By Alan M. Watson, President, GOLF+ PCB
I don’t know if you are like me, but lately I have been consumed by YouTube golf. Of course, by “consumed” I don’t mean literally because between work, wife, dog, sleep, and food, I don’t have a lot of free time. However, some of my precious free time I have used to peek into the world of internet golf and most of that exists on YouTube. One of the most popular channels related to golf on that platform is created by and stars LIV golfer Bryson DeChambeau. Bryson famously plays unique golf clubs that almost no one else uses. He is a numbers guy who uses high-level mathematical formulas and calculations for every wedge shot, putt, and more. Most fans of golf thought he was slow, droll, and quirky before the LIV/PGA split, but since then, Bryson has come out of his shell and with the aid of the internet, has become one of the most popular and successful golfers in the world. His series, “Break 50,” is something worth noting, and I’ll tell you why.
In “Break 50,” Bryson and one or more guests play a golf course from the Red tees in an attempt to literally break 50, shoot 49 or better. This takes a lot of skill, even from the shorter tee box (and some luck, of course). It has been done, albeit rarely.
Should you or I attempt such a feat, even with a few of the best golfers at our respective courses, we would most likely fail; nevertheless, I think “Break 50” has lessons to teach us as golfers.
First is that putting is KING in golf. He (or she) who putts well usually wins. We should all spend more time practicing our putts and learning to read greens and our scores would drop. One thing I have noticed is that Bryson rarely, if ever, leaves a putt short. He tends to pick a line and a pace that would have the ball rolling out about six inches to a foot past the hole if the hole didn’t exist. Lesson – hit the putt firm enough to go in and some. It won’t go in if it doesn’t even get there!
The second lesson is that the farther you can hit it off the tee, the better. There is no way in any world on any course with any two, three, or four professional golfers could shoot 49 from the back tees. The distance is just too great. But in his series, Bryson and some of his guests can drive many greens due to the shorter tee starting point. Even if they miss the green or drive it just short, with an impressive short game, you can get in the hole in fewer strokes. You can’t get up and down regularly from 150 yards. But you can when you are pin high in one stroke. Tiger Woods, John Daley, and Bryson have all proven over the years that even if you aren’t that accurate off the tee, distance is still a huge advantage.
The third lesson I’ve learned from “Break 50” is that details matter. My personal calculation of wind, temperature, and green speed conditions when hitting an approach shot are short and sweet. I might say something like “Well, its 147 by the laser to the pin and the wind is in my face so I’ll hit a 153 club”. Good guess, but probably wrong. When Bryson lines up a shot he has a more accurate gauge on the wind – direction and speed – he knows his numbers perfectly so he can then pick the right club and he factors the green condition – will it be firm and bounce, will it hold, how will the ball bounce given the type of shot he is hitting (high, low, draw, or fade). Wow, that’s a lot to consider. However. it makes a huge difference. I’m not suggesting we take laptops and Doppler equipment with us to the course, but maybe taking another few seconds to think things through would help.
Finally, I think the most important thing to learn from this whole series is to never give up. I know it sounds like a high school football movie trailer tag line, but I’m serious. When you need 11 birdies and 4 eagles to achieve your goal and you make a mistake of any kind, you dramatically lessen the chance that you will achieve the goal. However, it’s not impossible. I feel like many of us have a bad start to the round and we give up. Or we have a blow-up hole and then ruin the next few holes while we are still in our heads about the snowman we carded back on hole 6. We three putt early in the round and then declare, “Well, I guess I just can’t putt!” But that’s not the end. We have to keep going and remember that we can’t fix the previous hole or holes. We have to buckle down and get after the next shot and the next shot and so on. I want to encourage you, the next time you tee it up – maybe your goal is nowhere near as ambitious as Bryson’s and his YouTube series of shooting 23 under par. Maybe your goal is to break 100 or 90 or 80. Maybe it’s just to make your first legit par or birdie. Whatever it is, hang in there! You can do it!
Fairways and Greens!
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