Why Is Bryson DeChambeau So Controversial?

I'm Bryson Des Shambo and I am the golfing scientist finally something good how about that like the Joker says why so serious a stunning exhibition of gol by Bryson the Shambo 24 under par one of the most impressive wins we have seen in 30 years of the duai Desert Classic and this young man from California may just be changing the game for centuries golf has been a popular game enjoyed by lots of people for its unique challenges throughout history notable figures like Ben Hogan Arnold Palmer and Jack Nicholas have emerged as exceptional talents leaving a lasting impact on the sport with their remarkable skills and contributions these guys stand out for a reason they are exceedingly rare but in 2016 all that changed when a man known as the scientist played his first year on the PGA tour you could tell from the onset that Bryson Des Shambo was nothing like the others he was fierce determined had a strong will and kept his cool even in the face of pressure in no time he became a hero to millions of fans and a significant source of controversy within the gulf Community Des Shambo engaged in constant disputes with his colleague Brooks kupka as well as causing even more controversy by aligning himself with the Saudis by joining the controversial Liv Gulf even though he caused many controversies it's safe to say Bryson to Shambo changed golf forever Bryson Des Shambo was born in Modesto California on September 16th 1993 having mastered mental arithmetic and started learning algebra the kid who was just six was something of a child genius the following year Des shambo's family quickly moved to Clovis where he would win the California state junior Championship at the age of 16 in 2010 the love of numbers stayed with him the whole time which is why he majored in physics at Southern Methodist University in Dallas Des Shambo became became Unstoppable in college as he shot a tournament and course record 61 to help lead the US to the 2014 World amateur team title in kazawa Japan and as if that wasn't enough he won the NCAA Championship men's Title by just one stroke beating CT pan who went on to win a bronze medal at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics this was just the beginning of his record-breaking streak as he became only the fifth golfer to win both the US amateur and NCAA titles in the same year joining Legends like Jack Nicholas Phil Mickelson Tiger Woods and Ryan Moore fast forward to 2015 Des Shambo made a splash on his PGA Tour debut as an amateur at the FedEx St Jude Classics in Tennessee where he finished a respectable 45th he entered his first major championship the US Open at Chambers Bay but narrowly missed the cut by four strokes the following year the NCAA handed the SMU athletic department a postseason ban this meant Bryson couldn't defend his NCAA title which really disappointed him however the Shambo has never been the guy to give up so he decided to forego his senior season and participate in various events before turning pro in mid April 2016 he immediately hit the ground running earning over $259,000 with a fourth place tie at the RBC Heritage now that's a lot of money for a guy who just turned Pro despite forfeiting many exemptions to Major championships he still qualified for the US Open finishing tied for 15th and earning over $152,000 Bryson's breakthrough would eventually come on July 16th 2017 when he won his first PGA Tour of the John Deere classic and secured a spot in the 2017 Open Championship 2018 was one successful year in his career as he won the Memorial tournament and the Northern Trust he also earned top seeding at the Tour Championship where he finished 19th and racked up a whopping $2 million Bryson was obviously determined to meet his financial goals and as his earnings increased so did his ambition this means that he had to up his game and upstage the big boys his motivation paid off because he not only won the China's hospital for children's open where he racked up a stunning $1.2 million but he also finished fifth place in the owgr and claimed his first European tour title at the Omega Dubai Desert Classic in January 2019 the California born fulfilled his dream in 2020 when he won his first major championship at the US Open becoming only the third player in history to win the NCAA individual Championship the US amateur and the US Open Bryson had already established himself as a force in the golf world so fans weren't overly surprised when he won the Arnold Palmer Invitational in March 2021 but how did he go from just being a great golfer to changing golf you see Bryson is known as the a scientist and his Physics degree is just part of the basis for his nickname which is sometimes changed to the mad scientist the shambo's passion for Science and Technology began early in his golf career when he started experimenting with different devices and tools to help improve his game he just wasn't going to be like any other golfer and his golf instructor at the time Mike Shai made sure of that Mike had the slogan if he was going to do golfing he was going to do it right and that goes Way Beyond using the best golf clubs or practicing the golf swing Shai introduced him to one of the most comprehensive books on the golf swing the golfing Machine by Homer Kelly the Shambo would later admit the book had a tremendous impact on his career saying it helped enlighten me to understand the geometry of the golf swing and how it can work most efficiently or inefficiently there you have it this guy in the funny hat next to Tiger always wants to find a scientific solution to any problem and golf wasn't going to be an exception yeah it sounds funny that's what I thought it's certainly not the most beautiful looking swing you've ever seen but it didn't stop him from having major success the shambo's obsessive attention to detail isn't confined to physics class it extends to his golf game as well he grew increasingly frustrated with the small differences in the length of his clubs he saw these differences as needless alterations that disrupted his swing plane for each club and prolonged his practice sessions many times over so to be more efficient Bryson and his coach put together a Frankenstein set of irons that all had the exact same shaft length head weight and L angle the only difference between them was The Loft Bryson and Shai had cobbled together the set of clubs and it was time to test them out the duo went on the course and on one hole he had 210 Ys to the PIN for his second shot the Moment of Truth was here with a shorter than usual shaft and a heavier than usual head he swung his new five iron and landed it 3 ft away from the hole and that was it since he began using these clubs Cobra the brand he uses has released a set of one length irons to Commercial Success of course they weren't the first to try and Market something like this but with the backing of a successful Pro it actually took off in addition to his one length setup Bryson also uses jumbo grips on his clubs which people usually