Bryson DeChambeau on why he’s competing in the World Long Drive Championship

[bladehunter]

30 minutes ago, smashdn said:

 

You been to Hopkinsville?

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Western_State_Hospital_(Kentucky)

 

Lol. Nope. But Down here we had a place that spawned the saying “ stop that or you’ll get sent to bull street “.  
 

https://www.palmettoweekend.com/take-amazing-3-d-tour-bull-street-mental-asylum/

 

I don’t think they have a course on bull street ?!  If they did I might consider getting in to play every day !! 

Edited August 25, 2021 by bladehunter

[mosesgolf]

Appearance fee? 😆

[TiScape]

9 minutes ago, mosesgolf said:

Appearance fee? 😆

$50 and a beer token 🍻 

[tr881430]

I hope he goes down deadpool style.

Edited August 26, 2021 by tr881430

[Shakespeare]

I say...355 yard carry....not good enough to win...but leads the field in driving accuracy!

[mosesgolf]

I'll be watching.  In fact Bryson will bring alot of viewers and heck he might put up some respectable numbers with a 48" driver.

[bekgolf]

I've never been able to watch long drive competitions for more than a few minutes.  Just can't get into it.  With that said I'll tune into this one.

 

A question for those in the know, do they have a special "distance" ball for LD?

[TiScape]

5 hours ago, bekgolf said:

I’ve never been able to watch long drive competitions for for more than a few minutes. Just can't get into it.  With that said I'll tune into this one.

 

A question for those in the know, do they have a special "distance" ball for LD?

Don’t blame you. I’ve watched a few times when Im channel surfing and happen upon it. If I remember correctly they get either 8 or 10 drives per round and only the ones that land in the grid count… Most get 1 or 2 balls per round to stop in the grid. Lots of violent hooks and slices. It’s a tuff watch. 

Edited August 28, 2021 by TiScape

[rooski]

6 hours ago, Shakespeare said:

I say...355 yard carry....not good enough to win...but leads the field in driving accuracy!

 

 

I honestly think Bryson has a pretty decent chance of taking it. He plays a fairly regular driver, and a regular ball in tour events. 

 

If he extends his driver 2" swaps to a distance ball and just sends it, I think he has it within him.

 

It's not like these WLD winning 415-420y drives are at sea level with no wind.. Just today Bryson had one I think 370 or so landing soft

Edited August 28, 2021 by rooski

[TiScape]

Looks as if though his barber must have quit him too. He said no problem. How hard can it be to cut your own hair… When he asked his new caddie how he did he told him “great, blended perfectly and nice and even 🙄” 😂 

[hoselpalooza]

On 8/24/2021 at 6:26 AM, bladehunter said:

It’s a spectacle.  Of course we will watch. But viewers doesn’t equal good for the game.  We could get more viewers with bikini clad announcers on every tee and a halftime break with mud wrestling , but I don’t think that helps the game as a whole.  Just makes someone more $. 

 

this is a hot take and a false equivalence. 

 

bryson appearing in WLD is not even remotely close to bikini-clad announcers. it's a lot closer to the euro tour's hero challenge. https://www.europeantour.com/european-tour/news/articles/detail/what-is-the-hero-challenge/ 

 

it's not golf, it's a spectacle. but it's also fun and exciting. i think it's good for the game.

[bladehunter]

37 minutes ago, hoselpalooza said:

 

this is a hot take and a false equivalence. 

 

bryson appearing in WLD is not even remotely close to bikini-clad announcers. it's a lot closer to the euro tour's hero challenge. https://www.europeantour.com/european-tour/news/articles/detail/what-is-the-hero-challenge/ 

 

it's not golf, it's a spectacle. but it's also fun and exciting. i think it's good for the game.

I guess agree to disagree. Both are spectacles that are fun and exciting.  But I can’t see how it’s good for golf. Unless the desire is to see it change. 
 

think what the local muni would look like if they mimicked Bryson.  Horrible thought in my opinion.   And I’m watching him try to win at the moment, and if I’m honest I’m slightly pulling for him more. Why ?  The spectacle.  It’s interesting to watch.  But I don’t think it’s good for the game at all.  I think both can be true. 
 

the game is much more than money and popularity 

Edited August 29, 2021 by bladehunter

[hoselpalooza]

41 minutes ago, bladehunter said:

I guess agree to disagree. Both are spectacles that are fun and exciting.  But I can’t see how it’s good for golf. Unless the desire is to see it change. 
 

think what the local muni would look like if they mimicked Bryson.  Horrible thought in my opinion.   And I’m watching him try to win at the moment, and if I’m honest I’m slightly pulling for him more. Why ?  The spectacle.  It’s interesting to watch.  But I don’t think it’s good for the game at all.  I think both can be true. 
 

