Outside of Phil Mickelson, Bryson DeChambeau still may hold the title of golf’s most polarizing figure. Nothing about his trajectory has been simple, and while not every risk he’s taken has paid off completely, even his staunchest critics can respect his unorthodox (and innovative) approach to the game.
Bryson’s radical efforts began at an early age. At 15 years old, he was already experimenting with single length irons under the premise of a “Zero Shift Swing.” The payoff came immediately. Bryson quickly became only the fifth player in history to win both the NCAA division I Championship and the U.S. Amateur in the same year. Shortly after, Bryson made his professional debut at the RBC Heritage in April of 2016, tying for fourth. The 24-year old went on to win the John Deere Classic the following summer in his first full professional year on Tour. DeChambeau really hit his stride in 2018, winning the Memorial, one of the most hallowed tournaments on the PGA Tour, as well as back-to-back FedEx Cup playoff events. A disastrous Ryder Cup in September signaled that he had still yet to fully breakthrough into golf’s upper crust. Yet DeChambeau stayed the course in 2019, winning the Shriners Hospitals for Children Open and Dubai Desert Classic, peaking at number five in the Official World Golf Rankings. Yet by the end of the season, the Scientist was far from satisfied.
What followed remains one of the most precarious career moves in modern professional sports. Bryson completely transformed his body in the pursuit of adding relentless power to his game. When the Tour resumed in July 2020 after the COVID pandemic, the new-look DeChambeau had added 40 pounds to his frame, and he immediately turned heads as the Tour’s new longest driver. In his third start back, Bryson turned Detroit Golf Club, a classic Donald Ross design, into a pitch and putt, winning the Rocket Mortgage by three at 23 under par. His master plan appeared to be paying off, as he was the only player to record top-10s in his first three events in the PGA Tour’s restart.
After a fourth-place finish at the PGA Championship, Bryson headed East for a COVID rescheduled U.S. Open in September at Winged Foot Golf Club, one of the most iconically challenging major venues, known for it’s razor thin, tree-lined fairways, lush Blue-grass rough, and devilishly sloping greens. A growing theme in his career, Bryson had no regards for conventional wisdom. When it came to Winged Foot, finding the fairway was always thought to be a crucial component of success on such an exacting design. Hitting less than 50% of his fairways, Bryson went onto win the 2020 U.S. Open by five strokes. The fruits of his labor had finally come to fruition, and it was becoming harder and harder to doubt the efficacy of his controversial, yet ultimately ingenious blueprint. Bryson’s four days at Winged Foot remains one of the most underrated athletic achievements in modern sports. When else have we seen an already established top-10 athlete in the sport completely transform their body and style of play, only to reach the absolute pinnacle of their sport a mere matter of months later?
DeChambeau went on to win the Arnold Palmer Invitational in March of 2021, iconically driving the sixth green, a par five measuring over 550 yards and wrapping around a lake. Later that Fall, the newly minted major champion finally enacted revenge for his 2018 Ryder Cup folly in France, as a crucial member of the victorious U.S. team. Bryson’s iconic drive of the green on the first hole proved the perfect microcosm for how much the sport had changed in just a few short years. A befuddled Bryson chopping out of knee high rough in France felt like an entirely different sport than what we were witnessing now. A new era was being ushered in, and DeChambeau was at the forefront. Even Rory McIlroy, admitted that Bryson’s power-heavy style, and its rapid results, made them question their own approach. Bryson had imbued the reckoning of a four-time major winner, one of the 20 most accomplished golfers ever, as a result a changing new establishment.
Still, just like heavier basketball and football players are more prone to injury, there was still a price to be paid for Bryson’s radical approach. In April 2022, he announced surgery on his left wrist after a disappointing start to the season. Three months later, DeChambeau declared that he would be joining LIV Golf, the upstart new venture from the Saudi Public Investment Fund. A natural born risk taker, nothing about this move felt entirely surprising. Bryson always felt a bit of a misfit on the rigid, Blue Blood PGA Tour. I’ll be the first to pass jokes at the often cringe expense of LIV, but Bryson’s buy in to the rebel league was a true bright spot, and one of the only aspects that ever felt genuine. Bryson’s move to LIV felt an undeniable win for all parties involved, even if the transition was far from seamless. A rocky CNN interview, in which Bryson suggested that it was time to move on from the September 11th terrorist attacks, were followed by some spotty play on the golf course. DeChambeau failed to contend in his first thirteen LIV events, on a Tour made up of 48 players. He actually recorded a top-four at the 2023 PGA Championship before he ever recorded at top-four on LIV. Yet the signs that Bryson’s game was coming around were clear to those who were paying attention. A slimmer Bryson, who had recently admitted his colossal weight gain was far from sustainable, ranked near the top of the field at the PGA Championship in not just driving distance, but also accuracy. This was the first sign of a new era for Bryson, and one where I believe he may prove to be his most lethal.
