On links ground is where golf began, and as the stories go, it started with players using crooked sticks to knock pebbles toward a target — we sure have come a very long way since then. Now golf is played with clubs designed using 3D modeling and artificial intelligence, but somewhere in between lived steel shafts and persimmon woods, and it was during this era that golf truly came into its own.
This week at Royal Troon during the practice round on Tuesday at the Open Championship, several players including Rickie Fowler and Bryson DeChambeau were given the opportunity to hit a classic persimmon driver, and thanks to a video produced by the R&A, we got an inside look at Bryson’s numbers and the conversation between him and Rickie.
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One of the most interesting remarks made during the Bryson and Rickie exchange comes at the start (3:20 mark) when Bryson first notices Rickie teeing up the persimmon driver and asks with a chuckle, “Uh oh, persimmon… are you playing with persimmon today?”
Rickie was quick to reply with, “I would love to, I wish we could have everyone play (it),” to which Bryson quickly responded with, “I’d be down, I’d be in on that.”
Even with the discussion around equipment and the rules of golf, I would like to hope that as golf fans we can agree that it sure would be a wonderful sight to watch an event where some of the best players in the world use older clubs including persimmon woods, right? Or am I the only sicko here?
Anyways, although the video never has Rickie diving deep into his numbers, before passing the driver off to Bryson he mentioned that he got his ball speed up to 170 mph, which based on current PGA Tour stats would put him at 2.22 mph behind his 2024 average and 3.64 mph behind the PGA Tour average of 173.64 mph.
To put those numbers into perspective, at last year’s Genesis Scottish Open, Rory McIlroy hit what is believed to be the same club off the 15th tee at the Renaissance Club and, with no other practice shots, hit one at 168.6 mph ball speed that carried 255 yards with 4400 rpm of spin. McIlroy’s current ball speed average on the PGA Tour in 2024 is 185.7 mph — which places him 3rd in the rankings.
Then it was Bryson’s turn.
After a warmup swing that came out with 148 mph of ball speed, he quickly settled in and said he could get some 175 ball speed numbers momentarily. The next shot shows Bryson telling those around him including Rickie Fowler, that he got the previous shot up to 168 mph. After some quick banter where Rickie added “I mean I got to 170,” Bryson jokingly replied, “You want me to hit one? Fine, I’ll hit one!”
On the next registered shot, Bryson’s numbers were 170 mph ball speed, 4000 rpm of backspin, and 276 yards of carry according to his Foresight launch monitor. Although we don’t have the exact launch numbers, based on the carry and an assumption of a solid strike, the ball had an estimated launch angle between 9-12 degrees.
After a couple more shots with mixed results, including another one at 178 mph ball speed, Bryson finished his persimmon session with one final shot that got him 182 mph ball speed with what he called his “long drive swing.” Now without launch and spin data, it’s difficult to calculate exact results, but if we assume that his launch and spin were close to the previous shot — using a ball flight calculator configured to local weather conditions and set to 11 degrees of launch and 4000 rpm of spin that would put his carry distance just over 288.3 yards and total distance at 292 yards.
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That 292 total yards off the tee is a far cry from the 338 yards he averaged all four days at Pinehurst during the 2024 U.S. Open with his modern Krank driver, but it’s still a heck of a long way with a club that’s more than 60 years old.
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