the game is much more than money and popularity 

i don’t think it’s about seeing golf change, I think it’s about getting more people interested in the game who might have otherwise written it off as boring. 
 

p.s. guys at every local muni I’ve been to have been swinging out of their shoes since before Bryson was born. Daly and tiger had a similar effect back in the day. Remember all the talk about “tiger-proofing” courses 🙂

[bladehunter]

6 minutes ago, hoselpalooza said:

i don’t think it’s about seeing golf change, I think it’s about getting more people interested in the game who might have otherwise written it off as boring. 
 

p.s. guys at every local muni I’ve been to have been swinging out of their shoes since before Bryson was born. Daly and tiger had a similar effect back in the day. Remember all the talk about “tiger-proofing” courses 🙂

I guess. I just hate to see the 30 seconds of club bouncing added in at address and the extra practice swigs . 
 

I guess I’m biased towards growing it. Where I’m at ( SC) golf has always been popular enough that you can’t get a morning tee time the day of anywhere.  But you could always get out after 2 ..And we have more courses than most anyone except Southern California,  maybe Florida.  Depending on what Metric we measure by.    We can’t stand growth unless we build more courses.  Then covid came.  And the days of a twilight 9 hole walk by yourself even went away due to the speaker blasting yahooos playing .     I get 1 round in a week due to this new boom.  Reason being is with a fluid schedule i used to get a round in randomly each week. Now you can’t.  Course is packed.  So I just don’t know how this growth will work.  

Edited August 29, 2021 by bladehunter

[hoselpalooza]

9 minutes ago, bladehunter said:

I guess. I just hate to see the 30 seconds of club bouncing added in at address and the extra practice swigs . 
 

I guess I’m biased towards growing it. Where I’m at ( SC) golf has always been popular enough that you can’t get a morning tee time the day of anywhere.  But you could always get out after 2 ..And we have more courses than most anyone except Southern California,  maybe Florida.  Depending on what Metric we measure by.    We can’t stand growth unless we build more courses.  Then covid came.  And the days of a twilight 9 hole walk by yourself even went away due to the speaker blasting yahooos playing .     I get 1 round in a week due to this new boom.  Reason being is with a fluid schedule i used to get a round in randomly each week. Now you can’t.  Course is packed.  So I just don’t know how this growth will work.  

completely agree about the growing pains. I joined the largest men’s club in the country and there are no guaranteed tee times and newbies were ineligible to play in the member-guest as a member. And in the Denver metro area it’s very difficult to get good tee times at most courses unless you want to walk on as a single or are able to book weeks in advance. 
 

before COVID there was a lot of talk about golf dying and courses closing across the country. Maybe now there will be more investment capital available to expand properties and build new courses. 

[pktaske]

On 8/24/2021 at 8:26 AM, bladehunter said:

He’s obviously not interested in being #1 in golf.  ( my opinion). 

Wuh?

[bladehunter]

1 minute ago, pktaske said:

Wuh?

Wouldn’t he be more tuned into his wedge game , and stop with the sideshow rabbit holes ?  
 

im not on him. But.  Rahm and a few others are clearly after it . Bryson is working on YouTube and long drive as much as tour play.  

[Outlier]

DAMN I HOPE THE ENTIRE CROWD STARTS CHANTING BROOKSY!!\

[Kaysquare]

13 hours ago, Outlier said:

DAMN I HOPE THE ENTIRE CROWD STARTS CHANTING BROOKSY!!\

And they might.  The crowd at the LD championship will be different than a crowd at a PGA tournament.  Bryson might be sorry if he follows thru with this, and he also might hurt himself trying to do even more than he does already.  I've watched a little of the LD circus and the crowd is pretty rowdy & not too worried about being super polite. 

[mosesgolf]

If anything the event will likely show what a different level guys like Kyle Bershire are at who once hit 300 yards with an 8 iron vs one of the longest ever on the PGA Tour (honorable mention to Hank Kuene and George Bayer). 

 

[straightshot7]

On 8/29/2021 at 4:25 PM, bladehunter said:

Wouldn’t he be more tuned into his wedge game , and stop with the sideshow rabbit holes ?  
 

im not on him. But.  Rahm and a few others are clearly after it . Bryson is working on YouTube and long drive as much as tour play.  

I don't think these things are mutually exclusive.

 

Bryson sees his goals of extreme distance as a way to increase his likelihood of winning on Tour.

 

The long drive contest is Sept. 27...it's the off season. Lots of top pros, even people like Jack and Tiger, have done sillier things in the off season to "grow the game".