There were certainly positives to his power heavy approach, but accuracy was still sacrificed, something we saw continually limit his upside on a specific brand of golf course. Yet what if there was a way to generate elite distance without consuming 14 protein shakes a day? What if there was a way to achieve equilibrium and lower the dispersion pattern while still generating enough speed to overpower most golf courses? Bryson had already packed on enough muscle during his “bulking stage,” that even cutting out some mass would still leave him as one of the world’s leaders in driving distance. What if the sacrifice of some bulk could prove beneficial in a new pursuit, intentionally or unintentionally, of added control?
DeChambeau went on to finish top-20 at the U.S. Open in June, ranking near the top of the field in strokes gained off the tee, again. Later that Summer, Bryson finally won his first LIV event in dramatic fashion, firing a 58 in his third and final round to claim LIV Greenbrier. Just a month later, he won his second LIV title in Chicago, before claiming the team championship in October. It’s undeniable that Bryson hit his stride towards the back half of 2023, the only issue was that the vast majority of his results came on the LIV Tour, making it difficult for us to place in context just how good that Bryson was playing.
True strokes gained are really the best quantitative measure we have at our disposal, and over the last six months, Bryson ranks 10th in the world, ahead of the likes of Jon Rahm and Ludvig Aberg. What’s more remarkable is that of the current top-10 players in this metric, Bryson has been the worst putter. Yes, he’s putted even worse than Scottie Scheffler.
Bryson’s dominance has come with not only his most reliable weapon (he ranks fourth in true strokes gained off the tee), but he also possesses a top-10 short game as well. The 30-year-old still ranks outside the top-100 in approach play and putting, two aspects of his game that were once historical strengths. Bryson gained over half a stroke on the greens for four years straight between 2018 and 2021. His methodical approach to putting has tamed some of the most deceptive greens on the planet, including Winged Foot! There’s actually far more historical evidence that Bryson will regain confidence with the flat-stick, as opposed to say, Scottie Scheffler. If there was a market to bet who putts better between the two in 2024, I’d put all my chips towards Bryson.
On what may be a similarly controversial note, I’ve always pushed back on the notion that Bryson cannot succeed at Augusta National. At its core, there are four key components to winning the Masters: power off the tee, long iron play, touch around the greens, and lag putting. In a vacuum, Bryson excels at all four, although rarely at the same time. Short game has historically been the weakest aspect of his game, but right now, is some of the best chipping he’s done in his entire career. The heavy undulation at Augusta worries me as it pertains to Bryson’s single length irons, but if there’s anything he does deserve the benefit of the doubt on, it’s identifying a technology related weakness and seeking the path of optimization. Bryson did play his best golf at Augusta under a slimmer frame, after all. Maybe the Scientist is realizing that a lighter, more athletic version of himself may be a more sensible approach to the toughest walk in golf?
Even carrying a pessimistic approach towards his chances at Augusta, Bryson’s fit at Valhalla, host of the 2024 PGA Championship is immaculate. The Jack Nicklaus track bears a strong resemblance to both Oak Hill and Muirfield Village, two courses that Bryson has experienced considerable success at. Your guess is as good as mine at Pinehurst, which in fairness, is a far cry from the tree-lined, heavy rough induced Winged Foot that DeChambeau terrorized in 2020. With that being said, I had concerns about Bryson’s fits at the heavily undulating, firm and fast oasis known as Los Angeles Country Club, and he still sleep-walked his way to a top-20 finish there with a balky putter. An eighth at St. Andrew’s may not be the best indication that Bryson has completely figured out links golf, yet *whispers*, his skill profile is not all that dissimilar from a 2016 Phil Mickelson. Bryson is a bit stronger of a driver. Phil is a bit stronger of an iron player. Neither possesses elite accuracy, but both excel on and around the greens. We’ve seen crazier outcomes amidst the foothills of Royal Troon.
Point being, in the spirit of Taylor Swift, every golfer has their Eras. Few are more explicitly defined as Bryson’s. Like Swift, Bryson’s golf career was formed by demure country roots during his collegiate days at SMU. Taylor then evolved into a highly marketable, contemporary pop-star with 1989, similar to Bryson’s initial success on the PGA Tour. Taylor’s dramatic heel turn with Reputation feels synonymous to Bryson’s power play post COVID. Haters be damned. Both next reached peak commercial success, the culmination of lessons learned with Lover and the victory at Winged Foot. A search inward and major breakup characterized both’s next move, marking an inevitable chrysalis, and both’s most mature and self-aware Era yet. Hardened from countless breakups and public vitriol, Taylor’s current world domination could only be realized by her unconventional journey towards self-actualization. If Bryson has finally found equilibrium between science, power, and condition, the sky is the limit.
