This being golf, where the object is to knock a little ball into a hole roughly four inches wide, DeChambeau’s prodigious power has not yet translated to a victory this year, although he has four top-five finishes in his last five events. Accurate putting still remains an essential skill and a balky putter in the final round of the Charles Schwab Challenge in mid-June kept DeChambeau one stroke behind eventual winner Daniel Berger. A week later, DeChambeau also blamed a lack of touch on the greens for finishing tied for eighth at the RBC Heritage.
But with his superhero build, and quirky charisma, there is also a sense in the golf community that DeChambeau, who is ranked 11th in the world and has won five times on the PGA Tour, may be remaking the paradigm of a top golfer. Will the sport’s future players be shaped more like N.F.L. linebackers? And consequently, will the next generation of young golfers adopt heavy weight lifting regimens to mimic DeChambeau’s beefy frame?
Social media has already found a new nickname for a trending golfer: #DeChambeauFlex.
In many ways, the link between golf and modern strength training owes it genesis to Tiger Woods’s heyday earlier this century. Woods added muscle in relentless weight room sessions and outworked his contemporaries, helping to create a new recreational genre: golf fitness. Woods’s body also eventually betrayed him, leading to multiple knee reconstructions and four back surgeries.
Does a similar fate await DeChambeau?
“I have a concern; I would look a little deeper into the safety of his swing,” said Joey Diovisalvi, who for two decades has trained scores of pro golfers — including one of the PGA Tour’s longest hitters, Dustin Johnson — in the biomechanics of the sport, “It’s important to understand what the effects are. Let’s make sure your body can handle that.”
Diovisalvi, who operates a golf training center in Jupiter, Fla., said he admired how DeChambeau has highlighted athleticism in golf but acknowledged that he had recently heard from many young golfers who wondered if DeChambeau’s regimen was worth pursuing.
“Lifting too many weights or having too much load or stress on tendons, ligaments or skeletal structure at an early age is dangerous,” Diovisalvi said. “You have to remember that Bryson is a grown man.”
DeChambeau insists he is carefully monitoring the demands that his golf swing imparts on his body with the aid of fitness specialists.
Source : NYtimes
