The Loop
Bryson DeChambeau's one-of-a-kind swing and what you can learn from it
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Bryson DeChambeau doesn't have any problem standing out.
The 22-year-old amateur in the Hogan hat uses a bag full of irons all the same length, and swings on a distinctively upright and consistent swing plane.
It obviously works for him -- to the tune of the U.S. Amateur and NCAA titles and a place on the first page of the Masters leader board. But how different does he really swing it from the rest of the Tour, and is his motion a good one for the average player to copy?
"Bryson definitely has a different look at address, with that high handle, but under the hood, he's doing a lot of the same things the best players do," says top New York teacher Michael Jacobs, who has one of the most technologically advanced teaching studios in the U.S. at his Long Island base. "He starts upright and he keeps his wrist flat longer through impact than other players, but from waist high on the downswing to waist high on the followthrough, he looks like a top-level tour player. He has a great swing, and he's going to be good -- and accurate -- for a long time."
Jacobs says amateur players would be better served by looking past the eccentric setup position and trying to copy DeChambeau's position right after impact instead.
"When you're watching him from down the line, his arms and the club seem to disappear right after impact," says Jacobs, who has the three-dimensional measurements of hundreds of swings in his database. "When you do it, it should feel like you're hiding your arms from your golf bag if it's situated on the range right behind you."
And the single length clubs? They could help a player simplify his or her approach to different shots, but that comes with a huge caveat. "Single length irons only have merit if you can generate enough clubhead speed to create distance gaps between the clubs," says Jacobs. "If you're swinging 85 or 90 miles per hour with your driver, you're going to end up hitting all those clubs the same distance."