 

Also, I don't think there is an exact recipe for becoming #1 in the world. If this is the kind of stuff that energizes Bryson, maybe he'd be worse without it. And I bet he still works more on his wedge game than 99% of guys on Tour. 

 

Edit: the only issue I see (if I have my dates correct) is that he will be playing the Final day of the Ryder Cup potentially the day before the Long Drive Event? So maybe he will be distracted by having to think about both, but I'm sure he will prioritize the Ryder Cup. But obviously in the context of becoming world #1, the Ryder Cup doesn't really matter either.

Edited September 2, 2021 by straightshot7

[bladehunter]

7 minutes ago, straightshot7 said:

I don't think these things are mutually exclusive.

 

Bryson sees his goals of extreme distance as a way to increase his likelihood of winning on Tour.

 

The long drive contest is Sept. 27...it's the off season. Lots of top pros, even people like Jack and Tiger, have done sillier things in the off season to "grow the game".

 

Also, I don't think there is an exact recipe for becoming #1 in the world. If this is the kind of stuff that energizes Bryson, maybe he'd be worse without it. And I bet he still works more on his wedge game than 99% of guys on Tour. 

 

Edit: the only issue I see (if I have my dates correct) is that he will be playing the Final day of the Ryder Cup potentially the day before the Long Drive Event? So maybe he will be distracted by having to think about both, but I'm sure he will prioritize the Ryder Cup. 

Yea.  I’m certainly on the fence with bryson.  I’m watching for sure, snd after his comments today about where the game is headed fan wise , he’s swayed me to his side a bit.  If he were defending unruly fans , and doing this , it would be a sign he’s trying to cheapen the game.  But since he’s not. You just maybe onto something.   I’m going to try to watch more and reserve judgment on the guy snd see where he goes.  I’m definitely not a hater.  

[tacklingdummy]

I think he has a very good chance. The WLDC is not just about having the longest drive, you have to hit the grid. Bryson has to be the most accurate player in the WLDC and can perform under immense pressure. It will be interesting for sure. 

[mcskow]

I'm no Bryson fan but I think he has a chance to do well. I think Finau would be able to hang too with his full swing, if he wanted to try it. I'll be watching.

[tungstenplug]

Here is a new video of Bryson doing some long drive stuff

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z1F_lj9RIhE

[TiScape]

On 9/1/2021 at 9:54 AM, Kaysquare said:

And they might.  The crowd at the LD championship will be different than a crowd at a PGA tournament. Bryson might be sorry if he follows thru with this, and he also might hurt himself trying to do even more than he does already.  I've watched a little of the LD circus and the crowd is pretty rowdy & not too worried about being super polite. 

Absolutely. Think more monster truck/tractor pulling demographic. Maybe a little NASCAR thrown in there as well??? 🤣

[Baitkiller]

You spelled rasselun wrong.

[TiScape]

14 hours ago, bladehunter said:

Yea.  I’m certainly on the fence with bryson.  I’m watching for sure, snd after his comments today about where the game is headed fan wise , he’s swayed me to his side a bit.  If he were defending unruly fans , and doing this , it would be a sign he’s trying to cheapen the game.  But since he’s not. You just maybe onto something.   I’m going to try to watch more and reserve judgment on the guy snd see where he goes.  I’m definitely not a hater.  

What did Bryson say today that swayed you to his side a bit? I need to check that out. 

[bladehunter]

3 hours ago, TiScape said:

What did Bryson say today that swayed you to his side a bit? I need to check that out. 

Here’s a link.  
 

specifically when he speaks of the game , where it’s headed and pertaining to sports betting.  This conversation needs to be had now.  Before they ruin it. If not we will absolutely see a day when gamblers are yelling during swings , causing players to back off etc to actually effect the outcome.   I blame the tour completely.  They should  have never got in bed with Vegas.
 

meanwhile Brooks has said opposite.  Saying that “ we’re just likely any other sport.  You hear things. But it’s not too bad “ etc. 
 

 

 

[hoselpalooza]

4 hours ago, bladehunter said:

Here’s a link.  
 

specifically when he speaks of the game , where it’s headed and pertaining to sports betting.  This conversation needs to be had now.  Before they ruin it. If not we will absolutely see a day when gamblers are yelling during swings , causing players to back off etc to actually effect the outcome.   I blame the tour completely.  They should  have never got in bed with Vegas.
 

meanwhile Brooks has said opposite.  Saying that “ we’re just likely any other sport.  You hear things. But it’s not too bad “ etc. 
 

 

 

I would love to see a zero tolerance policy for bad behavior à la The Masters at every tournament except perhaps the Waste Management Open and Ryder Cup.