garyt1957 It's amazing how that's become a secondary thing. I watched quite a bit of the coverage and I only heard them mention the single length irons once and that was today and it was about him seeing Bobby Jones clubs and they were single length. It's all about the power now, the bulk, the protein shakes,etc. If you just started watching golf you wouldn't likely even know he's playing SL.
That was my weak attempt at humor.
DC300 He’s the class of the field, you want to deny it? Show me who has done more At this point in their career and still is remotely competitive.
Please, he is 27 and has only won what, 6-7 tournaments. Never ranked #1, and this is his 1st Major. No FedEx championships, not much, really, on the resume when compared to others his age. You compare him to Watson, a has been, who is 41 yrs. old and has only won 14 Pro tournaments(some as a team). Bad choice for a comparison. And Bubba is still ahead of him in wins. May well be forever. Try a comparison within his age group, say Justin Thomas.
Bryson is swinging some heavy lumber that will take the toll some day. I would never get so high on this guy. jmo These kids will not be around as the "journeymen" in later years. Hell, some won't make it to 30!
I give him a ton of credit for his conviction to doing things his way. Not sure how long his body will hold up with all that weight and stress on the joints. He's fun to watch now, tho.
I'll give Bryson his due. Not a fan but he did what he had to do.
BTW Bryson is using LDA type of driver swing and going to a longer playing length is in keeping with that theme and his tinkering. 5 deg. loft tees ball way up. I'd like to know his AofA and launch angle.
I don't know why everyone is so focused on Bryson's length, his ability to make putts....and Wolff's inability
to make anything (except for the eagle on 9 which was a moot point) is what won DeChambeau
the hardware. IMO
There's always plenty of room for perspective, for sure. It's easy to jump on bandwagons, and it's just as easy to write players off after they've been out of the limelight for a few years. We forget that as dominant as Tiger was during an 11 year stretch, someone other than him won 78% of the time he was competing. Longevity was always going to be a concern with him, as he entered the tour back in '96 or '97 as this freak of nature, this skinny kid who was blasting it 20-30 yards beyond even the longer hitters back at that time. Butch Harmon did everything he knew to do to try to get Tiger to throttle back, but Tiger wasn't interested in softening his swing aggression. And who could blame him? His length certainly gave him a huge advantage. But it did come at a price long-term.
The same can be said of other players. Jason Day is one of the more recent players that come to mind.
But who could possibly blame Bryson for adapting to the bomb-and-gouge era? Obviously the longer hitters have a huge advantage today. That doesn't automatically move them to the top of the favored-to-win list, but with non-US Open type setups where there is little risk and huge reward? It is what it is. And it's been this way for a fairly long while now, its not like this distance obsession is a new fad. Tiger changed the game when he burst onto the scene, and the Tour recognizes the value of their players entertaining the fans. After all - sports are essentially an extension of the entertainment industry! If we didn't find what they do impressively entertaining, we'd have little to talk about!
All that said, Bryson would do well to capitalize on his physical ability while he can, if he plans on staying the course with his "all or nothing" approach, that is. Once the injuries start occurring, that window of opportunity starts to close rather quickly.
Then again, who cares more about longevity than winning now these days? These guys are backing armored trucks up to their garage and unloading millions. Who needs to dominate for a decade or longer when they can amass that kind of coin in half that time?
The purses today have compelled some of us to move the goal posts quite significantly regarding what we once considered the true definition of a "great" player. It used to be that we would consider the entirety of a career to come to that conclusion, not just a 3-4 year window of pocket-lining dominance.
PA-PLAYA The purses today have compelled some of us to move the goal posts quite significantly regarding what we once considered the true definition of a "great" player. It used to be that we would consider the entirety of a career to come to that conclusion, not just a 3-4 year window of pocket-lining dominance.
Like an NFL running back. Signing bonus, maybe 6 years of pounding it hard at $millions/year, retire, go fishing!
scotts33 I'll give Bryson his due. Not a fan but he did what he had to do.
Same here. Not a fan. Bryson was the best player in the field this week and showed great touch and intelligent play all the way through. I had doubts about his mental strength and he proved me wrong for doubting. As seems to happen very often for the U.S. Open winner in a given year his ability to make the 4 - 10 ft. putts consistently was great throughout the week. Whether he had an exceptional week in that dept. or if it is something he'll be able to repeat over the years remains to be seen. Hail to the U.S. Open champion of 2020.
darpar I don't know why everyone is so focused on Bryson's length, his ability to make putts....and Wolff's inability
to make anything (except for the eagle on 9 which was a moot point) is what won DeChambeau
the hardware. IMO
You're exactly right.
I'll add something else. With his 37.5" wedges, he can get a ton of speed on swings out of the rough. I bet that helped a lot. The rough didn't cause him much trouble.
Man, I have two sets of SL irons I have to get built and onto eBay. right now.
DonM I'll add something else. With his 37.5" wedges, he can get a ton of speed on swings out of the rough. I bet that helped a lot. The rough didn't cause him much trouble.
I think Don hit on something there with the longer SL wedges and short irons. It would take the majority a long time to adjust to this without his upright single plane swing.
BTW as to telecast and announcers not talking much about Bryson's SL club use it's more appropriate IMO to talk about Bryson's unorthodox single plane swing with very upright lies.
scotts33
Good point Scott (building on Don's comment).
How many times did we see the rest of the field try and gouge one from the rough onto the green only to have the ball go way left of target and the announcers say "Well, the rough grabbed the clubface and shut it down, so it went left." I can't recall when DeChambeau had that problem on the weekend (didn't watch Thursday or Friday).
Playing armchair scientist (dubious I know), perhaps the combination of his high swingspeed and the potential for less overall clubface interaction with the rough due to the upright lies makes him less prone to getting the clubface shut down.
DC300 Not hater. Just seeing perspective. All of these young guys come out, win a couple and everyone jumps on their bandwagon as "the next". There is no "next". That, is history secured, by those that came before all of these wannabes. They will win, yes. They will make shit tons of cash, yes. They may have goofy swings, yes. And a lot of them will soon be gone. No journeyman blood in them. They either have to win, or they will quit. (Bryson will not quit, btw). But, if he was/is as good as everyone wants him to be, he would have 15 wins and be sitting at the top. He's not that good, week to week. He won the U.S. Open, a tourney that has been won by some you do not even remember the names of. Perspective.
HybridWood How many times did we see the rest of the field try and gouge one from the rough onto the green only to have the ball go way left of target and the announcers say "Well, the rough grabbed the clubface and shut it down, so it went left." I can't recall when DeChambeau had that problem on the weekend (didn't watch Thursday or Friday).
Actually something was said on Golf Channel about Bryson practicing keeping the face open on his wedges. I believe his face control is very good better than most. His vast improvement on wedge play and putting is huge from a year to two years ago.
In addition to the ability to come out of the rough is that he hits it higher and the descent angle allowed for.him to stop it easier vs. use of spin to stop it. Easier to do on those firm greens, and especially so coming out of that rough.....also witnessed him run quite a few up, which takes a whole other skill set to do.
HybridWood
The other thing is that his grips are the size of the handle of a baseball bat. That might help a lot in keeping the face from shutting down.
! On the tour for 4 years, has 8 professional wins, 1 Major, finished 3rd in the Fed Ex, and he’s just a journeyman. My goodness, if only everyone could be a journeyman. He’s already done more in 4 years than 98% of professionals will do their entire career.
