Bryson DeChambeau - Oy

[Bonvivant]

1 hour ago, billchao said:

For reference, Cameron Champ led the tour with an average 190.7 mph ball speed last year. Bryson averaged 175.4 mph.

This is probably the best stat posted yet when you compare it to this year. He's an absolute monster now, and the distance will pay off for sure if he can keep the rest of his game above tour average (from a SG perspective)

[MiuraMan]

Koepka comments on Bryson.

 

 

[Double Mocha Man]

18 minutes ago, MiuraMan said:

Koepka comments on Bryson.

 

 

I agree.  More power to him... literally.  I just take issue with his slow play.  In his time off he should have been working on his "ready golf", too.  Can touring pros even play "ready golf"???

[MiuraMan]

1 hour ago, Double Mocha Man said:

I agree.  More power to him... literally.  I just take issue with his slow play.  In his time off he should have been working on his "ready golf", too.  Can touring pros even play "ready golf"???

I watched the broadcast's of the last two PGA tournaments and did not see any evidence of slow play on his part; in fact his group was almost always within sight or waiting on the group in front. Do you think his slow play is a thing of the past? Or maybe not having spectators speeds up play for everyone - i.e. Not having to reposition the crowd on wayward shots; not having to wait for the crowds to cross the fairway; waiting for the marshals getting the crowd settled down, etc.

[billchao]

6 minutes ago, MiuraMan said:

I watched the broadcast's of the last two PGA tournaments and did not see any evidence of slow play on his part; in fact his group was almost always within sight or waiting on the group in front. Do you think his slow play is a thing of the past? Or maybe not having spectators speeds up play for everyone - i.e. Not having to reposition the crowd on wayward shots; not having to wait for the crowds to cross the fairway; waiting for the marshals getting the crowd settled down, etc.

I definitely remember him walking off an 80 yard shot and then hitting it 15 yards short.

[boogielicious]

12 hours ago, MiuraMan said:

I watched the broadcast's of the last two PGA tournaments and did not see any evidence of slow play on his part; in fact his group was almost always within sight or waiting on the group in front. Do you think his slow play is a thing of the past? Or maybe not having spectators speeds up play for everyone - i.e. Not having to reposition the crowd on wayward shots; not having to wait for the crowds to cross the fairway; waiting for the marshals getting the crowd settled down, etc.

He is still taking forever to putt, but seems a bit faster.

[Bonvivant]

T-3, T-8, T6......it's definitely working.

[Guest smd]

Is there any suspicion that  Bryson is using Steroids to bulk so fast

[Double Mocha Man]

This is what happens when you try to outdrive Bryson...

 

[boogielicious]

18 hours ago, Double Mocha Man said:

This is what happens when you try to outdrive Bryson...

 

[MiuraMan]

Some comments from a GOLF.COM article after Bryson's win:

John Wood, PGA Tour caddie for Matt Kuchar (@Johnwould😞 Bryson seems to have broken the code for Bryson. And I think he has transferred what has been done at the long driving competitions for a while now to highly competitive golf. I couldn’t be more impressed. I was watching today and thought how economical this type of game is to practice. You practice drivers, wedges, chips and putting. He won’t often have to hit mid-irons, ever. Maybe a couple a day to par-5s. But for the most part, playing the game like he is playing it, and how courses are allowing him to play it through setup, why would you spend the time on fairway woods and hybrids and long/mid-irons when they will be used so seldom.

Sean Zak, senior editor (@Sean_Zak😞 I like what John said. Bryson found Bryson’s template — bomb it a mile, hit easier clubs into greens and if you putt well you’ll win. The difference between his template and other players’ is that his template works better at 80 percent of courses on Tour. That’s the bottom line. It makes it hard to imagine him missing the cut at a cookie-cutter Tour course. Does it work in Scotland? It’s hard to say right now, but across parkland America, he’s going to be dominating if he putts well. 

 

Here is an interesting graphic (from Geoff Shackelford blog post); illustrates the difference between Bryson and the rest of the field at Detroit Golf Club and hole #1

 

Also from a Geoff Shackleford blog post: 

A few stats of note:

• First player in the 16 years of ShotLink and “Strokes Gained” to lead a field in both driving and putting.

• Averaged 350.6 on the eight measuring holes, compared to a field average of 301.5.

• He averaged 329.8 on all drives at tree-lined Detroit Golf Club, compared to the field’s 297.6 average.

• DeChambeau reached 23-under-par to win by three strokes over Matthew Wolff, who started the day three ahead. Wolff hit five more fairways for the week, if that means anything (38/56 to Bryson’s 33/56).

• According to CBS’s Jim Nantz, DeChambeau’s drives Sunday ended up 423 yards longer than playing partner Troy Merritt’s. And 143 yards longer than Wolff’s tee shots on the non-par-3s.

