The first time Bryson DeChambeau set foot on a links course was exactly ten years ago, at the Walker Cup held at Royal Lytham. He shot 66 in the singles matches. He was off the charts. Is this the mystery of the links? The American thought at that moment with a certain sense of euphoria due to his great performance…
His second visit was in 2017, Open Championship at Royal Birkdale. He missed the cut by six with rounds of 76 and 77. However, he claims he felt incredibly comfortable. The links did not impress him. Again, he felt he had enough resources to handle and master them. The problem was that the experience in those first two visits was not complete.
DeChambeau had the extraordinary fortune that both in 2015 and 2017 they played in good weather and the wind barely blew. He still needed to test the most important equation in links territory: bad weather. “In the following tournaments I played on this type of course, I realised that I understand the layout, the design, the way to play them, but I wasn’t comfortable with the elements,” he explains. Since then, he has embarked on a fascinating madness: “I want to decipher the wind of the links. Know exactly how to use them to my advantage, master them, understand exactly what will happen to the ball in certain circumstances,” he assures.
The task is titanic and DeChambeau admits he hasn’t achieved it yet, but he’s working on it. He will not skimp on resources. When this guy gets down to business, he doesn’t stop. There’s no wall that can stop him. He doesn’t even rule out building his own wind tunnel. “That would be great, a giant 400-yard tent with huge fans providing winds in all directions. I like that idea.”
The million-dollar question is: will DeChambeau be able to master Mother Nature? Will he be able to turn what is practically an instinctive matter into something rational and measurable? He believes so… For now, we suggest that in the wind tunnel tent, he also installs a rain system in addition to the fans so that the experience is truly fruitful.
“I understand that for those born in Scotland it is something natural. They have lived with it all their lives and feel it the right way. For me, however, having grown up in California, it’s difficult. It’s not easy to accept that the wind is blowing at 15 miles per hour and that it actually affects as if it were 30. It’s confusing. It’s a denser air and that requires adjustments. I want to learn every last detail of how I can use the wind to my advantage,” he specifies.
In this regard, DeChambeau explains that, over the years (he has a top 10 in seven appearances and three missed cuts), he has understood that he must play against the wind. “At first, I felt I could play with the wind helping. For example, if it came from the right, I would play a ball closing, taking it out to the right and letting it be helped by the wind. That’s a huge mistake. Here in Scotland, when the wind catches the ball, it can move it miles… So, I’ve realised that you always have to play against the wind. If it comes from the right, open ball, and if it comes from the left, closed ball. These are things you learn, but I still have a lot to decipher. And not just in long shots, also on the greens, where the wind also affects a lot,” he explains.
DeChambeau admits as a good scientist that he is “bothered by the unpredictability of the links, not only because of the wind but also because of the bounces the balls can take on the fairways, sometimes it’s in favour and sometimes it’s against, but I admit it, I know it’s what it is. Whether it’s fair or not is another debate. It’s clear that luck plays a part and you accept it,” he concludes.
By the way, on the issue of world ranking points for LIV Golf tournaments, DeChambeau is hopeful and at the same time critical of his own circuit. “I believe we have enough quality players to have world ranking points, but we understand that in LIV there must be more relegations, more pathways to the league and have a circuit from which you can definitely move up to LIV.”
