I was just reading this fascinating article about Bryson and it points out that he is ranked #5 in the world. That jogged my memory and reminded me that I had said this in June of 2017, on this thread:

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powerbelly51 said:
I think his mental game will prevent him from winning more.

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How do you mean? From my perspective, he's shown incredible mental strength both on a micro scale (single tournaments, winning big championships and on Tour) and on a macro scale (going on his own path and believing in it and committing to it on the level that he has, and then actually seeing it pay off). To me, this might blow the doors open for him and be the final thing that removes any and all doubt from his mind and I could see him being a top 5 golfer in the world by next year.

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He did indeed reach #5 in the world at the end of 2018. So fascinating and cool that he has continued to be a trailblazer and has seen it pay off. That article I linked in the first line of this post shows a whole new way in which he is doing his own thing and seeing huge rewards. The swing, the math, the green reading, the mental game, he's willing to go seek answers his own way on all of it and he now might be pointed towards a Hall of Fame career (certainly if this level of success keeps up for an extended period of time).

Side note, I got to follow him when he was paired with Tiger in the Bahamas this year on the Saturday round (and at that tournament, with the tiny galleries, you get to be right up close to the players), and he hits the ball harder than anyone I've seen. The difference between his thud/impact sound and everyone else's was noticeable to me. He brings serious power and force to the course.

Oh, and just for fun, in the thread I quoted above, powerbelly51 responded to my prediction of top 5 by saying the following:

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He can't stop tinkering. He has tried 3 different putting styles this year alone. He can't/won't stop analyzing everything and just play the game.

There is zero chance he is a top 5 player in the world next year.

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Just messing with you, powerbelly

He was ranked 153rd at the time of that June 2017 win, FYI.

I have him winning a major this year.

Yup. There is no argument Brysons method does not work.

Haters will hate, but you can't argue results.

Does he act ******y about it? That's another debate.

Cool, you got me.

I still think his style will do him more harm than good in the long run.

The first time I heard of Bryson it was from an article when he signed on at SMU. The article discussed his Hogan style hat, his single length irons, and how his unique approach appeared to scare off a number of NCAA coaches.

At the time I wasn't sure if it was an ego thing where some college coaches thought they couldn't control what they don't understand, or if his approach was going against sound fundamentals and his success at the time was due to just natural talent of being able to overcome those things.

Bryson is no where near my favorite player. While single length irons have intrigued me even before he came on the scene, I could never approach the game like him - I don't have a physics mind, and frankly I think his endeavor to find a plug and play formula/approach to rounds of competitive golf is silly because I don't see a way to calculate the human element involved . However it keeps him passionate about learning and experimenting in the game, and if that works for him than so be it.

Icecream_Ag said:

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khaos288 said:

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Yup. There is no argument Brysons method does not work.

Haters will hate, but you can't argue results.

Does he act ******y about it? That's another debate.

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It takes him 7 minutes to hit a 1 foot putt. I don't care if his method works or not, it shouldn't take 45 minutes to play 2 holes

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Plenty of players take WAY too long to line up short putts. Unfortunately, that's not just one persons problem but a plague.

I wasn't "getting" you. Just talking golf, and ribbing you since you were the one who just so happened to show up on the old thread.

I've been a supporter of his for awhile but agree, the dude is slow. The putt in Dubai on 18 where he took like a minute to hit it when up by 3 was ridiculous.

does anyone play or tried out the one length irons? I have always struggled big time with my 4/5 irons and am very intrigued with them. Looks like the F8 had some success and cobra made some changes for the F9.

I play the F7 one lengths, I like em. If you are a middle or high handicapper there's value there. Low handicappers are too scared of change to try ; )

I like Bryson's methods.
The one length swing is universal and I think will trend up in the future.
His calculations on and off the game are not universal. The non-pro is not going to have the info or wherewithal to do this and just won't translate. But what he does, makes since and is not that complex, it's just the doing it 72 times a round that's the rub. His pre-swing is a lot of work, but once he's ready to execute he likely has less thoughts to process than most golfers.
Regardless of what he does pre-swing, dude still has to execute the shot and more often than not, does.

Ah very cool, how long did it take to adjust and do you use a one length 4 iron as well?

I'm a 14-15 handicap and chunking my long irons has me just using my 20 degree hybrid more then I should. I call it playing old man golf.

I just made the switch to F9 One Lengths recently. Have 5-SW in F9 ... was holding out on the wedges until I hit the F9 SW and loved it. Picked up the King Black One Length Lob Wedge (60 deg) and sold my Callaway PM grind wedges. Also added a Cobra Black One Length Utility Iron on the other end of the set (technically a 2-3 iron, but adjustable). I hit that about 190-200, so it's the equivalent of my old 4 iron except WAY easier to hit.

