Thoughts on 'Bomb and Gouge’ Era

At least Bryson plays a form of the game we hackers are familiar with - hit it as far as you can and then when you've found it, chip it out of the rough... Seems he's taken it a step or two further and he's a site more efficient at it than we are.
JT

Not a fan of the way it’s going, it’s not golf.......get them plotting there way around using all the clubs in your bag needing to think about the game, ditch the green books aswell......
It’s turning into a bigger version of pitch and putt.

Bryson didn't win the US Open by just hitting the longest drives and sinking clutch putts. His iron game and chipping were exceptional. Most people think he is just a "bomber" and great putter, but has really improved his iron play. He gained more than 1 stroke on the field in irons and chipping during the US Open. When you actually break down the stats, he was more efficient in those two areas compared to his driving and putting. Lets not forget, he went the whole tournament without one single double bogey!

The "get off my lawn" comments about his play during the last few months have been comical to say the least. Bryson can flat out play and he demonstrated that he more than just another golfer with insane driving distance.

If the "bomb and gouge" works for you, by all means - go that route. It's not going to work for everyone. Sure, you'll have an entire generation trying to emulate the DeChambeau/Wolff 847 yard drives, but they'll quickly find out that it's probably not what helps them score (and it may work for a few). It won't take long for most to realize that just because you can swing a club as fast as Bryson, it doesn't mean you can swing that fast and still hit the ball with a 1.5 smash consistently.

You have these types of players all the time that kind of change the game. Most of the time it's to the dismay of the previous generation. My generation was all about trying to emulate Tiger. Hell, TM finally learned that they could sell wedges to Tiger's specs and we'd buy them... Most finding out "oh crap. Just because this works for Tiger, it doesn't work for me". I think that'll happen with the bomb it era. You'll see some collegiate and some newer faces on tour bombing it 350 carry, but they'll mostly be in the middle of the pack on Sunday, if they make it to Sunday.

So I guess my point is, I don't see any reason to try and fight the changing game by dialing back balls or equipment. I think it will take care of itself.

I don't like the 'bomb and gouge' style, but I wouldn't recommend making any changes. Rather than choose to lengthen the courses in an attempt to 'level the playing field', they are only hurting the players who are staying 'traditional' in their approach, while accomodating the style of play they are tryinf to discourage. Keep the courses their current length. Require the 'bombers' to have accuracy too. Penalize them for missing the fairway. Don't make it US Open rough, but make them double-think the risk vs reward. If they can't be consistent, they don't win. Rather than cutting the corner of a dogleg and risk clipping a tree or losing a ball in the rough, if they choose to be 'bashers', they'll have to settle for iron or 3-wood off the tee instead. Rather than lengthen the course, this will keep the traditional, accurate players competitive and still make the final product fun to watch.

"Bomb and Gouge" is a risk vs. reward method that will be successful some days but on many others it won't. Everything has to go according to plan for it to work. After all, this is the way the majority of us amateur's approach long (200+) par 3s, bomb it in the direction of the green and chip from wherever you end up. Usually our result is over par unless the rest of our game is en pointe. Bryson (BAD) has won one Major, and he "outplayed" the rest of the field, and not just by out driving them. Let's let him savor the moment and see if he can keep it up. Golf is a fickle mistress and we can all develop a case of the shanks, make a mental error, put one or three in the water (Speith), or 6-putt (Danny Lee, Ernie Els) and in a matter of seconds the round blows up and you card a 10 and miss the cut (BAD). While they may make it into the top 10 each week, I don't see the B&Gs running away with every tournament, so we need to ease up on the rolling back equipment or lengthening courses discussions and let it play out for a bit. What it will do is make some of the short(er) hitters take a few calculated risks and that is good entertainment too...