OAKMONT, Pa. — "Have you seen those things? They're huge!" said one caddie to another.
There are a few different storylines fluttering through Oakmont ahead of the U.S. Open, and one of them is the size of Michael La Sasso's quads.
La Sasso is the newly crowned NCAA Division I individual champion (which earned him his spot in the U.S. Open field and likely an invite to the 2026 Masters) and a rising senior at the University of Mississippi. He's also got huge quads and a cool-looking golf swing that has sent social media buzzing in recent weeks.
Here's a basic explainer on both.
La Sasso's quads
As previously reported, La Sasso's quads are huge. Paired with his above-the-knee shorts, they're impossible to miss.
On Wednesday ahead of the tournament, I asked him: How?
"I eat a lot of food," he joked. "Anything I can get my hands on, basically. There's some genetics, too."
But food alone won't do it. La Sasso went into some specifics about his workout routine that has transformed him into the quad monster he is today.
La Sasso said he used to work out a lot in high school, focusing on lifting lighter weights for more reps.
Workout routines structured like that—doing more reps for higher overall volume—help muscles gain size faster than they help them gain strength. The opposite is true for higher weights and lower reps. Those routines help muscles grow stronger faster than they help them grow in size.
"I was doing a lot of volume work before I knew what I was doing," La Sasso says. "Now it's like less reps, more weight."
As for the specifics he uses?
"A lot of squats and squat variations that target the quads, and some Olympic lifts," he says. "I've been doing a lot of deadlifts, too. I'm actually targeting my hamstrings more recently to balance everything out."
Whatever the formula, it landed La Sasso with big, strong quads that form the basis of his powerful golf swing.
What golfers can learn
- Lifting heavy is becoming the norm for golfers
- Heavier weights, lower reps is optimal for strength, not size
La Sasso's swing
La Sasso is a longtime student of Golf Digest Best in State Teacher Chase Duncan. Duncan also works with Akshay Bhatia and is an undersized golfer himself who played at N.C. State, but smashes drives well more than 300 yards.
La Sasso is a kind of model for Duncan's philosophy. A backswing where the club doesn't reach parallel, but a big powerful turn through the ball.
"I like to build golf swings around a lot of rotation," Duncan explains. "How their pelvis moves; how they're using the ground ... I implement as much rotation as I can."
Duncan says he does this by creating what he calls "offsetting variables." Things like a stronger grip and clubface. Things that on their own may cause a hook, but which encourage—force, even—players to turn more, resulting in a power fade.
"Implementing a little bit of a stronger grip and clubface, and getting the handle more forward incentivizes the player to really have to rotate to cancel out those two variables then," he explains. "It almost becomes a game. A bunch of offsetting variables that really reward efficient and powerful rotation."
Needless to say, it's working for Bhatia and La Sasso.
"It's really cool that people like my golf swing," he says. "I used to be a technical freak, but I've started to learn it's not all about aesthetics. Over time I've progressed to learn how to hit different shots and hit my numbers. It's all coming together."
What golfers can learn
- Good rotation in the golf swing starts with using the ground
- Match up drills like closing the clubface at setup can encourage you to turn
- More rotation can boost your swing speed