Bryson: Straight Drives, Luck and “Laminar Flow” at the PGA

Bryson DeChambeau is at it again. He is looking at all the variables and sorting through best ways to play the Ocean Course at Kiawah Island.

Everyone agrees it is an exceptionally hard golf course for the PGA Championship, and DeChambaru has the physics terminology going. This time it’s laminar flow, which, as best as we can figure, is the way the wind or water or other substances move around stuff. It’s unlikely that any golfer has ever mentioned this before or that they will in the future.

“I mean, look, there are certain times where over certain dune hills and stuff on greens and before the greens where the wind will flow down and up and over certain mounds, so that’s going to make it feel weird, play different, and it’s just going to affect how the ball goes,” he said to media after a practice round.

Wind is an unfriendly variable for a guy who likes precision. It is also the enemy of every professional golfer. This week, it is worse than that. It is as vicious as the alligators that lurk in the lagoons just off the fairways at the Ocean Course.

“I hit a perfect shot with a 53-degree wedge, and on the device it says it went the right distance, and then we looked up, and it landed five yards past the flag and went over the green,” he explained about the problems with predictability and wind in his practice round.

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In fact, wind is such a variable this week, that DeChambeau used the L word: Luck. That’s not something you see in a physics formula. It’s as non-scientific as it gets. But having the bounce that stays out of trouble versus in it may be the difference in who wins the tournament and who doesn’t.

However, DeChambeau is ready to brave that elusive element. His length, he knows, is a distinct advantage on any course. But he admitted if he can hit the ball straight and control the flight of it, it will be as big an advantage as length. Even three-quarters of a DeChambeau drive, if he throttles back, is going to be long, and he’s likely not going to shorten things that much.

Just how much is the wind affecting shots?

DeChambeau gave the 4th hole, a 453-yard par 4, as an example. It was into the wind on Wednesday, and DeChambeau said he watched player after player hit hybrids and 3-woods into it. They are certainly not accustomed to doing that.

On the 14th, a par three, which during the practice round was playing 240 yards and into the wind, he said that Phil Mickelson hit a hybrid.

An example of what DeChambeau faced was at the 15th, where he said he had a 5-iron second shot. The 15th is a medium par four at 421-yards. Ordinarily, he’d be hitting a wedge to the green on a hole of that length.

“I hit driver like 270 into the wind, and it’s blowing 30 miles an hour, and I hit it a little too high,” he said.

Even in putting, DeChambeau said the wind is going to be an issue.

He and others expect the tees to be moved up on some holes to accommodate the wind speed or anticipated speeds. In addition, there are 20 PGA of America pros in the field. If the holes are a ginormous length, they will have a very, very hard time posting a score without total embarrassment. And nobody wants that.

In addition to the wind challenge, DeChambeau is currently undergoing what he calls a physical limitation in swing speed.

“I’m the strongest I’ve ever been, but it doesn’t produce swing speed, which is really interesting,” he noted. “It takes years to get up to the long drive levels that the guys like Kyle Berkshire has.”

But just because he has reached a plateau doesn’t mean he has stopped working on getting faster.

“Sometimes when you lock things down or make your golf swing more consistent, it doesn’t always produce more speed,” he added.

This week, though, he’s not focused totally on distance. He’s looking to hit the center of the greens and is hoping for the lucky versus unlucky bounce.

“It’s going to be somebody that has a lot of patience and a lot of resolve to fight back when things aren’t going well for them,” he said when talking about who might win. “If I can hit as many greens as possible, I think I’ll do okay.”

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