The Man Who Saved the PGA Tour

[Maxbialystock]

Nope, not Arnie. Not Jack either. Not even Tiger Woods.

That distinction belongs to the late great Bryson DeChambeau who this year had the entire golfing world believing that touch, knowledge, finesse, and even an appreciation for how difficult golf can be were all things of the past. He won some big tournaments and freely dispensed his superior knowledge of the game, based on sound engineering principles and the laws of physics.

What has he done to deserve this accolade, you ask? He entered this year's Masters as the favorite and in the first two rounds has basically dumped. Gone, at least for now, is all his self-congratulatory blather about the scientific approach which I think is terrible for the game.

FWIW, I also think that in various ways all three of the first named golfers did "save" the PGA tour. Arnie by being good and colorful--and great for TV. Jack by being a consistently great golfer. Tiger by being unbelievably good at an early age and at a time when the PGA tour needed him. He was a combination of Arnie and Jack and his own inimitable self. Oh, and he ain't white. I looked up the French meaning of DeChambeau, which basically means "from the fields." You know--the place were French farmers used to dump a lot of manure.

[cp176]

Nope, not Arnie. Not Jack either. Not even Tiger Woods.

That distinction belongs to the late great Bryson DeChambeau who this year had the entire golfing world believing that touch, knowledge, finesse, and even an appreciation for how difficult golf can be were all things of the past. He won some big tournaments and freely dispensed his superior knowledge of the game, based on sound engineering principles and the laws of physics.

What has he done to deserve this accolade, you ask? He entered this year's Masters as the favorite and in the first two rounds has basically dumped. Gone, at least for now, is all his self-congratulatory blather about the scientific approach which I think is terrible for the game.

FWIW, I also think that in various ways all three of the first named golfers did "save" the PGA tour. Arnie by being good and colorful--and great for TV. Jack by being a consistently great golfer. Tiger by being unbelievably good at an early age and at a time when the PGA tour needed him. He was a combination of Arnie and Jack and his own inimitable self. Oh, and he ain't white. I looked up the French meaning of DeChambeau, which basically means "from the fields." You know--the place were French farmers used to dump a lot of manure.

Not sure where you were going with this. Bryson Dechambeau is good for the game. Perhaps what he is doing might change things a bit but the guys who literally saved the game of course are Arnie, Jack and Gary. Maybe saved isn't the best word to use. How about brought it to the people? Promoted the game so that us common folk actually wanted to play. If you are kind of making fun of Bryson, I guess that's ok as well. There are certainly better players than him throwing darts at augusta as we speak.

[Thunder]

Hard pass. Bryson truly wants to be great and I admire him for working his ass off to find success his own way, but he's also an arrogant asshole. He said par for him this week at the Masters was 66 or 67, meaning he fully expects to shoot -5 or -6 every single day. What happens yesterday? Starts on 10, goes wayyy left on 11, hits it into a bush on 13, and then today he lost a ball at 3. Sure he won the US Open and I was happy for him. He's definitely changing the game, but he's certainly not saving the PGA Tour. Tiger winning the Masters last year did more for the Tour than Bryson could do. But until he controls his temper on the course, and stops being a douche, he's going to be the kind of guy that is hard to consistently root for. He's the kind of guy that other people want to go out and beat every single day. It gives them pleasure to beat him

[Bellhorn04]

I'm very skeptical about how he put on all that weight and muscle in such a short period of time. I have a friend who's been a personal trainer and knows a lot about fitness and nutrition and bodybuilding, and he says it simply can't be done without some form of PED.

[notin]

So.... are you saying that because one guy failed in one tournament in a completely different sport, that science- and education-based approaches don’t work?

[Bellhorn04]

So.... are you saying that because one guy failed in one tournament in a completely different sport, that science- and education-based approaches don’t work?

I think it's about *extremely* science-based approaches to sport bothering some of us to the point that we want them to fail.

[notin]

I think it's about *extremely* science-based approaches to sport bothering some of us to the point that we want them to fail.

That might be the message (and might be true), but was that the original point?

[Bellhorn04]

That might be the message (and might be true), but was that the original point?

Close enough, I think. Max is suggesting that it would be disastrous for the game if DeChambeau blew away the field in the Masters (as he did in the US Open), because it would be a total vindication of his methods, which Max thinks are terrible for the game.

[notin]

Close enough, I think. Max is suggesting that it would be disastrous for the game if DeChambeau blew away the field in the Masters (as he did in the US Open), because it would be a total vindication of his methods, which Max thinks are terrible for the game.

I think too many people get scared of analytical and scientific approaches changing the game they grew up with, they forget (or fail to recognize) that this type of thing has always happened and always will...

[notin]

Close enough, I think. Max is suggesting that it would be disastrous for the game if DeChambeau blew away the field in the Masters (as he did in the US Open), because it would be a total vindication of his methods, which Max thinks are terrible for the game.

Now that I look at this, hasn’t he already won a few tournaments? Just because he failed one time, those victories (and his methodology) are thankfully irrelevant and the slate is wiped clean?

[Bellhorn04]

He hasn't even failed in this tournament yet, actually. Looks like he'll make the second-round cut and still have a chance.

[notin]

Not to mention - laws of physics and engineering principles aside - had this DeChambeau guy really changed anything?

Just because you call it “touch” and not “coefficient of the force vector” doesn’t mean it’s different. Just because you ask for a five-iron instead of saying “I’d like to compensate for increased velocity by changing the angle of incidence” doesn’t mean applied physics is some revolutionary new approach.

Golf has ALWAYS been about the application of the laws of physics. Just with a different vernacular. At the end of the day, DeChambeau and every other golfer is still swinging a club and hitting a ball...

[dgalehouse]

Does the PGA test for steroids? You never hear about it. Tiger , in his prime, looked pretty jacked. Otherwise, De Chambeau seems like a colorful character. Nothing wrong with that. It might even help generate some interest in the sport.

[Thunder]

Does the PGA test for steroids? You never hear about it. Tiger , in his prime, looked pretty jacked. Otherwise, De Chambeau seems like a colorful character. Nothing wrong with that. It might even help generate some interest in the sport.

That's a good question. They definitely don't test to the extent that other sports do, as golf is a sport where any competitive advantage you might want to achieve may not be very easy to identify, or won't always show up due to the cyclical nature of the game. Dustin Johnson got busted for cocaine on multiple occasions a few years back, but I don't know about PEDs or other drugs.

[Bellhorn04]

Men's golf is not really a sport that needs any more interest generated. It is very healthy, as the $11.5 million total purse for this year's Masters will attest.

Not to mention the 'FedEx Cup', the annual golf playoffs where the first prize is a cool $15 million.