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These new swing techniques that are revolutionizing golf

Atlantico.fr: During the last US Open, Bryson DeChambeau stood out with a game that sent the balls very far and high, offering him the victory, is it this style of play that characterizes him and is this new in golf?

François Scimeca : Yes that characterizes it, in the sense that it is the only one who uses it, but we cannot reduce it to that. Hitting the hardest is a technique that has been around forever. When Nicklaus arrived, in the years 1950-60, he was the one who hit the hardest, when Tiger Woods arrived, he put 15 or 20 meters to everyone on the face-offs. clubs that are easier to play to get closer to the flag. The closer you are to the hole, the easier it is to get closer to the perimeter: when you have a distance of 100 or 120 meters, rather than 180, it is easier to be precise. Bryson DeChambeau used this tactic at the US Open. It was new because, in general, the preparations for the course are very selective with roughs, areas where the grass is not cut very well so golfers who are not precise are penalized and cannot control the ball the way they wanted to. Him, with his power, even though he is in the rough, he has such a small shot to play that he is able to position himself well and score better than the others. It has always existed, but he takes it to the extreme. He has an average drive (taken on two holes a day when players can hit the hardest) that is around 350 yards, that’s ten or fifteen yards more than everyone else. His ball is about 320 meters at the carry (distance between its starting point and where it hits the ground) but then it can roll and that’s what it’s trying to do. But DeChambeau has a rather divisive personality, he attacked the cameramen, the referees, so he is not necessarily very well seen by a lot of players.

What allowed Bryson DeChambeau to make such a change in his game? Is it a physical performance? A question of material?

Bryson DeChambeau is a mix of two things today. It is first and foremost someone who makes full use of technology. He is comparable to a skipper, who designs his boat to go as fast as possible, or to a Formula 1 driver. He pushed the research on everything that was authorized by the regulations to the maximum, or what we believe be the maximum. He fully exploits this vein. The very first thing is the ball. She’s made so much progress in the last thirty years that it’s almost ridiculous. The manufacturers exploited all the ballistic data they had. Moreover this poses a little problem compared to the courses that cannot be extended. The second thing he uses is his equipment. It is a driver with a very closed degree of opening. Typically for pro players it is between 7 and 11 degrees. He’s around 5 degrees, but because he’s generating enough speed with his body, he’s still able to get a pitch angle for the ball to get it as far as possible. He has a nickname, The Scientist, the scientist because he arrived a few years ago with clubs that were all the same size, he was the first player we saw doing that. In general, depending on the distance to be covered, the length of the handle is greater or less. This allows him to always repeat the same movement because he remains at the same distance from the ball. It has a very mechanical swing, not very aesthetic. He simplified his movement as much as possible to make it as mechanical as possible. He also pushes the detail so far as to question his younger brother on the hygrometry, the humidity in the air. All the players try to estimate the wind, but it is surreal. The last thing he released, which he had to show at the Masters, is a driver who is even bigger than all his other clubs, bordering on legality: 48 inch, that’s the limit and that’s what he wants. It will have an even greater amplitude.

The second thing he did while in confinement was build muscle. He has a very extreme diet, he takes lots of protein, is followed by a physical trainer and he goes very far. We do not know if it will not have long term effects on his body. He imposes himself significant workloads thanks to his diet which allows him to grow cast iron. It’s a diet that I don’t think many people could handle. What he does is completely legal in the United States, there is anti-doping legislation which is not the same as in Europe, but we cannot be sure that he could do exactly the same in Europe. He is out of the ordinary because he analyzes everything all the time, because he has gained an impressive volume very quickly and because he has an unprecedented strategy that will push the governing bodies of golf to act.

Is this style of golf on the way to perpetuating itself?

If everyone follows Bryson DeChambeau’s lead, which is going to be the case pretty quickly, that’s going to be a problem. The governing bodies of sport will undoubtedly come out of the new regulations so that the ball goes less far, as F1 did to limit the power of cars. Somewhere, we are heading for disaster because the courses will no longer be suitable for this type of game and the sport will lose its flavor. If the players only think about nagging then putting small strokes to get closer to the flag, we will lose all the strategic aspect or even the search for architects to make the courses interesting. Today, the governing bodies will begin to take an interest in the ball and ask equipment manufacturers to make less efficient balls: lower its compression, or change its cells so that it flies less. Tiger Woods, in 1997, dismantled the course of the Augusta National Golf Club, the site of the Masters, with an 18 point lead. It’s a magnificent course that everyone dreams of and where everyone dreams of winning the green jacket. So the following years, they did a “Tigerproof” course that withstood his assaults. But today, we can no longer do that because the routes are not extendable. It costs money and politically, in 2020, compared to the environment it is more complex. So we are not going to create ever larger courses. We must keep the roots of this sport and therefore establish new regulations.

Are there other players who are on the way to adopting both his technological and physical style?

On the European circuit, there is a player who has hit even further than DeChambeau. He is a South African player, Wilco Nienaber, and he sent missiles over 400 meters. He is not “bodybuilder” like DeChambeau, but he takes advantage of technology. This is what makes it necessary to regulate all this. On a physical level, 20 years ago, no golfer went to the gyms, today there are many, and more and more. And all of them try to gain swing speed to hit the ball as far as possible because they realize that it is a way to be more efficient and not to base their results on the putting. We often say: “We drive for the show and we putt for the dollar”, but today we also drive for the dollar. Proof DeChambeau is able to earn money by hitting really hard.

François Scimeca is editor-in-chief of Golf Planète.

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