There are those with an overwhelming natural charm, those who don’t need charisma to dazzle the masses thanks to their magical game, those who charm fans with their eccentricities on and off the course… and then there is Bryson DeChambeau, a curious specimen who could be catalogued as the most interesting golfer in the world today.
And what virtues does this young man from Dallas, barely 25 years old and professional since 2016, who is fifth in the world ranking and has five victories on the PGA Tour, four of them since last June, treasure?
Well, of course, there are many, but there is one that stands out above the rest: his nonconformism. Bryson is a golfer who does not conform to the status quo and fights hard for his convictions. It was thanks to his character of indefatigable warrior that he never got discouraged or threw in the towel until he finally got what he wanted, even if it meant a revolution in the often too immobile world of golf.
An idea of his steely character is given by an event he starred in when he was in high school and, to avoid his parents having to spend the $200 it cost for a Physics book he was very interested in, he borrowed it from the library and copied its 180 pages. “By doing so, I was able to understand things much better.”
His passion for physics (he later went to university) is as great as his passion for golf. Bryson had a spectacular career as an amateur and became the world’s leading golfer. fifth player in history to win the US Amateur and NCAA (National Collegiate Athletic Association) titles in the same year, joining the likes of Jack Nicklaus, Phil Mickelson, Tiger Woods and Ryan Moore.
And in 2016 he made another splash when, while still an amateur and competing against pros at the Australian Masters, he finished second to Peter Senior.
Bryson, son of one of California’s top amateur golfers, turned pro after playing in the 2016 Augusta Masters, a tournament he was invited to because he was the then reigning U.S. Amateur champion.
DeChambeau, who defines himself as “a golf scientist” (he is known by the nickname ‘the Nutty Scientist’), apart from his excellent sporting results, became famous for having developed unique irons.
There were several revolutionary changes that the young Californian applied to his clubs. For example, each of his irons, whether it’s a 3-iron or a wedge, measures the same, 37.5 inches, as a 6-iron. And then there’s the grip, a strikingly thick grip that holds more using the palms of his hands than his fingers. It looks more like a racquet grip than a golf club grip.
Another thing: all irons have the same angle of the shaft with respect to the club head, very closed, so that the shaft comes out very vertical from the club head. This uniformity also conditions its swing, very vertical.
His ‘strange creatures’ help him to keep the same posture, the same position, everything the same, and – it is obvious – they give him a very good performance.
Bryson got the idea for these peculiar clubs from the book “The Golfing Machine,” which Homer Kelly, a Seattle aircraft mechanic, published in 1969 with his own money.
A California golf professor, Mike Schy, read the book and was intrigued by Kelly’s theory of “linearly oriented geometric force” and the impact it could have on a golf ball.
Bryson worked with his coach to refine the clubs and adapt them to his game. “It’s a long story, but long story short I chose the variation of the golf machine that would allow me to swing on the same plane,” the player explained at the time.
“And then,” he continued, “I realized I couldn’t do it with a wedge and a 3-iron because it would involve changing my body movements. It didn’t make sense, so I said to myself: why don’t we do them all with the same angle and the same size?”.
And so the revolution was born. Bryson told his father when he was still in high school: “I think I can change the game of golf. And he’s at it.
.
SPECIAL LANGUAGE
DeChambeau’s peculiarities are not limited to his curious inventions, but also extend to some of his statements, in which he introduces words not often found in the interventions of his playing colleagues or in which he provides a scientific version of the issues. A clear example was when he explained the reasons why he had decided to retire from the Valspar Championship last March. It was when he delved into the details of his injury that things got interesting.
“It was because my quadratus lumborum wasn’t working. My iliacs, longissimus thoracis, were overworked if you want me to be technical about it,” DeChambeau said. “They weren’t working very well and I overworked them. My lower right back was really sore and I rested it – how about that?”
After his September victory at the Dell Technologies Championship, when asked how much he could improve, DeChambeau made another of his peculiar statements: “Man, in a nutshell, in simple terms, yes, absolutely, you can always improve. How much? I would say it depends on what I can do in the constraints of my biomechanics. So, it’s about air, air tolerances and being able to be more or less sensitive to air. Then, when you feel like you’re making a mistake, it’s not going to be as big of a mistake. I hope it makes sense.” The truth is that the journalists looked at each other with a dumbfounded look on their faces: no one made sense of such a convoluted statement by the ‘mad scientist’.
.
IN SHORT
– The Ben Hogan style cap that Bryson wears is a garment that he has used since he bought a similar one in a pro-shop when he was 13 years old. Since then it has been faithful to him and is another of the symbols that characterize him.
– Bryson is peculiar even when he signs autographs. He has the rare ability -achieved with many hours of practice- that he can sign them with his left hand (he is right-handed) writing them in reverse, from back to front.
– His restless brain is constantly on the boil trying to discover new things that will improve his golf performance. And the mental ferment goes back a long way: at the age of 6 he was a prodigy in mathematics and was beginning to flirt with algebra.
– Has Bryson inventions for all situations. To calculate the drops and read the green, he uses his “vector putting” method. So don’t be surprised when you see him consult his yardage book before he puts his putter to work on the green.
-Bryson has announced that, taking advantage of the rule change that will allow it in 2019, he will leave the flag in the hole when he kicks in some tournaments. He will do so when the mast is fiberglass and he feels it will favor the bounce of the ball.
– Bryson does not neglect his artistic vein either and has become a master in the technique of dot drawing, which allows pictorial compositions to be made by creating thousands of dots on the canvas.
Leave a Reply