Has Bryson DeChambeau Made the Right Decision?
By Sam Adams
As most of you know by now, Bryson DeChambeau is going to pass up his senior year at SMU to turn professional after the 2016 Masters. Many people are asking why since he is so close to getting his degree and graduating.
It seems to be more of a matter of why not. The NCAA has put its head up its own rear end once again and made it impossible for him to defend his title and have a chance to become the first golfer ever to become a two time winner of both the individual NCAA Championship and U.S. Amateur in the same year. One more time they are punishing athletes for alleged infractions of the staff.
"“[SMU] strongly disagrees with the postseason ban for men’s golf as the discipline is punitive for every student-athlete and coach, none of whom were involved in the infractions.”"
He is in very elite company right now having won both in one year once. The other four golfers to accomplish this feat are Jack Nicklaus, Phil Mickelson, Tiger Woods and Ryan Moore. I would say that this is a pretty good indication that he can be successful as a professional.
Bryson seems to be a cross between creative shot making artist and a rocket scientist. He has a lot of conversation going on about his equipment. He has decided in his very analytical mind that to swing the club the way he wants to; his irons all need to be the same length. He decided on a length of 37 ½” which is the length of today’s 6 iron. This means that his swing plane doesn’t need to change slightly as the clubs get longer.
This is definitely not something the average golfer wants to attempt. If you tried to do this with a normal set of clubs you will end up with junk. DeChambeau has been working closely with Edel Golf to build his custom set. There have special head weights through the set in order to accommodate the single shaft length. The shafts change throughout as well with the lofts tweaked from standard to provide the necessary distance gaps.
“We are all used to swinging a golf club that’s basically D0 to D4,” a company representative says. “So, if we just arbitrarily cut these things down and didn’t have the ability to adjust the weights on it, you could end up with a 3-iron that’s super stiff with a swing weight of C3.”
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DeChambeau has been majoring in physics at SMU, and it definitely has an influence in his game. He reads greens by using a system known as Vector Putting. It uses a combination of factors such as length of putt, percentage of slope and green speed. His intelligence also helps him with his course management skills.
One thing is for certain, Bryson has the skills necessary to succeed on the tour and it is going to be interesting to watch his progress. Even though he will be competing in the 2016 Masters as an amateur, he is busy preparing himself for a professional career.
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