliminate some variables. On his back swing, he does not break his wrists. That means he does not open the club face on the way back. Yes, the club face opens but it is not because of him breaking his wrist like most players. He takes the club straight up and back, keeping his left arm and shoulder incredibly straight and rigid. This keeps him on a single plane. He is able to take the club back and through without leaving his plane. This creates incredible consistency.

Was he the same tank before the pounds?

After eliminating variables, he multiplied the constants in his swing equation. In non-math terms he beefed himself up. Right when quarantine started in March, he saw the perfect opportunity to improve himself without spending loads of time competing with others; he competed with himself. He took what he believed in and maxed it out. He put on over 40 pounds of muscle with a biochemist and now is swinging and hitting the ball with 50 more mph of ball speed.


Kiss that trophy, you deserve it

This is where his fellow golfers and critics all over begin to criticize. The argument is that anyone can put on that much weight and swing that hard. They say he is cheating by making the course so short that it is changing the game. His response is that swinging this hard and hitting the middle of the club face takes skill. Plus, any golfer knows that golf is more of a mental game, so no matter how far he is hitting the ball, he will still have to deal with the golf demons. Which Bryson did not leave out. He has breathing and aggression techniques for his mental game.

Winning at Winged Foot this year at the U.S. Open was perfect proof of what this style of game can produce. Winged Foot is an absolute bear in length and technique. Bryson was able to power through the deep drives and deep rough to grab the win.

He is an example of what happens when you are not afraid to gamble. He gambled on what he was passionate in. If he listened to haters, he would not be a U.S. Open winner. He took what he believed in and ran with it. Or worked out with it, either one.