There are, of course, issues that come with all of this madness. In no particular order:

• I get more questions asking if there is drug testing instead of equipment or COVID-19 testing.

• Half of most social media posts regarding DeChambeau descend into unfair character assassination about the naturalness of the weight and strength gain without any evidence this is something other than just hard work and an excessive diet.

• There are undoubtedly kids and parents watching and sending junior to the gym instead of our to play or practice golf. This has always been a risk of allowing golf to become a long drive contest, and now we have an extreme example to inspire a movement.

• Even with CBS having their best production yet, highlighted by some excellent storytelling around the DeChambeau dominance, the sight of driver-wedge golf and 8-irons into par-5s lacks any significant give-and-take between player and course. I’m not saying it’s boring, but there is less satisfaction in watching a course unable to call on a variety of skills.

The obvious question of such a dominant and shocking performance: where do we go from here on the distance debate?

[Bonvivant]

Just now, MiuraMan said:

The obvious question of such a dominant and shocking performance: where do we go from here on the distance debate?

I think this is pretty interesting. I think that it is going to shift from "modern equipment makes the ball go too far" to "I don't like Bryson, he is ruining the game!"

I wouldn't be surprised if his worst finish the rest of the year is still in the top 15.

[saevel25]

I think the debate is going to be on there being a risk-reward for these the long distance drives. If there isn't a sufficient risk, then there probably needs to be some sort of pulling back on the forgiveness of a driver or the distance. We have to define what is sufficient risk. 

[Bonvivant]

47 minutes ago, saevel25 said:

I think the debate is going to be on there being a risk-reward for these the long distance drives. If there isn't a sufficient risk, then there probably needs to be some sort of pulling back on the forgiveness of a driver or the distance. We have to define what is sufficient risk. 

What if there is only one guy where the reward outweighs the risk, and for the rest of everyone else they are playing safe?

[saevel25]

12 minutes ago, Bonvivant said:

What if there is only one guy where the reward outweighs the risk, and for the rest of everyone else they are playing safe?

I get that. I am not for or against rolling back distance or decreasing MOI or what not. If the equipment is at the point were golfers can successfully hit it that far with very little risk then is it truly a skill? Maybe they need to look at Bryson's impact consistency when he swings that fast. Is it truly his skill at swinging that fast with a lot of precision or is he getting away with missing the sweet spot? There needs to be more investigation on it. 

[Bonvivant]

2 minutes ago, saevel25 said:

If the equipment is at the point were golfers can successfully hit it that far with very little risk then is it truly a skill?

Look at the greats among all sports. Of course it is. And I don't think that the "golfers" are that many, and Wolffe and Dechambeau seem to be in a class of their own. Of course Rory and DJ (could throw a couple others in here but you get the point) can hit it that far sometimes, but with Wolffe and Dechambeau it is literally every time.

[saevel25]

22 minutes ago, Bonvivant said:

Look at the greats among all sports. Of course it is. And I don't think that the "golfers" are that many, and Wolffe and Dechambeau seem to be in a class of their own. Of course Rory and DJ (could throw a couple others in here but you get the point) can hit it that far sometimes, but with Wolffe and Dechambeau it is literally every time.

Again they need to measure his actual accuracy at hitting the sweet spot. Maybe there needs to be a discussion on what should be the sweet spot. We are just giving him credit with out any evidence that maybe some of this is from technology. I would like this looked at more. 

[ShawnSum]

3 hours ago, MiuraMan said:

The obvious question of such a dominant and shocking performance: where do we go from here on the distance debate?

I don't think we go anywhere with the debate. It's ONE (very unique) guy doing something that I would wager the rest of the PGA Tour have absolutely ZERO interest in doing/maintaining. Who else is going to work as hard as Bryson has in the gym? Who else is going to force feed themselves 6-8 times a day to hit the high caloric intake needed to maintain the amount of mass he's put on? Who else has the IQ to even do what he's doing? 

I'm just not buying into this whole "BrYsOn iS cHaNgInG" how golf will be played thing. I'm in the camp of thinking that Bryson will go down in golf history as being a very unique and determined individual who played the game how he wanted.

I also think the debate of modified equipment is dumb. What are they going to do, make a golf ball for all the 280-300 guys to still let them hit that distance and then make a different golf ball for increments of 10/20 yards for the rest so that they are tuned back down to 280-300? Then make "SuPeR" special balls for guys like Rory, Champ, Wolff, etc? Then on top of that are they going to make a "SuPeR dUpEr" special ball for the Kraken Slaying God of a Man himself AKA BRYSON "THE HOUSE" DeCHAMBEAU??? Give me a break...