The Economist - USA (2020-11-21)

250

270

290

310

1980 90 2000 10 20

112

113

114

115

2005 10

2005

15 20

10.50

10.75

11.00

11.25

11.50

10 15 20

6

8

10

12

14

16

100 105 110 115 120 125 130 135

2017

2007

Dustin

ohnson

2020

Tiger

Woods

021

Bryson

DeChambeau

2021

2017

2008

Sources:PGATour;ShotLink;USGA;R&A;DistanceInsightsProject *Since2014,seasonshavebeguninSept/Octofpreviousyear

6°angle

304 yards

14°angle

309 yards

→Golfersaredrivingfartherbyswingingfaster.ButonlyBrysonDeChambeaucombineshardhittingwitha loftytrajectory

Predictedeffectoflaunchangleondrivingdistance Averagedrivingdistance,yards

With135mphswingspeedand2,200rpmspinrate

Averageswingspeed,mph

Swingspeed,mph

Launchangle,

degrees

Averagelaunchangle,degrees

PGATourgolfers,2007-21seasons*,averageswingspeedv launchangleofball

D

J

2

n

u

T

W

2

↑Hitstheballhigher

→Hitstheballfaster

270 280 290 300 310 320

Drivingdistance,yards

TheEconomistNovember 21st 2020 81

G

olf hasa length problem. The farther

players drive the ball, the longer holes

need to be, so that skills like iron play and

putting remain important. But the longer

courses are, the more they cost to maintain

and the worse their environmental impact.

They also become more daunting for recre-

ational golfers, who keep them in business.

In 2004 golf’s regulators introduced

limits on the size of clubs, hoping to slow

the trend of ever-longer drives. Nonethe-

less, the pin-flation has continued apace.

On November 15th a famous record tum-

bled: someone completed the Masters

Tournament in fewer than 270 strokes, the

mark Tiger Woods set when he won his first

major title in 1997. The new low of 268 be-

longs to Dustin Johnson, a burly driver who

has averaged more than 300 yards (274 me-

tres) a pop throughout his career. He

achieved the feat even though the Augusta

National course is 8% longer than in 1997.

How have golfers continued to blast the

ball farther than ever? The pgaTour, the top

men’s circuit, publishes ball-tracking sta-

tistics based on the flight of most drives in

tournaments since 2007. These suggest

that, although better equipment may have

helped, players’ recent gains stem largely

from their technique—and even bigger im-

provements now appear inevitable.

The data come from ShotLink, a system

that tracks how fast a golfer swings (“club-

head speed”), his ball’s trajectory (“launch

angle”) and its rotation speed (“spin rate”).

After taking each player’s average value for

these metrics in each year, we built a statis-

tical model using them to predict driving

distances. Together, the three factors ex-

plained 70% of the differences between

players’ distances, and almost all of the in-

crease in length over time.

The model’s lessons are intuitive. To

thump the ball as far as possible, maximise

clubhead speed and launch angle while

minimising spin (which causes the ball to

soar higher, rather than racing forward).

However, most players face a trade-off be-

tween these goals, explains Paul Wood of

Ping, a club manufacturer. Harder impacts

usually mean flatter trajectories. Although

the average male player swings faster and

produces less spin than in 2007, launch an-

gles have declined since then.

One golfer, however, has escaped this

constraint. Bryson DeChambeau, a physics

graduate with oddly designed clubs and a

voracious appetite for data, is nicknamed

the “Mad Scientist”. While the pgaTour was

suspended because of covid-19, he added

18kg (40lbs) of bulk. This has allowed him

to swing faster than anyone else. But he has

also managed to smash the ball with a high

launch angle, rather than a low one—an

unprecedented combination that might

owe something to his unusually stiff wrists

and robotic technique. Using both his

brains and his brawn, Mr DeChambeau is

now hitting 15 yards farther than his closest

competitors do. He won his first major title

at the usOpen in September.

Mark Broadie, a professor at Columbia

University and golf statistician, reckons

that other professionals will try to beef up.

But golf history is littered with players who

lost their edge after tinkering with their

swings. And time may yet show that the

risks of Mr DeChambeau’s bombs-away ap-

proach offset some of the rewards. He

strayed into the rough often at the Masters.

Nonetheless, the Mad Scientist’s break-

through is bad news for course designers.

They will probably have to keep fiddling

with their fairways for years to come. 7

How top golfers have optimised their

games to break distance records

Consultants

of swing

Graphic detailTechnique in golf