Rickochet Oh I got it. It just made me realize how little is mentioned of the SL thing since the bulk up.

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.

    Par4QC Hater AlertšŸšØ! On the tour for 4 years, has 8 professional wins, 1 Major, finished 3rd in the Fed Ex, and heā€™s just a journeyman. My goodness, if only everyone could be a journeyman. Heā€™s already done more in 4 years than 98% of professionals will do their entire career.

      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.

            garyt1957 "McIlroy actually outdrove DeChambeau this week, averaging 328.1 yards against DeChambeau's total of 325.6. They ranked sixth and seventh, respectively, in the field for the week."

            He didn't win this tourney from the tee. He won it with all the other clubs in his bag.

              Par4QC
              Yes, he could very well become the next Martin Kaymer. In 2015 I thought Speith was the new Tiger.

              At the beginning, I said that he with his accuracy he could become this generation's Jim Furyk if he wanted to be. Making a ton of cuts, winning once in a while, banking millions. Now he's left that in the dust to become a big hitter. Probably a good move but time will tell.

                Par4QC

                It looked like there were times that BDC dialed it back on his drives- the ones where his ball speed was only in the 170s vs up in the 190s which he did on occasion

                  It will be fascinating to see how the USGA sets up the course next year. I think they will realize that they kind of handed this one to Bryson with their setup. Not that he didn't play outstanding golf. But they took most of the field right out of the picture.

                  shokosugi
                  Yeah I saw that too. It was very obviously intentional, not a mis hit. For one thing he didn't stand behind the ball taking the super fast practice swings.

                  Seems to me that he could be the pinnacle of the Moe Norman approach. Can you imagine, with his
                  length, if he had close to the accuracy of Moe ? Holy ______________. !! JMO

                  DonM Players all have their 'spurts'. Some players, not many though. They may pick up quite a few wins during those spurts, but usually, they go back to 'just being a Pro golfer'. I don't think a lot of these young guys can do that; go back to being 'just a Pro golfer', like Cink and others. They all had shit tons of $$ before they ever set foot on the 1st Pro tee. It's, $$, not why they play. For the most out there, it is($$) the only reason they play; they know they will never win but are good enough to make millions for years. Great job to have, if you are good enough to stay employed.

                  There will never be other Tigers, Jacks, or Arnies. That history is written and sealed. And if it's not, I won't be around to witness it. Even if I live to be 100. šŸ˜ƒ

                    Par4QC Donā€™t forget the average is for all tees minus the Par 3, so when a guy is leading the tournament and goes to driving iron or 3 wood to play safe vs having to chase and risking driver, those average can be very deceiving. Itā€™s not just ā€œaverage when hitting driverā€. Bryson is hitting the ball plenty long, thereā€™s no argument there and Rory is also a beast off the tee, no argument there either. Tee average is not really a fair statistic to judge ones length as strategy can very much dictate that.

                    Example, I play a course where I hit driver at most 4 times per 9, also hit a 23* hybrid, a 6 or 7 iron twice, and depending on tee placement 2 of those drivers may get cut to a 3 wood or 18* hybrid. So my average for the day may be around 225 yards and by that number it may appear Iā€™m not longer off the tee than 95% of golfers. Yet I would assume there are very few on this forum that would be willing to risk their wallet in a long drive contest against me. Same thing applies to the guys on tour, most can bomb it, many will play to spots, rather than take risks.

                    Bryson also hits the ball extremely high and gets less roll, a huge advantage in most conditions as carry is really king in terms of predictable outcomes. Hence Tigerā€™s long time obsession with carry, with little roll out.

                    One question is, does Bryson have the low flighted shot in the bag? I believe he does, but itā€™s a lot more risk to run the ball into trouble than to fly the ball to a spot and know where it will be. I believe heā€™s giving up a little distance with his current ball flight, but heā€™s getting max distance for predictable results.

                      Here is your Bryson club info:

                      Bryson's winning WITB:

                      Driver: Cobra King SpeedZone (7.5 degrees @5.5)
                      Shaft: LA Golf BAD Prototype 60 TX

                      3-wood: Cobra King SZ Tour (14.5 @11.5 degrees)
                      Shaft: LA Golf BAD Prototype 70 TX

                      3-wood: Cobra King SZ Tour (14.5 degrees @13.5)
                      Shaft: LA Golf BAD Prototype 80 TX

                      Irons: Cobra King SZ One Length (4, 5), Cobra King Forged Tour One Length (6-PW)
                      Shafts: LA Golf Rebar Proto

                      Wedges: Artisan Prototype (50 @47, 55 @52, 60 @58)
                      Shafts: LA Golf Rebar Proto shaft

                      Putter: SIK Prototype

                      Ball: Bridgestone Tour B X

                      Grips: Jumbo Max Tour