Lee Westwood came face-to-face with Bryson DeChambeau at the Arnold Palmer Invitational back in 2021.
DeChambeau got the better of Westwood by a single stroke in the end, but the 2021 Arnold Palmer Invitational will mostly be remembered for the American’s unbelievable drive on the sixth hole during round three.
The 32-year-old, who is obviously now a LIV Golf player, took a line off the tee on the par-five sixth hole that nobody else had taken before.
He flew his ball over the water into the right rough leaving himself just 75 yards into the green for his second shot.
Since bulking up towards the end of 2019 and on into 2020, DeChambeau has become known as the longest hitter in the professional game.
DeChambeau is known to be one of the hardest workers in the game, and he is always looking at ways to push the boundaries.
His extraordinary length has seen him overpower certain layouts throughout the years, but Westwood rejected claims that golf course design needed to evolve because of him.
Lee Westwood said why everyone was wrong to be ‘panicking’ about Bryson DeChambeau
Westwood went toe-to-toe with the LIV Golfer back in 2021 at Bay Hill.
And after witnessing the American’s display of power firsthand, the English veteran gave his views on the impact he was having on the game.
Westwood was asked to give his opinion on DeChambeau’s length after playing with him during the Arnold Palmer Invitational in 2021.
The Englishman responded: “Yeah, I mean it’s great to watch. I like it. He’s obviously, you can see the shape of him, he’s worked hard in the gym and he’s worked on his technique to hit it a long way and it’s not easy to hit it that straight as he hits it as far as he hits it. So people are going to have advantages and his is obviously length. He can overpower a golf course. So it’s fun to watch, I think.“
Westwood was asked if he had to put DeChambeau’s extraordinary power out of his mind when they were playing together.
He said: “Yeah, I mean I’m not short myself. I think I hit it about 350 yards down 16. I only went in with wedge into that par-5. But what impressed me about Bryson today, some of the iron shots he hit into the wind, the way he kept the ball down and 17, 7, par-3, 2, and he’s got a big advantage. He was hitting 6-iron off some tees where I was hitting a hybrid on the par-4s to get in the fairway and really knocking it down and holding it into a wind. That’s an aspect of his game I don’t think people appreciate.“
The Englishman was asked to give his opinion on golf courses growing their rough in order to combat long hitters.
He said: “Well it’s definitely not to make golf courses longer, that will just play into — you’ll have everybody trying to hit it as far as they can. I think it’s nice that Bryson does what he does and that he’s unique to doing that. I think if everybody did it then I think it would kind of get out of control. But, yeah, making golf course, growing the rough — there’s an art to — he hit some shots out of the rough today, like 9 and 15, there’s an art to judging a lie and seeing how it’s going to come out and if it’s going to release or not, whether it’s going to come out soft. That’s all part of the game.“
Westwood was then asked if shorter and wider courses are the way forward, in order to get everyone playing out of the fairway.
The man from England replied by saying: “Well I think that would lead to very slow tournaments. He would be stood on the tee waiting for the green to clear on most par-4, wouldn’t he? So, no, I don’t think that’s the answer. I think golf’s in a good place, I don’t know why everybody is panicking about it, I think it’s exciting to watch right now, there’s a lot of different combinations. You’ve got Bryson, obviously and then I suppose myself who is nearly 48 can still contend, with people like Dustin Johnson and Colin Morikawa winning last week, young lad, he hits it a long way but you wouldn’t say he hits it miles. Then you got Rory and people like that. Rory’s game’s great to watch.“
Westwood was spot on there. Making golf courses longer only plays into the hands of the longer hitters.
More penalizing and strategically placed fairway bunkers as well as water hazards surrounding the greens could well be the way to go as far as golf course design is concerned.
Jack Nicklaus a fierce advocate for golf ball rollback
Testing for a golf ball rollback will take effect in 2028.
In an attempt to prevent certain golf courses from becoming obsolete in the modern era, the golf ball rollback will see the ball travel shorter distances through the air.
And back in June, Jack Nicklaus had his say on the incoming changes to the golf balls.
He said: “When and if they ever enact their new golf ball rule, it will only help this golf course. I guess they pushed it back two more years, did they? They pushed it back from what, ’26 to ’28? And as I understand the ball is about 14 yards shorter for the longest of hitters out here, maybe two or three yards shorter for the average golfer.
“I think that will only help sort of put a line in the sand, hopefully the line doesn’t go anywhere. We can’t just keep buying land. You can’t just buy the golf course next door. Not many people can afford what Augusta did at Augusta Country Club, you just can’t do that.
“We don’t have any land to buy. I mean, I can go buy houses and knock ’em down. I obviously can’t do that, but, you know, that’s what we would have to do. But the game’s controlled by how far a golf ball goes. If you control it within some reason then we know that a golf course that is here today will still be sufficient 20 years from now.“
This is a complex debate. Why should longer hitters have their main advantage taken out of their hands?
Also, don’t fans prefer seeing the best players in the world hitting the ball distances that they can only dream about?
Having the top golfers not hit the ball as far could damage the product offered by the PGA Tour and, indeed, LIV Golf.
Surely it would be better to add more defences to the golf courses used on Tour, as mentioned above.
Only time will tell whether the golf ball rollback in 2028 is successful or not.
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