reserve for senior players with arthritis but Bryson says they provide better control due to the larger surface area of contact between the club and the Hand the essence of making his favorite iron the same length was so he could put thick grips on all his clubs for consistency and easily replicate the same swing when the rules changed to allow players to leave the pin in for puts he simply came up with a plan he decided to evaluate the benefits of flag sticks in US opens he'll take it out but in other tour events with fiberglass flagsticks he'll leave it in and use it to his Advantage by bouncing the ball against the flag stick if necessary that is genius if you ask me not even tiger came up with that Eureka idea little did he know he'd be getting in trouble for trying to be the Einstein of golf in 2017 Bryson experimented with side saddle pting a technique where he stood almost behind the ball and used a stroke similar to croquet which the legendary Sam Sneed employed towards the end of his career well the United States Golf Association usgaa wasn't having it I mean it's okay to be a genius but sticking it in the faces of other golfers and the entire Association is outright ridiculous not my thoughts though I guess that's what the USGA wanted to say but they couldn't stick it in the airwaves they pretty much gave him a body language that meant he might as well have to stop it the Shambo was pissed and just after 2 months of trying out his Innovation he abandoned it stating the USGA doesn't like me doing it and I'm pretty much done with it they're not a good organization and you can quote me on that he probably felt the heat after making that statement because he later took those words back however his spat with the USGA wouldn't end there the following year Bryson used a drawing compass on the course to help figure out where to land the ball on the green one was this outright cheating or was he just trying to play Mr Smarty Pants Bryson wasn't going to deny his idea after admitting to having done so for a couple of years until the association had to rule it illegal it's not like some other golfer was going to experiment with it unless they were willing to pay for the services of a physicist and there was the Shambo a walking experiment but what actually makes the Shambo different could it be his mental game his pting stroke or even his swing style one thing Bryson learned from the golfing machine was what's called a single or one plane swing it's not revolutionary but it made sense to him this theoretically gives you more consistency than a two plane swing as there are fewer variables to deal with in the swing Bryson also employs a technique called the impact fix position as he approaches the ball this means he sets up the ball in the position he wants to be in when he hits the ball of course golf is challenging and the Shambo admitted that despite its difficulty it's a fulfilling Journey for him however the not so fulfilling part of his career are his many controversies regardless of whether he deserves it or not controversy always seems to be trailing him the major YouTube influence has been one of the most talked about golfers in modern day it all started during the covid-19 quarantine when Bryson bulked up drastically to hit the ball further the former PGA Tour player started using this excess strength to create more torque and power which resulted in higher ball velocity and increased distance on his shots however many of the pros disliked how he began began to deter from the traditional style of play coupled with his meticulous approach which often resulted in slow play at the Northern Trust open in August 2019 Justin Thomas got pissed when his playing partner took too long to line up a put this led to criticism from fans and other golfers including Brooks cupka a visibly irritated Bryson walked up to cupka's caddy and told him to tell his boss to make any comments about his slow play to his face and that's exactly what kopka did the following year kopka appeared in ESPN's body issue which likely showcased his physique the Shambo wanted a piece of him so he criticized kupka's appearance particularly noting the absence of ABS I don't know if his genetics even make him look good to be honest I mean a body issue he didn't have any ABS I can tell you that in retaliation Copa showcased his four major trophies with the caption you were right to Shambo I am too short of a six-pack the conflict between copat and Bryson intensified at the PGA Championship during an interview coper was visibly irritated by the sound of Des shambo's metal golf SP spikes causing him to lose his composure a leaked video showed kopka swearing and rolling his eyes although it wasn't broadcast on television the tension between the duo continued when kopka apologized to NFL star Aaron roders for having Des Shambo as his playing partner in the match event this apology sparked another exchange between them and just when you think things couldn't get any worse this happened Des Shambo was irritated when a fan called him Brookie all right Brookie call me Brookie and this video caused similar incidents at the June Memorial Tournament three fans were rejected from the event for chanting his Rivals name the pair would later agree to a ceasefire in 2021 but in mid 2022 Des Shambo had something totally different to worry about in June 2022 Bryson dumped the PGA tour for live golf and he couldn't be any happier I mean he wasn't a stranger to controversies so calling him out for playing for the Saudis wouldn't mean much to him this opportunity with live golf the way it's structured from an investment perspective um also from a a enjoyment perspective an entertainment perspective all has a possibility to do things that uh the game of golf has never seen before unlike other pro golfers who switched allegiances with the lame excuse of doing so to have family time Bryson outrightly stated that he made a business decision in joining Liv despite the looming threat of suspension from the PGA it's a business decision for my family's future Des Shambo said so it was a business decision first and foremost and um that's all there was to it's given me a lot more opportunity outside of the game of golf and giving me more time with my family and my future family when tension heighten last year Bryson appealed to 9/11 families to forgive Saudi Arabia and this sparked another round of controversy Bryson the Shambo is a name you'll continue to hear for a long time even though he'll always be in the eye of the storm he still manages to be in the good graces of many big celebrity Role Models like Chris Pratt and Tim TBO one can only hope he continues to to golf the way he chooses to but without all the backlash no matter if you love or hate him you can't blame someone for playing the game he loves the way he loves

Channel: Tee Time

Views: 133,217

Keywords: bryson dechambeau, pga, how to swing a golf club, documentary, golf, liv golf, golf swing

Id: w40XIvBh6M0

Length: 13min 39sec (819 seconds)

Published: Mon Apr 08 2024