The Classicist vs the Iconoclast

[Peter Pallotta]

That's the way I'd sum up all that I've read the last couple of days. In their own ways, both Tiger and Bryson took the golf world by storm. The difference is that, even in his youthful prime, Tiger was a classicist. Using irons with lofts from the 70s, he analyzed and played Pebble and Augusta and The Old Course just as the greats before him had -- only better (and longer). Bryson, on the other hand, is an iconoclast. The sole tour player using the conceptually new single length iron, he played WF in a way that Rory M (another classicist) found hard to wrap his head around: "it's not the way I saw this golf course being played or this tournament being played". And I think that may be the question for golf and gca moving forward, ie in the years ahead, with the new batch of young golfers, will the Classicist or the Iconoclast be the dominant model?

[JMEvensky]

Nice take Peter--an elegant summation.


Would there have been any iconoclasts for TW to even try to emulate? Not a good analog but Frank Stranahan was a believer in bulking up and Gary Player was a fitness advocate from the beginning.


The difference I think is BdC has the advantage of statistical analysis unavailable before now. And he's willing to try anything/everything no matter how off the wall it seems--doesn't get more iconoclastic than that.


Probably too early to bet which one dominates, but if BdC wins a couple more majors, I'd bet Cobra starts selling a lot of same length irons and there are a lot more junior golfers hitting the weight room.

[Ira Fishman]

I would suggest that we are making too much of BD’s uniqueness. Bomb and gouge has been around for several years. He just had the guts to do it at the US Open. Others will now follow.  A couple of years ago, talk about DJ’s and Koepka’s extreme work outs were a prominent topic of discussion. BD just took it to another level with his diet.


The reality is that he put in the work to become great. That includes putting where strength offers zero advantages. Watching him hit balls in the dark on Saturday on the range would have made Hogan, Player, and Tiger proud.


But at the end of the day, he won one Major—he may win more. I doubt that Nicklaus, Player, Watson, Trevino, Faldo, Phil, or Tiger are losing a lot of sleep.


Ira