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Post by lessthanbread on Mar 7, 2021 22:55:43 GMT -5
Bryson DeChambeau won yet again with his ridiculous power to compliment his solid all around game.
I ask you, are we witnessing the next evolution to the game of golf? Are we going to see yoked dudes, who look like they should be playing middle linebacker, take over the tour?
Is Bryson going to keep collecting wins and majors, putting himself into the likes of Arnie, Tiger, Jack, Snead, Hogan...?
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Post by Q on Mar 8, 2021 0:16:22 GMT -5
This seems more like an extension of what tiger already did to the game than anything else. I just hope they stop changing golf courses
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Post by itsmb8 on Mar 8, 2021 0:29:29 GMT -5
TBH it'll probably continue, hitting it farther will almost always be a benefit. BUT, course designers need to stop making courses longer to compensate. All it does is make the course even more difficult for shorter hitters.
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Post by lessthanbread on Mar 8, 2021 1:37:02 GMT -5
Btw, I shouldn’t have given you yahoo’s a goofy answer to mess up my poll with... should have known everyone would pick “wats gaulph”...
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Post by lessthanbread on Mar 8, 2021 1:37:54 GMT -5
TBH it'll probably continue, hitting it farther will almost always be a benefit. BUT, course designers need to stop making courses longer to compensate. All it does is make the course even more difficult for shorter hitters. ive always thought the opposite would have been better. Shortening courses would have made more sense. But in the end, I think distance will win as the long hitters will just get more accurate.
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Post by axelvonfersen on Mar 8, 2021 2:23:09 GMT -5
Plus going driver off the tee and leave a wedge or a 9iron out of the rough - yeah, these guys will always take that ahead of using a 3 wood off the tee and leaving a 6 iron in. As we saw with Wolff and Bryson at Winged Foot.
I'm torn about this. On the one hand, it's fun to watch Bryson trying to murder the ball and almost driving par-5 greens. On the other hand, it has me worried about the professional game, as guys like Bryson are on the verge of outgrowing the courses they play on. And I got zero suggestions as to what can be done, as Bryson will always outdrive the Stensons and Westwoods, no matter what equipment rules are brought in.
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Post by itsmb8 on Mar 8, 2021 5:34:35 GMT -5
TBH it'll probably continue, hitting it farther will almost always be a benefit. BUT, course designers need to stop making courses longer to compensate. All it does is make the course even more difficult for shorter hitters. ive always thought the opposite would have been better. Shortening courses would have made more sense. But in the end, I think distance will win as the long hitters will just get more accurate. Plus going driver off the tee and leave a wedge or a 9iron out of the rough - yeah, these guys will always take that ahead of using a 3 wood off the tee and leaving a 6 iron in. As we saw with Wolff and Bryson at Winged Foot. I'm torn about this. On the one hand, it's fun to watch Bryson trying to murder the ball and almost driving par-5 greens. On the other hand, it has me worried about the professional game, as guys like Bryson are on the verge of outgrowing the courses they play on. And I got zero suggestions as to what can be done, as Bryson will always outdrive the Stensons and Westwoods, no matter what equipment rules are brought in. Exactly. A 100 yd shot in is always going to be better than a 165 yd shot in, no matter if its on the fairway or from the rough. The biggest difference is accuracy and distance are mostly independent of one another. Sure, the father the target the less margin of error you have, but long hitters can still be as accurate off the tee as shorter hitters. Bombers are always going to have a major advantage.
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Post by WhatAboutAmeobi on Mar 8, 2021 7:19:21 GMT -5
Like Q said, this is an extension of what Tiger did in his heyday, though Bryson has taken it to a new level. The question I have is how long is swinging the club like that sustainable. Tiger's prime really ended when he was 32 and in the last 10 years, we've seem him ravaged by injuries that could easily be the result of the work he did trying to get more explosive in his action (car accident obviously an exception to this).
P.S. I have his prime ending at the 2008 US Open (the one he won with a broken leg). Yes, he had a great 2009, but he lost his first lead in a major that year, and then we had the Thanksgiving incident after which he didn't win for 3 years. And then a good 2013 followed by injury, then injury, then injury...
