Note: This isn’t a posting attacking or bashing BDC, just a discussion on technique vs strength.
We’ve all been inundated with the exploits of a certain golfer who has been hitting 190+ mph ball speeds on the PGA Tour after going on a weight lifting & eating regime, making some swing changes (for the better) & of course, picking up an er… helpful driver…
Before anyone says I’m accusing BDC or Cobra of cheating, I’m not – the driver is perfectly legal, but I would say that because it’s legal doesn’t mean it’s good for golf, or even a morally acceptable club to make.
Bryson certainly has increased his weight, strength and swing speed, but the kicker here is the driver he’s using, because he wouldn’t be doing what he’s currently doing with any other driver on the market.
I wrote a blog post a few weeks back regarding my skepticism about Bryson DeChambeau’s purported ball speed numbers.
I’m now beginning to believe the hype, if you will, because if the following numbers from the trusted Foresight launch monitor are real, then he’s creating monster speed with his new, erm… physique.
There are things I run across in the world of sports and hype that just defy belief.
Anyone with a scintilla of experience or knowledge would have to beg to see concrete proof of certain claims.
Now, Mike Trout is a professional baseball player and he hits a prodigious ball in his own sport, but come on, Modern Golf Swing proponents.
180 mph ball speed from a guy likely using a borrowed metal-wood (it wasn’t a driver), and in street shoes, while barely turning a hair?
I noticed the odd time that I saw Tiger Woods driving (with driver, not a 3 wood or iron) that I was either dreaming or he had dropped off drastically in ball speed, measuring in the low 170s mph, when he’d been topping 180 mph regularly last season.
When I went to check his average club and ball speed for this current season however, I was shocked by the degree of drop-off.
I wrote about Cameron Champ last year after seeing him in the ’17 U.S. Open, and he’s going to be playing on the PGA Tour next season – which means you may see him pretty soon with the wrap-around season!
Now, there’s no reason that a kid hitting it 350 yards carry distance would need any more distance, but find me one person, even among the longest hitters, who didn’t want more distance with their swings.
I ask this because it seems like a lot of effort that he makes for a superb athlete standing 6’4″ to drive it 300 carry and 310 total distance.
I found a Tweet from the PGA Tour’s account showing DJ (that one) hitting driver with some stats.
I have a swing on video from the May session at TXG Golf that didn’t make it into the 5 drive series that I compiled to look at the Launch Monitor specs, this one being from my “warm-up.”
It was actually one of my longer drive carries, at 307 yards, and I just wanted to show how “quiet” a swing is when you leverage it properly.
I had said in the weeks previously, while working on changing my back swing pivot to shorten it and produce a shallower plane on the down swing, that I was hitting baby draw with it due to the changes I was making.