We'll see what happens to my handicap, but so far, I'm very happy with the switch to One Length.

I go from the one length 5 iron 23* to a 22 degree hybrid (Cobra f7 variable length).

I do play a regular f7 4 iron, but exclusively from the tee box.

The biggest adjustment was trusting myself to swing the same with the 5i as I do with an 8i, not overswinging etc.

There are inherent challenges that lower handicap golfers may not like, e.g. lower trajectory on long irons equally less green stopping power, and higher trajectory on short irons equating to less precision. My understanding is cobra has improved on this in each generation by changing center of gravity and progressive shaft weighting.

When choking up or down on these you get close to actual lengths of variable clubs if the situation calls for it, meaning even tho they are different, they aren't THAT different. You're going to be more or less the same golfer. But you might get more bang for your buck hitting irons at the range which should translate into more consistency,...less fat shots, less blades. For 80% of the golfers out there, I think they are worth considering.

That's my two cents.

Mateo84 said:

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I just made the switch to F9 One Lengths recently. Have 5-SW in F9 ... was holding out on the wedges until I hit the F9 SW and loved it. Picked up the King Black One Length Lob Wedge (60 deg) and sold my Callaway PM grind wedges. Also added a Cobra Black One Length Utility Iron on the other end of the set (technically a 2-3 iron, but adjustable). I hit that about 190-200, so it's the equivalent of my old 4 iron except WAY easier to hit.

We'll see what happens to my handicap, but so far, I'm very happy with the switch to One Length.

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Maaaann, I nearly bought the one length utility iron and black lob wedge half a dozen times, and stopped myself. Glad to hear the utility iron is easier to hit. Nice purchases!

This subject of one length clubs is interesting to me.

Why only Cobras? Why couldn't Titliest or Callaway offer the same thing?

SPI-FlatsCatter 84 said:

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This subject of one length clubs is interesting to me.

Why only Cobras? Why couldn't Titliest or Callaway offer the same thing?

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Because it is a fad that goes in and out of fashion every 15 years or so.

BTD said:

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There are inherent challenges that lower handicap golfers may not like, e.g. lower trajectory on long irons equally less green stopping power, and higher trajectory on short irons equating to less precision. My understanding is cobra has improved on this in each generation by changing center of gravity and progressive shaft weighting.

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I think Cobra has figured this out with F9. I don't have launch monitor data to prove it, but I swear I hit my one length 5 iron higher than my old 5 iron. This is due to shaft and clubhead design. The OL wedges do probably fly slightly higher than my variable length wedges, but not enough to make a difference to me.

I'm sure future OL versions will get even better. Would love to see more manufacturers get in on the fun and continue to refine the one length system.

Is this the thread where we talk about Bryson slamming his putter into the green in Mexico?

Killin Me Smalls said:

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Is this the thread where we talk about Bryson slamming his putter into the green in Mexico?

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or the bunker he sucker punched last week

powerbelly said:

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SPI-FlatsCatter 84 said:

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This subject of one length clubs is interesting to me.

Why only Cobras? Why couldn't Titliest or Callaway offer the same thing?

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Because it is a fad that goes in and out of fashion every 15 years or so.

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This is true. Moe Norman tried to do it in the 90s with "Natural Golf." It's just not sustainable. Bryson has proven that he can win with the method. But I'm not so sure it works forever - especially with touch shots. We shall see.

+8, Bryson is having a nice week in Mexico. But we have our answer.

Yup turns out anyone can have a bad run on the course

khaos288 said:

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Yup turns out anyone can have a bad run on the course

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I'd love to play +8 over 3 days. I can't even do that good at putt putt.

It is a little amusing that Mr. Physics is having a hard time with the altitude computations.

Icecream_Ag said:

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khaos288 said:

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Yup. There is no argument Brysons method does not work.

Haters will hate, but you can't argue results.

Does he act ******y about it? That's another debate.

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It takes him 7 minutes to hit a 1 foot putt. I don't care if his method works or not, it shouldn't take 45 minutes to play 2 holes

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Is he really a slow player? Never really noticed and it's sometimes hard to tell on TV. If so, I just instantly went from really admiring him to hating him and hoping his game falls apart.

He is one of the slowest players on tour. When he was at SMU it was worse.

Bryson is elite among PGA players with mid irons. With long irons and short irons, he is well below average.

Makes sense, his single length irons are set for mid irons. His swing is most natural for mid irons.

birdman said:

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Bryson is elite among PGA players with mid irons. With long irons and short irons, he is well below average.

Makes sense, his single length irons are set for mid irons. His swing is most natural for mid irons.

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Stats that back that up?

Not saying untrue, but curious what supports that conclusion.