Thursday at the Open Championship was one to forget for Bryson DeChambeau. Wayward tee shots. Bogey trains. Most whacks come from fescue. Not much in the way of positives, but the US Open winner remained upbeat as he stood in front of the assembled media following his opening round 76.
Asked to pinpoint where things went wrong, DeChambeau delved into the golf ball and its performance on a day when wind and frigid temperatures forced even the most aggressive pros on the course — including a 30-year-old — to back off and take a walk. in self-defense.
“Yes. I'll check it out,” said DeChambeau. “It's something related to equipment. The golf ball is – look, I'm not at 190 ball speed, so especially when I hit a driver or a 3-wood, those clubs are built around that speed, that 190 ball speed, and my 3-wood is about 180 . , cold, hard conditions, the golf ball is less stressful. So maybe it's something along those lines.
“But I felt like I was swinging it well, the ball just wasn't coming out of the window that I usually see, so it was a strange day.
Even if DeChambeau fails to right the ship at Royal Troon, the 2024 season will go down as a huge win for his unique equipment setup. Armed with a driver designed for a long drive circuit and custom 3D-printed irons with bump and roll faces, DeChambeau bullied his way into the Masters and PGA Championship – never finishing worse than T6 – before entering the US. Open it.
With a ball speed of more than 190 mph, DeChambeau admitted that setting up his driver, in particular, was “nice for anyone over 175. [miles per hour] the speed of the ball.” In terms of gear, there are a select few in the world. Weekend golfers do not need to apply.
However, that could change if DeChambeau has his way.
During a pre-tournament press conference, the two-time winner revealed that something is coming down the drain for the “public golfer.”
“We're definitely working on other things,” DeChambeau said. “Would I like to see it played more globally and at all different levels, different levels? Definitely. That is the main goal. It just can't be different for me. It needs to be developed for each person.
“Everyone's game, everyone's swing is different. That's what makes this game so amazing. You can have someone who looks bad with their perfect golf swing. Then you have someone with a perfect golf game who can't hit the face at all.
“So building a golf accessory that works for that person is very important, and that's what I've seen firsthand, and I hope to carry over to the public golfer. We are working on that. It should be soon, it should be soon. “
Shortly after this comment, LA Golf announced DeChambeau and chief design officer Jeff Meyer are putting together a driver “where the face and shaft match your swing.” The club is expected to be released in 2025, but that's all we know right now. Even the company's website offered little in the way of information or images – except for the four drivers on the home page obscured by heavy shadows.
“Bryson came to me with a big idea that he said would change the game of golf,” said LA Golf CEO Reed Dickens. “We tapped into this concept and the result is a game changer for golfers who are chasing the holy grail of gaining distance while reducing dispersion.”
It certainly sounds like an interesting concept. Unfortunately for weekend golfers, we're six months away from seeing anything resembling the finished product. As poet William Langland once wrote, “patience is virtue.”
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