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Post by bmoregolfpro on Mar 8, 2021 8:22:55 GMT -5
Not sure if it is a revolution per say. The thing that separated Tiger was his ability to think his way around a golf course where his length wasn't a great benefit. Bryson doesn't have that in his arsenal. His hit it a mile with reckless aggression mentality will not produce the consistently dominant results Tiger did back in his prime. Plus look how Tigers body gave out on him after what 10-12 years or so? Don't get me wrong Bryson will win his fair share, but the inconsistent results will cause pause for other players to switch. Tiger created a revolution because his routine showed a consistent level of dominance. I think this is a slippery slope and I doubt we see the longevity of dominance that we did back in the days of the big three. Could you imagine if Arnie replaced those 2 packs a day with 12 protein shakes?
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noosh
Weekend Golfer
Posts: 91
Tour: Platinum
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Post by noosh on Mar 8, 2021 8:39:35 GMT -5
Bryson (and to a lower extent Brooks) advantage comes to shine in these long courses with narrow fairway and thick rough. When you have a wedge in (for the case of bryson with the length of a 7iron, creating even more club head speed!) from the thick rough you're at a massive advantage compared to people coming in with mid/long irons. That was exemplified on Hole 15 of Round 4 where nobody could keep it on the green from the rough (what a terrible hole apart from that, nobody could hit the right to left cambered fairway, on a dogleg right hole!) except Bryson, who had a great look at birdie, instead of everyone else struggling for Pars.
What makes this exceptional is not the actual raw length (who cares if he hit 370y or 380y), but how much further he hits it compared to everyone else! (Those Hole 6 graphics on Sat/Sunday showing his ball miles past everyone else comes to mind).
We already know what the answer is, make the rough short and unpredictable (look at how confused players were at Riv' when the rough was short, they were missing it short and long!), and widen the fairways a little to make it an actual skill to hit them instead of a lucky shot (even for the best players in the world).
Anyways, it's fun to see *some* variety in the setups and this run of golf on the PGA Tour is the best stretch (from that amazing west coast swing into the players!) to watch of the year, especially at a time where most of us are either inside because of weather or forced to be off the course because of Covid Restrictions.
I think we'll see Bryson be a factor in US Open type setups for the foreseeable future, but he also has no chance on courses like TPC Sawgrass this week.
Overall, there's no denying that Bryson is a pioneer into the next step for distance in the modern game, but that invariably means that we'll see less body type variety making it to the top of the game in the next decade or two.
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Post by knickerbocker on Mar 8, 2021 11:24:07 GMT -5
Tiger didn't dominate the game because of his driver. He dominated because 1) he is the greatest iron player to ever play the game by a wide margin and 2) He was a great putter.
The fact that players today can hit it high with lower spin allows them to swing as hard as they want with drivers without consequence.
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Post by Violinguy69 on Mar 8, 2021 14:49:10 GMT -5
No more than Daly and then Tiger already did. I can see other golfers trying a more scientific approach for sure, but bulking up has rarely given players an advantage. In fact, massive diets and weight gain/loss have hurt plenty of very good players. David Duval anyone? He lost a ton of weight and it killed his game. Rory? He bulked up and promptly stopped winning majors. I think players will/should continue to work hard on fitness but they should stay away from major weight loss or gain.
If anything, Bryson will usher out the 'feel' player in golf. Technique and science win tournaments now, along with mental toughness. I agree that Tiger didn't win because of his driver. He won because of his brain. I haven't heard Faldo talk about Bryson, but I would think he would love him. He's doing exactly what Faldo did when he won all those majors in the 90s.
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Post by nevadaballin on Mar 8, 2021 17:10:13 GMT -5
Jack Nicklaus saw this evolution of golf coming decades ago. He’s long been lobbying for the PGA to move towards golf balls with restricted distance. Not just because golfers are becoming bigger and stronger (as are all athletes) but also because technology is improving the equipment they use. I’d like to see Bryson play with a set of Arnie’s clubs from 1963.
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Post by PicnicGuy / BobalooNOLA on Mar 8, 2021 20:35:11 GMT -5
Bryson's only 8 for 117, and his best full season was two years ago. Certainly a dynamic player to watch, but the competitive results are not awe-inspiring to me.
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Post by nevadaballin on Mar 8, 2021 23:19:11 GMT -5
Bryson's only 8 for 117, and his best full season was two years ago. Certainly a dynamic player to watch, but the competitive results are not awe-inspiring to me. That #1 spot in money at $4.4 million this season inspires some awe though
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