NEWS FROM THE TOUR VANS
BROUGHT TO YOU BY GOLF PRIDE, THE #1 GRIP ON TOUR
There’s no question that reigning U.S. Open champion Bryson DeChambeau has always marched to the tune of his own drummer. He’s been different since he excelled at SMU, and making the transition from amateur success into the professional realm didn’t change his unique approach to the game and the tools he uses to play it.
With his unusual setup of Krank Formula Fire woods and single-length Avoda prototype irons – even down to his more conventional Ping Glide 4.0 wedges – all using his “Bryson Series” shafts from LA Golf, DeChambeau takes a road less traveled. His SIK Pro C-Series Armlock/LA Golf Proto putter is also unconventional, as are the JumboMax grips he uses throughout the bag.
It all obviously works for him, which is what matters most.
“For the most part, people are doing their own things. They have their own contracts with their own equipment companies,” the independent DeChambeau said. “That’s more power to them and whatever they’re comfortable with.
“I’m certainly comfortable with what I’m using right now. I’ve got great product in hands. … I have always kind of done things a little different. And I’m glad I’ve got a solid team around me that helps give me the right equipment so that under the gun I’m as comfortable as I possibly can be.
“The equipment that I have, the combination … I’ve got LA Golf (graphite) shafts, I’ve got a Krank driver head, and some amazing irons that work well for me and a putter that I’ve trusted since 2018. It’s a lot of the equipment that’s really helped give me that confidence back.
“I can’t tell you how important it is to have stuff that works for you, for anyone out there listening. It’s possibly the most important thing to have done to yourself if you’re trying to improve your game, especially at an elite level.”
And then there are the “salty balls.” As Rich Lerner noted on Golf Channel’s “Live From” wrap-up show during the U.S. Open, a DeChambeau presser nearly turned into a “Saturday Night Live” skit when he said “thanks for the salty balls question.” But he went on to detail how his manager floats his Titleist Pro V1x Left Dash golf balls in an Epsom salt solution “to make sure that the golf ball is not out of balance.”
Much like his explanations for using single-length irons, it makes sense when DeChambeau explains it in his own unique way.
“What I’m doing is finding pretty much the out-of-balanceness of it, how much out of balance it is,” DeChambeau said. “Heavy side floats to the bottom, and then we mark the top with a dot to make sure it’s always rolling over itself.”
DeChambeau said even the best manufactured golf balls can’t be perfect all the time, and if it’s out of balance it “acts like mud” on a ball.
“If there’s too much weight on one side, you can put it 90 degrees to where the ‘mud’ is on the right-hand side or the ‘mud’ is on the left-hand side,” he said. “I’m using ‘mud’ as a reference for the weight over there. It’ll fly differently and fly inconsistently. For most golf balls that we get, it’s not really that big of a deal. I just try to be as precise as possible, and it’s one more step that I do to make sure my golf ball flies as straight as it possibly can fly, because I’m not that great at hitting it that straight.”
It’s hard to argue with his results as he heads to this week’s LIV event in Spain at Valderrama in advance of the Open at Royal Troon armed to contend.
Scott Michaux