Golf: Why Bryson DeChambeau is anything but boring

It’s the kind of comment you hear from people who don’t play, or know much, about golf. And it’s precisely the kind of off the cuff remark—one that is easily misconstrued—that DeChambeau makes ever so often. No one can accuse the two-time US Open Champion of being boring—on or off the golf course.

But DeChambeau wasn’t insinuating that his peers played an unimaginative brand of golf: He was merely emphasising that, for him, playing to the gallery came first, sometimes at his own peril. At the US Open it nearly cost him the championship: Instead of playing safe on the last hole, DeChambeau hit an errant driver and then needed not one, but two miracle shots to extricate himself—first from next to a tree stump and then from a bunker—and win. You can argue with DeChambeau’s strategy, but not with his ambition: to play golf to the highest standard, and to make sure that it’s riveting to watch.

This mindset is rare in professional golf nowadays. In their heyday, Jack Nicklaus and Arnold Palmer always made time to mingle with fans, conduct golf instruction workshops, and speak about the game at forums. They considered public outreach and growth of the game a part of their roles as golf’s biggest stars.

It’s courtesy of their efforts, and of their peers, that the game is as popular around the world as it is lucrative for the players. Playing professionals today can take a lot of that for granted. While it’s unfair to apply the same standards, there is a sense of entitlement in a number of the top players today. That hubris does the game no favours.

In all honesty, DeChambeau has always had us ‘old-school,’ or ‘traditional’—take your pick—fans of what Jack Nicklaus referred to as a ‘gentle game’, on the back foot. What with his brutish drives, robotic putting action, and a seemingly unsophisticated way of playing the game—that caters to the fans more than a gameplan—DeChambeau doesn’t conform to our somewhat hallowed—some would say hackneyed—notions about the game.

The man has ditched regular golf equipment: he plays with unique same-length clubs that no one else uses. Meanwhile, his technique—no one can charge him with possessing an elegant golf swing—is something he’s created on his own in tandem with a beefed up physique that allows him to make that swing.

When he emerged after the three-month covid layoff in 2020, DeChambeau had transformed from a lanky kid to an American football linebacker. His violent new action dispatched the golf ball into long-drive territory whilst being surprisingly accurate. But he was still regarded as something of an oddity—the Bryson DeChambeau show got a lot of laughs.

Then he won the 2020 US Open and something changed in DeChambeau’s public persona. He began winning over critics with his on-course demeanour, his candour in acknowledging—quite publicly—mistakes he’d made in the past, and commendable shows of sportsmanship in defeat and humility in victory.

In 2021, DeChambeau started uploading videos on YouTube. Now the PGA Tour has been exhorting players for years to do more on social media, going as far as to initiate a ‘Player Impact Programme’ that pays millions to those players who take the initiative. And yet only a handful of young players make the effort.

DeChambeau, on the other hand, continued to make videos for YouTube even after he left the PGA Tour to go join the Saudi LIV Golf Tour. Two years down the line that channel hosts the most entertaining golf content out there. And it’s strikingly egalitarian and inclusive: Golf influencers share space with golf’s biggest stars and no subject is taboo—the very antithesis to golf’s elitist image. With over a million subscribers, this channel has generated interest in the game within a whole new audience. Clearly, DeChambeau doesn’t play boring golf.

When an interviewer at the 2024 US Open presser asked DeChambeau whether any of his peers have come around wanting to learn more about his swing technique, and the equipment he uses (oversize grips and graphite shafts), the champion replied delicately. “I’m an open book, but everyone has their own way of playing golf,” he said.

There was a time that DeChambeau was considered a ‘mad scientist’, by his peers and fans alike. Today, though, it’s more likely that other players have not tried aping his technique simply because they’re not sure of their abilities to pull it off. Meanwhile, the tables have turned: The outlier is now a two-time US Open Champion. You don’t win the ‘toughest test in golf,’ twice unless you’ve got serious mettle. DeChambeau will still have his detractors, but at the very least he’ll make them question their reasons, their biases, and their prejudices. DeChambeau holds up a mirror to more than a few of us. And every sport gains most from those that face it the best.

Meraj Shah is a Delhi-based writer, golfer and television producer.